Genocide in Jewish thought
By: David Patterson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 252
ISBN-13: 9781107011045
Subjects: RELIGION / Judaism / General; Hebrew language; Philosophy; Thought and thinking; Jewish philosophy; Genocide; Philosophy and religion; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jewish ethics; Humanity; Roots
Description: "Among the topics explored in this book are ways of viewing the soul, the relation between body and soul, environmentalist thought, the phenomenon of torture, and the philosophical and theological warrants for genocide. Presenting an analysis of abstract modes of thought that have contributed to genocide, the book argues that a Jewish model of concrete thinking may inform our understanding of the abstractions that can lead to genocide. Its aim is to draw upon distinctively Jewish categories of thought to demonstrate how the conceptual defacing of the other human being serves to promote the murder of peoples, and to suggest a way of thinking that might help prevent genocide"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Introduction: a name, not an essence; title: 2. Why Jewish thought and what makes it Jewish?; title: 3. Deadly philosophical abstraction; title: 4. The stranger in your midst; title: 5. Nefesh: the soul as flesh and blood; title: 6. The environmentalist contribution to genocide; title: 7. Torture; title: 8. Hunger and homelessness; title: 9. Philosophy, religion, and genocide; title: 10. A concluding reflection on body and soul.