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Papers by Ori Rotlevy
Critical Horizons, 2022
In a reflection on his Marxist past, J. F. Lyotard described a différend between himself and the... more In a reflection on his Marxist past, J. F. Lyotard described a différend
between himself and the revolutionary discourse. This might also
represent the relations between the latter and the contemporary
discourse of resistance, with its characteristic fascination with
non-teleological political action. The disdain for teleology
apparently justifies the incommensurability of these discourses,
thus disabling any inheritance of elements of the revolutionary
tradition. This essay challenges the unbridgeable nature of this
gap and explores alternative relations between the two
discourses, such as mimetic ones, by reading Walter Benjamin’s
somewhat neglected fragments on barricades in his Arcades
Project. Benjamin’s concept of interruption – celebrated by
contemporary theorists of resistance – alongside his nonteleological
concept of revolution, provides the theoretical
armature for this task. Thus, I use barricades, commonly
conceived as the emblem of the revolutionary tradition, in order
to reconsider the possibility of inheriting aspects of this tradition
in times in which the predominant discourse is that of resistance.
Foucault Studies, 2022
While Foucault referred to Benjamin just once in his entire corpus, scholars have long noticed af... more While Foucault referred to Benjamin just once in his entire corpus, scholars have long noticed affinities between the two thinkers, mainly between their conceptions of history: their emphasis on discontinuity, their historiographical practices, and the role of archives in their work. This essay focuses, rather, on their practice of critique and, more specifically, on their conception of the relation of this practice to exercise or askesis. I examine the role of askesis as a self-transformative exercise in Foucault's late work and how this concept reverberates throughout his idea of critique as the exercise of an ethos demanding arduous work. Against this background, the role of exercise (Übung) in Benjamin's Origin of the German Traeurspiel, his interest in ascetic kinds of exercise or schooling, and its ties to critique are discerned. This comparison reveals significant similarities in Foucault's and Benjamin's conception of philosophy, as well as different emphases in their inheritance of the Kantian critical project: critique as an exercise of an attitude attentive to possibilities for transformation in the present vs. critique as involving an attitude-transforming exercise; critique as a modern ethos that needs to be reactivated vs. critique as propaedeutic, as a preparation for a modern tradition.
Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory , 2020
The post-secular age, or event, is a unique opportunity for critical theory to reflect on critiqu... more The post-secular age, or event, is a unique opportunity for critical theory to reflect on critique, as it re-directs attention to the relations between critique and tradition. This article is part of a project that examines the potential of various non-antagonistic relations between these concepts. Juergen Habermas opened this path in the last two decades. However, I argue that he misses its potential. He approaches tradition instrumentally by focusing on traditional contents that modern societies can use in order to realize the project of modernity. What he disregards is the significance of tradition as a medium of transmission and transformation. In my reading of Walter Benjamin's early writings on Kant and correspondence with Scholem I develop this alternative. If a common conception of Kant thinks of critique as liberating from the yoke of tradition, Benjamin practically inverts this view. Rather than liberating from tradition, critique ascertains a place for tradition as a medium in modernity, one that puts transformation and discontinuity at the center of the political act of gathering. Even Benjamin's later writings suggest that adopting this medium in modernity, with all its problems, turns to a condition for the critique of modernity.
New German Critique, 2020
How is freedom tied to tradition? What is the relation between the individual and the collective ... more How is freedom tied to tradition? What is the relation between the individual and the collective experience of tradition? To what extent is the experience of tradition part of a modern experience rather than only of an ancient one? This essay argues that these questions lie at the heart of Walter Benjamin’s early discussion of tradition. His peculiar reference to “Talmudic wit” and to Kant as a tradendum in letters to Scholem, alongside related Jewish sources, and his engagement with Kant in “On the Program of the Coming Philosophy” are used to address these questions. Thus the essay offers a concept of tradition as a transformative medium that prefigures Benjamin’s late and familiar inkling for tradition’s revolutionary potential. Additionally, it suggests that in this context an alternative to Kant’s concept of freedom is prefigured.
Natur und Freiheit, Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses, 2018
Continental Philosophy Review, 2017
Why does Walter Benjamin claim ''indirection'' (Umweg) to be the proper method for philosophical ... more Why does Walter Benjamin claim ''indirection'' (Umweg) to be the proper method for philosophical contemplation and writing? Why is this method— embodied, according to Benjamin, in the convoluted form of scholastic treatises and in their use of citations—fundamental for understanding his Origin of German Trauerspiel as suggesting an alternative to most strands of modern philosophy? The explicit and well-studied function of this method is for the presentation of what cannot be represented in language, of what cannot be intended or approached in thinking. Namely, of what Benjamin understands as ''truth.'' Indeed, as Adorno implied, providing a method for presenting an intentionless reality, rather than for representing the world as corresponding to the mind, is revolutionary. However, I claim that beyond its presentational function, the method of indirection has a further , pedagogical function. Benjamin's concept of truth requires thinking in a manner that does not impose any exterior form, any conceptual or intuitive intention on truth and the materials in which it might be exhibited. The methodological adoption of digressive and intermittent writing is supposed to transform the way we think, or more accurately, the position (Haltung) from which thinking occurs. By examining Benjamin's use of pedagogical terms against the backdrop of scholastic history and the Urfigure of modern method, that of Descartes, I show that writing and reading in the form of the tractatus serves as exercise in receding from the subject-position—a position of a subject intending an object—and thus conditions the presentation of intentionless truth.
Papers in Hebrew by Ori Rotlevy
Zmanim, 2012
מקובל להנגיד בין שני אופני הכרה של העיר: הכרה מלמעלה והכרה מלמטה. המבט מעל נותן תמונה כולית של הע... more מקובל להנגיד בין שני אופני הכרה של העיר: הכרה מלמעלה והכרה מלמטה. המבט מעל נותן תמונה כולית של העיר, אך עיוור לפרטים ולחיים שבה; ההכרה מלמטה, דרך ההליכה, רגישה לחיים העירוניים על פרטיהם, אך אינה נותנת תמונה מקיפה של המכלול. ולטר בנימין מזוהה, על־פי־רוב, עם אופן ההכרה השני. השוטטות היא דרך הגישה שהוא מציע לשולי, לנשכח ולפרגמנטרי במרחב הזה ובעברו. אורי רוטלוי טוען, כי זוהי תמונה חלקית של תרומתו לחקר העיר. דרך הצגת הפסאז'ים הפריסאיים כמיניאטורה של פריס במאה התשע־עשרה, בנימין מרכיב את הפרטים של הזמן־מרחב העירוני לכדי מכלול, שבו לכל פרט יש מקום ומשמעות. כך, דווקא דרך העיסוק בפרטים, הוא פורש בפנינו תמונה פנורמית רחבה של העיר המודרנית. במובן זה הוא קורא תיגר על עצם הניגוד בין הכרה
מלמעלה ומלמטה.
Conferences and events by Ori Rotlevy
Academic papers by Ori Rotlevy
Ethics and Education, 2024
In his ‘Towards the Critique of Violence’, Walter Benjamin introduces the concept of ‘educative v... more In his ‘Towards the Critique of Violence’, Walter Benjamin introduces the concept of ‘educative violence’ as a contemporary manifestation of ‘divine violence’. In this paper, we aim to interpret ‘educative violence’ by examining other instances where the young Benjamin addresses pedagogical issues. By connecting the concept of divine violence to Benjamin’s ideas of education in tradition and of the schooling of Geist, our goal is twofold: firstly, to comprehend the productive role that violence may play in the pedagogical context, and secondly, to apply it to the conception of schooling presented by Jan Masschelein and Maarten Simons to highlight its relevance to school education. By linking scholastic violence to divine violence, we argue that schools must be defended not despite but because of the violence they inhere. In doing so, we contribute another layer to the defense of the school and offer fresh insights into Benjamin’s notion of divine violence.
Critical Horizons, 2022
In a reflection on his Marxist past, J. F. Lyotard described a différend between himself and the... more In a reflection on his Marxist past, J. F. Lyotard described a différend
between himself and the revolutionary discourse. This might also
represent the relations between the latter and the contemporary
discourse of resistance, with its characteristic fascination with
non-teleological political action. The disdain for teleology
apparently justifies the incommensurability of these discourses,
thus disabling any inheritance of elements of the revolutionary
tradition. This essay challenges the unbridgeable nature of this
gap and explores alternative relations between the two
discourses, such as mimetic ones, by reading Walter Benjamin’s
somewhat neglected fragments on barricades in his Arcades
Project. Benjamin’s concept of interruption – celebrated by
contemporary theorists of resistance – alongside his nonteleological
concept of revolution, provides the theoretical
armature for this task. Thus, I use barricades, commonly
conceived as the emblem of the revolutionary tradition, in order
to reconsider the possibility of inheriting aspects of this tradition
in times in which the predominant discourse is that of resistance.
Foucault Studies, 2022
While Foucault referred to Benjamin just once in his entire corpus, scholars have long noticed af... more While Foucault referred to Benjamin just once in his entire corpus, scholars have long noticed affinities between the two thinkers, mainly between their conceptions of history: their emphasis on discontinuity, their historiographical practices, and the role of archives in their work. This essay focuses, rather, on their practice of critique and, more specifically, on their conception of the relation of this practice to exercise or askesis. I examine the role of askesis as a self-transformative exercise in Foucault's late work and how this concept reverberates throughout his idea of critique as the exercise of an ethos demanding arduous work. Against this background, the role of exercise (Übung) in Benjamin's Origin of the German Traeurspiel, his interest in ascetic kinds of exercise or schooling, and its ties to critique are discerned. This comparison reveals significant similarities in Foucault's and Benjamin's conception of philosophy, as well as different emphases in their inheritance of the Kantian critical project: critique as an exercise of an attitude attentive to possibilities for transformation in the present vs. critique as involving an attitude-transforming exercise; critique as a modern ethos that needs to be reactivated vs. critique as propaedeutic, as a preparation for a modern tradition.
Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory , 2020
The post-secular age, or event, is a unique opportunity for critical theory to reflect on critiqu... more The post-secular age, or event, is a unique opportunity for critical theory to reflect on critique, as it re-directs attention to the relations between critique and tradition. This article is part of a project that examines the potential of various non-antagonistic relations between these concepts. Juergen Habermas opened this path in the last two decades. However, I argue that he misses its potential. He approaches tradition instrumentally by focusing on traditional contents that modern societies can use in order to realize the project of modernity. What he disregards is the significance of tradition as a medium of transmission and transformation. In my reading of Walter Benjamin's early writings on Kant and correspondence with Scholem I develop this alternative. If a common conception of Kant thinks of critique as liberating from the yoke of tradition, Benjamin practically inverts this view. Rather than liberating from tradition, critique ascertains a place for tradition as a medium in modernity, one that puts transformation and discontinuity at the center of the political act of gathering. Even Benjamin's later writings suggest that adopting this medium in modernity, with all its problems, turns to a condition for the critique of modernity.
New German Critique, 2020
How is freedom tied to tradition? What is the relation between the individual and the collective ... more How is freedom tied to tradition? What is the relation between the individual and the collective experience of tradition? To what extent is the experience of tradition part of a modern experience rather than only of an ancient one? This essay argues that these questions lie at the heart of Walter Benjamin’s early discussion of tradition. His peculiar reference to “Talmudic wit” and to Kant as a tradendum in letters to Scholem, alongside related Jewish sources, and his engagement with Kant in “On the Program of the Coming Philosophy” are used to address these questions. Thus the essay offers a concept of tradition as a transformative medium that prefigures Benjamin’s late and familiar inkling for tradition’s revolutionary potential. Additionally, it suggests that in this context an alternative to Kant’s concept of freedom is prefigured.
Natur und Freiheit, Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses, 2018
Continental Philosophy Review, 2017
Why does Walter Benjamin claim ''indirection'' (Umweg) to be the proper method for philosophical ... more Why does Walter Benjamin claim ''indirection'' (Umweg) to be the proper method for philosophical contemplation and writing? Why is this method— embodied, according to Benjamin, in the convoluted form of scholastic treatises and in their use of citations—fundamental for understanding his Origin of German Trauerspiel as suggesting an alternative to most strands of modern philosophy? The explicit and well-studied function of this method is for the presentation of what cannot be represented in language, of what cannot be intended or approached in thinking. Namely, of what Benjamin understands as ''truth.'' Indeed, as Adorno implied, providing a method for presenting an intentionless reality, rather than for representing the world as corresponding to the mind, is revolutionary. However, I claim that beyond its presentational function, the method of indirection has a further , pedagogical function. Benjamin's concept of truth requires thinking in a manner that does not impose any exterior form, any conceptual or intuitive intention on truth and the materials in which it might be exhibited. The methodological adoption of digressive and intermittent writing is supposed to transform the way we think, or more accurately, the position (Haltung) from which thinking occurs. By examining Benjamin's use of pedagogical terms against the backdrop of scholastic history and the Urfigure of modern method, that of Descartes, I show that writing and reading in the form of the tractatus serves as exercise in receding from the subject-position—a position of a subject intending an object—and thus conditions the presentation of intentionless truth.
Zmanim, 2012
מקובל להנגיד בין שני אופני הכרה של העיר: הכרה מלמעלה והכרה מלמטה. המבט מעל נותן תמונה כולית של הע... more מקובל להנגיד בין שני אופני הכרה של העיר: הכרה מלמעלה והכרה מלמטה. המבט מעל נותן תמונה כולית של העיר, אך עיוור לפרטים ולחיים שבה; ההכרה מלמטה, דרך ההליכה, רגישה לחיים העירוניים על פרטיהם, אך אינה נותנת תמונה מקיפה של המכלול. ולטר בנימין מזוהה, על־פי־רוב, עם אופן ההכרה השני. השוטטות היא דרך הגישה שהוא מציע לשולי, לנשכח ולפרגמנטרי במרחב הזה ובעברו. אורי רוטלוי טוען, כי זוהי תמונה חלקית של תרומתו לחקר העיר. דרך הצגת הפסאז'ים הפריסאיים כמיניאטורה של פריס במאה התשע־עשרה, בנימין מרכיב את הפרטים של הזמן־מרחב העירוני לכדי מכלול, שבו לכל פרט יש מקום ומשמעות. כך, דווקא דרך העיסוק בפרטים, הוא פורש בפנינו תמונה פנורמית רחבה של העיר המודרנית. במובן זה הוא קורא תיגר על עצם הניגוד בין הכרה
מלמעלה ומלמטה.
Ethics and Education, 2024
In his ‘Towards the Critique of Violence’, Walter Benjamin introduces the concept of ‘educative v... more In his ‘Towards the Critique of Violence’, Walter Benjamin introduces the concept of ‘educative violence’ as a contemporary manifestation of ‘divine violence’. In this paper, we aim to interpret ‘educative violence’ by examining other instances where the young Benjamin addresses pedagogical issues. By connecting the concept of divine violence to Benjamin’s ideas of education in tradition and of the schooling of Geist, our goal is twofold: firstly, to comprehend the productive role that violence may play in the pedagogical context, and secondly, to apply it to the conception of schooling presented by Jan Masschelein and Maarten Simons to highlight its relevance to school education. By linking scholastic violence to divine violence, we argue that schools must be defended not despite but because of the violence they inhere. In doing so, we contribute another layer to the defense of the school and offer fresh insights into Benjamin’s notion of divine violence.