Art and Responsibility

Two German philosophers working during the Weimar Republic in Germany, between the two World Wars, produced seminal texts that continue to resonate almost a hundred years later. Franz Rosenzweig—a Jewish philosopher, and Martin Heidegger—a philosopher who at one time was studying to become a Catholic priest, each in their own, particular way include in their writings powerful philosophies of art that, if approached phenomenologically and ethically, provide keys to understanding their radically divergent trajectories, both biographically and for their philosophical heritage. Simon provides a close reading of some of their essential texts—The Star of Redemption for Rosenzweig and Being and Time and The Origin of the Work of Art for Heidegger—in order to draw attention to how their philosophies of art can be understood to provide significant ethical directives.

<br /> >

Two German philosophers working during the Weimar Republic in Germany, between the two World Wars, produced seminal texts that continue to resonate almost a hundred years later. Franz Rosenzweig—a Jewish philosopher, and Martin Heidegger—a philosopher who at one time was studying to become a Catholic priest, each in their own, particular way include in their writings powerful philosophies of art that, if approached phenomenologically and ethically, provide keys to understanding their radically divergent trajectories, both biographically and for their philosophical heritage. Simon provides a close reading of some of their essential texts—The Star of Redemption for Rosenzweig and Being and Time and The Origin of the Work of Art for Heidegger—in order to draw attention to how their philosophies of art can be understood to provide significant ethical directives.

<br /> >

Jules Simon is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy at the University of Texas at El Paso, USA. He is the co-editor of The Double Binds of Ethics after the Holocaust: Salvaging the Fragments (Palgrave MacMillan Press, 2009). Professor Simon is on the editorial board and works as book editor for the Rosenzweig Jahrbuch/Yearbook.

Introduction 1. The Mask of Mephistopheles 2. Renewing Narrations or Chaos in Creation 3. Rosenzweig's Midrash as Philosophy of Language 4. The Messianic Aesthetic 5. Heidegger's Hammer: from the Workshop to the Work of Art 6. Turning through Phenomenology to Art and Ethos 7. Philosophy, Poetry, and the Absent God: Final WordsBibliography