“Human Nature and Jewish Thought: Judaism’s Case For Why Persons Matter,” (Princeton University Press, 2015) 215 pp. ISBN: 978-0-691-14947-9 $27.95
Philosophers generally write for other philosophers. Often the writing is impenetrable without full access to all previous writings on the subject, and the jargon implies a prior familiarity with the subject matter. Every so often, however, a book comes along which deals with an important philosophical concept, yet is written in a style that is at once academically rigorous yet accessible to the non-philosophers among us. “Human Nature & Jewish Thought” is such a volume and we are grateful to Prof. Alan Mittelman for his lucid writing and clear articulation of his positions.
What does it mean to be human (in Judaism) in the face of neuroscience, evolutionary biology, biotechnology and creeping scientism? It’s a question of who we are vs. what we are. What is the role of culture and community in defining this humanity? Are we just the result of genetics? Are we more than the sum of firing neurons, synapses and biochemistry?
Mittelman explores the gap between biology and personhood via philosophical anthropology. It is not a work of theology although he draws many conclusions from rabbinical sources about why we as persons matter. Man is finite yet he has infinite possibilities. We have consciousness, memory and ambition. We experience joy and sorrow, and we have free will. We have rights, duties and obligations as well as a social dimension. As persons we are subject to the “ought” as opposed to the “is.” We are capable of moral imagination, piety and commitment. We are conscious of our physicality and relation to nature but we are also aware of our otherness.
The Torah recognizes and values the biological but facilitates the elevation of the organic via free human action. Personhood emerges from nature by means of ethical imperatives, choice, judgment and action. The capacity to sin is also human. We share much with animals but we rise and are transformed by our differences. The Bible sees humans as integrated wholes.
The book grapples with the concept of the soul, agency and responsibility. Judaism is less concerned with what consciousness is than with how we use it. Mind and brain are not the same.
The significance or our physicality is our personhood. Consciousness and judgment are brain based yet there is an intangible evolutionary and environmental aspect that goes beyond science. Human will resists scientific investigation.
Mittelman marshals ancient, medieval and modern philosophers, Jewish and secular, to defend personhood and human dignity. We are not merely exquisitely created organisms with finely tuned working parts. Our mind and soul are what make us human.
Wallace Greene received rabbinic ordination, holds a Ph.D. in Jewish history and rabbinics, and has taught at several universities. He writes and lectures on contemporary Jewish issues.
By Wallace Greene
