How to Measure a World?: A Philosophy of Judaism

259 Pages·2021·1.609 MB·English

by  Martin Shuster

How to Measure a World?
New Jewish Philosophy and Thought
Zachary J. Braiterman
MARTIN SHUSTER
How to Measure a World?
a philosophy of judaism
indiana university press
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress . org
© 2021 by Martin Shuster
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher. The paper used in this publication
meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard
for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2021
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Shuster, Martin, author.
Title: How to measure a world? : a philosophy of Judaism /
Martin Shuster.
Description: Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2021. | Series: New
Jewish philosophy and thought | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020027348 (print) | LCCN 2020027349 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780253054531 (hardback) | ISBN 9780253054548 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780253054555 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Judaism—Philosophy. | Jewish philosophy—
21st century.
Classification: LCC BM565 .S463 2021 (print) | LCC BM565 (ebook) |
DDC 181/.06—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020027348
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020027349
For Lev and Amilia—
May the world be worthy of you, and you of it.
הבהאה־תא תובכל ולכוי אל םיבר םימ

contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
I.
Having a World
§ 1. Wonder and World: Maimonides’s Phenomenology 29
§ 2. Suffering and World: Adorno’s Negativity 73
II.
Preconditions of Having a World
§ 3. History and World: Benjamin and Adorno on Ethical Depth 119
§ 4. Language and World: Levinas and Cavell on
Ethical Foundations 158
Conclusion 202
Works Cited 209
Index 239
vii

acknowledgments
The ideas that make up the argument of this book have
evolved over the last decade, and there are a great many
people to thank. Above all, I have benefited from being able
to present this material at several colleges and universities,
namely Furman University, the Johns Hopkins University,
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Lehigh University, Ham-
ilton College, Avila University, Fordham University, Marl-
boro College, and the University of Nevada. I have also
benefited from the opportunity to present this material at the
American Academy of Religion, the Association for Jewish
Studies, the Levinas Research Circle, the North American
Levinas Society, and the Society for Continental Philosophy
in a Jewish Context.
In addition to the various audience members in attendance
at all these presentations, I have also benefited especially
from encounters with Deborah Achtenberg, Steven Affeldt,
David Armstrong, Jenny Astin, Wes Atkinson, Nancy Bauer,
Gordon Bearn, Tahl Ben-Yehuda, Bettina Bergo, Jeffrey
Bernstein, Zak Braiterman, Sharon Brous, Martijn Bujis,
Emily-Jane Cohen, Mercy Corredor, Drew Dalton, Julia Kol-
chinsky Dasbach, Hent de Vries, Tarek Dika, Kathryn Doran,
Oona Eisenstadt, Richard Eldridge, Lizzie Finnegan, Eckart
Förster, Xandy Frisch, Samir Gandesha, Daniela Ginsburg,
Lara Giordano, David Glickman, Peter Gordon, Tim Gould,
Lisa Guenther, Luc Gutiérrez, Espen Hammer, Annabel
Herzog, Dana Hollander, Alex Host, Aaron Hughes, Owen
ix