Susan Taubes
Philosophische Schriften
[Susan Taubes. Philosophical Writings]

The second volume of the edition of Susan Taubes’s writings includes her previously unpublished 1956 dissertation, Der abwesende Gott. Eine Studie über Simone Weil (The Absent God: A Study of Simone Weil), alongside her essays and reviews, published between 1951 and 1959 in renowned journals such as The Journal of Religion and The Review of Metaphysics.

In her philosophical writings, Susan Taubes builds on the foundations of modernity to examine gnosis and tragedy as cultural-historical constellations, tracing hidden connections between Jewish experience and German philosophy. She develops a theory of tragedy, Das Wesen der Tragödie (The Nature of Tragedy, 1953), and explores the gnostic foundations of Heidegger's nihilism in Die gnostischen Grundlagen von Heideggers Nihilismus (The Gnostic Foundations of Heidegger’s Nihilism, 1954), as well as examining the enigma of Simone Weil in Das Rätsel Simone Weil (The Enigma of Simone Weil, 1956). Situated methodologically between the philosophy of religion and cultural studies, Taubes’ theoretical works develop a cultural theory of modernity through a critical engagement with topics such as alienation and revolt, nihilism, and theology. (Publisher’s blurb)