[NeuNeurosis]

If someone wanted to read more into the theory(s) you highlighted do you have any recommendations on where to start? I ask because I have not heard either of those ideas put that way of the real illusion being undeniable and needing to shatter that real illusion by raising consciousness, or the idea of "Walter Benjamin said, we must bring about a real catastrophe" Any recommendations are welcome. Context no background in German Idealism just some cursory understanding of Marxism and Nietzche.

[DiscourseFan]

My favorite, and what I still think is the best Benjamin essay, is On the Concept of History[0], but that one is a bit tough as a first essay, perhaps a better starting place (and where most people start with him) is Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction[1]. There's a pretty big gap between those two essays, not intellectually but theoretically, as in it will take you a while, probably, before you understand how they're related.

In general, if you want an actual "start" to studying any modern philosophy, you've got to go with Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (go with the NK Smith or Guyer-Woods translations, though I prefer the former). Then you can start reading forward, Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, then, of course, Marx's Capital, vol 1. Then from there, I think you would do well to read Nietzsche's Geneaology of Morals and/or Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and after that really you should read Freud, at the very least the Interpretation of Dreams, and Heidegger, either the Origin of the Work of Art or The Question Concerning Technology. And from there, you can basically just read whatever you want and you'll understand it.

My only further advice is to study all those texts first, before trying anything else, otherwise you'll end up like the people in this comments section.

[0]https://www.sfu.ca/~andrewf/CONCEPT2.html [1]https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/benjamin.pdf

[NeuNeurosis]

Thanks for the recommendations I really appreciate it. I have read a lot of philosophy piecemeal but nothing that gave quite the comprehensive connections that you described in either of your comments.

[DiscourseFan]

The most important thing is the Critique of Pure Reason, everything else follows from that text. Other than that, everything else here is just an outline, but if you do read all those books, I think you'll be naturally inclined to continue studying on your own in a suitable direction.