A Contemporary Jewish Virtue Ethics Öffentlichkeit

Abstract

The purpose of my dissertation is to argue that there is such a thing as Jewish ethics and that it relates to Jewish law in a way that does not denigrate either one nor conflate them. In developing my thesis, I will begin with the hypothesis that Jewish ethics is a part of Jewish law but is not isomorphic to it. Jewish law determines how its adherents, as individuals and as a collective, are to act; their actions are both legally required and ethically significant. Jewish ethics, however, also includes how a person relates to his or her ethico-legal obligations; it is concerned with how the practice and study of Jewish law influences a person's character development. Therefore, Jewish law is of ethical import, in terms of what it prescribes, in terms of how a person accepts the law deontologically, and in terms of how it influences him or her aretologically. The consequentialist aspect of Jewish ethics vis-à-vis Jewish law relates to how jurists approach cases in question and in how people make decisions when religio-ethical values are in conflict.

By aiming to adopt all three aspects into one tri-faceted Jewish ethics, I seek to provide a different description of each aspect than those commonly associated with them. For example, the deontological aspect could not be Kantian, since, by virtue of its relationship with Jewish law, Jewish ethics is not self-legislated but rather is grounded in the Divine will. Similarly, in opposition to the dominant position in consequentialism, Jewish ethics does not always seek to maximize a particular consequential value but rather seeks to maximize continued observance. Contrary to Greek aretological approaches, Jewish ethics, in this conception, does not consider eudaimonia as a goal, but rather sees Shlemut as a potential but not necessary consequence of other, more primary objectives, such as fearing the Lord and following the Divine will.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: THE LANGUAGE OF CONTEMPORARY JEWISH ETHICS ............................ 1

BUILDING ON MAIMONIDES: ........................................................................................................................ 3

CONTEMPORARY FRAMEWORK: ............................................................................................................... 7

CHAPTERS OUTLINE: .................................................................................................................................. 10

TELEOLOGY - ONE OF ASPIRATION AND NOT ACTUALIZATION .......................................... 14

ARISTOTLE & EUDAIMONIA: ...................................................................................................................... 20

MAIMONIDES & SERVING GOD FROM LOVE: .............................................................................................. 25

TELOS - TO BE A SERVANT OF GOD .................................................................................................. 37

TO SERVE GOD FROM LOVE = TO LIVE BY FAITH ...................................................................................... 40

ENTELECHY -SHLEMUT ....................................................................................................................... 67

THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING: ............................................................................................................... 71

THE ETHICAL ASPECT OF JEWISH LAW: ..................................................................................................... 73

PRACTICAL UNDERSTANDING: ................................................................................................................... 74

THE LAW .................................................................................................................................................... 78

THE ROLE OF THE LAW ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE: ................................................................................. 78

MAIMONIDES' TWO-TIERED CONCEPTION OF THE LAW: ............................................................................ 81

TWO EXAMPLES: ........................................................................................................................................ 87

A CONTEMPORARY EXPLANATION OF THE LAW'S CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY ......... 92

EPISTEMIC AND MORAL OBJECTIVITY: .................................................................................................... 108

PRACTICAL REASON IN ARISTOTLE AND MAIMONIDES ........................................................ 113

AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF REASONS AND REASONING ........................................................ 126

EXPLANATORY REASONS: ........................................................................................................................ 128

NORMATIVE REASONS: ............................................................................................................................ 132

NORMATIVE REASONS - EXTERNAL AND DESIRE-INDEPENDENT: ............................................................ 135

WHAT IS REASON(ING)? ........................................................................................................................... 139

ENDS AND MEANS: ................................................................................................................................... 142

BAD REASONING VS. IRRATIONALITY ...................................................................................................... 144

PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL REASON: ................................................................................................. 146

PRACTICAL AND LEGAL REASONING:....................................................................................................... 154

WEAKNESS OF WILL AND MORAL DILEMMAS: ........................................................................................ 156

AVERA LISHMA (SINNING WITH PROPER INTENTION): ............................................................................... 161

BIBLICAL EXAMPLE: ................................................................................................................................ 163

REASONS FROM THE COMMANDMENTS AND NOT REASONS FOR THE COMMANDMENTS: ......................... 167

THE VIRTUES .......................................................................................................................................... 171

INTELLECTUAL VIRTUE: ........................................................................................................................... 180

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL VIRTUES: ....................................................... 182

INTELLECTUAL VIRTUE AND THE CHALLENGE OF A CONTEMPORARY EPISTEMOLOGY ........................................ 185

VOLUNTARINESS AND CHOICE: ................................................................................................................ 189

THE SIMILARITY BETWEEN THINKING AND ACTING: ................................................................................ 195

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE: ............................................................................. 202

SITUATIONISM VS. DISPOSITIONISM ............................................................................................. 206

MORAL MOTIVATION & SHLEMUT ................................................................................................. 215

RECOGNITION OF NON-VIRTUOUS REASONS: ........................................................................................... 215

INTRINSIC OR EXTRINSIC REASONS: ......................................................................................................... 217

INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL MORAL MOTIVATION:...................................................................................... 222

THE "AFFECT" OF LOVE: .......................................................................................................................... 231

CONTINENCE AND SHLEMUT: .................................................................................................................... 235

APPENDIX:LIFNIM MISHURAT HADIN ........................................................................................... 245

TALMUDIC SOURCES: ............................................................................................................................... 246

THE PROOF-TEXT FOR LIFNIM MISHURAT HADIN: ..................................................................................... 255

POSTSCRIPT: NAHMANIDES' AND MAIMONIDES' CONCEPTIONS OF LIFNIM MISHURAT HADIN: ................ 258

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................... 262

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Jewish Studies
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Philosophy Jewish Studies Religion, General
Stichwort	Virtue Jewish Law Ethics Judaism
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Jackson, Timothy P, Emory University
Committee Members	Broyde, Michael, Emory University Seeman, Don, Emory University Goodman, Lenn E., Vanderbilt University

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