Reemergence of the “Jewish Problem” in Contemporary Works of Philosophical, Social and Political Criticism, understood in the Framework of the Crisis of Social Critique (Dr. Balazs Berkovits)
This study is situated at the intersection of the philosophy of social science and antisemitism studies. It aims to investigate the reemergence of the “Jewish problem” in contemporary works of social and political criticism by unearthing its theoretical-philosophical foundations and conditions of possibility. The main goal of the project to examine academic disciplines, established in the last three decades, which can be classed under the heading “activist social science.” These disciplines include “critical whiteness studies,” “critical race studies,” “settler-colonial studies,” and so on. How do these disciplines construe “Jewish whiteness” and imagine “Israeli settler colonialism?” How and why does the “Jewish problem” reemerge in critical works in these disciplines, and what are the methodological and discursive means by which they strive to achieve their critique? The project’s objective is to examine and deconstruct the type of critique these “activist” disciplines put forward. In so doing, the study will rely on the writings of the Frankfurt School, especially works by Horkheimer, Adorno, and Habermas that specifically address the problem of critique.
Research Projects: