קרל לוויט והנס בלומנברג: המקרה של "לא יהודים ולא גרמנים

This article deals with some aspects of the intellectual biographies of two prominent German philosophers of Jewish origin, Karl Löwith (1897-1973) and Hans Blumenberg (1920-1996). These aspects of their intellectual biographies are described and analyzed in order to shed light on the way in which these two philosophers dealt with the issue of their self-identity. The issue of identity was forced on them as a result of the historical and political circumstances prevailing in Germany during the 1930s. The two thinkers, who had considered themselves to be German in identity, were forced to confront the violent exposure of their Jewish origin — of which they were either unaware or which had never played any significant role in their lives. The article's main premise is that both thinkers tried to come to terms with the identity problem through their philosophical works. It would be a mistake, however, to attempt to reduce the entire philosophical work of these two thinkers to the problem of their Jewish identity, since neither makes such a claim and also because such an approach ignores the scale and richness of their unique philosophical works. Nevertheless, and despite this important reservation, the article would like to argue that something important concerning the issue of Jewish identity can be learned from the way it was challenged by both thinkers. We also learn the important lesson that we may be attributing to these thinkers a problem that might not have been their problem at all.