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

396 Pages·2009·1.8 MB·English

by  Bruce Rosenstock

PhilosophyandtheJewishQuestion

Philosophy
and the
Jewish Question
Mendelssohn,Rosenzweig,andBeyond
Bruce Rosenstock
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 I 0
Copyright © 2010 Fordham University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosenstock, Bruce (Bruce Benjamin)
Philosophy and the Jewish question : Mendelssohn,
Rosenzweig, and beyond / Bruce Rosenstock.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8232-3129-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Judaism and philosophy. 2. Philosophy, Jewish. 3.
Judaism and Politics. 4. Judaism—Doctrines. 5. Mendelssohn,
Moses, 1729-1786. 6. Rosenzweig, Franz, 1886-1929. 7.
Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975. 8. Cavell, Stanley, 1926- I. Title.
B5800.R675 2010
181’.06—dc22
2009021916
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1
First edition
For
Bertold Rosenstock
1916–1944
May his memory be for a blessing.


List of Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Mendelssohn and Rosenzweig Beyond  
 • Rosenzweig and Mendelssohn • T he Plan of the Book
. Performing Reason: Mendelssohn on Judaism and
Enlightenment 
Introduction • Jewish “Civil Improvement” • Jerusalem:
Philosophy against Despotism • Mendelssohn’s
Expressivism • Writing and Mendelssohn’s Dialectic of
Enlightenment • Mendelssohn and Wittgenstein’s Private
Language Argument • Mendelssohn’s Defense of Jewish
Interiority • Mendelssohn on Judaism as a “Living Script”
. Jacobi and Mendelssohn: The Tragedy of a Messianic
Friendship 
Introduction: Background to the Spinoza Quarrel • Jacobi’s
Gnostic Turn • Jacobi vs, “the Jews of Speculative Reason”
• Mendelssohn’s Response to Jacobi
. In the Year of the Lord : Rosenzweig and the Spinoza
Quarrel 
IInnttrroodduucction: Mendelssohn and Jacobi on Revelation • The
Hebrew Bible and Paganism • Christianity and Paganism:
 • Language as the Site of Revelation • Conclusion:
Rosenzweig and Jacobi
vii
viii Contents
. Reinhold and Kant: The Quest for a New Religion of Reason 
Overview: Reinhold, Kant, and Hegel Before  •
Reinhold: Hebrew Mysteries Unveiled • Kant’s Religion of
Sublimity
. Beautiful Life: Mendelssohn, Hegel, and Rosenzweig 
Introduction: Reading through Hegel • Infinite Life,
Judaism, and Christian Fate • The Last Supper Once More
• Hegel’s Children • Rosenzweig’s Children • Art and Hope:
The Sorrows of Christian Life
. Mendelssohn, Rosenzweig, and Political Theology: Beyond
Sovereign Violence 
Overview • Rosenzweig and Schmitt on the Political •
Arendt contra Schmitt: Natality vs. Violence •
Mendelssohn’s Political Theology
. Beyond : An Immigrant Rosenzweig 
Introduction • Rosenzweig and Cavell on Revelation •
Festive Existence: Rosenzweig and Cavell on Redemption •
Conclusion
Epilogue: Pirates of the Caribbean Once More 
NNootteess 
Bibliography 
Index 