scholarly journals Is God a person? Maimonides, Crescas, and beyond

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Samuel Lebens

Abstract Drawing from multiple generations of Jewish philosophy (from Maimonides until today), this article argues for the seemingly paradoxical conclusion that God is both fully, and not at all, a person. The apparent contradiction in this conclusion is resolved by appeal to a two-layered ontology.

Author(s):  
William H. Massover

The molecular structure of the iron-storage protein, ferritin, is becoming known in ever finer detail. The 24 apoferritin subunits (MW ca. 20,000) have a 2:1 axial ratio and are polymerized with 4:3:2 symmetry to form an outer shell surrounding a variable amount of microcrystalline iron, Recent x-ray diffraction results indicate that the projected outline of the native molecule has a quasi-hexagonal shape when viewed down the 3-fold axes of symmetry, and a quasi-square shape when looking down the 4-fold axes. To date, no electron microscope study has reported observing anything other than circular profiles, which would indicate that ferritin is strictly spherical. The apparent conflict between the "hollow sphere" of electron microscopy (E.M.) and the "truncated rhombic dodecahedron" of x-ray diffraction could reflect the poorer effective resolution of E.M. coming from radiation damage, staining, drying, etc. The present study investigates the detailed shape of individual ferritin molecules in order to search for the predicted aspherical profiles and to interpret the nature of this apparent contradiction.


Why did Roman prosecutors typically accuse the defendant of multiple crimina, when in most standing criminal courts the punishment imposed on a guilty defendant was the same (typically “capital,” that is, a kind of exile), no matter how many charges were proven? The answer lies not in a failure to distinguish between legal charges leveled at the defendant and defamation of his character, but rather in a rhetorical strategy that made sense in light of what was legally necessary to obtain a conviction. The greater the number of charges, the more likely the jurors would be persuaded that the defendant had in some way violated the statute according to which the trial was being conducted. It is true that prosecutors typically argued that the defendant’s prior conduct made it plausible that he had committed the crimes with which he was charged, but in a way that, as much as possible, made his guilt on these particular charges seem likely, and defense patroni attempted to undermine the charges and the character defamation. This answer to the apparent contradiction between multiple charges and unitary punishment favors a moderate formalism over legal realism as the way to interpret Roman criminal trials.


Author(s):  
Orit Bashkin

This chapter provides a detailed reading of al-Misbah, a Jewish Iraqi publication which appeared in Baghdad between the years 1924 and 1929 and has been characterised both as a Zionist mouthpiece and a testimony to the success of Arab nationalism. In addressing this apparent contradiction, the chapter examines the issues which dominated its pages in order to highlight the identity of the paper and to enrich our understanding of the Iraqi press under the British Mandate. The chapter addresses two discursive circles – the Iraqi and the Jewish – and proposes that al-Misbah conveyed an unmistakable Iraqi and Arab identity. Despite the editor’s Zionist inclinations, the conversations between readers and writers acquired a life of their own and the paper, in fact, promoted a new Arab Jewish identity and illustrated how Jews sought to use state institutions as venues for the cultivation of non-sectarian and democratic citizenship.


Author(s):  
Sara Awartani

In late September 2018, multiple generations of Chicago’s storied social movements marched through Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood as part of the sold-out, three-day Young Lords Fiftieth Anniversary Symposium hosted by DePaul University—an institution that, alongside Mayor Richard J. Daley’s administration, had played a sizeable role in transforming Lincoln Park into a neighborhood “primed for development.” Students, activists, and community members—from throughout Chicago, the Midwest, the East Coast, and even as far as Texas—converged to celebrate the history of Puerto Ricans in Chicago, the legacies of the Young Lords, and the promises and possibilities of resistance. As Elaine Brown, former chairwoman and minister of information for the Black Panther Party, told participants in the second day’s opening plenary, the struggle against racism, poverty, and gentrification and for self-determination and the general empowerment of marginalized people is a protracted one. “You have living legends among you,” Brown insisted, inviting us to associate as equals with the Young Lords members in our midst. Her plea encapsulated the ethos of that weekend’s celebrations: “If we want to be free, let us live the light of the Lords.”


Author(s):  
Tony Smith

This chapter examines Ronald Reagan's commitment to the tenets of liberal democratic internationalism, and in particular his promotion of a global “democratic revolution” characterized by an apparent contradiction between activism and moderation in American foreign policy. It begins with a discussion of the Reagan administration's strategy that called for a a minimal effort on its part to realize its vision of a world order dominated by democratic governments, with emphasis on three key operational programs: “constructive engagement”; the push for antistatist, free markets abroad; and the Reagan Doctrine. The chapter then considers the role played by the Reagan administration's policies to the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and the succeeding prestige of democratic governance worldwide. It argues that the American role in the spread of democracy worldwide in the twentieth century was a necessary, but not sufficient, cause for the current strength of democratic government.


CFA Digest ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Eickelberg

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Duignan ◽  
Marcel Baer ◽  
Christopher Mundy

<div> <p> </p><div> <div> <div> <p>The surface tension of dilute salt water is a fundamental property that is crucial to understanding the complexity of many aqueous phase processes. Small ions are known to be repelled from the air-water surface leading to an increase in the surface tension in accordance with the Gibbs adsorption isotherm. The Jones-Ray effect refers to the observation that at extremely low salt concentration the surface tension decreases in apparent contradiction with thermodynamics. Determining the mechanism that is responsible for this Jones-Ray effect is important for theoretically predicting the distribution of ions near surfaces. Here we show that this surface tension decrease can be explained by surfactant impurities in water that create a substantial negative electrostatic potential at the air-water interface. This potential strongly attracts positive cations in water to the interface lowering the surface tension and thus explaining the signature of the Jones-Ray effect. At higher salt concentrations, this electrostatic potential is screened by the added salt reducing the magnitude of this effect. The effect of surface curvature on this behavior is also examined and the implications for unexplained bubble phenomena is discussed. This work suggests that the purity standards for water may be inadequate and that the interactions between ions with background impurities are important to incorporate into our understanding of the driving forces that give rise to the speciation of ions at interfaces. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div>


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne R. Mulligan ◽  
◽  
Patrick Kane ◽  
Michael J. Kunk ◽  
Erin Stoesz ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
T. M. Rudavsky

Medieval Jewish philosophy, like Islamic and Christian philosophy, is fundamentally focused on the relationship between “faith and reason.” Arising as an effort toward harmonizing the tenets of Judaism with current philosophic teachings, medieval Jewish philosophy deals with problems in which there appears to be a conflict between philosophical speculation and acceptance of dogmas of the Judaic faith. This chapter reviews the nature of Jewish philosophy as well as the tension between Judaism and Science. It positions Jewish philosophy within the broader context of Western thought, and distinguishes philosophy from the world of the Rabbis. It then provides an overview of the major themes of the work, which include issues of omniscience, providence, reason, and moral theory.


Author(s):  
Michael L. Morgan

This article examines Baruch Spinoza’s legacy within Judaism and his impact on modern Jewish philosophy. It first considers some of the Jewish intellectuals and leaders who have found inspiration or provocation in Spinoza, and then turns to Spinozism in Judaism and the philosophical significance of Spinoza’s reception among the Jews. It then explores the ways in which Spinoza has become a symbol of philosophical tendencies in Jewish self-understanding and concludes by discussing how Spinoza’s symbolic presence signals a dialectic in modern Jewish philosophy concerning various interpretations of Jewish existence and their interaction. More specifically, it looks at three Jewish philosophers who have at one time or another taken an interest in Spinoza, with emphasis on their various responses to him: Leo Strauss, Emil Fackenheim, and Emmanuel Levinas.


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