REL 204(S) Modern Jewish Thought: Judaism, Literature and the Political

What is the relation between Judaism and politics? Is there a Jewish political theory, a body of such theories? Answering this question historically and responsibly requires a definition of the terms involved, the usefulness of which may well elude us precisely because such definition would have to be historically specific. Yet the question itself is a modern one. Indeed, if, as some have argued, modernity "returned" Judaism to history-understood as political history-how and where do the reflections on this return take place? How did they change previous conceptions of Judaism? And what is the role, place, or function allocated to literature in these reflections? This course asks how and where twentieth century German-Jewish thinkers, who have questioned the modern understanding of politics, theorize what qualifies as political, and how this theorization relates to their views on literature, Judaism, and Zionism. We will address the rethinking of the state and of sovereignty, the critique of violence, and of totalitarianism, and the place of history, theology, and religion in the shaping of these terms, the distinct ways in which these issues were raised by thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, Franz Rosenzweig, Hannah Arendt, and Leo Strauss, as well as the relations they had with the work of the German political theorist Carl Schmitt. We will also extend our discussion to the related but more current notions of "the political" and Judaism in the writings of Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Jean-Luc Nancy, The first goal of the class will be to familiarize ourselves with the early and important body of texts that emerged in Germany, and to consider how central their reflections have been for modern political theory. As the focus of our discussion, we will ask the following questions: How is the space of the political constituted? How does it differ from ethics and how does it relate to art-"The political renders the ethical invisible" writes John Llewelyn -? How does each of these thinkers' "path" to Judaism lengthen or shorten the distance to politics and to political actions? What are the figures of Judaism that emerge from their reflections? Readings will include Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, Walter Benjamin, "Critique of Violence," Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political, Leo Strauss, "Notes on The Concept of the Political," Philosophy and Law, Jacques Derrida, Force of Law. Requirements: full attendance and participation, written comments on weekly readings, leading of class discussion (twice over the course of the semester), final paper. Lecture and discussion. Open to all classes without prerequisite. (This course is part of the new Jewish Studies cluster.)

Hour: ANIDJAR