Archive

Autumn Semester 2019

Visiting professor in the autumn semester will be Dr Tamar Novick, Senior Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. She will offer a block seminar entitled "The Animals We Know" in English.

Detailed information on the block seminar "The Animals We Know".

Visiting professor in the autumn semester 2018 was Professor Robert Jütte the director of the Institute for the History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch Foundation in Stuttgart. He offered a block seminar entitled "Judaism and Medicine: From Empiricism to Science".

Block seminar: Judaism and Medicine: From Empiricism to Science

Since antiquity, the medical profession has been highly valued in Judaism. Jewish doctors, even if they were mostly denied access to universities, were already in great demand among non-Jews in the Middle Ages, long before they became pioneers of scientific medicine in many fields in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Detailed information on the seminar

Workshop: Judaism and Disease

Organisation: Prof. Dr. Robert Jütte and Prof. Dr. Andreas Kilcher
Date: 8 - 9 October 2018

DownloadProgramme of the workshop (PDF, 45 KB)vertical_align_bottom

Autumn Semester 2016
Dr. Amir Teicher

Blockseminar
The Mathematics of Scientific Racism

How did racial scientists determine racial affiliation? In the seminar we will examine the practical challenges and eventual works of physical anthropologists from 1850 to the present. By scrutinizing the scientific toolbox of racial scientists, we will reveal how national affiliation, anti-Semitic perceptions and Gender identity shaped scholars' choices of graphical and computational methods.
The aim of the course is to analyze the mutual relations between scientific theories and social perceptions, and to follow the formation of the "scientific mind". The course focuses on racial scientists and on the way their practices of computation and statistical analysis influenced their world-views - and vice versa. The students will be instructed on the way historians of science analyze scientific sources. They will gain a better understanding of the complexities of disciplinary dynamics, social biases and institutional pressures shaping scientific ideas, and learn on the influences such scientific ideas may have on the society as a whole.

Spring Semester 2016
Prof. Dr. Mirjam Zadoff

Block seminar
From Shylock to Kafka: The Jewish Body in Science, Art and Popular Culture!

19th century medicine and science described the Jewish body as deviant, ugly and sick - but sometimes also as particularly healthy, noble and beautiful. In any case, Jews were perceived as "different" in the sense of racial doctrine.
In the seminar we will deal with the scientific research and description of the Jewish body and its influence on popular culture, art and propaganda. In doing so, we will look at different perspectives on the topic and ask, for example, in what way these images of others influenced the self-perception of Jews. We also analyse art figures such as Shakespeare's Shylock, Lessing's Nathan or Kafka's animal figures, and end with current phenomena such as Woody Allen or Sacha Baron Cohen.

Workshop
DownloadThe Jewish Intellectual. Writing Gershom Scholem (PDF, 56 KB)vertical_align_bottom

Organisation: Mirjam Zadoff (Indiana University, Bloomington / Visiting Professor "Science and Judaism in FS16) and Andreas Kilcher (ETH Zurich)

Date: May 23-24, 2016

Workshop: Canon and Critque in the Humanities
Organisation: Rivka Feldhay (Tel Aviv) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Kilcher (ETH Zurich)

Datum: 7-8 March 2016
For modern readers, intellectuals and some scholars the pair "canon" and "critique" seems to invoke opposite meanings. A canon – whether of religious, literary or legal writings – is associated with following the rule of tradition, orthodoxy and authority. It implies exclusion. "Critique" in the modern sense is a "habitus" of questioning the rules of tradition and authority, presumably in search for the "rationally new". Thus "opening the canon" through critique is regarded as an act of liberation and inclusion. Nevertheless, as the Greek and Latin original terms indicate, there had been a close relationship between canon and criticism, with κανών/canon being the criterion according to which something might be judged, and κριτής/κριτικός/criticus being the one judging according to the criterion.

Our main aim in this workshop is to examine the intersection of "canon and critique" in the religious, literary philosophical, psychoanalytical and legal contexts in modernity. Thus we want to combine theological, aesthetical and political aspects in our understanding of the shaping of bodies of knowledge in different contexts. Previous work on this field at Tel Aviv University has focused on the religious, mainly Middle Eastern contexts of the canon/critique encounter with the result, that such encounters have produced new forms of knowledge in other contexts too, especially the literary and legal ones. We now aspire to enlarge this extension to the field to European contexts, following the main question of the interplay of canon and critique in the shaping of knowledge.

Autumn semester 2015

Prof. Dr Daniel Weidner

Return of religions, 'religious turn', post-secularity. On the current conjuncture of the religious

Dates:
22.09.2015, 10-13
24.09.2015, 17-20
29.09.2015, 10-13
6.10.2015, 10-13
13.10.2015, 10-13

Location: ETH Zurich, Haldeneggsteig 4, IFW C 33

Short description:
Given the increased attention to religion in recent decades, the seminar introduces recent theories (the theory of secularisation and current thinking on post-secularity, anthropology of religion and political theology, psychoanalytical and postcolonial theory of religion), each of which also defines modernity differently.

Autumn Semester 2013

Prof. Dr. Liliane Weissberg

A Jewish Science? Freud and Psychoanalysis

19.11, 26.11, 3.12, 10.12 and 17.12.2013 each 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., IFW B 42.

The course will first deal with the scientific and cultural context that forms the background to Freud's discovery or invention of psychoanalysis. Reference will be made to the medical research of the late nineteenth century, the philosophy of language at the turn of the century, as well as developments in the artistic, literary and musical life of Vienna. Special attention will also be paid to the theory and practice of the Parisian doctor Jean-Martin Charcot, with whom Freud studied in the autumn/winter of 1885-86 and whose texts he was to translate in selections.

The following will focus on Freud's own texts; his main work of 1899/1900, The Interpretation of Dreams, the case studies of "Anna O." and "Dora", as well as the later writings on cultural theory, Totem and Taboo (1913) and The Man Moses and the Monotheistic Tradition (1939).

Finally, the course will deal with the location of the discipline of psychoanalysis, both in a historical perspective following Freud - i.e. his efforts to establish and internationalise psychoanalysis as a basic subject - and in the current theoretical discussion.

Spring Semester 2013

Dr. Rakefet Zalashik

Science, Religion and the Body in Modern Israel

5.3.2013 bis 9.4.2013, IFW A 34

The course deals with the relationships between science, religion and health in Israel. It explores the question: how some particularities of the Israeli society, the Jewish religion and the Zionist ideology have influenced the development of science in Israel through the years?

Israeli society is a young society with a unique history and culture that raise many particular tensions between science, ideology and religion. The course aims to examine these tensions by analyzing issues such as medical practices in the light of the Holocaust, life-death discussions within the scientific and various religious communities, the striving for the "perfect Zionist body", as well as the scientific collaboration between the state of Israel and the Palestinian authority since the Oslo Accords. The aim of the course is to learn about the Israeli particularities regarding science as such, but also to understand them in a wider context of the relationships between science, ideology and religion.
The course aims to give the students a comprehensive understanding of the Israeli case and to strengthen their general critical understanding of the relationships between science, religion and ideology.

Workshops

Why does the racial and genetic discourse on the Jewish people remerge in the 21th Century?

with Dr. Rakefet Zalashik

Autumn Semester 2012

Prof. Dr. Gideon Freudenthal

Jewish Philosophy of Monotheism

21.9. until 16.10.2012

once Friday (21.9.) and then every Tuesday 10-13, HG D 5.3

Judaism claims to have been the first to introduce monotheism and to have defended its purity ever since. The aim of the course is to trace the development of this view, especially in the Enlightenment and up to the 20th century. In the seminar, the concept of monotheism as it has been developed in the history of Jewish philosophy will be elaborated. The participants will get to know the different interpretations of the concept from the primary sources, which emphasise the "unity", "uniqueness", "uniqueness", "personality" or "necessary being" of the one God. It is important to consider not only definitions and philosophies, but also the critique of practices, such as the use of talismans or the invocation of "mediators", which allegedly endanger the "purity" of monotheism. Finally, the thesis that the emergence of biblical monotheism was unique and revolutionary will be discussed. In each case, the function of the represented interpretation of "monotheism" within the overall conception of Judaism will be developed, both internally, in criticism of other currents in Judaism, and externally, in demarcation against other religions. First, medieval philosophers, Sa'adja Ga'on and Bachja ibn Pakuda, will be considered, but above all Maimonides. The Jewish philosophers of the early modern period, especially Mendelssohn, who also develops an original theory of idolatry as a counter-image to monotheism, will refer back to the medieval sources. Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig will form the conclusion. The biblical sources will be dealt with from the perspective of the philosophers discussed.

Spring Semester 2012

Prof. Dr. David B. Ruderman

Modern Jewish Thought: An Introduction

4.5. bis 30.5.2012

einmalig Freitag (4.5.) und dann jeweils Mittwoch 10-13

In this lecture/seminar, we will consider some of the major Jewish thinkers of the modern era who have reflected on the meaning of their religion and collective existence in light of the radical political, cultural, and social changes affecting their community and the larger environments in which they lived from the 17^th to the 21st centuries.

The course is designed primarily for students with minimal or no background in Judaic studies, offering them an introduction to Jewish thinking on religious faith and cultural identity. The course will focus on the responses to modernity of a Jewish minority but always with a comparative eye to the larger world in which Jews lived.

The course will consist of both introductory lectures and readings of primary sources in English translation. It will begin with an introduction to Spinoza’s challenge to religious belief and practice and follow the course of modern Jewish thought as a series of responses to this challenge. It will include discussions of such seminal thinkers as Mendelssohn, Geiger, Hirsch, Cohen, Buber, Rosenzweig, Baeck, Heschel, and Kaplan. It will also introduce Zionist and Socialist Jewish thinkers.

A detailed syllabus highlighting requirements with a list of readings will be supplied to all students at the beginning of the course. No prior background is necessary and all readings will be in English. A written essay focusing on the major questions of the course will also be required.

Workshops

"Judaism in the Age of Emancipation" (5.-6.12.2012)

with Prof. Dr. Gideon Freudenthal

We thank the participants of the workshop for interesting presentations and productive discussions! Programme

"Kabbalah and Science in Modern Jewish Culture" (21.-22.5.2012)

with Prof. David B. Ruderman, Programm

Autumn Semester 2011

Prof. Dr. José Brunner

Politics and Science of Trauma in the Israel-Palestine Conflict, 1948 to Today

22.09. until 27.10.2011

Thurs 17-19, HG F 26.5

In the professional discourses of psychiatrists and psychologists, the Israel-Palestine conflict appears as a site of permanent individual and collective traumatisation. This course critically examines the methods and structures, the logic and rhetoric of these trauma discourses as well as their political origins, contexts, contents and functions. Although these discourses claim to be scientifically objective, they always imply political values and goals, because psychological and psychiatric discourses that deal with the mental consequences of an ongoing political conflict are also under the conditions of this conflict.

The seminar aims to provide an overview of the historical developments and current forms of psychological and psychiatric discourses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Students will also receive an introduction to the connections and tensions between professional discourses on the soul and political positions and contexts.

Spring semester 2011

Prof. Dr. Michael Brenner

What are the Jews? Popular and Scientific Discourses on Religion, Nation and Race

21.03.-16.04.2011

Thu 12-14, HG E 23

The question of what Jews actually are has recently been fuelled by genetic research, the highly publicised debate in Germany about Thilo Sarrazin's statements and the book by Tel Aviv historian Shlomo Sand, "The Invention of the Jewish Nation", which has become a bestseller in Israel. In the seminar we will read basic texts on the definition of Judaism. Moses Mendelssohn, for example, defined Judaism as revealed law for the era of the Enlightenment; the French Revolution demanded "all rights for the Jews as individuals, but none as a nation". German Jews of the 19th century based the identity of the "German citizen of Jewish faith" on this. The self-definition of the Jews as a nation returned in Simon Dubnow's diaspora nationalism as well as propagated in Zionism. But we will also see how Karl Marx as well as later communists defined Jewry as a class. The attempt to define Jews as a race began in the mid-19th century and also found some Jewish theorists. Finally, the approach according to which the anti-Semites make the Jews into Jews must be dealt with. We will read texts by Moses Mendelssohn, Gabriel Rießer, Karl Marx, Simon Dubnow, Theodor Herzl, Richard Wagner, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Arthur Ruppin and Jean Paul Sartre, among others.

Introductory literature:
Michael Brenner, Little Jewish History
Michael A. Meyer, Jewish Identity in Modernity

Workshop

From Jewish Race to Genes? Stereotypes and Modern Research (Spring Semester 2011)

with Prof. Michael Brenner Programme

Autumn Semester 2010

PD Dr. Thomas Meyer

Science and Religion. On the Discussion of a Tension in 20th Century Jewish Philosophy and Theology

19.10.-14.12.2010

Tue 10-12, CHN E 42

The seminar will discuss texts that promise to clarify what Judaism means in the modern age on the basis of the relationship between "science" and "religion". To this end, the protagonists of the seminar will put Jewish tradition to the test of contemporary questions, just as contemporary non-Jewish discussions flow into their reflections.

The differentiation of concepts of science and religion reaches a peak in the early 20th century. Philosophy and theology receive a new challenger alongside their old rivals in interpretation, history and philology: sociology. They all strive intensively to formulate their superiority via the definition of what science and religion could mean under the conditions of modernity. These discussions are intensively received and commented on within Jewish philosophy and theology. In this context, differences are more generational than origin-related. Julius Guttmann and Leo Baeck, for example, stand opposite "young savages" such as Alexander Altmann, Leo Strauss and Gershom Scholem. And between them, a discourse develops that is still important today not only for Judaism, but also for the two fields of "science" and "religion".

Literature:
A very first approach is offered by two collections of texts:
Schalom Ben-Chorin/Verena Lenzen (eds.), Jüdische Theologie im 20. Jahrhundert, Munich 1988 and the classic with a very good introduction: Kurt Wilhelm (ed.), Wissenschaft des Judentums im deutschen Sprachbereich. 2 volumes, Tübingen 1967.

Spring Semester 2010

Prof. Dr. Gad Freudenthal

The Monotheistic Religions and Science - Who has Authority? The example of Judaism in the Middle Ages and Modernity

Mon 4-7 p.m. LFW E 11

In the three Abrahamic religions, many believers feel indebted to two authorities: the canonical books of their faith and the achievements of contemporary science. These two sources of knowledge at times make, or at least appear to make, statements about the same realm of reality (i.e. creation, geocentric or heliocentric worldview, evolution or constancy of species). Numerous believers thought that their faith committed them to viewpoints that their intellect proved to be wrong. This causes great 'confusion' (a term of Maimonides), intellectually and existentially.
While this problem is one and the same for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the answers offered are mostly divergent. In this course we will survey the possible solutions that have been offered in Judaism. Lecture-style introductions will alternate with readings and discussions of selected texts (in translation). The introductions and the texts will be in English, the discussions can be held in either English or German.
Workshops

"Science and Religion. Perspectives in Jewish Modernity" (autumn semester 2010)

From 29-30 October 2010, the first workshop of the visiting professorship took place under the title 'Science and Religion. Perspectives in Jewish Modernity' (PD Dr. Thomas Meyer) took place. Programme