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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Mittleman, Alan, author.

Title Human nature and Jewish thought : Judaism's case for why persons matter / Alan L. Mittleman.

Publication Info. Princeton and Oxford : Princeton University Press, [2015]
©2015

Item Status

Description 1 online resource.
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Series Library of Jewish ideas
Book collections on Project MUSE.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Introduction -- Persons in a world of things -- Persons in the image of God -- Are persons free to choose? -- Persons together -- Conclusion.
Summary This book explores one of the great questions of our time: How can we preserve our sense of what it means to be a person while at the same time accepting what science tells us to be true-namely, that human nature is continuous with the rest of nature? What, in other words, does it mean to be a person in a world of things? Alan Mittleman shows how the Jewish tradition provides rich ways of understanding human nature and personhood that preserve human dignity and distinction in a world of neuroscience, evolutionary biology, biotechnology, and pervasive scientism. These ancient resources can speak to Jewish, non-Jewish, and secular readers alike. Science may tell us what we are, Mittleman says, but it cannot tell us who we are, how we should live, or why we matter. Traditional Jewish thought, in open-minded dialogue with contemporary scientific perspectives, can help us answer these questions. Mittleman shows how, using sources ranging across the Jewish tradition, from the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud to more than a millennium of Jewish philosophy. Among the many subjects the book addresses are sexuality, birth and death, violence and evil, moral agency, and politics and economics. Throughout, Mittleman demonstrates how Jewish tradition brings new perspectives to-and challenges many current assumptions about-these central aspects of human nature. A study of human nature in Jewish thought and an original contribution to Jewish philosophy, this is a book for anyone interested in what it means to be human in a scientific age.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Respect for persons (Jewish law)
Respect for persons (Jewish law)
Judaism -- Doctrines.
Judaism -- Doctrines.
Theological anthropology -- Judaism.
Theological anthropology -- Judaism.
Philosophical anthropology.
Philosophical anthropology.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Other Form: Print version: Mittleman, Alan. Human nature and Jewish thought 9780691149479 (DLC) 2014033941 (OCoLC)890080281
ISBN 9781400865789 (electronic book)
1400865786 (electronic book)
9780691149479
069114947X