Research Group

Research Groups:Galicia: Literary and Historical Approaches to the Construction of a Jewish Place

[RG # 142]  Galicia: Literary and Historical Approaches to the Construction of a Jewish Place

March 1, 2014 - July 31, 2015

Organizers:

Ariel Hirschfeld (The Hebrew University)
Alan Mintz (Jewish Theological Seminary)

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Galicia, the subject of our Research Group, was an invented land, an artificial entity that acquired meaning over the course of its historical experience. Rather than being a land with a longstanding identity of its own, Galicia was created as a province of the Habsburg Monarchy as a product of the negotiations with Russia and Poland that led to the partition of Poland in 1772, and it ceased to exist as a political entity in 1918 with the defeat and dissolution of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary and its incorporation into the new Poland.

The creation of Galicia and the incorporation of the Jewish communities of the Polish kresy (borderlands) into the new Austrian province meant enormous changes. Social and educational reforms issued from Vienna transformed aspects of Jewish life. Our research group aims not only to study the phenomenon of Galicia, but also to bring the disciplines of history and literature into dialogue.

 

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Yohanan Friedmann

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Yohanan is a professor in the Department of Arabic and Literature at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
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Jonatan Meir

FELLOW
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Jonatan Meir is Associate Professor in the Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His research interests include the History of the Jews in Eastern Europe, Jewish Polemics, Jewish Mysticism, The Haskalah Movement, Hasidism, and Contemporary Kabbalah.

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Yagnik Achyut

FELLOW
Setu Center for Social Knowledge and Action
Yagnik is a professor at the Setu Center for Social Knowledge and Action. His research interests are Hindu nationalism; history of India; and the impact of globalization on the Third World and communication.
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Ruth M. Karras

FELLOW
University of Minnesota
Ruth is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests are the history of women, gender and sexuality in medieval Western Europe and constructions of masculinity in Christian and Jewish contexts.
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David J. Luban

FELLOW
Georgetown University
David is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. His research interests are moral responsibility in organizational settings, international criminal law, issues of war and peace, and legal ethics.

Practical and Theoretical Rationality: A Comparative Study

[RG # 128] Practical and Theoretical Rationality: A Comparative Study

Organizer:

Ruth Weintraub (Tel-Aviv University)

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Theoretical and practical rationality are concerned with reasons, and aim to respond to normative questions: "What ought one to believe?" and "What should one do?". Theoretical rationality answers its questions by assessing and weighing reasons for beliefe and the (internal) relations among the beliefs. Arguably, theoretical reason aims at the truth of propositions. Accordingly, reasons for belief are considerations that speak in favour of propositions being worthy of acceptance insofar as one's aim in belief is the truth.

The reasons which practical rationality invokes are considerations that speak in favour of performing particular actions or adopting particular intentions and ends. And the internal relationships it appeals to are thos between means and ends on the one hand, and intentions and actions on the other.

Philosophers have always studied theoretical and practical rationality, and both topics continue to present vexing and philosophically significant questions. Many suggestive comparisons and distinctions between the two can be found in the philosophical literature. However, these insights are usually random and piecemeal; a sustained study of the relationships and differences between the two kinds of rationality is rarely conducted. Our aim is to study the similarities and differences between the two areas in a systematic way, so as to apply insights gleaned from one realm to the other, and gain a better understanding of the relationship between them and of the nature of reason in general.

 

 

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Alon Confino

FELLOW
University of Virginia
Alon is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Virginia. His research interests are: modern German and European history; and cultural history, memory, nationhood and historical method.