Philosophical Religions from Plato to Spinoza: Reason, Religion, and Autonomy PDF
Preview Philosophical Religions from Plato to Spinoza: Reason, Religion, and Autonomy
more information - www.cambridge.org/9780521194570 PHILOSOPHICAL RELIGIONS FROM PLATO TO SPINOZA Many pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim philosophers from antiquity to the Enlightenment made no meaningful distinction betweenphilosophyandreligion.Insteadtheyadvocatedaphilosoph- icalreligion,arguingthatGodisReasonandthatthehistoricalforms ofareligioustraditionserveasphilosophy’shandmaidtopromotethe lifeofreasonamongnon-philosophers.CarlosFraenkelprovidesthe firstaccountofthisconceptandtracesitshistorybacktoPlato.He showshowJewsandChristiansappropriateditinantiquity,follows it through the Middle Ages in both Islamic and Jewish forms, and arguesthatitunderliesSpinoza’sinterpretationofChristianityinthe earlymodernperiod.Themainchallengetoaphilosophicalreligion comesfromthemodernviewthatallhumanbeingsareequallyable toordertheirlivesrationallyandhenceneednoguidancefromreli- gion. Fraenkel’s wide-ranging book will appeal to anyone interested inhowphilosophyhasinteractedwithJewish,Christian,andMuslim religioustraditions. carlos fraenkel isAssociateProfessor,DepartmentofPhiloso- phyandDepartmentofJewishStudies,McGillUniversity. PHILOSOPHICAL RELIGIONS FROM PLATO TO SPINOZA Reason, Religion, and Autonomy CARLOS FRAENKEL cambridge university press Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown, Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity CambridgeUniversityPress TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb28ru,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521194570 (cid:2)c CarlosFraenkel2012 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2012 PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata Fraenkel,Carlos,1971– PhilosophicalreligionsfromPlatotoSpinoza:reason,religion, andautonomy/CarlosFraenkel. pages cm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn978-0-521-19457-0 1.Philosophyandreligion. 2.Philosophy–History. 3.Religions. I.Title. bl51.f64 2012 210.9–dc23 2012018820 isbn978-0-521-19457-0Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. ToRenatoFraenkelandZeevHarvey Contents Preface pageix Acknowledgments xvii Translations,conventions,abbreviations xxi Introduction:whatisaphilosophicalreligion? 1 1 Introduction 5 Theconceptofaphilosophicalreligion 24 Towardsahistoryofphilosophicalreligions 28 Reason,religion,andautonomy:revisingtheconventionalwisdom 1 Reason,divinenomoi,andself-ruleinPlato 38 38 Introduction 40 Socraticpolitics 48 TheruleofGodasReason 51 Whythephilosopher’slifeisbest 58 Guidingnon-philosophers:thehandmaidofphilosophy 69 Fromcoerciontoself-rule 78 Thewisdomofnon-philosophers 82 Fromculturalrevolutiontophilosophicalreinterpretation 85 DivineLaw–oneormany? 2 Moses,Christ,andtheuniversalruleof Reasoninantiquity 87 87 Introduction 91 AppropriatingthePlatonicmodel:theevidenceofEusebius 100 Reinterpretingculturaltraditions 103 FromthedivinenomoioftheGreekstothedivinenomoioftheJews 105 MosesandHomer–philosopher-poets? 108 Judaismasaphilosophicalreligion 122 Christianityasaphilosophicalreligion 139 Philosophersinparadise 141 FromMagnesiatoaChristianworld-state vii viii Contents 3 CommunitiesofReasonintheIslamicworld 144 144 Introduction 146 PlatoandAristotle 154 Al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ıonphilosophyandtheDivineLaw 164 AverroesandMaimonides–disciplesofal-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı? 167 Islamasaphilosophicalreligion 175 Judaismasaphilosophicalreligion 181 Leadingnon-philosophersoutofthecave 194 Theocracyandautonomy 202 MedievalJewishEnlightenment 205 BetweenMaimonidesandSpinoza:ElijahDelmedigo 4 ChristianityasaphilosophicalreligioninSpinoza 213 213 Introduction 218 Spinoza’searlydogmatism 229 TheevidenceofLodewijkMeyerforSpinoza’searlydogmatism 232 TheconceptofaphilosophicalreligioninSpinoza’slaterwritings 254 Religionandthefreedomtophilosophize 262 FromGodasReasontoDeussiveNatura 265 InterpretingChristianityasaphilosophicalreligion 270 Weretheprophetsphilosophersafterall? 275 Spinoza’scritiqueofreligion Epilogue:didthehistoryofphilosophicalreligions cometoanend? 282 282 Introduction 283 DisregardingSpinoza’scritiqueofreligionfromLessingtoHegel 293 Philosophy’snewhandmaid?Artasapedagogical-politicalprogram 295 Makingthehandmaidredundant:equalityasamoral-politicalvalue 297 Prospectsofaphilosophicalreligion Bibliography 301 Index 319
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