Nathan Ross is Assistant Director of the Faculty Center for Professional Excellence at Adelphi University in New York. Prior to this he was Professor of Philosophy at Oklahoma City University. His last book, The Philosophy and Politics of Aesthetic Experience, was published in 2017. In addition he has published in journals such as Philosophy Today and The Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, as well as edited volumes examining the philosophies of Benjamin and Adorno.

This book provides a study of Walter Benjamin's first philosophy in two senses: it focuses on his early philosophy as a source of insight into his later works, and it explores his thinking about the nature of truth, method, experience, the relation of body and mind, and the limits of human knowledge.

Introduction: Benjamin's Practice of Philosophy 1

1 Benjamin's Questions 19

2 Benjamin's Experience 36

3 Benjamin's Body 61

4 Benjamin's Truth 80

Conclusion: From First Philosophy to Critique 105