Simone Luzzatto’s Scepticism in the Context of Early Modern Thought

Giuseppe Veltri was a professor of Jewish studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg from 1997 to 2014. Since 2014, he has been a professor of Jewish philosophy and religion at the University of Hamburg. He is the editor-in-chief of several series published by Brill, De Gruyter, and Paideia. Since November 2010, he has also been a professor (h.c.) of comparative religious studies at the University of Leipzig, and he has been the director of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies in Hamburg since 2015. His fields of research are Jewish cultural history, Jewish philosophy in the Renaissance and early modern period, magic, and biblical tradition and translations. Among his publications are Il Rinascimento nel pensiero ebraico (2020); an edition and translation of Simone Luzzatto’s Discourse on the State of the Jews (2019; with Anna Lissa) and Socrates, or On Human Knowledge (2019; with Michela Torbidoni); L’ebraismo come scienza. Cultura e politica in Leopold Zunz (2019; with Libera Pisano); Alienated Wisdom: Enquiry into Jewish Philosophy and Scepticism (2018), and Renaissance Philosophy in Jewish Garb (2009). Michela Torbidoni is an interim professor of Jewish philosophy at the Institute for Jewish Philosophy and Religion at the University of Hamburg. Her research focuses on early modern Jewish thought and Spinoza’s reception within Italian and French philosophical circles during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She is the co-editor and translator of Simone Luzzatto’s Socrates, or On Human Knowledge (2019; with Giuseppe Veltri) and the author of the monograph Acosmismo come religione. G. Gentile and P. Martinetti interpreti di Spinoza (2019).

Notes on Contributors



Introduction



Part 1 The Relationship to Ancient Scepticism



What Kind of (Sceptical) Work is Simone Luzzatto’s Socrates?

 Josef Stern



Sextus Empiricus’s Works as Guideline for Simone Luzzatto’s Socratic Ignorance

 Michela Torbidoni



Part 2 Apologia and Apologetics



Apologetic Strategies, Scepticism, and Empiricism in Simone Luzzatto’s Works

 Giuseppe Veltri



Simone Luzzatto’s Scepticism in Light of Medieval Jewish Apologetics

 Fabrizio Lelli



Part 3 Wisdom and Jewish Tradition



“Everyone is Free to Decide to Investigate Every Kind of Discourse”

Simone Luzzatto’s Lettera Approbatoria to The Revealer of Secrets (1640?) by Samuel ha-Kohen da Pisa Lusitano

 Anna Lissa



The Image of King Solomon in Simone Luzzatto’s Writings

 Warren Zev Harvey



Part 4 Political Views



Simone Luzzatto’s Political Thought: Between Reason of State, Scepticism, and Jewish Political Tradition

 Guido Bartolucci



Simone Luzzatto’s View on Jewish Ritual and Its Social Functions: A Consideration of His Sceptical Thought in the Intellectual Context of His Age

 Mina Lee



Simone Luzzatto’s Appraisal of Prudence

 Giuseppe Veltri and Anna Lissa



Part 5 Economic Theory



Varieties of Mercantilism: Simone Luzzatto and the Economic Role of the Jews in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

 Luca Andreoni



“Seek the Peace of the City to which I have exiled you” in Simone Luzzatto and Menasseh ben Israel, with Azariah de’ Rossi behind the Scenes

 Myriam Silvera



Index