Scepticism & Anti-Scepticism in Medieval Jewish Philosophy & Thought
A Lecture Series
Date
Winter Term 2016/2017
Convenor
Racheli Haliva (MCAS, Universität Hamburg/Germany)
The tension between reason and revelation has for centuries occupied Jewish philosophers who were committed, on the one hand, to defending Judaism, and, on the other hand, to remaining loyal to philosophical principles.
Maimonides is considered the most prominent Jewish religious philosopher, whose aim was to reconcile philosophy, in particular Aristotelian philosophy, with the fundamental principles of Judaism. But many other Jewish thinkers, before and after him, also struggled with this task, raising the question whether it is possible to attain this reconciliation.
The connection between philosophy and religion was often not an obvious one. As a consequence, it could serve in some cases as grounds for supporting Maimonides’ project, while in others it could lead to rejection.
The lecture series “Scepticism and Anti-Scepticism in Medieval Jewish Thought” focused on sceptical questions, methods, strategies, and approaches raised by Jewish thinkers in the Middle Ages. In the series of lectures, we wished to examine the variety of attitudes presented by these thinkers, and the latest readings of contemporary scholars concerning those attitudes.
Poster
[pdf]
Programme Booklet
[pdf]
Lecture2Go
[link]
Publication
Haliva, Racheli, ed. Scepticism and Anti-Scepticism in Medival Jewish Philosophy and Thought. Berlin, Boston: Walter De Gruyter, forthcoming 2018.