When considered in the field of aesthetics, the Bilderverbot (biblical ban on pictures) is received with a variety of attitudes ranging between the extremes of Kant’s praise and Hegel’s criticism. Despite being at odds with each other, Kant’s and Hegel’s interpretations suffer from the same theoretical flaw: both assume that the pictures the Bible talks about are representations related to their objects by way of reference. This assumption is proven wrong in the pars destruens of this essay, in which it (...) will be argued that using the notion of ‘representation’ as a key to the reading of the Bilderverbot is a misconception that leads to an anachronistic and partial view of the matter. The concept of ‘gaze,’ elaborated by Régis Debray and other scholars of visual studies, is introduced in the pars construens of this essay to show that the biblical prohibition is actually aimed at a different kind of pictures, to wit at presentifications, which, instead of referring to their objects in a representational way, are rather thought to embody and dominate them. In conclusion, through Nietzsche’s insights into the reasons behind religious cults, the point is finally made that the notion of ‘power’ surpasses that of ‘representation’ in capturing and accounting for the authentic meaning of the Bilderverbot. (shrink)

Das angebliche Bilderverbot, das im Zweiten Gebot des Dekalogs enthalten sein soll, ist eigentlich ein Idolatrieverbot. Das heißt, dass das jüdische Gesetz nicht Bilder an sich, sondern Idole verbietet. Gewiss: Manche Bilder werden als Idole verehrt. Es gibt aber auch Bilder, die keine idolatrische Bedeutung haben, und umgekehrt Idole, die keinen bildlichen Charakter aufweisen. Die Untersuchung dieser komplexen Zusammenhänge ist das Hauptziel des vorliegenden Sammelbandes. Von unterschiedlichen theoretischen Standpunkten ausgehend, eröffnen die hier versammelten Aufsätze neue Perspektiven auf das Verhältnis zwischen (...) Bild und Idol. Mit Beiträgen von Beniamino Fortis, Asher D. Biemann, Ellen Rinner, Mario C. Schmidt, Lars Tittmar, Johannes Bennke und Agata Bielik-Robson. (shrink)

Through the analysis of some of the main categories of Greek philosophy and Jewish thought, this essay highlights a general, decisive antithesis between them, i.e. the theoretical opposition between a Greek conceptual-deductive method and a Jewish storytelling attitude. The attention paid by contemporary philosophy to narrative issues can thus be seen as bearing witness to philosophy’s need to reshape its speculative processes, and at the same time as proving the topicality of Jewish thought as a viable way to delineate new (...) thinking perspectives. (shrink)

Enmarcado dentro del tema principal del pensamiento del futuro, la muerte heideggeriana y la redención de Rosenzweig presentan dos formas diferentes de apuntar a aspectos que pueden arrojar luz sobre la existencia humana. Más en concreto, el modo en que Heidegger y Rosenzweig conciben el futuro se encuentra en las raíces de cuestiones tales como la mortalidad, la otredad y la posibilidad.