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Added by: Zoé Grange-MarczakAbstract:
Judith Butler (b. 1956) is an American philosopher and academic, especially known for their work on gender in the 1990s onward. The second part of their career elaborates on themes of ethics and politics, engaging as always in current questions by reading and re-reading contemporary thinkers and poets. Their 2012 book consists in readings of Levinas, Said, Benjamin, Arendt, Primo Levi and Darwish, starting with the goal "to debunk the claim that any and all criticism of the State of Israel is effectively anti-Semitic", ultimately showing "there are Jewish values of cohabitation with the non-Jew that are part of the very ethical substance of diasporic Jewishness" (p. 1). Because of the book's originality, Butler's controversial popularity and the urgent character of its topic, this work has given way to a wealth of interpretations and discussion. It does propose a wide array of divisive readings of "classical" contemporary authors, and serves as a great example of how exegetical processes can lead to re-interrogation of even the most studied of philosophers.
Comment: If this work is itself scholarly and rigorous, the controversy surrounding its contents and its author tends to be volatile and inflammable, and should be approached with caution. However, it can be used to finish a class on religion or continental philosophy, by embodying the most recent debates in the field.
Butler, Judith. Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism
2012, New York: Columbia University Press.
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