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Transmission and Appropriation of the Secular Sciences and Philosophy in Medieval Judaism: Comparative Perspectives, Universal and National Aspects | Israel Institute for Advanced Studies

Transmission and Appropriation of the Secular Sciences and Philosophy in Medieval Judaism: Comparative Perspectives, Universal and National Aspects

[RG #108] Transmission and Appropriation of the Secular Sciences and Philosophy in Medieval Judaism: Comparative Perspectives, Universal and National Aspects

March 1 - August 31, 2007

Organizers:

Gad Freudenthal (CNRS, Paris)
Ruth Glasner (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Our project will focus on the study of the patterns of transmission to, and appropriation by, medieval Jewish cultures of Greek-Arabic thought, with special emphasis on a comparison with the parallel processes in the Muslim-Arabic and Christian-Latin cultures. The group will study different aspects of the absorption of originally Greek knowledge (mainly but not only scientific and philosophical ideas) within the different medieval Jewish cultures in the Mediterranean between the 8th and the 15th centuries, and examine the role played by Jews in knowledge transfer from Europe to the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. These processes are worthy of study, not only in and of themselves, but also as a reexamination, comparatively speaking, of the varying accounts offered for the Muslim-Arabic and Christian-Latin cases, based on the role of institutions of learning. The absence of similar institutions in Jewish cultures affords the possibility of "controlling" the thesis that what allowed Western Europe to lead the way from medieval science to the scientific revolution was the institutionalization of learning within that society.

 

Members

men

Avner Ben-Zaken

FELLOW
Harvard University
Avner is a member of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. His research interest is the early modern history of science.
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Resianne Fontaine

FELLOW
University of Amsterdam
Resianne is a professor in the Juda Palache Institute at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests are Medieval Jewish philosophy and science.
Gad Freudenthal

Gad Freudenthal

FELLOW
CNRS

Gad Freudenthal is Senior Research Fellow Emeritus with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris. He has written on the reception of science and philosophy in Jewish cultures, mainly in the Middle Ages and in the eighteenth century, and has focused his research on Greek philosophies of matter.

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He is the editor of the journal Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism.

2018-2019 Fellow: The Reception and Impact of Aristotelian Logic in Medieval Jewish Culture

Read more about Dr. Freudenthal here

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av

Ruth Glasner

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ruth is a professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of the Sciences at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research interests are Arabic and Hebrew Science in the Middle Ages.
av

Judith Schlanger

FELLOW
École Pratique des Hautes Études
Judith is a professor in the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Sorbonne. Her research interests are: Medieval Hebrew palaeography; history of Hebrew linguistics; Cairo Geniza studies; and Karaite studies.
men

Kenneth Stow

FELLOW
University of Haifa
Kenneth is a professor in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa. His research interests are Jewish life in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
men

Joseph Yahalom

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Joseph is a professor in the Department of Hebrew Literature at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests are Medieval Hebrew poetry, and poetics and cultural backgrounds of secular and liturgical poetry.
men

Mauro Zonta

FELLOW
Sapienza University of Rome
Mauro is a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Epistemological Studies at Sapienza University of Rome.