Spinoza’s Afterlife in Judaism and the Task of Modern Jewish Philosophy

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Leo Strauss ◽  
Philosophical Significance ◽  
Jewish Philosophy ◽  
Jewish Intellectuals

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.

scholarly journals Jewish philosophy as a Direction of the World philosophy of Modern and Contemporary Times

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-442
Author(s):  
I Dvorkin
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Leo Strauss ◽  
Franz Rosenzweig ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Marginal Part ◽  
The World ◽  
European Philosophy ◽  
Jewish Philosophy

This article represents an analysis of the Jewish philosophy of the Modern and Contemporary as the holistic phenomenon. In contrast to antiquity and the Middle Ages, when philosophy was a rather marginal part of Jewish thought, in Modern Times Jewish philosophy is formed as a distinct part of the World philosophy. Despite the fact that representatives of Jewish philosophy wrote in different languages and actively participated in the different national schools of philosophy, their work has internal continuity and integrity. The article formulates the following five criteria for belonging to Jewish philosophy: belonging to philosophy itself; reliance on Jewish sources; the addressee of Jewish philosophy is an educated European; intellectual continuity (representatives of the Jewish philosophy of Modern and Contemporary Periods support each other, argue with each other and protect each other from possible attacks from other schools); working with a set of specific topics, such as monism, ethics and ontology, the significance of behavior and practical life, politics, the problem of man, intelligence, language and hermeneutics of the text, Athens and Jerusalem, dialogism. The article provides a list of the main authors who satisfy these criteria. The central ones can be considered Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza, Moshe Mendelssohn, Shlomo Maimon, German Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Josef Dov Soloveichik, Leo Strauss, Abraham Yehoshua Heshel, Eliezer Berkovich, Emil Fackenheim, Mordechai Kaplan, Emmanuel Levinas. The main conclusion of the article is that by the end of the 20th century Jewish philosophy, continuing both the traditions of classical European philosophy and Judaism, has become an important integral part of Western thought.

Covenant, History, and the Holocaust: Revisiting Emil Fackenheim's Jewish Philosophy

2016 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-143
Author(s):  
Daniel Rynhold
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Introductory Courses ◽  
Franz Rosenzweig ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Historical Circumstance ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Lasting Impression ◽  
Jewish Philosophy ◽  
Modern Judaism ◽  
Hermann Cohen

In the twentieth century, historical circumstance in the form of the Holocaust led to theodicy's returning to the forefront of the philosophical agenda, particularly in Jewish thought. As a result, post-Holocaust theology is almost always an element of introductory courses on modern and contemporary Jewish philosophy, if not introductory courses on modern Judaism simpliciter. Many working in the field of Jewish philosophy, therefore, probably first encounter Emil Fackenheim (1916–2003), and the infamous turn of phrase that ensured his immortality in the realm of Jewish thought, early on in their studies. Fackenheim was one of the most influential post-Holocaust philosophical voices in what soon became a cacophony. This German-born philosopher's (and ordained Reform rabbi's) concept of the 614th commandment—not to grant Hitler a posthumous victory (in his own words “the only statement of mine that ever became famous”)—has captured the imagination of many a student and often made a lasting impression. Yet it seems that one of the concerns at the forefront of this new expansive monograph on Fackenheim's philosophy is that for the majority, this constitutes both their first and last exposure to his thought, leaving them with an extremely contracted view of his conceptual palate. The result, noted in the book's introduction, is that Fackenheim has never really been considered a Jewish philosopher worthy of mention in the same breath as Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, or even latterly Emmanuel Levinas and Joseph Soloveitchik. In this volume, a case is presented for including him on that list.

Leo Strauss and Emmanuel Levinas

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-292
Author(s):  
Kam Shapiro ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Leo Strauss

scholarly journals Contextualizing Rosenzweig’s and Levinas’ Notions of the Other by Derrida’s Construal of Difference

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-397
Author(s):  
Alexander I. Pigalev
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
The Other ◽  
Specific Response ◽  
Late Modernity ◽  
Franz Rosenzweig ◽  
Metaphysics Of Presence ◽  
Jewish Philosophy ◽  
Identity And Difference ◽  
Relevant Range

The article focuses on juxtaposing the stances of Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas on the notion of the Other based on the metaphysical principles of modernity so as to expose the prerequisites for their attitude to metaphysics in whole. The peculiarity of the proposed approach is the analysis of the notions of the Other in Rosenzweig and Levinas from the perspective of Jacques Derrida’s philosophy. The scrutiny proceeds from the assumption that the national philosophies, having been considered as the specific response to the effects of the encounter of societies to be modernized with the spreading modernity, for that very reason attach great importance to the construal of the Other. It is emphasized that the similarities between the national schools of philosophy indicate correlating the particular with the general as the paradigm for the comprehension of the Other, whereas the Jewish philosophy has previously conceptualized that paradigm by way of the opposition of “Athens and Jerusalem”. In an effort to assess the capabilities of the above-mentioned paradigm the analysis of the relevant range of problems is set into the wider context and they are considered in connection with the transition from essentialism to anti-essentialism that characterizes already the late modernity. It is disclosed that Rosenzweig’s stance was still essentialist, while Levinas tried to abandon the essentialist understanding of the Other, albeit he did not complete the transition to anti-essentialism. Levinas’ break with metaphysics was brought to a close by Derrida whose anti-essentialist stance on identity and difference radically diverges from the thinking that adheres to the “metaphysics of presence”. In the issue, Derrida who does not formally belong to the Jewish philosophy could afford to summarize Rozenzweig’s and Levinas’ approaches to the problem of the Other, and in so doing he makes a contribution to both general and Jewish philosophy.

Self, Other, God: 20thCentury Jewish Philosophy

2014 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 149-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamra Wright
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Martin Buber ◽  
Franz Rosenzweig ◽  
Authentic Self ◽  
Jewish Philosophy

AbstractMartin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas are three of the most prominent Jewish philosophers of the 20thcentury. This paper looks at the different understandings each author offers of intersubjectivity and authentic self-hood and questions the extent to which for each author God plays a role in interpersonal relationships.

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