班雅明在20 世紀初曾發展出一套唯物論的美學，主張傳統的藝術品具有一種被稱為「靈光」的特殊性質。他還斷言，傳統藝術品的靈光將漸趨消逝，因為在攝影技術的大量機械複製品威脅下，藝術品的獨一無二性終將蕩然無存。此即班雅明著名的「靈光消逝論」。有鑑於當代研究普遍忽視班雅明美學中的歷史唯物論因素，以致幾乎不能系統地詮釋其美學思想中的基本概念，故本文試圖在其歷史唯物論的脈絡下來重建班雅明的靈光消逝論。

Benjamin developed a materialist aesthetics in the early 20th century and advocated that traditional artworks have a special kind of property called ＂aura.＂ He asserted that the aura of traditional artworks will gradually fade away, because the uniqueness of artwork would entirely disappear due to the threat of large number of mechanical reproductions made by photography. This is Benjamin’s famous ＂theory of aura’s decline.＂ Whereas contemporary studies neglect the factor of historical materialism in Benjamin’s aesthetics so commonly, that they could hardly interpret basic concepts of his aesthetic thought systematically, this article attempts to reconstruct Benjamin’s theory of aura’s decline under the context of his historical materialism.