A piece of intellectual history from the former West Germany

The correspondence between Hans Blumenberg and Jacob Taubes is a document of a rich though not entirely smooth relationship between two intellectuals who could not have been more different: On the one hand, Hand Blumenberg, whose works constitute one of the most impressive contributions to 20th century German philosophy; on the other hand, the philosopher of religion Jacob Taubes, who was without peer in his ability to bring intellectuals from all different disciplines into conversation with one another. The correspondence begins in 1961, when Taubes took a position as chair of the newly founded Jewish Studies Institute at the Free University in Berlin, and ends twenty years later, again with a letter from Taubes, in which he informs Blumenberg that he has discovered the latter’s The Readability of the World at the Frankfurt Book Fair. In the interim the two men debate all manner of subjects: above all Blumenberg’s work, of which Taubes was a congenial reader, but also the state of higher education and the famous research group »Poetics and Hermeneutics«. And of course they discuss Carl Schmitt and Gershom Scholem, not to mention the Suhrkamp Verlag, particularly its new »Theory« series, of which Blumenberg and Taubes were co-editors.

The 56 extant letters have now been published for the first time along with related documents and critical commentary. They take us right into the heart of the academic debates of the 1960s and 70s and constitute an important piece of West German intellectual history from the perspective of two of its most important intellectuals.

Edited by Herbert Kopp-Oberstebrink and Martin Treml with the assistance of Anja Schipke and Stephan Steiner. With an afterword by Herbert Kopp-Oberstebrink

Sources, Streams, Icebergs