Mittleman, Alan
Senior Fellow: June–August 2023
Research Project: Rejecting Theodicy as an Act of Piety
Twentieth-century Jewish philosophy shows a sceptical tendency when it rejects theodicy. Traditional theodicy, from a sceptical point of view, requires an error theory; it is categorically mistaken in its assumptions, aims, and questions. The thinkers to be explored—Joseph Soloveitchik, Emanuel Levinas, Emil Fackenheim, and Rav Shagar—replace an earlier metaphysical discourse with an ethical one. Moral resistance to evil becomes what can be called “performative theodicy.” Bracketing dubious metaphysical doxastic claims, they attach greater warrant to ethical ones, which must now function as absolutes if evil is to be opposed absolutely. Yet why should ethical claims be more doubt-resistant than metaphysical ones? How far will these modern thinkers allow scepticism to go? This project will explore the reasons for and the extent of scepticism in some modern Jewish discussions of theodicy.
Alan Mittleman is a professor of religious studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.