Luca Bertolino

In Franz Rosenzweig's "The Star of Redemption" the chorus comes on stage in three forms: chorus in tragedy (with its presence in ancient classical tragedy and its absence in modern one), chorus of redemption and chorus in church music. Analyzing the role of chorus is useful to study Rosenzweig's aesthetics, which is in a way a "classical" art theory, but not an idealistic "pure" aesthetics, inasmuch as art must be "applied" art. An idealistic pure art condemns us to live in an hortus conclusus, far away from God and from life, while an applied art brings us near to the lost gan 'eden.

The "healthy human understanding" presents a theme of constant struggle for Rosenzweig, above all with regard to his determination of the essence of philosophy, because this concept acquires for him an anti-philosophical hue that colors both theory of knowledge and ethics. This contribution follows the traces of the healthy human understanding in Rosenzweig's works. On this background, it is determined that the "old" philosophy falls into a deep discontent, in contrast to the contentment of the "philosophy of healthy human understanding". The discontent of the latter nevertheless also becomes apparent, however, because it is incapable of giving an account of itself. In this regard, one can find a horizon of research precisely in that "rational treatment" which Rosenzweig mocks as "Criticin-vaccination". The essay "What does it mean to orient oneself in thinking?" in which Kant, among other things, defines the common healthy reason, offers a convincing approach to a faith which partakes of rationality.