Description:
Thinking in Public examines the ambivalence that public political life and the figure of the intellectual provoked in the generation of European Jewish thinkers born around 1900. By comparing Hannah Arendt, Emmanuel Levinas, and Leo Strauss, Wurgaft offers a new perspective on the relationship between philosophers and politics.
Review Quotes: "In this wonderfully sweeping and also lovingly detailed book, Benjamin Wurgaft explores the ideas of 'the intellectual' and 'the public' in the work of Leo Strauss, Emmanuel Levinas, and Hannah Arendt. Thinking in Public is beautifully written, carefully argued, and hugely important at a time when 'public intellectuals' are proliferating, their place in political life is contested, and technology is wildly expanding their productivity and reach."-- "Politics, Religion & Ideology"