Tragedy of Optimism

George Y. Kohler is Director of the Joseph Carlebach Institute and Senior Lecturer of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University, Israel. He is the author of Reading Maimonides' Philosophy in 19th Century Germany: The Guide to Religious Reform.

• PrefaceGeorge Y. KohlerAcknowledgements IntroductionGeorge Y. Kohler 1. The Democratic Socialism of Hermann Cohen (1956)2. To Recast Rationalism (1962/1970)3. Truth: The Connection between Logic and Ethics (1966)4. The Day of Atonement (1968)5. Franz Rosenzweig's Anecdotes about Hermann Cohen (1970)6. The Torah Radicalizes on Many Levels (1972)7. Historical Excursus: On Cohen's Infinitesimal-Methode8. Applications of the Infinitesimalistic Theory in "the System"9. The Tenability of Herman Cohen's Construction of the Self (1975)10. "Germanism and Judaism" — Hermann Cohen's Normative Paradigm of the German-Jewish Symbiosis (1979)11. Ethics of the Pure Will – Introduction (1981)12. The Title of Hermann Cohen's Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism (1986)13. History of the Religion of Reason: (Part II of the Introduction)14. The Theologico-Political Basis of Liberal Christian-Jewish Relations in Modernity (1986)15. The Religious Stake in Modern Philosophy of Infinity (1987)16. Book ReviewsSamuel Atlas, From Critical to Speculative Idealism: The Philosophy of Salomon Maimon (1966)William Kluback, Hermann Cohen - The Challenge of a Religion of Reason (1987)Mechthild Dreyer, Die Idee Gottes im Werk Hermann Cohens (1989)Epilogue: Entry on 'Cohen, Hermann' in the Encyclopedia of Religion (ed. M. Eliade) (1987)NotesIndex of Names

"The Tragedy of Optimism gives us excellent—perhaps unparalleled—insight into the thought of Hermann Cohen. Although Cohen was one of the most important thinkers in the history of Jewish philosophy, he is often misread or simply ignored. Schwarzschild shows in painstaking fashion why the standard criticisms of Cohen miss the point. What emerges is a picture of Cohen as a more sophisticated thinker than what we usually get in histories of the period." — Kenneth Seeskin, author of Autonomy in Jewish Philosophy