Erich Unger's "Der Universalismus Des Hebraertums"

Erich Unger's "Der Universalismus des Hebraertums"

Translated by Esther J. Ehrman

Introduction

Erich Unger, a leading intellectual in Berlin after World War I, can be seen as a European philosopher conscious of the Judaic dimension in Western thought. His writings show that he responded to many varied philosophical trends around him, to Nietzsche in Germany, to Levy-Bruhl and to Sartre in France, to the logical positivists in England. His own thinking, however, retained certain pivotal anchors, some of which he had developed together with his friend and one time mentor, Oskar Goldberg. Unger looked to philosophy to reach out into areas beyond the scope of reason, using the cognitive function called "imagination." Strictly disciplined and guided by reason, a "rational mysticism" might apprehend laws of the universe, principles, values and being in that universe. He thought it impor- tant to examine this sphere and to discover how it relates to the empirical world, the world of physics and, especially, to the biological forces of the world. It was equally vital to him to study the ethical significance of the relation of the empirical world to that other, the extended natural (not a supernal) world. At the same time, Unger was working on formulations of what he saw as the inclusiveness of philosophical truths. Thus, equal value cannot be accorded to every principle simply because it exists, though a principle cannot be denied existence simply because it does not fit into a particular vision. Readers will find echoes of such ideas below; In Berlin, Unger and Goldberg gathered about them a significant section of the intelligentsia of the nineteen twenties. At weekly meetings, up to fifty people would debate the latest developments in science, philosophy, litera- ture or mathematics. Poets, journalists, writers in every field participated. Among those who attended occasionally were Walter Benjamin and the young Gershom Scholem. Here Benjamin heard Unger outline one of his books, Politik und Metapf?ysik, and wrote to Scholem that, in his opinion, this seemed to be "the most significant work on politics in our time." We know from the Benjamin-Scholem correspondence that Benjamin had enlisted Unger for his projected periodical, ''Angelus Novus." Benjamin and Unger had much in common; Benjamin and Goldberg very little. Scholem had received a personal rebuff from Goldberg---one that clearly offended him

271 272 Esther j Ehrman bitterly since, some thirty years later he related how Goldberg had called him a "Modephilosoph" (fashion philosopher). Here Scholem had the last word, since it was he who wrote the entry on O. Goldberg in the Enryclope- dia Judaica. Unger's career came to an abrupt end with the advent of the Nazis. Then in his forties, he understood the direction that events were taking in Ger- many and left with his family in the summer of 1933, to lead the frustrating life of an immigrant in France. Seeing the danger signals there in 1937, he went on to England, where he died in 1950. The essay that follows here is part of the ongoing confrontation between Goldberg and Unger on the one hand and Scholem on the other. Scholem had written a long letter about Goldberg and his ideas to Benjamin in 1928, the year in which Scholem wrote his essay on Cardozo and Sabbateanism. The letter was apparently passed around by Benjamin. A copy of it was in Goldberg's hands; it is among his papers. Manfred Voigts, in his book, Oskar Goldberg, der mythische Experimentalwissenschciftler (Berlin, 1992), which devotes one chapter to Unger and one to the philosophical group in Berlin, suggests that Unger's essay was written to provoke Scholem to a public discussion.

Biographical Note M. Voigts has published an edition of Unger's Politik und Metapl!Jsik (Konigs- hausen & Neumann, Wurzburg, 1989) with a fairly extensive bibliography, also a collection of early essays by Unger, VOm Expressionismus zum A1ythos des Hebraertums (Konigshausen & Neumann, Wurzburg, 1992) in which the present essay "Der Universalismus des Hebraertums," probably written in 1929/30, appeared in print for the first time. The translation here is by Unger's daughter, Dr. E. J. Ehrman. Most particular thanks are due to Professor Elliot Wolfson for constant and invaluable advice on making the somewhat intractable German text accessible to the contemporary reader.

E. UNGER: Universalism in Hebraism

Philosopf?y and Kabbalah The posltlon of O. Goldberg in The Reali!J r!f the Hebrews discussed in response to The Theology r!f Sabbateanism as seen I!J Abraham Cardozo by G. Scholem.

1. The Theology of Sabbateanism according to G. Scholem In a special issue of Der Jude in honor of Martin Buber on his fiftieth birth- day, G. Scholem evokes the religious mentality of Sabbateanism-the Messi- anic movement of Jews of the seventeenth century. The conclusion to his