German Idealism and the Jew: The Inner Anti-Semitism of Philosophy and German Jewish Responses
- ISBN-10
- 0226500942
- ISBN-13
- 9780226500942
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 229
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2003-06-15
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Author
- Michael Mack
Description
In German Idealism and the Jew, Michael Mack uncovers the deep roots of anti-Semitism in the German philosophical tradition. While many have read German anti-Semitism as a reaction against Enlightenment philosophy, Mack instead contends that the redefinition of the Jews as irrational, oriental Others forms the very cornerstone of German idealism, including Kant's conception of universal reason. Offering the first analytical account of the connection between anti-Semitism and philosophy, Mack begins his exploration by showing how the fundamental thinkers in the German idealist tradition—Kant, Hegel, and, through them, Feuerbach and Wagner—argued that the human world should perform and enact the promises held out by a conception of an otherworldly heaven. But their respective philosophies all ran aground on the belief that the worldly proved incapable of transforming itself into this otherworldly ideal. To reconcile this incommensurability, Mack argues, philosophers created a construction of Jews as symbolic of the "worldliness" that hindered the development of a body politic and that served as a foil to Kantian autonomy and rationality. In the second part, Mack examines how Moses Mendelssohn, Heinrich Heine, Franz Rosenzweig, and Freud, among others, grappled with being both German and Jewish. Each thinker accepted the philosophies of Kant and Hegel, in varying degrees, while simultaneously critiquing anti-Semitism in order to develop the modern Jewish notion of what it meant to be enlightened—a concept that differed substantially from that of Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach, and Wagner. By speaking the unspoken in German philosophy, this book profoundly reshapes our understanding of it.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2013-11-01
- 237 pages
- Ebook
- University of Chicago Press
Similar books
-
Emil L. Fackenheim: A Jewish Philosopher’s Response to the Holocaust
By David PattersonKaplan , Aryen . Inner Space . Brooklyn , NY : Moznaim , 1990 . Kaplan , Chaim A. 1973. The Warsaw Diary of Chaim A. Kaplan . Translated by and edited by Abraham I. Katsh . New York : Collier . Katz , Steven . 1994.
-
German Idealism as Constructivism
By Tom RockmoreGerman Idealism as Constructivism is the culmination of many years of research by distinguished philosopher Tom Rockmore—it is his definitive statement on the debate about German idealism between proponents of representationalism and ...
-
German Question/Jewish Question: Revolutionary Antisemitism in Germany from Kant to Wagner
By Paul Lawrence RoseThese editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions.
-
How Literature Changes the Way We Think
By Michael Mack>
-
Philosophical-Political Profiles
By Jürgen HabermasThese essays range over the most central and vital issues of contemporary life. Whether dealing with Jewish mysticism or critiques of modernity, Habermas is always illuminating and incisive.
-
The Politics of Progressive Education: The Odenwaldschule in Nazi Germany
By Dennis ShirleyA chronicle of the collision between educational reformer Paul Geheeb, who founded the Odenwaldschule, and fascist ideology during Hitler's rise to power.
-
To Mend the World: Foundations of Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought
By Emil L. Fackenheim"This subtle and nuanced study is clearly Fackenheim's most important book." —Paul Mendes-Flohr "... magnificent in sweep and in execution of detail." —Franklin H. Littell In To Mend the World Emil L. Fackenheim points the way to ...
-
Kant and the Limits of Autonomy
By Susan Meld ShellCf. Antonio Franceschet , " Sovereignty and Freedom : Immanuel Kant's Liberal Internationalist ' Legacy , " Review of International Studies 27 ( 2001 ) : 209-228 . 47. As distinguished , presumably , from a politics that is " fork ...
-
Salomon Maimon: Rational Dogmatist, Empirical Skeptic: Critical Assessments
By G. FreudenthalThe essays of leading scholars collected in this volume focus on Salomon Maimon’s (1753-1800) synthesis of 'Rational Dogmatism' and 'Empirical Skepticism'.
-
Contaminations: Beyond Dialectics in Modern Literature, Science and Film
By Michael MackCombining theory with literary criticism, the book sheds light on how overlooked aspects of Henry James's, H. Melville's and H. G. Wells's novels question notions of natural order as well as an opposition between the subjective and the ...