For the past four years, German media and politics have been focused on the question: is antisemitism acceptable in the name of freedom of speech? How do we weigh our commitment to freedom of speech with our obligation to fight antisemitism? Susan Neiman argues that this is a deliberately misleading framing of the debate, for it presupposes a particular view of antisemitism. Instead of trying to balance two competing commitments, she believes, we need to reject this framing and examine the terms.
Part of Episode XXX: “The Condition of No. What ar the Limits?”
With Aziz Al-Azmeh, Susan Neiman & Florian Malzacher
05. March 2025 – Villa Stuck, Munich / Austria
This edition is part of the series The Condition of No. German Case Studies of Cancellation and Boycott at Villa Stuck Munich, curated by Tania Bruguera, Florian Malzacher, Roland Wenninger.
In coproduction with Villa Stuck & INSTAR.
Biography
Susan Neiman, who lives in Berlin, is Director of the Einstein Forum. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Neiman studied philosophy at Harvard, completing her Ph.D. under John Rawls and Stanley Cavell. She also studied at the Freie Universität Berlin, and was professor of philosophy at Yale and Tel Aviv University. Her books, translated into many languages, include Slow Fire: Jewish Notes from Berlin, The Unity of Reason: Rereading Kant, Evil in Modern Thought, Fremde sehen anders, Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-up Idealists, Why Grow Up?, Widerstand der Vernunft. Ein Manifest in postfaktischen Zeiten, Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil, and Left is not Woke.She has also published over one hundred essays in many newspapers, magazines and journals. She is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society,