Title: Jews and Judaism between Bedevilment and Source of Salvation: Christianity as a Cause of and a Cure against Antisemitism
Abstract: Philosophers observe that cognition is guided by antecedent ideas and that cognition about particularo bjects relates back to prior experience or assumptions about them.The phenomenon of antecedent ideas is illustrated by the following joke:What is the difference between an English pensioner, aF rench pensioner, and aG erman pensioner?The English pensionerr eads TheT imes while eatingb reakfast and then goes to the golf club.The Frenchp ensionerd rinks ag lass of wine for breakfast.And the German pensioner takes ab lood pressuret ablet and sets off to work.²This brief joke clearlyillustrates the role of prejudice in shaping our perceptions of our counterparts.Stereotypes about British, French, and Germanc ultural norms shape this joke.W hether ah earerf inds the joke funnyo rn ot,w hat makes it possible is the presenceo fg eneralizedc ategories that facilitateu nderstanding through the use of antecedent ideas.It was Karl Jaspers who pointed to the insurmountable divide between the understanding subject and the object of understanding, or what might be classified as the subject-object divide.I, as asubject,view another person as an object of my understanding.Toachievecognitionofthis object,mypreconceptions -basedo nc ultural or religious memories, prior experiences, and thingsIhave seen or been told-equip me to draw conclusions without attention to specifics.Thus, for the joke to work, listeners must alreadya ssume-or know thats ome people around them assume-that all Germans are workaholics.Preconceptions basedo np rior experience are not necessarilyb ad.³The assumption that it is dangerous to drive through an intersection when the light is red, because we have seen other people do this (or done so ourselves), is aprod- Adapted from "Top2 0G erman Jokes: Translated into English," accessed May9 ,2 019,h ttp:// www.learn-german-language-online.com/german-jokes.html.Except as notedb elow,a ll websites werel ast accessed on May9 ,2 019. Gadamer controversiallya rgued for the value