Introduction to Modern Jewish Philosophy

Claire Elise Katz is Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies at Texas A&M University. A specialist in contemporary Jewish thought, philosophy of religion, feminist theory and French philosophy, she has written and edited Levinas, Judaism, and the Feminine: The Silent Footsteps of Rebecca (2003); Emmanuel Levinas: Critical Assessments, vols 1-4 (2005) and Levinas and the Crisis of Humanism (2013).

• AcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsGlossaryPrefaceIntroduction: What is Jewish Philosophy?1 Mendelssohn and the Enlightened Mind2 From Modern to Post-modern: Hermann Cohen and Hannah Arendt3 Jewish Existentialism: Shestov, Buber, and Rosenzweig4 Emmanuel Levinas and Abraham Joshua Heschel: Response to Modernity5 The Limits of PhilosophyConcluding RemarksNotesReferences, Sources and Suggested ReadingIndex

"With an engaging and probing approach to Jewish concerns, from education to prayer, Claire Elise Katz gives us a fresh new look at some of the most influential Jewish philosophers of modern times. Written in an engaging and easy style, this is a wonderful way to introduce students and all learners to the rich and fascinating world of modern Jewish thought." -Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College "Despite its title, the book is much more than an undergraduate introductory textbook in modern Jewish philosophy: though at this it performs its task well. Claire Elise Katz is herself an important post-modernist feminist Jewish thinker whose writings successfully integrate, as they do in this volume, her academic knowledge of modern philosophy with her personal passion for Judaism." -Norbert Samuelson, Harold and Jean Grossmann Professor of Jewish Philosophy, Arizona State University "Claire Elise Katz places Jewish philosophy more squarely in the history of western philosophy and thus brings it into conversation with Descartes, Locke, Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Sartre, and de Beauvoir. She imaginatively draws Jewish philosophy out of its own self-enclosure, thereby transforming it into something more cosmopolitan, more rigorous, more curious, and more conceptually generative than perhaps has been previously imagined" -Zachary Braiterman, Professor of Religion, Syracuse University