Philosophy takes it upon itself to throw off the fear of things earthly, to rob death of its poisonous sting, and Hades of its pestilential breath. … But philosophy denies these fears of the earth. … It lets the body be a prey to the abyss, but the free soul flutters away over it. Why should philosophy be concerned if the fear of death knows nothing of such a dichotomy between body and soul, if it roars Me! Me! Me!, if it wants nothing to do with relegating fear onto a mere ‘body’? … for all this dire necessity philosophy has only its vacuous smile. … For [humanity] does not really want to escape any kind of fetters; [humanity] wants to remain, … wants to – live.
Franz Rosenzweig, *The Star of Redemption,* translated by William W. Hallo from the 2nd edition of 1930, University of Notre Dame Press, 2014/1985, 3.
Image: “Sabbath,” Max Weber, from Wikipedia Loves Art participant “shooting_brooklyn”, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Matters of Interpretation 