Customer Reviews

Memoirs: Hans Jonas (Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry)

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Easily one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. All the great (and almost-great) events and people of the 20th century saw Hans Jonas by their side: World War 1, World War 2, founding of Israel, Heidegger, Husserl, Strauss, Arendt, and Scholem. Throughout the memoirs, the reader is further tickled by the offhand mentioning of other intellectuals, like Jasper, Frye, and Taubes. Growing up in Germany during World War 1, studying philosophy under Heidegger and Husserl, moving to Israel, fighting in its wars, returning to Germany as a British soldier, and finally settling in North America, Jonas' memoirs form a private keyhole into the political and intellectual history of Germany, Israel, and America, and the view entrances and enraptures. As a Jew, Hans Jonas' memoirs are necessarily preoccupied with the Jewish social and intellectual milieu, and therefore demands to be read by any and every Jewish academic. At the end of the book, the editor, Christian Wiese, includes essays and letters that reveal snippets of Jonas' philosophy. Although one would have to buy Jonas' books to appreciate his philosophy in its entirety, one can still glimpse the gist and intent of Jonas' thought. Putatively titled a neo-Aristotelian, Jonas sheds the labeling of others, and labels/critiques his own thought, which, while necessarily obscured by proximity, is always valuable to have. A captivating medley of war and academia, these memoirs are great and highly recommended.