Language:
English
Year of publication:
2000
Titel der Quelle:
Leo Baeck Institute Year Book
Angaben zur Quelle:
45 (2000) 81-91
Keywords:
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb,
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Antisemitism Philosophy
;
Zionism Philosophy
Abstract:
Deals with the contradiction between the German idealist philosopher Fichte (1762-1814) as an antisemite and as a hero of cultural Zionists, especially among German Jews. One passage from Fichte became a locus classicus of antisemitism. Fichte wrote thus about the Jews: "To give them the rights of citizenship, I see no other way than to cut off all their heads... and to replace them with others in which there is not a single Jewish idea." For the Zionists, Fichte was a great theoretician of the nation state. His stress on national rebirth and the role of national language pointed toward the solution the Zionists were seeking for their national problem. They too wanted, symbolically, to cut off Jewish heads filled with traditional ideas and replace them with ideas for a Jewish renaissance. They failed to perceive that Fichte's mixed legacy of metaphysics and nationalism could lead to chauvinism. Concludes that although Fichte was only a minor antisemite, he still helped pave the way for genocidal antisemitism. Like his fellow idealist philosophers, he was very advanced in his ethical-philosophical thinking but remained imprisoned by the antisemitic prejudices of his time.
DOI:
10.1093/leobaeck/45.1.81
URL:
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