Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Shibboleth: Judges, Derrida, Celan [Toc], Marc Redfield

Philosophy & Theory

In the Book of Judges, the Gileadites use the word shibboleth to target and kill members of a closely related tribe, the Ephraimites, who cannot pronunce the initial shin phoneme. In modern European languages, shibboleth has come to mean a hard-to-falsify sign that winnows identities, and establishes and confirms borders; it has also acquired the ancillary meanings of slogan or cliché. The semantic field of shibboleth thus seems keyed to the waning of the logos in an era of technical reproducibility—to the proliferation of technologies and practices of encryption, decryption, exclusion and inclusion that saturate modern life. In the context …

At Wit's End: The Deadly Discourse On The Jewish Joke [Table Of Contents], Louis Kaplan

Sociology

Scholarly and thought-provoking work that places Jewish humor at the center of a discourse about Jewish and German relations through most of the 20th century

At Wit’s End explores the fascinating discourse on Jewish wit in the twentieth century when the Jewish joke became the subject of serious humanistic inquiry and inserted itself into the cultural and political debates among Germans and Jews against the ideologically-charged backdrop of anti-Semitism, the Jewish question, and the Holocaust.

The first in-depth study to explore the Jewish joke as a crucial rhetorical figure in larger cultural debates in Germany, author Louis Kaplan presents …

Kiez Kieken: Observations Of Berlin, Vol. 2, Spring 2018, Maria Ebner, Paula Begonja, Evan Biancardi, Elodie Huston, Mckenna Lahr, Sophie Lee, Mackenzie Norton, Ann Pekata, Catherine Rabus, Timothy Uy

Modern Languages and Literatures Student Publications

With this journal Kiez kieken: Observations of Berlin the students’ articles of the course Berlin Tales: Germany’s Kiez and Metropolis taught by Prof. Maria Ebner are being published to open up classroom discourse to a broader academic community. Topics have been chosen individually by each student and involved first-hand fieldwork research in Berlin, Germany, between March 21^st and March 28^th of 2018 as well as continuous individual research throughout the course of the semester.

Heidegger And Hölderlin On Aether And Life, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Aftermath, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Aftermath

The question after any disaster is the question of what remains and that, to the extent that there is still something that remains, is the question of life. It is life that is the question after Auschwitz—how go on, how write poetry, how philosophize? What is called thinking after Heidegger? Are we still inclined to thinking, after Heidegger? And what of logic? What of history? And what of science? In addition, we may ask after ethical implications, including questions bearing on anti-Semitism, but also issues of misogyny, as well as Heidegger’s critical questions concerning technology and concerning animal life …

Nietzsches Lyrik. Archilochus, Musik, Metrik, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

The ‘New’ Heidegger, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

If discussion of “new” approaches to Martin Heidegger contradicts Heidegger’s own indictment of the passion for “novelty” in philosophy, today’s Black Notebooks scandal reminds us of the ontic problem of new news. Indeed the backwards working evidence of the notebooks kept before, during, and after WWII both vindicates and problematizes his notion of temporality temporalizing from the future -- lapsing into the past -- setting up what is now regarded as patent in the present. Simultaneously, we see that if heretofore many philosophers of technology sought to dismiss engagement with Heidegger’s critique of technology, these critical contributions turn out to …

Nietzsche’S Zarathustra And Parodic Style: On Lucian’S Hyperanthropos And Nietzsche’S Übermensch, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

It is well-known that as a term, Nietzsche’s Übermensch derives from Lucian of Samosata’s hyperanthropos. I argue that Zarathustra’s teaching of the overman acquires new resonances by reflecting on the context of that origination from Lucian’s Kataplous – literally, “sailing into port” – referring to the soul’s journey (ferried by Charon, guided by Hermes) into the afterlife. The Kataplous he tyrannos, usually translated Downward Journey or The Tyrant, is a Menippean satire of the “overman” who is imagined to be superior to others of “lesser” station in this-worldly life and the same tyrant after his (comically unwilling) …

Future Past: The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra And Eternity Or What Is The Weight Of The Greatest Heavy Weight?, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Philosophische Figuren, Frauen Und Liebe: Zu Nietzsche Und Lou, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

On Nietzsche’S Judgment Of Style And Hume’S Quixotic Taste: On The Science Of Aesthetics And ‘Playing’ The Satyr, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

This essay reviews Nietzsche’s discussion of scholarly judgments of style beginning with his own inaugural lecture at Basel together with David Hume’s stylistic reflections in Hume's “On the Standard of Taste.” This casts light both on the context and the substance of Nietzsche’s own scholarly concern with the question of style and taste in terms of what Nietzsche called the “science of aesthetics” and consequently of scholarly judgment in both classics (or classical philology, here including archaeology and historiography) and philosophy. I also include a brief discussion of Nietzsche’s phenomenological performance practice of dance or playing the “satyr.”

Kiez Kieken: Observations Of Berlin, Vol. 1, Spring 2012, Maria Ebner, Annie Buckel, James Hollingsworth, Caroline Inzucchi, Matthew Kasper, Kingsley Lasbrey, Alexander Macleod, Sean Maguire, Leila Nabizadeh, Kathryn Reddy, Peter Scherer, Kelsey Taormina

Modern Languages and Literatures Student Publications

With this journal Kiez kieken: Observations of Berlin the students’ articles of the course Berlin Tales: Germany’s Kiez and Metropolis taught by Prof. Maria Ebner are being published to open up classroom discourse to a broader academic community. Topics have been chosen individually by each student and involved first-hand fieldwork research in Berlin, Germany, between March 10th and March 17th of 2012 as well as continuous individual research throughout the course of the semester.

Geworfenheit Und Prometheische Scham Im Zeitalter Der Transhumanen Kybernetik Technik Und Machenschaft Bei Martin Heidegger, Fritz Lang Und Günther Anders, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Untersucht werden soll hier die Wirkung Heideggers auf Günther Anders. Dabei spiegelt Anders eine ganze Etappe Wirkungsgeschichte, denn er war Schüler von Husserl sowie von Paul Tillich – und zudem, vielleicht am wichtigsten, weil diese Beziehung die schwierigste ist, auch von Theodor W. Adorno.2 Günther Anders, der damals noch Günther Stern hieß, könnte eigentlich als eine Art Verkörperung der Phänomenologie gelten, war doch gerade er sowohl hermeneutisch geschult als auch ein früher Anhänger der Frankfurter Schule – als beide noch in anfänglichem Glanz und Fülle strahlten. Eigentlich aber reden wir gar nicht über Heidegger und seine Schüler, außer in der …

The Birth Of Kd Lang’S Hallelujah Out Of The ‘Spirit Of Music’: Performing Desire And ‘Recording Consciousness’ On Facebook And Youtube, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

The Philosopher And The Volcano, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Nietzsche's Zarathustra echoes Empedocles' as orator or speaker especially if reviewed in terms of Empedocles' esoteric Katharmoi or Purifications. This essay reads Zarathustra teaching of the eternal return of the same as the teaching of going to ground, that is: death and rebirth, arguing that death is present at the start and already at work in the section entitled The Adder's Bite. Indeed it is the explicit subtext of the overman.

Like Empedocles, Nietzsche's Zarathustra tells us that the human being is something that should be overcome. and thus it makes a difference that we hear Zarathustra proclaim this teaching …

Le Zarathoustra De Nietzsche Et Le Style Parodique. A Propos De L’Hyperanthropos De Lucien Et Du Surhomme De Nietzsche, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Abstract

Nietzsche’s Übermensch is derived from Lucian of Samosata’s term hyperanthropos. I argue that Zarathustra’s teaching of the overman acquires new resonances in the context of that terminological origination in Lucian’s Kataplous — literally: sailing into port — referring to the journey of the soul into the afterlife, as escorted by Hermes and ferried by Charon along with myriads of others facing the same fate. The Kataplous he tyrannos, a title usually rendered as the Downward Journey (or The Tyrant), is a Menippean satire telling the tale of the “overman” supposed superior to others of “lesser” station in …

Zu Nietzsches Statuen: Skulptur Und Das Erhabene, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Metaphern aus dem Feld der Bildhauerein kommen überraschend oft bei Nietzsche vor: von der Statue als einem Ideal von Unweglichkeit ebenso wie von der Skulptur als einer Metapher der Selbst-Darstellung, bis hin zu Nietzsches ikonoklastischer Klärung: wie mit dem Hammer zu philosophieren sei.

In Bezug auf die griechische Platik sowie Nietzsche’s Texte argumentiert die Autorin mit Nietzsche gegen eine damals und noch heute weit verbreitete Auffassung, wonach wir solche Statuen fast unvermeidlich aus einem jüdisch-christlichen Gesichtspunkt betrachten. Außerdem geht sie besonders ein auf Nietzsches Beschwörung der Skulptur in dem Zarathustra-Abschnitt Von den Erhabenen.

Nietzsche And Lou, Eros And Art : On Lou’S Triangles And The « Exquisite Dream » Of Sacro Monte, Babette Babich

Research Resources

No abstract provided.

Adorno On Science And Nihilism, Animals, And Jews, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No less than Heidegger or Nietzsche, Adorno had his own critical notions of truth/untruth. But Adorno’s readers are unsettled by the barest hint of anything that might be taken to be anti-science. Thus it is argued that Adorno opposes not science but scientism. But, and here not unlike Arendt, Adorno argued that so-called “scientistic” tendencies are the very conditions of society and of scientific thought.” I ask how we are to read Adorno by exploring his thought on animals and nihilism.

Technik Und Machenschaft Bei Martin Heidegger Und Günther Anders. Mit Einigen Bemerkungen Zu Ray Kurzweils Urknall, Babette Babich

Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Minhag And Migration: A Yiddish Custom Book From Venice, 1553, Lucia Raspe

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation focuses on a Yiddish book of customs written in Venice in the mid-sixteenth century, which describes synagogue and home observances over the course of the Jewish year. Comparing MS Oxford Can. Or. 12 to the fifteenth-century Hebrew custumal it is based on (MS Frankfurt hebr. oct. 227), the presentation will discuss the efforts of Ashkenazic émigrés to northern Italy trying to preserve their identity in the face of a Jewish world suddenly become complex.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Book of Customs (MS Frankfurt hebr. oct. 227)
• Book of Customs (MS Oxford Can. Or. 12)

"Thus Spoke Zarathustra" Or Nietzsche And Hermeneutics In Gadamer, Lyotard, And Vattimo, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Apart from reading Nietzsche's words on his characterization as an educator in suspicion with some suspicion, what does Nietzsche offer hermeneutics? This essay takes up this question by talking about the politics of interpretation, hermeneutics, and genealogy. In the process, we can address Lyotard's enthusiastic fealty to technology and offer yet once more requiem for the postmodern, understood here through (and hence contra) Lyotard as the simulacrum of communication that is the internet.

Ex Aliquo Nihil: Nietzsche On Science And Modern Nihilism. Acpq, 84-2 (Spring 2010): 231-256., Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

This essay explores the nihilistic coincidence of the ascetic ideal and Nietzsche’s localization of science in the conceptual world of anarchic socialism as Nietzsche indicts the uncritical convictions of modern science by way of a critique of the causa sui, questioning both religion and the enlightenment as well as both free and unfree will and condemning the “poor philology” enshrined in the language of the “laws” of nature. Reviewing the history of philosophical nihilism in the context of Nietzsche’s “tragic knowledge” along with political readings of nihilism, willing nothing rather than not willing at all, today’s this-worldly and very planetary …

Le Sort Du Nachlass : Le Problème De L’Œuvre Posthume, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Discussion of Heidegger's Nachlass as composed in the wake of his editorial experience working on the edition of Nietzsche's works. Issues explored include the role of the editor (or editors) in the work of an author (reception, legitimation, etc.) Features a discussion of the distinctive aspects of the different language versions of Nietzsche's Will to Power first in German, then in French, then in English. Text is in French.

Please use this citation:

Babette Babich, «Le sort du Nachlass : le problème de l’œuvre posthume», in : Pascale Catherine Hummel, ed., Mélivres / Misbooks. Études sur l’envers et les travers …

Broadsheet Of Koheles Shlomo: Beney Israel Rahmanim Vegomley Hasadim (1738), Shalhevet Dotan-Ofir

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This is a translation of a 1738 Broadsheet of Koheles Shlomo "Beney Israel rahmanim vegomley hasadim"

Early Modern Yiddish Readers: Immoderately Addicted To Rhyme?, Ruth Von Bernuth

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Roughly one third of Old Yiddish literature is based on traceable European literary sources, mainly German. Given how close Old Yiddish is to Early New High German, some of these Old Yiddish texts with European sources feel like mere transcriptions, others more like legitimate translations and yet others more like free adaptations. From the Yiddish reader's perspective, the texts become accessible through transcription into Hebrew characters and more accessible the more that the translator engages the text as representative Jewish reader. A large proportion of these Yiddish books with German sources are prose novels–a genre newly popular with German readers …

Greek Bronze: Holding A Mirror To Life, Expanded Reprint From The Irish Philosophical Yearbook 2006: In Memoriam John J. Cleary 1949-2009, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

To explore the ethical and political role of life-sized bronzes in ancient Greece, as Pliny and others report between 3,000 and 73,000 such statues in a city like Rhodes, this article asks what these bronzes looked like. Using the resources of hermeneutic phenomenological reflection, as well as a review of the nature of bronze and casting techniques, it is argued that the ancient Greeks encountered such statues as images of themselves in agonistic tension in dynamic and political fashion. The Greek saw, and at the same time felt himself regarded by, the statue not as he believed the statue divine …

Zu Nietzsches Stil, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Das Thema von Nietzsches Stil ist hier sowohl von Bedeutung als Frage nach dem Wesen jenes Stils wie auch als Frage danach, was er in philosophischer, nicht einfach in asthetischer oder literarischer Hinsicht erreicht hat. Hier wird nachgelegt, dass die Kunst des Lesens, die technische Kunst des hörens als eine Art des Hörens in einer philosophischen Seinsweise zu verstehen sei. Damit setzt sie nicht allein eine diskursive Kunst musikalischen Gespürs seitens des schreibenden, sondern eigentlich auch seitens des Lesenden voraus. Untersucht wird vor allem, Nietzsches Aphorismos im Rahmen des Antisemitismus. Diese außerordentlich komplexe innere Ausrichtung von Nietzsches Stil ist die …

Ad Jacob Taubes, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Who Is Zarathustra’S Nietzsche?, David B. Allison

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

With the appearance of Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the work immediately following that — particularly, in Book Five of The Gay Science and in the 1886 Prefaces to the Second Edition of his works, there emerges a remarkably transformed sense of Nietzsche’s own self-awareness, a turn, based on his own autocritique, that basically works as a form of self-therapy — enabling him to grasp the really binding purchase the social symbolic has on the individual. In submitting himself to this autocritique, he first raises the question as to its possiblity, and then proceeds to effectuate it in a rather …