“Sholem Asch (1880-1957).” Philosophy Now. August / September 2024.
Judaism considered as progenitor of Christianity through the mediating figure of Jesus: this is not only the theology of the revolutionary Vatican II, but also the plot of The Nazarene, a retelling of the New Testament story by Sholem Asch that preceded it.
“The Sacred Monster.” The Philosopher. October 23, 2023.
A review of Catherine Wilson’s Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy (2022).
“Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis.” Daily Philosophy. October 13, 2023.
Freud is perhaps properly thought of as a practitioner of his art, a materialist who favored licensing patients to do things they considered socially inappropriate in order to live happier lives by casting aside apprehensions about “what the neighbors would think.” But considered from a philosophical point of view, his materialist doctrines – the Oedipus complex in particular – can be thought of as formulating the origins of the superego in warding us off wrongful behavior. Or then again, rather than formulating its origins, these doctrines codify our sense of right and wrong and push back the question of origins, making the practice of right or wrong conduct the standard-bearer of what the neighbors shall think.
“Nima Adlerblum (1881-1974).” Philosophy Now. June / July 2023.
Nima Adlerblum is a largely unknown thinker who devoted herself to working behind the scenes in a way typical of Jewish women active in Judaism prior to latter-day feminism. But she also contributed original philosophical writings to the record, portraying Jewish philosophy as the use of ancient Greek wisdom for the promotion of the flourishing of the Jewish community.
“The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture by Yoram Hazony.” Philosophy Now. February / March 2023.
Yoram Hazony asserts that the distinction between revelation and reason tacitly demeans Hebrew Scripture as irrational despite Greek philosophy’s also speaking of inspiration by the divine, the very grounds for the disqualification of Hebrew Scripture as rational. The aim is to render the Bible intelligible as offering political instruction in the same manner that we turn to Greek texts for wisdom. Hazony’s reading of the Bible as political rather than spiritual is brought into question.
“Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677).” Philosophy Now. December 2021 / January 2022.
An architect of modern liberal democracy, Baruch Spinoza concerned himself with the right to think freely, notwithstanding religious orthodoxy, and pioneered the critique of the Bible as a historical artifact rather than an indubitable record of truth. The article contains an error of fact in the final paragraph, an editorial insert, that attributes the perpetuation of the ban on Spinoza to “Orthodox Judaism” rather than the Amsterdam synagogue from which he defected.
“Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592).” Philosophy Now. December 2019 / January 2020.
Montaigne is a model of philosophy as anti-politics. As incapable as any man of reconciling warring religious parties in 16th-century France, he retired to his estate to write his Essays, revolutionary in its time for collecting its author’s thoughts on a miscellany of subjects, with no didactic intent.
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