1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910158606203321

Autore

Sagi Abraham

Titolo

Reflections on Identity : The Jewish Case / / Avi Sagi

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Boston, MA : , : Academic Studies Press, , [2016]

©2016

ISBN

1-61811-535-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (224 pages)

Collana

Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah

Altri autori (Persone)

SteinBatya

Disciplina

305.892/4

Soggetti

Jews - Identity - Philosophy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"This volume contains three chapters that were previously published in a Hebrew volume, but, otherwise, it is original and was not previously published in full elsewhere"--Publisher's email.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Part One -- Chapter 1: From an Essentialist to a Multicultural Identity -- Chapter 2: A Critique of the Jewish Identity Discourse -- Chapter 3: Primordial Identity: The Jewish Case -- Part Two -- Chapter 4: Between a Rights Discourse and an Identity Discourse -- Chapter 5: "Religion and State": A Critical Analysis -- Chapter 6: On Exile, Strangers, and Sovereignty: Identity in the Biblical Tradition -- Bibliography -- Sources -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Two basic approaches have shaped the identity discourse since antiquity. The essentialist view assumes that a person's identity does exist "somewhere," and the discourse on identity is an attempt to disclose it. People do not create their identity, they only realize it. The opposite, deconstructionist view, assumes that the identity is only a linguistic fiction; we have no identity outside our concrete history, which reflects a constantly ongoing dynamic change. The present book offers a third option. It accepts that identity is not a priori datum that precedes our existence but claims we do have a set historical cultural identity it calls "primary," expressing a permanent foundation of our biography. On its basis, we build our concrete identity. Engaging in a critical analysis, the book exposes the foundations and the borders of the identity field. As a test case that illustrates its claims, it presents the discourse on Jewish identity. Lively, vigorous, and widely recorded, this discourse conveys many nuances of the tension between continuity



and change and is thus uniquely fit to convey the significance of the identity discourse.