SYLLABUS-IN-PROGRESS

Religious Studies 3A03 / Philosophy 3J03 (Winter 2014)

Modern Jewish Thought

This syllabus, which links to all course assignments, is posted at http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/danahol/3a03 and is also accessible by way of my home page (see below) and the Dept. of Religious Studies website.  It will be updated periodically, and students in the class should consult it regularly during the semester.

Last updated: March 21, 2014



CLASS MEETINGS:
  • Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m., DSB B107

  • Mondays, 2:30-3:20 p.m., BSB B155
Photo by Sebastian Panwitz (used with permission)
INSTRUCTOR:  Dana Hollander, Department of Religious Studies,** University Hall 109  (905) 525-9140, ext. 24759*  danahol@mcmaster.cahttp://univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca/~danahol/
*in your phone and e-mail messages, please let me know how I can reach you by phone

**Staff in the office of the Department of Religious Studies will not date-stamp or receive written assignments.

OFFICE HOURS: Mondays, 4-5 p.m., or by appointment.
Course Description / Course Readings / Course Requirements   |   SCHEDULE: January / February / March / April


COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

What are "Judaism" and "being Jewish"?  What is it to "have" a tradition or an identity?  How can philosophy help us think about these questions?  

What might it mean to speak of "Jewish" philosophy?

What is the relationship of Judaism, as a religious tradition, to morality, or ethics?

We will approach these questions by studying works by 20th century philosophers including Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Améry, Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Emmanuel Levinas, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, and Jacques Derrida.

(No prior knowledge of Judaism, or prior study in religion or philosophy, is needed in order to do well in this course - only an interest in the above questions, and a willingness to read attentively and engage with the texts.)



COURSE READINGS

You must have your own paper copy of all the primary texts--in the same edition selected for the class--whether in book or xeroxed form, so that you can mark them as you read and can prepare to refer to specific passages in class and when you write the exams.


COURSE REQUIREMENTS

One Text Summary (1-1.5 pages) on a selection from the assigned reading for either January 13 or January 20, to be handed in at the end of the class session on those days.  Detailed assignments are posted below, and will be distributed in class.

Either one or two* Text Preparations (2-3 pages each) - on the assigned readings as noted in the schedule below, to be handed in at the end of the class session on the day we are discussing the selection they are on. Specific assignments will be posted.


Note: Text Summary/Text Preparation assignments are designed to help you prepare the reading assignment for a particular class meeting, in conjunction with your participation in that class meeting.  For this reason, those assignments may only be submitted by you at the class meetings at which they are due.

*If you choose to hand in two Text Preparations, please be sure to complete Text Preparation 1 or 2 so as to allow time to receive feedback on the first assignment before preparing the second one, from among Text Preparation 3, 4, or 5.  (Please contact the instructor if scheduling difficulties arise.)

Midterm Exam and Final Exam will consist of essay questions involving textual analysis.  The essay questions will be made known in advance and the exams will be open-book.

Final Paper Option.  At the discretion of the instructor, students who do well on the Text Summary/Preparation assignments and on the Midterm Exam may elect to write a 6-8-page paper in place of the Final Exam (with a proposal submitted for approval in advance; a detailed assignment will be communicated). 

Grades will be based on the following:

McMaster University has a strict policy concerning Academic Integrity: "You are expected to exhibit honesty and use ethical behaviour in all aspects of the learning process.  Academic credentials you earn are rooted in principles of honesty and academic integrity. Academic dishonesty is to knowingly act or fail to act in a way that results or could result in unearned academic credit or advantage. This behaviour can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a notation on the transcript (notation reads: "Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty"), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university.

It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty.  For information on the various types of academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy, located at www.mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity.

The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty: 1. Plagiarism, e.g., the submission of work that is not one's own or for which other credit has been obtained. 2. Improper collaboration in group work. 3. Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests and examinations."

Please let me know if you have any questions on how this policy applies to your work for this course.

Privacy of Information. Some of the communications among the instructor and the students in this course will be over e-mail. Students should be aware that, when they access the electronic components of this course, private information such as first and last names and e-mail addresses may become apparent to all other students in the same course. Continuation in this course will be deemed consent to this disclosure. If you have any questions or concerns about such disclosure please discuss this with the course instructor.

You are advised to retain copies of any written work you submit for this class, and all your research notes, until you have received an official grade.



SCHEDULE

At certain points in the course it may make good sense to modify the schedule outlined below. The instructor reserves the right to modify elements of the course and will notify students accordingly (in class, by e-mail to participants, and by updating this online syllabus).

January 6 and 8

INTRODUCTION: Judaism and Philosophy

Ze'ev Levy, "The Nature of Modern Jewish Philosophy" (1997) in The History of Jewish Philosophy, ed. Frank and Leaman [Coursepack 1 / book on reserve]



January 13

Jean-Paul Sartre

Anti-Semite and Jew (1946), trans. George J. Becker [purchase book]: pp. 7-39, 53-80.

Nicholas de Lange, Judaism, 2nd ed. (2003) [purchase book]: Introduction ("What is Judaism?") and chap. 1 ("A People and Its Faith")

Text Summary 1 due in class on January 13 from from students with last names beginning in A-L.



January 15

Anti-Semite and Jew: 90-96, 107-9




January 20 and 22

Sartre, cont'd

Anti-Semite and Jew: 135-41, 148-53.

Jean Améry

"On the Necessity and Impossibility of Being a Jew" (1966), from At the Mind's Limits, trans. Sidney Rosenfeld and Stella P. Rosenfeld [essay in Coursepack 1 / book on reserve]

de Lange, Judaism: chap. 2 ("Torah and Tradition") and chap. 4 ("The Biblical Tradition)

Text Summary 2 due in class on January 20 from students who did not complete Text Summary 1.



January 27 and 29, February 3

Martin Buber

de Lange, Judaism: chap 3 ("The Tradition of Worship") and chap. 7 ("The Mystical Tradition")

Optional Background Reading/Listening:

S. H. Bergmann and Ephraim Meir, "Buber, Martin" (1972/2007) in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. [available online to McMaster affiliates]

podcast of Paul Mendes-Flohr speaking about Buber with Alan Saunders on the show "The Philosopher's Zone" (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), on November 4, 2011.

Arthur Green, "Hasidism," from Cohen/Mendes-Flohr (eds.), Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought (1987) [book on reserve]

Joseph Dan, "Hasidism" (1987) in Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed. [available online to McMaster affiliates]


February 5, 10 and 12

Franz Rosenzweig

  • selection from "The Builders. Concerning the Law": "Teaching and Law" (1923); "Divine and Human" (1924) - both in Glatzer (ed.), Franz Rosenzweig: His Life and Thought [essay in Coursepack 1 / book on reserve]

  • "'Of Bildung There Is No End'..." (1920), trans. Michael Zank, in Ochs and Levene (eds.), Textual Reasonings, pp. 229-39 (notes on 247-49)* [essay in Coursepack 1 / book on reserve]

  • de Lange, Judaism: chap. 2 ("Torah and Tradition") and chap. 5 ("The Legal Tradition")


  • Text Preparation 1 due in class on February 5 from some students.

    Text Preparation 2 due in class on February 12 from some students.


    Optional Background Reading:

    Benjamin Pollock, "Franz Rosenzweig" (2009), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy


    Midterm Exam Preparation Sheet to be distributed in class on February 12.



    February 24 and 26 - MIDTERM EXAM - details have been announced by e-mail

    February 24, 5-7 p.m., Optional Midterm Exam Review Session, University Hall 122.


    March 3

    Yeshayahu Leibowitz

    "Religious Praxis: The Meaning of Halakhah" (1953), trans. Eliezer Goldman, in Judaism, Human Values, and the Jewish State [essay in Coursepack 1 / book on reserve]: pp. 3-12 (feel free to skip/skim the paragraph on Maimonides on p. 10)

    de Lange, Judaism: chap. 8 ("The Theological Tradition")

    Text Preparation 3 due in class on March 3 from some students.


    Optional Background Reading:

    Daniel Rynhold, "Yeshayahu Leibowitz" (2011), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy


    March 5

    "Religious Praxis: The Meaning of Halakhah": pp. 12-29 (feel free to skip/skim pp. 19-20: paragraph beginning "What does the religious person achieve...")


    March 10

    Buber, cont'd

    Martin Buber, "Love of God and Love of Neighbor" (1943), from Hasidism and Modern Man, ed. and trans. Maurice Friedman [essay in Coursepack 1 / book on reserve]

    de Lange, Judaism: chap. 6 ("The Ethical Tradition")


    REMOVED FROM SCHEDULE:

    Hermann Cohen

    Religion of Reason Out of the Sources of Judaism (1919), trans. Simon Kaplan: Introduction, chap. 8 (selection TBA), chap. 9: 144-49  [selections in Coursepack 2 / book on reserve]


    March 12

    Emmanuel Levinas

    "Revelation in the Jewish Tradition" (1977) in Beyond the Verse, trans. Gary D. Mole [essay in Coursepack 2 / book on reserve]: pp. 129-41 (=secs. I.1-I.4)

    de Lange, Judaism, chap. 9 ("The Eschatological Tradition") and chap. 10 ("Judaism Today")


    Optional Background Reading:

    Dana Hollander, "Levinas, Emmanuel," from The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism, 2nd ed., 2005 [available online to McMaster affiliates]


    March 17

    "Revelation in the Jewish Tradition," cont'd:

    "The Temptation of Temptation" (1964) in Nine Talmudic Readings, trans. Annette Aronowicz [essay in Coursepack 2 / book on reserve]: pp. 32-36

    Text Preparation 4 (assignment to be posted here shortly) due in class on March 17 from some students.


    Additional Resources:

    "The Talmud" (2013), two-part BBC radio program.

    A Page of Talmud (website by Eliezer Segal, University of Calgary)


    March 19 and 24

    "The Temptation of Temptation," cont'd.


    March 26, 31; April 2, 7

    Jacques Derrida

    "Abraham, the Other" (2000/2003), trans. Gil Anidjar, in Bergo, Cohen, and Zagury-Orly (eds.), Judeities. Questions for Jacques Derrida [essay in Coursepack 2 / book on reserve]

    "A Testimony Given..." (1991), in Elisabeth Weber, ed., Questioning Judaism, trans. Rachel Bowlby: pp. 40-42 [interview in Coursepack 2 / book on reserve]


    Text Preparation 5 due in class on March 31 from anyone who has not yet handed in a Text Preparation.

    Optional Background Reading:

    Leonard Lawlor, "Jacques Derrida" (2006-2014), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [online]


    FINAL EXAM - date and time TBA

    Copyright © 2003-2014 Dana Hollander