tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45196959496452886742024-03-13T06:54:14.674-07:00PHILOSOPHY OF JUDAISMWelcome! This site is a space promoting rigorous philosophical analysis of any aspect of Judaism. We look forward to your participation.
THIS WEBSITE HAS MOVED! IT CAN NOW BE FOUND AT http://www.theapj.com/blogAaron Segal, Sam Lebens, Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12072138513573624712noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-8371865590362071612012-03-18T10:14:00.001-07:002012-03-18T10:20:02.178-07:00IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW WEBSITEThis website has moved. It can now be found at http://www.theapj.com/blog
The symposium on halakha and the philosophy of law (21-28 March) will take place on the new site. The symposium is entitled "Authority, Halacha, and the Official Vigilante," and will center around a discussion of the problems of authority and law in relation to
Mishna Sanhedrin 9:6, in particular the rule that Aaron Segal, Sam Lebens, Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12072138513573624712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-86305692944878748652012-02-21T01:32:00.003-08:002012-02-21T02:22:09.905-08:00Symposium on Jewish Business EthicsIn this thought-provoking paper, Pava defends the claim that there is a unique Jewish business ethic. In so doing, Pava sets himself apart from those like Kant and Mill who defend the universal character of ethical imperatives. In other words, Pava proposes that there is a business ethics to be found within the texts of Judaism that cannot be reduced to the ethical systems with which we are Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02686037316872541259noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-65725662434443236932012-01-21T16:03:00.000-08:002012-01-22T13:58:11.031-08:00Philosophy in Halakhah and Philosophy of Judaism: Introducing “Philosophy in Halakhah: The Case of Intentional Action”The relationship between Judaism and philosophy has been the subject of discussion at least since Late Antiquity. Often, however, philosophy is reified as a distinct body of knowledge, the views of Epicurus and his followers, Aristotle’s corpus, or the very idea of the self-sufficiency of human reason, and viewed as either in conflict or agreement with an equally simplified notion of revelation, Yonatan Brafmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15164803707479739579noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-73342858888285357622011-12-20T17:15:00.000-08:002011-12-20T17:33:04.455-08:00Judaism and Philosophical Speculation
I was recently asked to write an article of philosophical interest for a Jewish publication. The content is aimed at the lay-person, but perhaps people here will find it interesting. I'd be grateful, as ever, for your comments.
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As a modern
orthodox Jew, I am keenly aware of the value and weight that we place uponSam Lebenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11232919028270795728noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-11350635385806905632011-12-01T04:16:00.000-08:002011-12-01T10:22:47.684-08:00Symposium on Curtis Franks's PaperIs Judaic logic used in the Talmud for inferring Jadaic laws analytic? Is it a priori?
Judaism differs considerably from other theistic religions. One of the main features is that Jewish religious laws are not dogmatic but based on specific legal reasoning. This reasoning was already used by the first Judaic commentators of the Bible (Tannaim) for inferring Judaic laws from the Pentateuch. HenceAndrew Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16930197291026417146noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-36836110144124098822011-11-16T08:33:00.000-08:002011-11-25T06:07:37.968-08:00Change of Symposia Dates!NOTICE:
The symposium on Hilary Putnam's paper scheduled for 14-21 November, has been postponed. Apologies. The symposium on Curtis Franks's paper will now be held between 01-08 December. Professors Franks and Andrew Schumann have kindly agreed to participate in the symposium.Aaron Segal, Sam Lebens, Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12072138513573624712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-3134274153390899732011-10-15T15:59:00.000-07:002011-10-16T10:32:58.856-07:00Symposium: Eleonore Stump
The symposium on Eleonore Stump's paper, "Saadia Gaon on The Problem of Evil" (Faith and Philosophy 1997, Vol. 14, No. 4: 523-49), is now underway. Prof. Stump has kindly agreed to participate in the Symposium. In what follows, I replicate the abstract of the paper, a brief summary and a series of questions to get things started.
Original Abstract: Considerable effort has Sam Lebenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11232919028270795728noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-19518823618618538422011-10-14T05:13:00.000-07:002011-11-01T16:10:39.350-07:00Stump Symposium on Evil: A Few QuestionsI'm wondering if anyone can help me with these clarificatory questions that have arisen after reading Professor Stump's thoroughly interesting article.
1) As Stump presents Saadia, he is of the opinion that those who are mostly righteous are punished in this world so that their remaining sins do not prevent them from enjoying eternal reward. I'm left wondering when God decides to enact this Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02686037316872541259noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-2253129377421820282011-09-21T13:22:00.000-07:002011-09-21T13:26:39.165-07:00Judaism and Religious PluralismIn the recent past John Hick has produced a significant amount of material defending a particular kind of religious pluralism. Even if one disagrees with Hick’s version thereof, a religion’s theological flexibility to incorporate a just pluralism of one sort or another is seen to be a virtue of said religion. A theology that promotes exclusivism is, by my lights at least, to be viewed with Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02686037316872541259noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-57897418271159328742011-09-21T13:07:00.000-07:002011-09-21T13:09:30.401-07:00The Kuzari PrincipleThere is an argument known as the Kuzari Principle.
It tries to justify belief in whole swathes of the Biblical narrative,
especially in the revelation at Mount Sinai. In this blog post, I hope to show
that the argument is much stronger than it might seem. The name of the argument
is slightly unfair, as it was first put forward not in R. Yehuda Halevi's Kuzari,
but in Saadya Gaon's Emunot Vadeot.Sam Lebenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11232919028270795728noreply@blogger.com27Alon Shvut31.65487 35.12525731.641353499999997 35.105515999999994 31.6683865 35.144998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-19016882506261450142011-09-20T00:06:00.000-07:002011-09-20T04:21:23.543-07:00Rosh Hashana: The Introduction of Bold Ideas
Nathan Lopes Cardozo
This article will appear in the Hebrew Makor Rishon
Erev Rosh Hashana, 5772
Rosh Hashana is a day to contemplate the need for great Jewish Ideas. A day to think big. To get out of our compartmentalized boxes. Hayom Harat Olam: Today the world is born. On Rosh Hashana the world should be newly created. This is specifically important for the future of Judaism.
Most Nathan Lopes Cardozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02498661165608423498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-61374549310486127972011-09-14T11:48:00.000-07:002011-09-16T03:34:40.827-07:00Sacrifices- The Great Jewish Embarrassment? Why Spinoza’s Ethics were not given at SinaiRabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes CardozoDoes Judaism really need animal sacrifices? Would it not be better off without them? After all, does the sacrificial cult not compromise Judaism? What does a highly ethical religion have to do with the collecting of blood in vessels and the burning of animal limbs on an altar? No doubt Judaism should really be sacrifice-free. Yet it is not.So, is the offering of Nathan Lopes Cardozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02498661165608423498noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-43087644067845463262011-09-13T19:09:00.000-07:002011-09-13T19:09:30.591-07:00Symposium: David Shatz's PrefaceThe symposium on David Shatz's paper, "Hierarchical Theories of Freedom and the Hardening of Hearts" (Midwest Studies in Philosophy 1997 (XXI): 202-24), is now underway. Professor Shatz has kindly agreed to initiate the symposium with some thoughts on his paper and the broader philosophical and exegetical issues it raises. What follows are his Aaron Segalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06245608631080094522noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-37182735380834576362011-09-01T11:21:00.000-07:002011-09-03T10:59:32.206-07:00Foundational Question for the Philosophy of JudaismSince the foundation of this blog, I have slowly come round to the following questions. These questions are not posted here because I have something by way of an answer to them; something that I’d wish to share. I don’t have answers. But the discussions that we’ve had on this blog have led me to think that these questions are foundational for anything like a rigorous investigation into the Sam Lebenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11232919028270795728noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-54647018331493852912011-08-23T09:38:00.000-07:002011-08-29T05:21:21.475-07:00The Properties of the Propety of Being JewishI’m marrying someone in a couple weeks. A lot of drama has arisen over his not being “Jewish” which made me wonder how the property of “being Jewish” works. First, the word “Jewish” can mean lots of different things. Here are some of the factors that seem relevant to people’s determination of whether or not someone is Jewish - Whether the person is of a certain ethnicity (where the extent to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-62977691515627137052011-08-17T01:44:00.000-07:002011-08-29T05:23:15.330-07:00The religious significance of Metaphysics: A tangent from the symposium on Eli Hirsch's paper on Identity in the TalmudIn our discussions of Eli Hirsch's paper, this week, Aaron Segal raised the following criticism of Hirsch's general approach to the Talmud. Segal said:
'We might wonder whether Hirsch’s assumption [that the disputants in the Talmud were making claims about the metaphysical nature of identity] compromises, to one degree or other, the religious value of either the original debates/conversations Aaron Segal, Sam Lebens, Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12072138513573624712noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-86702258479558761452011-08-15T09:58:00.000-07:002011-08-29T05:24:49.012-07:00Hirsch on Identity in the Talmud: Post #2
There is certainly much of interest in this excellent article both for philosophers and for Talmudists (and even more for those who are both). I want to focus on just one issue, which is briefly addressed at several points in the article and which I take to be of some importance. I tried to tackle this issue in a paper that I presented this summer at the Shalem Center’s conferenceAaron Segalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06245608631080094522noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-49068664796354899032011-08-15T07:48:00.000-07:002011-08-29T05:26:12.715-07:00Hirsch on Identity in the TalmudI have read Professor Hirsch’s paper with much interest and enjoyment. I think that his article provides a benchmark for good scholarship in the philosophy of Judaism. I have a few questions on the paper, all of which are clarificatory. I would be interested to hear others’ thoughts on these points:1. Is there any relation of the concept of panim chadashot as found in the laws of sheva Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02686037316872541259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-56964595638074950292011-08-10T08:15:00.000-07:002011-08-10T12:02:22.069-07:00The Temple was Destroyed because ...After a discussion I had with my brother about the nature of Torah study (is it merely an intellectual exercise or something more?) I started wondering about the following issue after he quoted a relevant point related to Tisha be’Av, which was yesterday and is the day commemorating the destruction of both temples, among other events. Many are aware of the famous statement in B. Nedarim 81a that Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02686037316872541259noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-36408708096440004792011-08-03T08:42:00.000-07:002011-08-03T12:13:09.448-07:00The Izbicer Rebbe and FreewillHaving spent some time thinking about medieval approaches to the freewill problem – the apparent contradiction between God’s foreknowledge and our freedom – Rabbi Herzl Hefter introduced me to the work of the Chassidic Rebbe, R. Mordechai Yosef Leiner, otherwise known as the Izbicer. In this blog, I want to present what I take to be the Izbicer’s ‘solution’ to the free will problem. All of this Sam Lebenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11232919028270795728noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-90164694078757167202011-08-02T05:46:00.000-07:002011-08-03T10:26:36.020-07:00Developing a philosophy of Judaism: the fortunes of an enterpriseby Ben Elton
Leopold Zunz (1794-1886) famously remarked that the Jewish Middle Ages did not come to an end until the French Revolution. He was making the important point that a state or religion does not become modern simply because it is exists in modern times. To be modern it must engage with modernity. The French Revolution facilitated that engagement by setting in train events that would leadUnknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-51607409875286492272011-08-01T10:27:00.000-07:002011-08-03T10:28:03.207-07:00Letter of Support from Chief Rabbi, Lord SacksWhen we established this blog, I wrote to the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Lord Sacks. He is surely one of the greatest living rabbis and one of the greatest living Jewish philosophers/thinkers/leaders, so, I asked him what he thought were the major tasks for the next generation of Jewish philosophers. We are thrilled and honoured to have received this Sam Lebenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11232919028270795728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-34097475181280381212011-07-27T01:17:00.000-07:002011-08-03T10:29:27.950-07:00Some "Meta Questions"So if one reads the philosophical literature on God's relationship to time (e.g. Leftow, Swinburne, Plantinga, Hasker, Wierenga), one encounters the following phenomenon: those arguing for God's being outside of time will draw on certain biblical verses in support of their position. Similarly, those defending God's being inside time draw on biblical verses in support of their position. At a Dani Rabinowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02686037316872541259noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-7753454595831462011-07-25T12:15:00.000-07:002011-07-25T12:30:58.961-07:00Heschel's Concise Dictionary of Hebrew Philosophical Terms now available opensource onlineMy Rabbi sent me the link to a blog called "On the Mainline," which looks like it might have some more useful stuff. (Correction: definitely interesting stuff, see also the writer's other blog, English Hebraica) mrkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192841891869009043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519695949645288674.post-90198693660782547762011-07-25T10:24:00.000-07:002011-07-25T13:17:55.546-07:00The Six Pillars of Jewish WisdomWhat on earth is the philosophy of Judaism?There are six elements. Each has roots in the Pentateuch. It is part of the mystery of Jewish identity that these principles produce techniques that are fecund and unembarrassing in the hands of avowed secularists. 1. The Imago Dei Man, says the Torah, is made in the image of God. That indicates: (a) that man is not God; and (b) that man has some Charles Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244572346307622203noreply@blogger.com2