My Academic Work: Papers From Political Science, American Studies, Jewish Studies, History, and Woman Studies

"Literature: Overcoming de-humanization" is the more comprehensive page and deals with five different American novels Moby Dick (Herman Melville), Puddn'head Wilson (Mark Twain), Ceremony (Leslie Silko), Beloved (Toni Morrison), and Maus (Art Spiegelman). I apply the idea of the philosopher Richard Rorty that literature is an attempt to overcome de-humanization.

"Moby Dick:  Seeking the encounter with the Truth" deals with Moby Dick only.

"Political Liberalism and Universalism: Problems in the Theories of David Gauthier and Richard Rorty" is a critique of the philosophical state of Liberalism today. Whereas Gauthier marks the end of the line on the libertarian side, Rorty takes Liberalism to its impractical, cynical post-modern end.

  • "Tales of our Lives - Tocqueville and Narratives" is the most detailed analysis of history, liberalism and the postmodern critique I have to offer. Beyond the analysis, I propose a new view of human beings as story-telling, order-constructing beings and sketch out some of the consequences for a new liberalism that preserves human dignity. This paper will be at the heart of all my future ideas on a postmodern, yet compassionate Liberalism.
  • A short treatise on the question of "Violence" in the thought of Hobbes, Tocqueville and Nietzsche addresses a fundamental problem of human existence: how, why rebellion and uproar? For postmodern liberals whose only common demand is 'no cruelty', a wortwhile reflection.
  • I will also upload one short paper each on the the image of the person in the thought of John Rawls and David Gauthier, and an essay on Plato's view of the tyrant and the democratic condition.
  • "A feminist critique of Liberal citizenship" will also be added.
  • Here is a term paper on "Tocqueville and Emerson: A Study in "Democratic Religio", where I do take a look on Emerson's and Tocqueville's conception of democracy, and their prescriptions for its shortcomings. Both Emerson and Tocqueville have been read as founding fathers of American Democratic Thought, albeit of two (complementary?) schools in polar opposition.

    • An essay on Robert Kennedy serves to explore the "conditions of aristocracy" that Tocqueville talked about. In conclusion, the sixties, for which Robert Kennedy was an exemplary person, were a time of pettiness as well as great ideals.

    "Sprituality and religiosity -  Martin Buber's and Abraham J. Heschel's Help for Modern Man" is the first introduction into my problems. It recounts the impact of two important authors on my journey through Judaism, and observes what is appealing or not appealing in religion for a postmodern German Jew.