Yovel, Y: Dark Riddle

Y Yovel

ISBN 10: 0745620337 / ISBN 13: 9780745620336

Published by Polity Press, 1998

About this Item

aeo A highly original study of the ways in which Hegel and Nietzsche addressed Judaism and the question of the Jew . aeo The book argues that both authors were deeply ambivalent about Judaism and shows, at the same time, that their views were much more co.

Seller Inventory # 594929361

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Yovel, Y: Dark Riddle
• Publisher: Polity Press
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745620337
• ISBN 13: 9780745620336
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

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 its opponent; Hegel was a Christian thinker and Nietzsche a self-proclaimed 'Anti-Christ'; Hegel strove to bring modernity to its climax, while Nietzsche wanted to divert the evolution of modernity into completely different paths. In view of these conflicting attitudes and philosophical projects, how did each of them 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 which 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 (born in 1935, Haifa) is an Israeli philosopher and public intellectual. He is Professor Emeritus of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the New School for Social Research in New York. Yovel has also been a political columnist in Israel and a frequent presence in the media. Yovel is a laureate of the Israel Prize in philosophy and officer of the French order of the Palme académique. His books were translated into French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Hebrew, and Japanese.