The Twilight of Reason: Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer and Levinas Tested by the Catastrophe

by Orietta Ombrosi

Overview

“Think of the disaster” is the first injunction of thought when faced with the disaster that struck European Jews during the Shoah. Thinking of the disaster means understanding why the Shoah was able to occur in civilized Europe, moulded by humane reason and the values of progress and enlightenment. It means thinking of a possibility for philosophy’s future. Walter Benjamin, who wrestled with these problems ahead of time, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Emmanuel Levinas had the courage, the strength and the perception—and sometimes simply the desperation—to think about what had happened. Moved by indignation and the desire to testify, they felt the urgent need to address the cries of agony of Auschwitz’s victims in their thinking.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936235759
Publisher:	Academic Studies Press
Publication date:	10/01/2011
Series:	Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Orietta Ombrosi (PhD University of Paris X-Nanterre) is assistant professor of moral philosophy at the Sapienza, University of Rome. She is the author of Le crépuscule de la raison. Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer et Levinas à l’épreuve de la Catastrophe, (Hermann, 2007) and L’umano ritrovato. Saggio su Emmanuel Levinas (Marietti, 2010), and the editor of Tra Torah e Sophia. Orizzonti e frontiere della filosofia ebraica (Marietti, 2011).