A Contemporary Jewish Virtue Ethics Público
Bedzow, Ira Jay (2014)
Published
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
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