Synopses & Reviews
This volume in the Political Theory and Contemporary Philosophy series provides a political and philosophical critique of Zionism.
While other nationalisms seem to have adapted to twenty-first century realities and shifting notions of state and nation, Zionism has largely remained tethered to a nineteenth century mentality, including the glorification of the state as the only means of expressing the spirit of the people. These essays, contributed by eminent international thinkers including Slavoj Zizek, Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler, Gianni Vattimo, Walter Mignolo, Marc Ellis, and others, deconstruct the political-metaphysical myths that are the framework for the existence of Israel.Collectively, they offer a multifaceted critique of the metaphysical, theological, and onto-political grounds of the Zionist project and the economic, geopolitical, and cultural outcomes of these foundations.
A significant contribution to the debates surrounding the state of Israel today, this groundbreaking work will appeal to anyone interested in political theory, philosophy, Jewish thought, and the Middle East conflict.
Review
"Deconstructing Zionism is admirable for the revealing light through which it re-reads a phenomenon that, as the books title aptly suggests, exemplifies the seemingly inextricability of politics from metaphysics" - Andrew M. Wender, JD, PhD, University of Victoria, Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online
Synopsis
This Political Theory and Contemporary Philosophy volume offers a critique of the foundations of the Zionist project and its culmination in the state of Israel.
Synopsis
This Political Theory and Contemporary Philosophy volume offers a critique of the foundations of the Zionist project and its culmination in the state of Israel.
Synopsis
This volume in the Political Theory and Contemporary Philosophy series provides a political and philosophical critique of Zionism.
While other nationalisms seem to have adapted to twenty-first century realities and shifting notions of state and nation, Zionism has largely remained tethered to a nineteenth century mentality, including the glorification of the state as the only means of expressing the spirit of the people. These essays, contributed by eminent international thinkers such as Gianni Vattimo and Judith Butler, deconstruct the political-metaphysical myths that are the framework for the existence of Israel. Collectively, they offer a multifaceted critique of the metaphysical, theological, and onto-political grounds of the Zionist project and the economic, geopolitical, and cultural outcomes of these foundations.
A significant contribution to the debates surrounding the state of Israel today, this groundbreaking work will appeal to anyone interested in political theory, philosophy, Jewish thought, and the Middle East conflict.
About the Author
Gianni Vattimo is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Turin and a member of the European Parliament. He is the author of Hermeneutic Communism (co-authored with S. Zabala), A Farewell to Truth; The Responsibility of the Philosopher; Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith (with R. Girard); Not Being God: A Collaborative Autobiography (with P. Paterlini); Arts Claim to Truth; After the Death of God (with John D. Caputo); Dialogue with Nietzsche; The Future of Religion (with Richard Rorty); Nihilism and Emancipation: Ethics, Politics, and Law; and After Christianity.
Michael Marder is Ikerbasque Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz. He is the Associate Editor of Telos: A Quarterly Journal of Critical Thought and the author of The Event of The Thing: Derrida's Post-Deconstructive Realism (2009).
Table of Contents
Introduction: “If not now, when?”
Gianni Vattimo & Michael Marder
Chapter 1: Anti-Semitism and Its Transformations
Slavoj Žižek
Chapter 2: How to Become an Anti-Zionist
Gianni Vattimo
Chapter 3: Is Judaism Zionism? Or, Arendt and the Critique of the Nation-State
Judith Butler
Chapter 4: Decolonizing the Nation-State: Zionism in the Colonial Horizon of Modernity
Walter Mignolo
Chapter 5: Karl Marx and Hannah Arendt on the Jewish Question: Political Theology as a Critique
Artemy Magun
Chapter 6: Notes on the Prophetic Instability of Zionism
Marc H. Ellis
Chapter 7: The Spirit of Zionism: Derrida, Ruah, and the Purloined Birthright
Christopher Wise
Chapter 8: Rex, or the Negation of Wandering
Ranjana Khanna
Chapter 9: The Hermeneutical Stance: Being Discharged at the Margins of Political Zionism
Santiago Zabala
Chapter 10: The Zionist Synecdoche
Michael Marder
Chapter 11: Sharing Humanity: Towards Peaceful Coexistence in Difference
Luce Irigaray
Index