Jewish Issue And The Reflection On The Crisis Of Modernity

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) is one of the most distinctive and creative political philosophers in twentieth century. Since the book of "The Origins of Totalitarianism" published, her thinking has been great concerned by the academic world in the West. She studied from Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, who were the cutting-edge philosophy in German. With a unique personal experience and the Jewish identity, as well as a thorough exposure to the 20th century, she has a more unique and broader vision on the issue of Jewish study. Anti-Semitism as a social phenomenon has been accompanied by the development of modern Western civilization. The process in pursuit of liberation and enlightenment for the purpose of fostering the spirit of the rational features of modern civilization has fall into the final brutal, then a nation (the Jewish) was launched to the extinction as an unprecedented massacre. In Arendt's mind, the anti-Semitism in twentieth century, is just Jewish problem on the surface, but it's a more significant political meaning in essence. Anti-Semitism is Just as a Multi-prisms, which reflects the entire modern history, especially all the history of totalitarianism. Arendt makes "the fate of the Jews" for the theme, to argue that the modern ideal of "freedom, equality, and human rights" which carried from "Enlightenment" in the West since the 18th century has been encountered difficulties in practice. The Jewish experience is as well showing the failure of Enlightenment ideals. Arendt discusses the latent undercurrent which causes collapse of humanism and the initiation civilization in the progress of Western modernity. As well as under such historic condition, it causes the rise of totalitarianism and persecution of Jews with large-scale collective. It can be said that anti-Semitism to some extent on totalitarianism by Arendt, is to the introspection and critique on Western modernity difficult position.