IRIS MURDOCH AND THE BORDERS OF ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY

Iris Murdoch's philosophical texts depart significantly from familiar analytic discursive norms. (Such as the norms concerning argument structure and the minimization of rhetoric.) This may lead us to adopt one of two strategies. On the one hand an assimilation strategy that involves translation of Murdoch's claims into the more familiar terms of property‐realism (the terminology of ethical naturalism and non‐naturalism). On the other hand, there is the option of adopting a crossover strategy and reading Murdoch as (in some sense) a philosopher who belongs more properly to the continental tradition. The following article argues that if familiar Quinean claims about ontological commitment and Murdoch's account of metaphor are both broadly correct then the assimilation strategy must fail to produce a faithful translation. Nonetheless, Murdoch's connection to the analytic tradition is more than genealogical, it is more than a matter of her writing (initially) in response to analytic contemporaries before branching off in a more continental direction. While she departs from familiar analytic discursive norms, she continues to accept most of the epistemic values (such as clarity and simplicity) that the norms embody.     

HALAKHA ADAPTS TO MODERN TECHNOLOGY IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

This article will attempt to shed some light on the phenomenon of the adoption of modern technologies by Orthodox Jews. It examines the debate over the halakhic status of electricity in the early twentieth century, concentrating on two rabbis of that period, Yehuda Yudel Rosenberg (1859–1935) of Montreal, and Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (1910–1995) of Jerusalem, who wrote notable works on the subject. The works discussed are Rabbi Rosenberg’s Me’or hahashmal (1924) and Rabbi Auerbach’s Me’orei esh (1935). These works are examined in the context of the development of halakha and its application to new technologies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and also in light of the halakhic strategies of both rabbis. Finally, unpublished letters of Rabbi Auerbach to Rabbi Rosenberg are examined that allow us some insight into the inception of Rabbi Auerbach’s work.     

HOW THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE CHANGED RELIGION AT NINETEENTH‐CENTURY HARVARD

Nineteenth‐century Harvard faculty and students looked to philosophical ideas about the proper and effective study of nature as the model of rationality to which their religion must conform. As these ideas changed, notions of rationality changed and so did Harvard religion.     

HOW I SEE PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AND BEYOND

Abstract: This article raises some questions about the relevance and value of philosophy at present and suggests some ways in which philosophy can become relevant again. It challenges philosophers to become more actively engaged in the world and to restore Western philosophy's original vision of “love of wisdom,” a value sorely lacking in the present‐day world and abandoned by much of contemporary Western philosophy. The pursuit of wisdom would involve the quest for sound judgment and synoptic insights regarding the ends humankind should strive to realize, including moral visions to help Homo sapiens emerge from the atavistic jungle. It would also involve sound judgment regarding the proper means for the attainment of these desirable ends. For these things to be possible, philosophy would need to draw upon humankind's collective wisdom in philosophy, religion, and myth, and on advances in scientific knowledge, thereby gaining an ever‐deeper understanding of ourselves and of our place in the cosmos.     

作为21世纪一门综合性跨学科的国公共哲学观念

一、引言 “公共哲学”这个术语似乎是在20世纪,特别是在讲英语的世界开始使用.[1]然而,假如我们把公共哲学这个概念定义为“从哲学上探讨诸如政治合法性、社会正义、战争与和平、环境问题、公共记忆等各种各样的公共问题的哲学”,那么,可以在西方国家及东亚国家的经典作品中找到与此相当的概念.确实,一种悠久的传统可以追溯到2000多年以前.     

历史哲学

受邀做一场讲座专门来纪念一位历史学家同仁,我感到极大的荣幸,因为她是那样地献身于工作,那样地富有人情味,她就是被残忍地从我们身边夺走的帕皮亚·高希博士。我深感遗憾的是,由于年龄和健康的原因,我不能亲自来讲,为此恳请大家谅解。