Two Models of Jewish Philosophy Justifying One's Practices

by Rynhold, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780199274864
• ISBN10: 019927486X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-06-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In a work that illustrates how Jewish philosophy can make a genuine contribution to general philosophical debate, Daniel Rynhold attempts to formulate a model for the justification of practices by applying the methods of modern analytic philosophy to approaches to the rationalization of thecommandments from the history of Jewish philosophy. Through critical analysis of the methods of Moses Maimonides and Joseph Soloveitchik, Rynhold argues against propositional approaches to justifying practices that he terms Priority of Theory approaches and offers instead his own method, termed thePriority of Practice, which emphasizes the need for a more pragmatic take on this whole issue.

Author Biography

Daniel Rynhold is Lecturer in Judaism, King's College London.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations of frequently cited primary sources	x
Introduction	1	(5)
Rationalizing the Commandments I: The Maimonidean Method	6	(42)
Rationalizing the Commandments II: The Soloveitchikian Method	48	(53)
The Priority of Theory	101	(35)
Problems with Principles	136	(38)
The Priority of Practice	174	(32)
The Spectre of Relativism	206	(30)
Conclusion: The Practice of Jewish Philosophy	236	(10)
Bibliography	246	(14)
Index	260