Discipline of Philosophy and the Invention of Modern Jewish Thought

Willi Goetschel

Description

Exploring the subject of Jewish philosophy as a controversial construction site of the project of modernity, this book examines the implications of the different and often conflicting notions that drive the debate on the question of what Jewish philosophy is or could be.The idea of Jewish philosophy begs the question of philosophy as such. But "Jewish philosophy" does not just reflect what "philosophy" lacks. Rather, it challenges the project of philosophy itself.Examining the thought of Spinoza, Moses Mendelssohn, Heinrich Heine, Hermann Cohen Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, Margarete Susman, Hermann Levin Goldschmidt, and others, the book highlights how the most philosophic moments of their works are those in which specific concerns of their "Jewish questions" inform the rethinking of philosophy's disciplinarity in principal terms.The long overdue recognition of the modernity that informs the critical trajectories of Jewish philosophers from Spinoza and Mendelssohn to the present emancipates not just "Jewish philosophy" from an infelicitous pigeonhole these philosophers so pointedly sought to reject but, more important, emancipates philosophy from its false claims to universalism.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Philosophy of religion
• Judaism

Informations

• Publié par: Fordham University Press
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780823266210
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Discipline of Philosophy and the Invention of Modern Jewish Thought

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The Discipline of Philosophy and the Invention of Modern Jewish Thought

WilliGoetschel

f o r d h a m u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s n e w y o r k 2 0 1 3

Copyright © 2013 Fordham University Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Goetschel, W illi, 1958 –  The discipline of philosophy and the invention of modern Jew- ish thought / W illi Goetschel.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn978-0-8232-4496-6 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Jewish philosophy — History. I. Title.  b755.g57 2013  181′.06 — dc23 2012027759

Printed in the United States of America 15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1 First edition

c o n t e n t s

Acknowledgments

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Introduction: Disciplining Philosophy and the Invention of Modern Jewish Thought

Hellenes, Nazarenes, and Other Jews: Heine the Fool

Jewish Philosophy? The Discourse of a Project Inside /Outside the University: Philosophy as Way and Problem in Cohen, Buber, and Rosenzweig A House of One’s Own? University, Particularity, and the Jewish House of Learning Jewish Thought in the Wake of Auschwitz: Margarete Susman’sThe Book of Job and the Destiny of the Jewish People Contradiction Set Free: Hermann Levin Goldschmidt’s Philosophy out of the Sources of Judaism

Spinoza’s Smart Worm and the Interplay of Ethics, Politics, and Interpretation Jewish Philosophers and the Enlightenment State, Sovereignty, and the Outside Within: Mendelssohn’s View from the “Jewish Colony” Mendelssohn and the State “An Experiment of How Coincidence May Produce Unanimity of Thoughts”: Enlightenment Trajectories in Kant and Mendelssohn Coda

Notes Index

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133 150

178 189

210 230

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a c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

Jewish philosophy? If the question might sound Greek to you, this is no coin- cidence. But it certainly raises a host of questions, such as: In what language, what dialect, does philosophy speak? Can philosophy be translated from one dialect into another without loss — or, possibly, and more interestingly, with what kind of gain? Or is philosophy altogether a reinvention anytime it is translated, whether from one dialect to another or even — and no less consequential—withinthe“same”dialect?Canweevenspeakofphilosophy as a self-identical project over time, or does it, rather, take shape in the form of ever-changing practices commonly referred to under the same rubric? Can the legend about the Greek birth of philosophy be sustained, and at what cost? Can there be a local birthplace of the universal? Can there be many, and can we keep them apart? These are only some of the questions that reside at the center of the re- emergence of the discussion concerning Jewish philosophy. But as the con- texts change, so do the stakes and implications. The discourse on Jewish phi- losophy can assume very different roles according to the settings in which it takes place. From declarations of assertion to acts of complete denial, the scene can change dramatically. Oddly enough and regardless of whether at- titudes are positively or negatively inclined, the discourse follows the same dictate of submission to the rule of exclusion. And curiously, challenges of this exclusionary thrust find reiterations even in some of the best-intended in- stances of the critical interventions. For as long as the strategic use of identity remains under the sign of the threat of falling back into a questionable form of essentialism, the exclusionary thrust of this discourse seems perniciously to persist. This book took shape as an exploration of what the projects of Jewish phi- losophers might have in common and the idea that their family resemblances

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might help us understand each of these philosophers’ projects more precisely. The claim that there is a Jewish philosophy — or once had been but in moder- nity has become a thing of the past —has overshadowed a critical understand- ing and tends to obscure the very question of the legitimacy of the claim itself. Demonstrating a consistent and continuing resistance to any sort of classifica- tion under any category such as Jewish philosophy, philosophers from Spi- noza and Mendelssohn to the present challenge rather than encourage the desire for any such quick and easy categorization. Instead, they stubbornly re- fuse easy assimilation to received notions of philosophy as they challenge the vision of academic philosophy as too narrow. Rather, their thought responds to an approach that sees them as articulating alternative ways to comprehend philosophy as an open, and open-ended, project. Viewed this way, Jewish philosophers show a family resemblance that calls for a more accentuated understanding of how their projects relate to one an- other and to philosophy as their common project. As a result, their interven- tions become more clearly legible as we attend to the particular historical and systematic contexts in which they engage, an engagement whose pointedly philosophic impulse the discourse of the discipline of philosophy often seems to fail to register. The changing and always historically specific contexts de- mand critical attention not just for historical interest but because it is in and through the specificity of these contexts that these Jewish philosophers de- velop alternatives for rethinking the project of philosophy anew. This book, just like any idea, is the result of many conversations and ex- changes. To some degree it would be futile even to begin to try to list all the people and all the many instances and occasions that led to what has now turned into a book. This book would never have been conceived were it not for the profound impact that the work, thought, and friendship of Hermann Levin Goldschmidt have meant and continue to mean for me. It was in the attempt to contextualize the critical thrust of Goldschmidt’s thought that I first began to understand that contextualizing his work meant comprehend- ing the particular relationship between Jewish philosophy and philosophy as an academic discipline, a relationship that, ultimately, defines the challenge of the project of philosophy itself. Having completed the book, I now more fully appreciate the range to which this impact applies. If a book is a repository of discussions, this one owes much to many years of inspiring conversations with David Suchoff, Susan Shapiro, Nils Roemer, and Bob Gibbs. Aamir Mufti and Robbie Shilliam were both crucial in help- ing me to better understand the deeper significance that postcolonial theory

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can have for rethinking the issue of Jewish philosophy. I thank Arthur Rip- stein and Ernie Weinrib for having opened my eyes to the striking deeper consistency of Kant’s legal and political thought. Martin Kavka has been a perceptive and graciously supportive reader. His unflagging support and his suggestions for revisions have shown me how to real- ize more of the potential he so generously was willing to discern. Oliver Leaman has been an equally generous reader, as has been Moshe Idel. No less important were those anonymous early readers like the one who categorically crushed the idea of the book as a whole and made me better understand the virulence of the issues that drive the debate. Equally, the readers for two major journals who wholeheartedly rejected the concluding chapter on Kant and Mendelssohn helped me understand how this book’s agenda points far beyond the confines of academic pastime. Alas, we will never learn whose the negative voices are, and so acknowledgments are always restricted to naming those we know. Chapter 3 is based on the essay “‘Gibt es eine jüdische Philosophie?’ Zur Problematik eines Topos,” which first appeared inBabylon1994/95 and in a slightly expanded version inPerspektiven der Dialogik: Zürcher Kolloquium zu Ehren H.L.GoldschmidtsPassagen, 1994), 89 –110. I thank the fol- (Vienna: lowing presses for granting the right to reprint or translate chapters published earlier: Passagen Verlag for granting permission to translate my essay “Uni- versität, Partikularität und das jüdische Lehrhaus” inDas Modell des jüdischen Lehrhausedited by Evelyn Adunka (Vienna: Passagen, 1999), 47–59 for Chap- ter 5; Cambridge University Press for granting permission to reprint parts of my essay “The Enlightenment” of Chapter 9, published inThe Cambridge History of Jewish Philosophy: The Modern Era, Volume 2(2012), 35–74, edited by Martin Kavka, Zachary Braiterman, and David Novak; Routledge for grant- ing permission to reprint parts of Chapter 10 first published as “Voices from the ‘Jewish Colony’: State, Power, Sovereignty, and the Outside Within” in Non-Western Thought and International Relations: Retrieving the Global Context of Investigations of Modernity, edited by Robbie Shilliam (London: Routledge, 2010), 64 – 84; The Johns Hopkins University Press for granting permission to reprint “Mendelssohn and the State,” published inModern Language Notes 122:3 (April 2007): 472– 92. Chapter 12 appeared first in German in a special Moses Mendelssohn theme issue oftext+ kritik– 98. All texts 5 (2011): 78 have been revised and shortened or expanded for the purpose of the architec- ture of the book. I also thank my editor and the Editorial Director of Fordham University Press, Helen Tartar, for her unwavering support, understanding, and encour-