Contemporary Jewish Philosophy

Irene Kajon is Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Rome “La Sapienza.” A leading interpreter of Jewish philosophy, she is the author of Ebraismo e sistema di filosofia in Hermann Cohen (Padova, 1989) and Fede ebraica e ateismo dopo Auschwitz (Perugia, 1993).

Part 1: Premises 1. The Parabola of Western Humanism 2. The Witness in Primo Levi's If This is a Man 3. Philosophical Tradition, Judaism, New Thought Part 2: Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) 1. The Contrast between Mechanism and Freedom in the Early Writings 2. Interpreting the Kantian Doctrine of the 'a priori' in the Works on Kant 3. The Idea of Humanity as Producer of Culture in the Philosophical System 4. The Problems of the Individual and the Foundation of Ethics in the Jewish Writings 5. The Identification of Reason with Religious Love in the Opus Postumum Part 3: Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929) 1. Searching for the Ideal Man in the Diaries and Letters of 1905 to 1913 2. Revelation and Philosophy in the Texts between 1913 and 1917 and in the Star of Redemption 3. The Question of Jewish and Human Essence in the Writings on Education and History 4. Faith in God and the Concept of God in the Comments on the Poems of Yehuda Ha-Levi 5. The Bible as Expression of the Heart in the Last Reflection Part 4: Martin Buber (1878-1965) 1. The Refusal of Transcendence between 1900 and 1919 2. The Lyric-Dramatic Moment of Reality in I and Thou 3. The Analysis of Human Existence in Biblical Exegesis between 1926 and 1945 4. Education, Social Philosophy, Hasidic Studies between 1926 and 1945 5. The Problem of Evil in the Writings 1945-65 Part 5: Leo Strauss (1899-1973) 1. Subjectivism as a Characteristic of Modernity in the Book on Spinoza 2. The Research on the Grounds of Liberal Democracy between 1932 and 1936 3. The Rationalism of Medieval Jewish and Islamic Thought in Philosophy and Law 4. The Meditation on Natural Right between 1937 and 1966 5. The Antithesis 'Jerusalem'-'Athens', or Fidelity-Pride, in the Last Writings Part 6: Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) 1. The First Contributions: Beyond Consciousness, Existence, and the Existent 2. The Other as Expression in Totality and Infinity 3. The Interpretation of Jewish Sources as Philosophical Analysis 4. The Other in the 'Self' in Otherwise than Being and in the Last Essays Part 7: A Final Remark: Human Rights, the Truth of Witnessing, a Philosopher's Duty