Language:
English
Year of publication:
1999
Titel der Quelle:
Social Research
Angaben zur Quelle:
66,4 (1999) 1191-1216
Keywords:
Berlin, Isaiah,
;
Antisemitism Philosophy
Abstract:
Juxtaposes the perspectives on nationality and antisemitism of Isaiah Berlin and Hannah Arendt, partly by comparing their views on Benjamin Disraeli and Karl Marx. Their perspectives reflect their different backgrounds and social positions: Berlin favored Disraeli much more than Marx, because Disraeli acknowledged his Jewishness with pride, whereas Marx repressed both his Jewishness and the antisemitism directed at him. Arendt preferred Marx because of his international cry for justice. But both 19th-century figures remained outsiders to the class they championed. For Berlin, Zionism was the answer to the Jewish plight in Europe. Arendt, in the late 1940s, saw the necessity of Zionism but was and remained concerned about the danger that it would lead to chauvinism. Lewis Namier (about whom Berlin wrote an essay) wrote about the worsening plight of Jews in interwar Europe, especially their statelessness. Cocks calls for a new political conclusion to the modern drama of world alienation, to replace nationalism (including Zionism). Presents the problematics of both assimilation and nationalism as answers to antisemitism.
Note:
Especially on the thought of Isaiah Berlin.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink