Dark Riddle: Hegel, Nietzsche, and the Jews
Yovel, Yirmiyahu
ISBN 10: 0271017945 ISBN 13: 9780271017945
Published by Penn State University Press, 1998
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May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0271017945I4N00
Synopsis:
This brilliant and absorbing study examines the image of Judaism and the Jews in the work of two of the most influential modern philosophers, Hegel and Nietzsche. Hegel was a proponent of universal reason and Nietzsche was its opponent; Hegel was a Christian thinker and Nietzsche was a self-proclaimed "Antichrist"; Hegel strove to bring modernity to its climax, and Nietzsche wanted to divert the evolution of modernity into completely different paths. In view of these conflicting attitudes and philosophical projects, how did each assess the historical role of the Jews and their place in the modern world?
The mature Hegel partly overcame the fierce anti-Jewish attitude of his youth yet continued to see Judaism as the alienation of its own new principles. Post-Christian Judaism no longer had a real history, only a contingent protracted existence, and although modern Jews deserved civil rights, Hegel saw no place for them in modernity as Jews.
Nietzsche, on the contrary, who grew to be a passionate anti-anti-Semite, admired Diaspora Jews for their power and depth and assigned them a role as Jews in curing Europe of the decadent Christian culture that their own ancestors, the second-temple Jewish "priests," had inflicted upon Europe by begetting Christianity. The ancient corrupters of Europe are thus to be its present redeemers.
Through his masterly analysis of the writings of Hegel and Nietzsche, Yovel shows that anti-Jewish prejudice can exist alongside a philosophy of reason, while a philosophy of power must not necessarily be anti-Semitic.
About the Author: Yirmiyahu Yovel is Schulman Professor of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hans Jonas Professor at the Graduate Faculty, the New School for Social Research, New York. He is the author of Spinoza and Other Heretics (1989).
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Bibliographic Details
Title: Dark Riddle: Hegel, Nietzsche, and the Jews
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Publication Date: 1998
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket