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PAH.TISAN REVIEW
The lasting presence and dispersion of the Jews in Europe demand
metaphysical dialogue with the Christian societies of Europe. They
demand renewal of the definition of European humanism, so that religions
should not be inhibitors of free contact between people. The Biblical peo–
ple also have a part in the shaping of modern humanism. The fundamental
book partly held in common, along with the mobility, economic activity,
and understanding of the Jews, reduced the authority of irrational barriers.
If people recognize the humanity in each other, they do not kill each
other. The first lesson of humanism-it is possible to live without ene–
mies. The notion
thou shalt not kill
stands at the center of the humanist
idea. As a substitute for killing, it suggests competition in sports, economy,
the world of ideas and images. It is a fundamental European interest that
every European nation be woven into European discipline, that it not be
possible for the leaders of one or another nation-state to go insane and
blunder into extreme aggression. European humanism is a defense against
national hysteria and it aims at the minimalization of aggression. The car–
rier of European humanism is embourgeoisement. Two ideas opposed one
another: the unification of the continent under the rule of one nation and
the voluntary association of nations with equal rights. The idea of empire
versus that of democratic feudalism. The idea of a hierarchy of nations and
peoples is quite abstract, but the mass murder that is its consequence is
horribly concrete. European humanism is a vigilant critique of ideology,
because it presumes reasonably that the national (religious, class, etc.) com–
munities are wont to praise themselves too much, and to debase other
communities, even probably to attempt to destroy them. Horrible acts are
possible when abstract propositions suppress empathy, when empathy is
outlawed. In contrast, worldly humanism is the very adventure of under–
standing ourselves and each other. The various forms of anti-Semitism
regard Jews as the carriers of globalization, and not without cause. If we
recognize plural identity, then local Jewish identities are connected natu–
rally to distant ones, then it is normal for me to be at home in Budapest
and to be present in San Francisco at the meeting of Jewish wri ters.
The next rnillenium will be the rnillenium of dialogue in place of
combat, the rnillenium of dialogue and debate with each other and with
ourselves. The morality of the novel will be the morality of the world. All
the figures in a novel have their own truth. The author distributes
him/ herself among the figures, but is able to see them from above as well,
to move them, like the chess-player. The art of balance actually supports
present-day Western civilizations. The art of balance draws the poles into
the system, and integrates the extremes into the bourgeois middle, puts
