Dr. Nicolas de Warren recently published a new book (2023) with Cambridge University Press, entitled German Philosophy and the First World War.
Dr. de Warren devotes about half of the book to the impact of the war on German-Jewish thinkers like Rosenzweig, Buber, Bloch, Cassirer, Lukacs, Simmel. In the book, he makes an argument about the formation of a distinct Jewish philosophical identity which, tragically, did not extend beyond the 1930s.
‘These profound reflections on philosophy and the First World War reveal important dimensions of the genealogy of what still drives contemporary philosophy-the continuing resilience of religion in an increasingly secular world, the modern experience of alienation which seems to know no limits, the problems of violence, the question of history, the meaning of the political. This is, in short, a remarkable book.’
(James Dodd – The New School for Social Research, New York)
‘World War I, de Warren shows, was a philosophical earthquake. Not only did it transform the philosophers who lived through it, but the war itself acquired a philosophical voice – or, better, voices – that would, for good or ill, echo across twentieth-century thought. Rich in both philosophical and historical insight, German Philosophy and the First World War will remain a touchstone for years to come.’
(Michael Gubser – James Madison University)