Willi Goetschel

Background

Ph.D. 1989 in German, Harvard University
Lic.phil I[=M.Phil] 1982 in Philosophy, Universität Zürich

Teaching Interests

18^th to 20^th century German Literature and Thought, Enlightenment, German Jewish Culture, Critical Theory.

Current Research Interests

Relationship between Literature and Philosophy, Enlightenment, German Jewish Culture, Critical Theory.

Current Projects: Heine and Critical Theory, Concepts of Alterity in Modern Jewish Thought.

Publications

Books

Spinoza's Modernity: Mendelssohn, Lessing, and Heine. Madison: U Wisconsin Press, 2004.

Read review by Robert Leventhal
Read review by Jan-Olav Henriksen
Read review by Jeffrey Bernstein (PDF file)
Read review by Abraham Socher (PDF file)

Constituting Critique: Kant's Writing as Critical Praxis.   Transl. by Eric Schwab.  Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1994. 235pp. [translation of a revised version and expanded version of Kant als Schriftsteller].

Kant als Schriftsteller.  Vienna: Passagen Verlag, 1990. 208pp.

Books edited

Hermann Levin Goldschmidt and Edith Moos, Mein 1933. Vienna: Passagen, 2008.

Hermann Levin Goldschmidt.Werkausgabe. [9 volumes]  Vienna: Passagen.

Vol. 1.  Philosophie als Dialogik. Frühe Schriften, 1993.

Vol. 2.  Das Vermächtnis des deutschen Judentums, 1994.

Vol. 3.  Die Botschaft des Judentums, 1994.

Vol. 4.  Der Rest bleibt. Aufstze zum Judentum, 1997.

Vol. 5.  Aus den Quellen des Judentums: Aufsätze zur Philosophie, 2000.

Vol. 6.  Freiheit für den Widerspruch, 1993.

Vol. 8. Pestalozzis unvollendete Revolution. Philosophie dank der Schweiz von Rousseau bis Turel, 1995.

Perspektiven der Dialogik. Zürcher Kolloquium zu Ehren von Hermann Levin Goldschmidt. Vienna: Passagen. 1994.

Wege des Widerspruchs. Festschrift für H. L. Goldschmidt.  Co-edited with John Cartwright and Maja Wicki-Vogt. Bern: Haupt, 1984.

Gayatri C. Spivak, Imperatives for Reimagining the Planet - Imperative für eine Neueinschätzung des Planeten. Mary Levin Goldschmidt-Bollag Memorial Lecture zur Flüchtlings- und Migrationspolitik. Vienna: Passagen. 1999.

Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, Toleranz in einem Zeitalter der Ungewißheit - Tolerance in an Age of Uncertainty. 2. Mary Levin Goldschmidt-Bollag Memorial Lecture. Vienna: Passagen, 2002.

Essays and Articles

2011     “Derrida and Spinoza: Rethinking the Theological-Political Problem.“ Bamidbar: Journal for Jewish Thought and Philosophy 2 (2011): 9-25.

2011     “Hermann Levin Goldschmidt, Jacques Derrida, and the Project of Philosophy.“ Orietta Ombrosi and Petar Bojanic (eds.), Tra Torah e Sophia. Orizzonti e frontiere della Filosofia ebraica. Milano: Marietti, 2011, 286-304.

2011     “Einstimmigkeit in Differenz: Der Begriff der Aufklärung bei Kant und Mendelssohn.“ text + kritik 5 (2011): 79-98.

2011     “Die Kritische Theorie der Frankfurter Schule.“ Aufbau: Das jüdische Monatsmagazin 77.4 (2011), 21-23.

2011     “Was wird nun mit der Vergangenheit?, Zum Erinnerungsdiskurs in Uwe Johnsons Jahrestagen.“ Uwe Johnson Jahrbuch 18 (2011): 116-128.

2011     “Athens, Jerusalem, and the Orient Express of Philosophy.“Bamidbar: Journal for Jewish Thought and Philosophy 1 (2011): 9-34.

2010     “Voices from the 'Jewish Colony': Sovereignty, Power, Secularization, and the Outside Within.“ Non-Western Thought and International Relations: Retrieving the Global Context of Investigations of Modernity. Ed. Robbie Shilliam. London: Routledge, 2010, 64-84.

2010     “An Elective Affinity: Hans Eichner and Friedrich Schlegel.” The Germanic Review 85.2 (2010).

2009     “Spinoza and the Claims of Modernity.” Review Essay, H-Net Reviews. September, 2009.

2009     “Street, Life, and other Signs: Heine in the Rue Laffitte.” (Special Issue on Street Life ed. Ato Quayson and Joseph Barker). City & Society 21, issue 2 (2009): 230–244.

2009      German Studies in a Post-National Age. Charlotte and Robert Craig Lecture.
Rutgers University. German Studies, 2009.

2009      “Aspects de la réception de Spinoza chez Moses Mendelssohn et Salomon Maimon.” Revue germanique 9 (2009): 105-114.

2008      “Dialogik als kritisches Modell: Bild und Wort bei Edith Moos und Hermann Levin Goldschmidt.” Afterword to Hermann Levin Goldschmidt and Edith Moos, Mein 1933. Vienna: Passagen, 2008, 107-142.

2007       Together with David Suchoff.  “Introduction.” Hermann Levin Goldschmidt. The Legacy of German Jewry. Trans. David Suchoff. New York: Fordham University Press, 2007, 1-20.

2007       “Spinoza’s Jewishness.” Conrad Grebel Review 2 (2007).

2007       “Mendelssohn and the State.” Modern Language Notes 122:3 (April 2007): 472-92.

2007       "What is Jewish Philosophy? Some Remarks." Notebook. A Discussion of Contemporary Jewish Issues. A University of Toronto Student Journal. #4 Spring 2007: 62-64.

2007       Three entries to Heinrich Heine: "Harzreise [Travel Pictures]", "Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland [On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany]", "Romanzero." Literary Encyclopedia.

2006       Heinrich Heine: unser postmoderner Zeitgenosse. Tachles, 17 February 2006.

2005       Das Vermächtnis des deutschen Judentums: Hermann Levin Goldschmidts unzeitgemäße Betrachtung. Co-authored with David Suchoff. Neue Rundschau 4 (2005): 168-177.

2005       "Lessing and the Jews." A Companion to the Works of Gottohold Ephraim Lessing. Ed. Barbara Fischer and Thomas C. Fox. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2005, 185-208.

2005       "Dialogics: Difference and Alterity in Hermann Levin Goldschmidt's Thought." 6th Hermann Levin Goldschmidt Memorial Lecture, 8 April 2005.

2005       "Schalet, schöner Götterfunken Zur Wiederkehr des 200. Todestag von Friedrich Schiller am 9. Mai (changed by the paper to: "Kritisch gegenüber allem Messianischen"). Tachles, 13 May 2005.

2005       “Architektur und Wohnlichkeit: das alternative Moment in Kants Vernunftbegriff.” Randfiguren. Spinoza-Inspirationen. Festgabe für Manfred Walther. Ed. Felicitas Englisch, Manfred Lauermann, and Maria-Brigitta Schröder. Hannover: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2005, 40-53.

2004        “Heine und der Traum.” Palimpseste. Festschrift für Norbert Altenhofer. Ed. Pascal Nicklas, Volker Bohn and Joachim Jacob. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 2004, 41-61.

2004         “Heine’s Critical Secularism.” Special issue on Critical Secularism, ed. Aamir Mufti. boundary 2 31.2 (2004): 149-171.

2004         “Heine’s Spinoza.” Special theme issue Spinoza in Dialogue, ed. Jeffrey Bernstein. Idealistic Studies 33.2-3 (2003): 207-221.

2004        “Zwischen Emanzipation, Vernichtung und Neuanfang: Jüdische Philosophen in der Schweiz.” Festschrift zum 100. Jubiläum des Bestehens des Schweizerischen Israelitischen Gemeindebundes. Ed. Gabrielle Rosenstein. Zürich: Chronos, 2004, 248-64.

2003         Entry on Hermann Levin Goldschmidt. Metzler Lexikon der jüdischen Philosophen und Theologen. Philosophisches Denken des Judentums von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Ed. Andreas Kilcher and Otfried Fraisse. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2003, 440-42.

2003        "Georg Simmel." Key Thinkers on Art, ed. Chris Murray. London: Routledge, 2003, 245 250.

2003        "Hermann Levin Goldschmidt." Metzler Lexikon Jüdischer Philosophen. Philosophisches Denken von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Ed. Andreas Kilcher and Otfried Fraisse. Stuttgart and Weimar: Metzler, 2003, 440-42.

2003        "Lessing's 'Jewish' Questions." Special issue of Germanic Review dedicated to Inge Halpert. The Germanic Review 78.2 (2003):62-73

2003         Zu Adornos 100. Geburtstag. tachles 3.36, 5 September 2003.

2002        "A Jewish Critic from Germany: Hermann Levin Goldschmidt." German Literature and Jewish Critics. Ed. Steve Dowden and Meike Werner.  Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2002, 149-165.

2002        "Nightingales Instead of Owls: Heine's Joyous Philosophy."  A Companion to the Works of Heinrich Heine, ed. Roger F. Cook. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2002, 139-168.

2001        "A Jewish Critic from Germany: Hermann Levin Goldschmidt." German Literature and Jewish Critics. Ed. Steve Dowden and Meike Werner.  Camden House, 2001. In print.

2001        "Lessing, Mendelssohn, Nathan: German Jewish Myth Building as an Act of Emancipation." Lessing International: Lessing Reception Abroad.  Ed. John McCarthy, Richard Schade and Herbert Rowland. Lessing Yearbook 32 (2000): 341-360.

2001        "Spinozas Modernität: Kritische Aspekte seiner politischen Theorie." Marcel Senn (ed.), Ethik, Recht und Politik bei Spinoza.  Zürich: Schulthess, 2001, 209-224.

2000        "Causerie: On the Function of Dialogue in Fontane's Der Stechlin." Transl. by Eric Schwab. Ed. Marion Doebeling. Cultural Codes in Flux: New Approaches to Fontane. Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 2000. (Translation of my article in Germanic Review 1995), 116-135.

2000        "Grounding Aesthetics." New Germanic Critique. Special Isssue on 18th Century #79 (2000):137-156.

1999        "Heines Spinoza: Ent/Mythologisierung der Philosophie als Projekt der Entzauberung und1 Emanzipation." Aufklärung und Skepsis. Internationaler Heine-Kongress. Ed. Bernd Witte and Joseph Kruse. Stuttgart: Metzler, 571-585.

1999        "Models of Differences and Alterity: Moses Mendelssohn, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Hermann Levin Goldschmidt." The German-Jewish Dilemma. From the Enlightenment to the Shoa. Ed. Edward Timms and Andrea Hammel. Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen, 1999,  25-38.

1999        "Rhyming History: A Note on the 'Hebrew Melodies'." Germanic Review 74 (1999):271-282.

1999        "Universität, Partikularität und das jüdische Lehrhaus."  Evelyn Adunka (ed.), Das Modell des jüdischen Lehrhaus.  Vienna: Passagen, 1999, 47-59. (Invited.)

1998        "'Land of Truth - Enchanting Name!' Kant's Journey at Home." The Imperialist Imagination: German Colonialism and Its Legacy. Ed. Sara Friedrichsmeyer, Sara Lennox, Susanne Zantop. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998 321-336.

1997        Entries on G.E. Lessing, Moses Mendelssohn, Georg Simmel, Karl Marx, Margarete Susman, and "Review" in the Encyclopedia of Essay. London: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, 476-478, 541-543, 554-556, 699-700, 773-774, 824-825.

1997        "Heinrich Heine: Poet, Critic, Exile." Catalogue to the Exhibit at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York, 1-3.

1997        "Love, Sex and Other Utilities: Keller's Unsettling Account."  Narrative Ironies.  Ed. by Raymond Prier and Gerald Gillespie.  Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1997, 223-235.

1997        "Negotiating Truth: On Nathan's Business." Lessing Yearbook 28 (1997): 105-123.

1997        "The Writings of Hermann Levin Goldschmidt." Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture, 1096-1996.  Eds. Sander Gilman and Jack Zipes. New Haven: Yale 1997, 704-709.

1997        "Zur Sprachlosigkeit von Bildern." Bilder des Holocaust. Ed. Klaus Scherpe and Manfred Köppen. Vienna: Böhlau 1997, 131-144.

1996        "Moses Mendelssohn und das Projekt der Aufklärung." Germanic Review  71.3 (1996):163-175.

1995        "Ab/Deckerinnerung im grossen Stil." Eine Streitschrift. Der Wettbewerb für das "Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas. Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (ed.). Berlin: Verlag der Kunst, 1995, 52-56.

1995        "Causerie: Zur Funktion des Gesprächs in Fontanes Der Stechlin".  Germanic Review 70 (1995):116-122.

1995        "Juden", "Enzyklopädie."  Lexikon der Aufklärung.  Ed. Werner Schneiders.  München: C.H.Beck, 1995, 101-103 and 197-198.

1995        "Kritik und Frieden: Zur literarischen Strategie der Schrift Zum Ewigen Frieden."  Proceedings of  the 8th International Kant Congress.  Hoke Robinson (ed.). Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1995, vol. 2, 821-827. (Also published in Weimarer Beiträge 41 (1995):120-126) Revised and abbreviated version: "Kant's Secret Clause." Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on the Enlightenment. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1996.

1994        "The Deutsche Encyclopädie."  (With Catriona MacLeod and Emery Snyder).  Notable encyclopedias of the late 18th century: 12 successors of the Encyclopédie.  Ed Frank A. Kafker.  Studies on Voltaire and the eighteenth century.  The Voltaire Foundation.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, 257-333.

1994        "'Gibt es eine jüdische Philosophie?' Zur Problematik eines Topos."  W.Goetschel (ed.), Perspektiven der Dialogik. Zürcher Kolloquium zu Ehren Hermann Levin Goldschmidts.  Vienna: Passagen, 1994, 89-109.

1994        "'Jüdische Philosophie' - ein Querverweis." In Babylon 14/15 (Winter 1994/95): 119-132.

1993        "The Differential Character of Traditions."Telos  # 95 vol. 26 (1993): 161-170.

1993        "Germanistik in den USA."  [Introduction to theme issue]  Weimarer Beiträge 39 (1993):325-343.

1993        "Zum Werk von Hermann Levin Golschmidt."Weimarer Beiträge 39 (1993):60-68. (revised version of "Nachwort" to Goldschmidt, Werke 1, 283-290.)

1992        "Formen des Widerspruchs. Zur Diskursausdifferenzierung in der Neuzeit." Komplementarität und Dialogik.  Ed. Ernst Fischer et.al.  München: Piper, 1992, 78-97.

1992        "The Deutsche Encyclopädie and Encyclopedism in Eighteenth-Century Germany."  (With C. MacLeod and E. Snyder).  The Encyclopédie and the Age of Revolution.  Ed. Clorinda Donato and Robert Maniquis.  Boston: G.K.Hall, 1992, 55-61.

1991        "Switzerland, for Example: 700 Years Old and Still Going Strong."Telos #88 vol. 24 (1991): 155-166.

1987        "Kafka's Negative Dialectics."Journal of the Kafka-Society of America (9) 1985: 83-106.

1986        "Terra Fuentes."-(Interview with Carlos Fuentes. With L. Dunton-Downer and C. Patell).- Harvard Review (1) 1986: 130-162.

1984        "Zur Geschichte des Widerpruchs in der Neuzeit." W. Goetschel, J. Cartwright, and M. Wicki-Vogt (eds.), Wege des Widerspruch. Festschrift für Hermann Levin Goldschmidt. Bern: Haupt, 9-40.

1981        "Margarete Susman." Helvetische Steckbriefe.  Ed. Werner Weber.  Zürich: Artemis 1981, 247-253.

Special Theme Issues of Journals edited

1999        Heinrich Heine's Jewish Con/Texts. Special Theme Issue co-edited with Nils Roemer. The Germanic Review 74.4 (1999).

1997        Gershom Scholem. Special Theme Issue co-edited with Nils Roemer. The Germanic Review 72.1 (1997).

1993        Germanistik in den USA. Weimarer Beiträge 39 (1993).

Review Essays

1998        "Neue Literatur zu Moses Mendelssohn."  Lessing Yearbook 29 (1998):199-208.

1997        "Scholem's Diaries, Letters and New Literature on His Work. Review Essay."  Germanic Review 72:1 (1997): 77-92.

1989        "Neue Literatur zur Aufklärung."  German Quarterly 62 (1989): 235-241.

1983        "Ergebnisse des Lessing-Mendelssohn-Jahrs."  Studia Philosophica. 42 (1983):223-230.

Book Reviews

AJS Review (2007)

Aufbau, New York (1984-1993).

German Quarterly (1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1999).

Germanic Review (1996, 1997, 2005)

H-Net Review (2003)

IASL-online (2002, 2004)

Jüdische Rundschau, Basel (1977-1990).

Lessing Yearbook (1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000).

Modern Language Notes (1991, 1994).

Neue Zürcher Zeitung (1983, 1984).

Shofar (2000, 2001, 2005)

Studia Philosophica. (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983).

Studia Spinozana (1998).

Telos (1992, 1994).

Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte (1983, 1988).

Zürichsee-Zeitung (1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991).

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