Law, Reason, and Morality, in Medieval Jewish Philosophy Sadia Gaon, Bahya ibn Pakuda, and Moses Maimonides

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Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2010-09-10
Publisher(s): Oxford University Press
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Summary

The medieval Jewish philosophers Saadia Gaon, Bahya ibn Pakuda, and Moses Maimonides made significant contributions to moral philosophy in ways that remain relevant today. Jonathan Jacobs explicates shared, general features of the thought of these thinkers and also highlights their distinctive contributions to understanding moral thought and moral life. The rationalism of these thinkers is a key to their views. They argued that seeking rational understanding of Torah>'s commandments and the created order is crucial to fulfilling the covenant with God, and that intellectual activity and ethical activity form a spiral of mutual reinforcement. In their view, rational comprehension and ethical action jointly constitute a life of holiness. Their insights are important in their own right and are also relevant to enduring issues in moral epistemology and moral psychology, resonating even in the contemporary context. The central concerns of this study include (i) the relations between revelation and rational justification, (ii) the roles of intellectual virtue and ethical virtue in human perfection, (iii) the implications of theistic commitments for topics such as freedom of the will, the acquisition of virtues and vices, repentance, humility, and forgiveness, (iv) contrasts between medieval Jewish moral thought and the practical wisdom approach to moral philosophy and the natural law approach to it, and (v) the universality and objectivity of moral elements of Torah.

Author Biography


Jonathan Jacobs is Director of The Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York.

Table of Contents

Introductionp. 1
Athens, Jerusalem, and Jewish Moral Thoughtp. 10
The philosophical context of the projectp. 10
The rationalism of Jewish thoughtp. 14
The relevance of Athens and Jerusalemp. 19
The rationalism of Jewish traditionp. 30
The significance of covenantp. 36
Freedom of the Will, Covenant, and Moral Capabilityp. 39
The essential role of free willp. 39
Aristotle on voluntariness and responsibility for characterp. 42
Some considerations of moral epistemologyp. 46
The scope of moral capacity: the contrast with Kantp. 50
Specific arguments for free willp. 54
The challenge of the hardening of Pharaoh's heartp. 67
An important contrast with Plato and Aristotlep. 69
Moral Psychology, Revelation, and Virtuep. 76
The basis and significance of gratitudep. 77
Some contrasts with Aristotle's moral psychologyp. 80
The phronimos and the Law as measures of excellencep. 88
The decisive difference made by repentancep. 93
The role of rebuke and the importance of communityp. 102
Jewish Moral Thought and Practical Wisdomp. 107
Aristotle's conception of practical wisdom as a basis for comparisonp. 107
The 'reasons of the commandments' and moral epistemologyp. 112
The nature of moral motivationp. 128
The historical dimension of perfectionp. 131
Requirements, Ideals, and Moral Motivationp. 136
Torah and fundamental principlesp. 136
Lifnim mishurat hadin and imitatio Deip. 139
Divine command: the issues of voluntarism and heteronomyp. 145
Judaism and Natural Lawp. 155
Stoic roots of natural lawp. 155
Several background considerationsp. 161
Aristotle and natural lawp. 163
Natural law and theismp. 169
Two interpretations of the Thomistic conception of natural lawp. 172
Scotus and natural lawp. 182
'The Reasons of the Commandments' and Natural Lawp. 186
Fundamental principles and codificationp. 187
A case against interpreting Jewish moral thought as involving natural lawp. 190
A case for finding natural law in Jewish moral thoughtp. 197
Different considerations against the natural law interpretationp. 206
Some differences between the Jewish and Christian contextsp. 210
Reason, commandments, and natural lawp. 213
Bibliographyp. 222
Indexp. 227
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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