Bøger af Michael L. Morgan

Focusing on the problem of objectivity, the experience of the transcendent, and the relationship between redemption and politics, this title argues that the outcome for Jews is a pragmatic style of religiosity that has abandoned traditional conceptions of Judaism and is searching for new ones, a condition that he describes as 'interim Judaism'.

Fackenheim's Jewish Philosophy explores the most important themes of Fackenheim's philosophical and religious thought and how these remained central, if not always in immutable ways, over his entire career.

This book provides a clear and helpful overview of the thought of Emmanuel Levinas, one of the most significant and interesting philosophers of the late twentieth century. Michael L. Morgan presents an overall interpretation of Levinas' central principle that human existence is fundamentally ethical and that its ethical character is grounded in our face-to-face relationships. He explores the religious, cultural and political implications of this insight for modern Western culture and how it relates to our conception of selfhood and what it is to be a person, our understanding of the ground of moral values, our experience of time and the meaning of history, and our experience of religious concepts and discourse. Includes an annotated list of recommended readings and a selected bibliography of books by and about Levinas. An excellent introduction to Levinas for readers unfamiliar with his work and even for those without a background in philosophy.

In Discovering Levinas, Michael L. Morgan shows how this thinker faces in novel and provocative ways central philosophical problems of twentieth-century philosophy and religious thought. He tackles this task by placing Levinas in conversation with philosophers such as Donald Davidson, Stanley Cavell, John McDowell, Onora O'Neill, Charles Taylor, and Cora Diamond. He also seeks to understand Levinas within philosophical, religious, and political developments in the history of twentieth-century intellectual culture. Morgan demystifies Levinas by examining his unfamiliar and surprising vocabulary, interpreting texts with an eye to clarity, and arguing that Levinas can be understood as a philosopher of the everyday. Morgan also shows that Levinas's ethics is not morally and politically irrelevant nor is it excessively narrow and demanding in unacceptable ways. Neither glib dismissal nor fawning acceptance, this book provides a sympathetic reading that can form a foundation for a responsible critique.

Is Judaism a timeless, universal set of beliefs or, rather, is it historical and contingent in its relation to different times and places? Do Jewish beliefs derive their meaning from texts and revelation or from rational argument and experience? This title addresses major Jewish thinkers who have wrestled with the moral and theological dilemmas.