Jewish Studies Program, Human Rights Program, Hannah Arendt Center, and Philosophy Program Present

Antijudaism and Antisemitism in European Philosophy

From Kant to Heidegger, many of Europe’s most influential philosophers have engaged—sometimes critically, sometimes prejudicially—with the figure of “the Jew” and the central ideas of Judaism. This seminar explores how concepts such as election, messianism, revelation, and the Law have been interpreted, and often distorted, in the philosophical tradition. We will examine the distinction between antijudaism (opposition to Jewish religion or thought) and antisemitism (hostility toward Jews as a people), while also tracing their deep historical and conceptual connections. Through close readings of key thinkers (including Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, and Heidegger), we will see how these ideas were not mere products of prejudice, but at times formed a structural part of philosophical systems—casting “the Jew” as a necessary counterpoint to philosophy itself. We will ask: In what sense has the trope of the Jew as a “counter-essential enemy” to philosophical thinking been seen as necessary for the very unfolding of European philosophical history?

--------------------------

JOSEPH COHEN is Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin (Ireland) since 2007. He has held numerous visiting professorships of philosophy at various European universities in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium. He has authored Le spectre juif de Hegel (Paris, Galilée, 2005), Le sacrifice de Hegel (Paris, Galilée, 2007 ; Italian transl. : Il Sacrificio di Hegel, Milan, Mimesis, 2025), Alternances de la métaphysique. Essais sur E. Levinas (Paris, Galilée, 2009) and co-authored, with D. Moran, The Husserl Dictionary (London, Bloomsbury-Continuum, 2012). He has also co-authored, with R. Zagury-Orly, L’adversaire privilégié. Heidegger, les Juifs et nous, (Paris, Galilée, 2021). He has co-edited, with R. Zagury-Orly, Heidegger et « les juifs » (Paris, Grasset, 2015), Heidegger. Qu’appelle-t-on le lieu? (Paris, Gallimard, 2008), Derrida. L’événement déconstruction (Paris, Gallimard, 2012) and Judéités – questions pour Jacques Derrida (Paris, Galilée, 2003; also Fordham University Press, 2009). He is the Founder and Lead Project Investigator of “Jewish Thought and Contemporary Philosophy” housed at the Newman Centre for the Study of Religions, University College Dublin and co-founding member of the Irish Phenomenological Circle. Joseph Cohen has also published extensively on German Idealism (Kant, Hegel, Schelling), Judaism and Antijudaism/Antisemitism in the history of philosophy and literature, phenomenology and deconstruction. His philosophical research is focused on contemporary continental philosophy and the questions of sacrifice and history, Judaism and Antijudaism/Antisemitism, forgiveness and alterity, truth and justice.

--------------------------

This event is co-sponsored by the Human Rights Program, Philosophy Program, Jewish Studies Program, and the student-run "It's Complicated" Project of the Hannah Arendt Center.

---

For more information, call 845-758-6822.

Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST/GMT-5

Location: Olin Humanities, Room 205

Subscribe: Save this Event: Subscribe / .ics File