<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> The concept of Jewish ethics is elusive. Law occupies a prominent place in the phenomenology of traditional Judaism. What room is left for ethics? This paper argues that the dichotomy between law and ethics, with regard to Judaism, is misleading. The fixity of these categories presumes too much, both about normativity per se and about Judaism. Rather than naming categories “law” and “ethics” should be seen as contrastive terms that play a role in fundamental arguments about how to characterize Judaism. </p></abstract>

The concept of Jewish ethics is elusive. Law occupies a prominent place in the phenomenology of traditional Judaism. What room is left for ethics? This paper argues that the dichotomy between law and ethics, with regard to Judaism, is misleading. The fixity of these categories presumes too much, both about normativity per se and about Judaism. Rather than naming categories “law” and “ethics” should be seen as contrastive terms that play a role in fundamental arguments about how to characterize Judaism.

Theorizing Jewish Ethics

Studia Humana

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Theorizing Jewish Ethics"}

The concept of Jewish ethics is elusive. Law occupies a prominent place in the phenomenology of traditional Judaism. What room is left for ethics? This paper...

Theorizing Jewish Ethics

Published Online: Oct 03, 2014

Page range: 32 - 42

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sh-2014-0007

Keywords
Judaism, ethics, Jewish philosophy

© 2014

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Theorizing Jewish Ethics

Published Online: Oct 03, 2014

Page range: 32 - 42

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sh-2014-0007

KeywordsJudaism, ethics, Jewish philosophy

© 2014

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Judaism, ethics, Jewish philosophy