Philosophy and the Jewish Question: Mendelssohn, Rosenzweig, and Beyond

Bruce Rosenstock

Published by Fordham University Press 2010

Philosophy and the Jewish Question

Mendelssohn, Rosenzweig, and Beyond

Bruce Rosenstock

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823292356

Overview
Contents

About this book

Drawing together two critical moments in the history of European Jewry-its entrance as a participant in the Enlightenment project of religious and political reform and its involvement in the traumatic upheavals brought on by the Great War-this book offers a reappraisal of the intersection of culture, politics, theology, and philosophy in the modern world through the lens of two of the most important thinkers of their day, Moses Mendelssohn and Franz Rosenzweig. Their vision of the place of the Jewish people not only within German society but also within the unfolding history of humankind as a whole challenged the reigning cultural assumptions of the day and opened new ways of thinking about reason, language, politics, and the sources of ethical obligation. In making the "Jewish question" serve as a way of reflecting upon the "human question" of how we can live together in acknowledgment of our finitude, our otherness, and our shared hope for a more just future, Mendelssohn and Rosenzweig modeled a way of doing philosophy as an engaged intervention in the most pressing existential issues confronting us all. In the final chapters of the book, the path beyond Mendelssohn and Rosenzweig is traced out in the work of Hannah Arendt and Stanley Cavell. In light of Arendt's and Cavell's reflections about the foundations of democratic sociality, Rosenstock offers a portrait of an "immigrant Rosenzweig" joined in conversation with his American "cousins."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction: Mendelssohn and Rosenzweig Beyond 1800 1800 • Rosenzweig and Mendelssohn • The Plan of the Book Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Performing Reason: Mendelssohn on Judaism and Enlightenment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
2. Jacobi and Mendelssohn: The Tragedy of a Messianic Friendship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
3. In the Year of the Lord 1800: Rosenzweig and the Spinoza Quarrel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
4. Reinhold and Kant: The Quest for a New Religion of Reason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	162
5. Beautiful Life: Mendelssohn, Hegel, and Rosenzweig Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
6. Mendelssohn, Rosenzweig, and Political Theology: Beyond Sovereign Violence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	244
7. Beyond 1800: An Immigrant Rosenzweig Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	276
Epilogue: Pirates of the Caribbean Once More Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	357
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	367

Language: English
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 336

eBook

Published: March 24, 2022
ISBN: 9780823292356