Philosophy and the Jewish Question
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Philosophy and the Jewish Question ................. 17514$ $$FM 07-31-09 15:20:59 PS PAGE i ................. 17514$ $$FM 07-31-09 15:20:59 PS PAGE ii Philosophy and the Jewish Question Mendelssohn, Rosenzweig, and Beyond Bruce Rosenstock fordham university press new york 2010 ................. 17514$ $$FM 07-31-09 15:20:59 PS PAGE iii Copyright ᭧ 2010 Fordham University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Fordham University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rosenstock, Bruce (Bruce Benjamin) Philosophy and the Jewish question : Mendelssohn, Rosenzweig, and beyond / Bruce Rosenstock. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0-8232–3129–4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Judaism and philosophy. 2. Philosophy, Jewish. 3. Judaism and Politics. 4. Judaism—Doctrines. 5. Mendelssohn, Moses, 1729–1786. 6. Rosenzweig, Franz, 1886–1929. 7. Arendt, Hannah, 1906–1975. 8. Cavell, Stanley, 1926– I. Title. B5800.R675 2010 181Ј.06—dc22 2009021916 Printed in the United States of America 12111054321 First edition ................. 17514$ $$FM 07-31-09 15:20:59 PS PAGE iv For Bertold Rosenstock 1916–1944 May his memory be for a blessing. ................. 17514$ $$FM 07-31-09 15:21:00 PS PAGE v ................. 17514$ $$FM 07-31-09 15:21:00 PS PAGE vi contents List of Abbreviations 000 Acknowledgments 000 Introduction: Mendelssohn and Rosenzweig Beyond 1800 000 1800 • Rosenzweig and Mendelssohn • The Plan of the Book 1. Performing Reason: Mendelssohn on Judaism and Enlightenment 000 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’’ 2. Jacobi and Mendelssohn: The Tragedy of a Messianic Friendship 000 Introduction: Background to the Spinoza Quarrel • Jacobi’s Gnostic Turn • Jacobi vs. ‘‘the Jews of Speculative Reason’’ • Mendelssohn’s Response to Jacobi 3. In the Year of the Lord 1800: Rosenzweig and the Spinoza Quarrel 000 Introduction: Mendelssohn and Jacobi on Revelation • The Hebrew Bible and Paganism Christianity and Paganism: 1800 • Language as the Site of Revelation • Conclusion: Rosenzweig and Jacobi vii ................. 17514$ CNTS 07-31-09 15:21:03 PS PAGE vii viii Contents 4. Reinhold and Kant: The Quest for a New Religion of Reason 000 Overview: Reinhold, Kant, and Hegel Before 1800 • Reinhold: Hebrew Mysteries Unveiled • Kant’s Religion of Sublimity 5. Beautiful Life: Mendelssohn, Hegel, and Rosenzweig 000 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 6. Mendelssohn, Rosenzweig, and Political Theology: Beyond Sovereign Violence 000 Overview • Rosenzweig and Schmitt on the Political • Arendt contra Schmitt: Natality vs. Violence • Mendelssohn’s Political Theology 7. Beyond 1800: An Immigrant Rosenzweig 000 Introduction • Rosenzweig and Cavell on Revelation • Festive Existence: Rosenzweig and Cavell on Redemption • Conclusion Epilogue: Pirates of the Caribbean Once More 000 Notes 000 Bibliography 000 Index 000 ................. 17514$ CNTS 07-31-09 15:21:03 PS PAGE viii abbreviations Fragment G. W. F. Hegel, Systemfragment von 1800 (Fragment of a System from 1800). The German text is found in Hegel 1907: 343–51. The English translation is found in Hegel 1948: 309–19. Citations are to the English trans- lation and the German text. Golgotha J. G. Hamann, Golgotha und Scheblimini! (1784)(Gol- gotha and Scheblimini!). The German text is found in Hamann 1949–57, 3:291–320. The English translation is found in Dunning 1979. Citations are to the English translation and the German text. Hebrew Mysteries K. L. Reinhold, Die Hebra¨ischen Mysterien, oder die a¨lteste religio¨se Freymaurerey (1788)(The Hebrew Mysteries, or the Oldest Religious Freemasonry). The German text is found in Reinhold 2006. Translations are mine throughout. Hegel-Staat F. Rosenzweig, Hegel und der Staat (1920)(Hegel and the State), 2 vols., reprinted in Rosenzweig 1962. Transla- tions are mine throughout. Improvement C. W. Dohm, Ueber die bu¨rgerliche Verbesserung der Juden (On the Civil Improvement of the Jews). The German text is found in Dohm 1781–83. References without a volume number refer to Dohm’s text (1781) in vol. 1; those given in vol. 2 refer to Johann David Michaelis’s 1783 ‘‘Beurtheilung’’ (‘‘Response’’). Trans- lations are mine throughout. Jacobi to Fichte F. H. Jacobi, Jacobi an Fichte (1799)(Jacobi to Fichte). The German text is found in Jacobi 1812–25: 3: 1–57. ix ................. 17514$ ABBR 07-31-09 15:21:05 PS PAGE ix x Abbreviations The English translation is found in Jacobi 1994: 496– 536. Citations are to the English translation and the German text. Jerusalem M. Mendelssohn, Jerusalem, oder u¨ber religio¨se Macht und Judentum (1783)(Jerursalem, or, On Religious Power and Judaism). The German text is reprinted in three ver- sions: JubA 8: 99–204; Mendelssohn 2001; and Mendel- ssohn 2005. The English translation is found in Mendelssohn 1983. Citations are to the English transla- tion and the 1783 German original (pages noted at the head of the JubA reprint and marginally in the Mendel- ssohn 2001 reprint). JubA M. Mendelssohn, Gesammelte Schriften Jubila¨umsausgabe (Collected Works Jubilee Edition). For publication details, see Mendelssohn 1971–90. Kant Letters K. L. Reinhold, Briefe u¨ber die kantische Philosophie (1786–87)(Letters on the Kantian Philosophy). The English translation is found in Reinhold 2005. Little Book F. Rosensweig, Bu¨chlein vom gesunden und kranken Men- schenverstand (Little Book Concerning the Healthy and the Sick Common Sense). The English translation is found in Rosenzweig 1999. Morning Hours M. Mendelssohn, Morgenstunden; oder Vorlesungen u¨ber das Daseyn Gottes (1785)(Morning Hours, or, Lectures on the Existence of God). The German text is reprinted in JubA 3.2:1–175 and is also available online at http:// .Mosesם,www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Mendelssohn Translations are mine throughout. Citations are to the chapters and pages in JubA 3.2. On Things Divine F. H. Jacobi, U¨ ber go¨ttliche Dinge und ihre Offenbarung (1811)(On Things Divine and their Revelation). The German text is found in Jacobi 1812–25: 3:245–460. Translations are mine throughout. PI L. Wittgenstein, Philosophische Untersuchungen (1953) (Philosophical Investigations). The English translation is found in Wittgenstein 1958. ................. 17514$ ABBR 07-31-09 15:21:05 PS PAGE x Abbreviations xi Religion-Reason I. Kant, Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen Vernunft (1793)(Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason). The English translation is found in Kant 1998. Citations are to the English translation and the German Academy edition. Spinoza-Letters F. H. Jacobi, U¨ ber die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn (1785)(Concerning the Doctrine of Spinoza in Letters to Herr Moses Mendelssohn). The English translation is found in Jacobi 1994: 173–251. The German text of all editions published in Jacobi’s lifetime is found in Jacobi 2000. Citations are to the English translation and the German text. Spirit-Fate G. W. F. Hegel, Der Geist des Christentums und sein Schicksal (unpublished ms., dated to 1799)(The Spirit of Christianity and its Fate). The German text is found in Hegel 1907: 243–342. The English translation is found in Hegel 1948: 182–301. Citations are to the English translation and the German text. Star F. Rosenzweig, Der Stern der Erlo¨sung (1821)(The Star of Redemption). The German text of 1921 is reprinted, with original pagination retained, in three versions: Rosenzweig 1976, band 2; Rosenzweig 1988; and online (http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/ 2005/1932/). The English translation is found in Rosenzweig 2005. Citations are to the English transla- tion and the German text. Vorrede M. Mendelssohn, Vorrede . zu des Hrn. Kriegsraths Dohm Abhandlung: Ueber die bu¨rgerliche Verbesserung der Juden (1782)(Preface . to Dohm’s Treatise: On the Civil Improvement of the Jews).The German text is found in JubA 8:1–96. Translations throughout are mine. ................. 17514$ ABBR 07-31-09 15:21:06 PS PAGE xi ................. 17514$ ABBR 07-31-09 15:21:06 PS PAGE xii acknowledgments I owe a debt of gratitude to the Illinois Program for Research in the Hu- manities for providing me a fellowship in 2005–6 that allowed me to take a semester off from teaching and work entirely on this book. The fellows who met weekly to discuss ongoing projects offered immense support. In particular, I would like to thank Professor Matti Bunzl, then the director of the IPRH, for his ongoing encouragement. I would like to thank Professor Robert McKim, chair of the Department of Religion at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, who generously provided me with teaching reduction in the fall semester of 2006. Professor Gary Porton of the Depart- ment of Religion at Illinois was extraordinarily supportive throughout the writing of this book. Without his faith in my project, I could not have brought this book to completion. My daughters Penelope and Sissela were lovingly tolerant of my self- absorption during the writing of this book, and I sincerely beg their forgive- ness for the many, many times that ‘‘just a minute’’ extended into hours. I owe them big time. I could not have written this book without the help of my wife, Harriet Murav.