Description
Book SynopsisHow Jewish is modern Jewish philosophy? The question at first appears nonsensical, until we consider that the chief issues with which Jewish philosophers have engaged, from the Enlightenment through to the late 20th century, are the standard preoccupations of general philosophical inquiry. Questions about God, reality, language, and knowledge - metaphysics and epistemology - have been of as much concern to Jewish thinkers as they have been to others. Moses Mendelssohn, for example, was a friend of Kant. Hermann Cohen's philosophy is often described as 'neo-Kantian.' Franz Rosenzweig wrote his dissertation on Hegel. And the thought of Emmanuel Levinas is indebted to Husserl. In this much-needed textbook, which surveys the most prominent thinkers of the last three centuries, Claire Katz situates modern Jewish philosophy in the wider cultural and intellectual context of its day, indicating how broader currents of British, French and German thought influenced its practitioners. But she also addresses the unique ways in which being Jewish coloured their output, suggesting that a keen sense of particularity enabled the Jewish philosophers to help define the whole modern era. Intended to be used as a core undergraduate text, the book will also appeal to anyone with an interest how some of the greatest minds of the age grappled with some of its most urgent and fascinating philosophical problems.
Trade Review"With an engaging and probing approach to Jewish concerns, from education to prayer, Claire Elise Katz gives us a fresh new look at some of the most influential Jewish philosophers of modern times. Written in an engaging and easy style, this is a wonderful way to introduce students and all learners to the rich and fascinating world of modern Jewish thought." -Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College "Despite its title, the book is much more than an undergraduate introductory textbook in modern Jewish philosophy: though at this it performs its task well. Claire Elise Katz is herself an important post-modernist feminist Jewish thinker whose writings successfully integrate, as they do in this volume, her academic knowledge of modern philosophy with her personal passion for Judaism." -Norbert Samuelson, Harold and Jean Grossmann Professor of Jewish Philosophy, Arizona State University "Claire Elise Katz places Jewish philosophy more squarely in the history of western philosophy and thus brings it into conversation with Descartes, Locke, Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Sartre, and de Beauvoir. She imaginatively draws Jewish philosophy out of its own self-enclosure, thereby transforming it into something more cosmopolitan, more rigorous, more curious, and more conceptually generative than perhaps has been previously imagined" -Zachary Braiterman, Professor of Religion, Syracuse University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Abbreviations Glossary Preface Introduction: What is Jewish Philosophy? 1 Mendelssohn and the Enlightened Mind 2 From Modern to Post-modern: Hermann Cohen and Hannah Arendt 3 Jewish Existentialism: Shestov, Buber, and Rosenzweig 4 Emmanuel Levinas and Abraham Joshua Heschel: Response to Modernity 5 The Limits of Philosophy Concluding Remarks Notes References, Sources and Suggested Reading Index
