Jews Out of the Question: A Critique of Anti-Anti-Semitism

In post-Holocaust philosophy, anti-Semitism has come to be seen as a paradigmatic political and ideological evil. Jews Out of the Question examines the role that opposition to anti-Semitism has played in shaping contemporary political philosophy. Elad Lapidot argues that post-Holocaust philosophy identifies the fundamental, epistemological evil of anti-Semitic thought not in thinking against Jews, but in thinking of Jews. In other words, what philosophy denounces as anti-Semitic is the figure of "the Jew" in thought. Lapidot reveals how, paradoxically, opposition to anti-Semitism has generated a rejection of Jewish thought in post-Holocaust philosophy. Through critical readings of political philosophers such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Sartre, Arendt, Badiou, and Nancy, the book contends that by rejecting Jewish thought, the opposition to anti-Semitism comes dangerously close to anti-Semitism itself, and at work in this rejection, is a problematic understanding of the relations between politics and thought--a troubling political epistemology. Lapidot's critique of this political epistemology is the book's ultimate aim.

Author: Elad Lapidot
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 07/02/2021
Pages: 340
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.76d
ISBN13: 9781438480442
ISBN10: 143848044X
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Anthropology | Cultural & Social
- Philosophy | Political
- Religion | Judaism | General

About the Author
Elad Lapidot is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bern in Switzerland. He is coeditor (with Micha Brumlik) of Heidegger and Jewish Thought: Difficult Others.

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