Philosophical Retrospective

Alan Montefiore, formerly a fellow and tutor in philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford, is president of the Forum for European Philosophy at the London School of Economics. He has researched and published on a wide variety of topics, including moral and political philosophy, contemporary French philosophy, philosophy of education, and issues of identity and responsibility. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including Philosophy in France Today, The Political Responsibility of Intellectuals, Modern Introduction to Moral Philosophy, British Analytical Philosophy, and Philosophy and Personal Relations: An Anglo-French Study.

• Introduction 1. Facts and Values? 2. Identity, Responsibility, and Belonging 3. Jewish Identity (i): "Choosing Our Identity"? 4. Jewish Identity (ii): The Universal and the Particular 5. Jewish Identity (iii): A Purely Secular Version? 6. An Attempt at Pulling Together Some Threads-and an Inconclusive Conclusion 7. Some Extended Postscripts Notes Index

Alan Montefiore, who taught and influenced some of the most prominent philosophers writing today, was among the first to have realized that so-called 'analytic' and 'continental' philosophy are merely two dramatically different idioms in which the same issues get discussed, at their best, in depth and with rigor. This book on identity brings to bear his subtle and longstanding philosophical preoccupation with the fact-value distinction on his lifelong individual and intellectual struggle with the question of Jewish identity. Its conclusions will no doubt be considered controversial by some. Yet even those who do will find the form in which they are presented to be an appealing mix of detached analysis and genuine feeling rare in current philosophy. -- Akeel Bilgrami, Columbia University Alan Montefiore has been thinking about issues concerning morality and identity for a long time. You could say that academic fashion has now caught up with him. What is more, several of those who have brought these questions to the fore are his long-time friends and conversation partners. I am thinking, in particular, of Bernard Williams, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Charles Taylor, not to mention Jacques Derrida. So what Montefiore says about these thinkers' ideas has the extra interest of emerging from personal engagement. For all of these reasons, this is a welcome book. -- Michael Rosen, Kennedy School of Government A Philosophical Retrospective offers an illuminating exploration of the complexities and ambiguities of the modern notion of identity, so central to today's politics. Alan Montefiore examines this notion against two radically different backgrounds: the fundamental philosophical issue of the relation to facts and values, and the highly particular features of his own situation as a contemporary Jew. His book demonstrates the depth and resonance that this dual background can give to the discussion. It is exemplary of what philosophy can do (but rarely does): relating the viscerally felt dilemmas of life to the most universal issues of thought. -- Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age offers fresh insight to patient readers seeking to understand their place in the world as individuals and members of multiple communities, as long as they enjoy the journey and do not fret about reaching the destination. Choice ...learned, provocative, and insightful... -- Mitchell Silver H-Judaic