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Spinoza is among the most controversial and asymmetrical thinkers
in the tradition and history of modern European philosophy. Since
the 17th century, his work has aroused some of the fiercest and
most intense polemics in the discipline. From his expulsion from
the synagogue and onwards, Spinoza has never ceased to embody the
secular, heretical and self-loathing Jew. Ivan Segre, a philosopher
and celebrated scholar of the Talmud, discloses the conservative
underpinnings that have animated Spinoza's numerable critics and
antagonists. Through a close reading of Leo Strauss and several
contemporary Jewish thinkers, such as Jean-Claude Milner and Benny
Levy (Sartre's last secretary), Spinoza: the Ethics of an Outlaw
aptly delineates the common cause of Spinoza's contemporary
censors: an explicit hatred of reason and its emancipatory
potential. Spinoza's radical heresy lies in his rejection of any
and all blind adherence to Biblical Law, and in his plea for the
freedom and autonomy of thought. Segre reclaims Spinoza as a
faithful interpreter of the revolutionary potential contained
within the Old Testament.
Spinoza is among the most controversial and asymmetrical thinkers
in the tradition and history of modern European philosophy. Since
the 17th century, his work has aroused some of the fiercest and
most intense polemics in the discipline. From his expulsion from
the synagogue and onwards, Spinoza has never ceased to embody the
secular, heretical and self-loathing Jew. Ivan Segre, a philosopher
and celebrated scholar of the Talmud, discloses the conservative
underpinnings that have animated Spinoza's numerable critics and
antagonists. Through a close reading of Leo Strauss and several
contemporary Jewish thinkers, such as Jean-Claude Milner and Benny
Levy (Sartre's last secretary), Spinoza: the Ethics of an Outlaw
aptly delineates the common cause of Spinoza's contemporary
censors: an explicit hatred of reason and its emancipatory
potential. Spinoza's radical heresy lies in his rejection of any
and all blind adherence to Biblical Law, and in his plea for the
freedom and autonomy of thought. Segre reclaims Spinoza as a
faithful interpreter of the revolutionary potential contained
within the Old Testament.
Since the inception of the "War on Terror," Israel has become
increasingly important to Western imperial strategy and ever more
aggressive in its policies towards the Palestinians. A key
ideological weapon in this development is the cynical and
unjustified accusation of "anti-Semitism" to silence protest and
dissent. For historical reasons, this tactic has been deployed most
forcefully in France, and in the first of the two essays in this
book French writers Alain Badiou and Eric Hazan demolish the
"anti-Semitism is everywhere" claim used to bludgeon critics of the
Israeli state and those who stand in solidarity with the banlieue
youth. In "The Philo-Semitic Reaction," Ivan Segre undertakes a
meticulous deconstruction of a rampant reactionary trend that
identifies Jewish interests with the "democratic" West. Segre's aim
is to uphold a universalist position and to defend Jewish tradition
from Zionist ideological distortion.
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