Rabbinic Idealism and Kabbalistic realism

Jewish dimensions of Idealism and Idealist dimensions of Judaism

Bibliographic Data

ID23214419
AuthorsPaul W Franks (0000-0002-0520-7604, Yale University, corresponding author), Paul Franks
Year2013
Pages219-245
Publication date2013-11-21
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueImpact of Idealism : Volume 4, Religion (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9781139626705.010
OpenAlexW138022300
ISBN9781139626705
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited14

For over two centuries, Jewish philosophy and post-Kantian Idealism have been intertwined. Habermas has rightly noted ‘the German Idealism of the Jewish philosophers’, asking how, given the Christian or post-Christian character of Idealism, this intimacy is possible. In what follows, I offer an answer. First, however, I will deepen the puzzle. For what is internal to Idealism is not only Christianity or post-Christianity, but specifically the claim that Christianity or post-Christianity has superseded Judaism. Accordingly, Idealism constitutes a challenge to Judaism, which must justify its continued existence in the modern world. This makes it more puzzling that Idealism has attracted so many Jewish philosophers. To solve this puzzle, it is necessary to show that both Kantian and post-Kantian Idealism have what I will call Jewish dimensions – namely, rabbinic Idealism and Kabbalistic realism. By articulating these dimensions, Jewish philosophy has contributed to the inner development of Idealism. Moreover, by re-appropriating these dimensions as Jewish, Jewish philosophers have found within Idealism the resources to respond to the Idealist challenge, by demonstrating that Judaism has not been superseded.

Christianity · Epistemology · German idealism · Hegelianism · Idealism · Judaism · Realism · Theology · German legal, social, and political studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy · Religious studies

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