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Simone Luzzattoâs Scepticism in the Context of Early Modern Thought
Series:
Much of the most recent research on Jewish scepticism was inspired by the work of the early modern Venetian rabbi Simone Luzzatto, the first thinker in the history of Jewish thought to declare himself a sceptic and a follower of the New Academy. This collected volume shines new light on the intimate relationship between Luzzattoâs sceptical thinking and an era marked by paradoxes and contrasts between religious devotion and scientific rationalism, as well as between the rabbinic-biblical Jewish tradition and the open tendency towards engagement with non-Jewish philosophical, literary, scientific, and theological cultures. It plots out an original path along which to understand Luzzattoâs scepticism by pointing to the various facets of being a Jewish sceptic in seventeenth-century Italy.
Giuseppe Veltri was a professor of Jewish studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg from 1997 to 2014. Since 2014, he has been a professor of Jewish philosophy and religion at the University of Hamburg. He is the editor-in-chief of several series published by Brill, De Gruyter, and Paideia. Since November 2010, he has also been a professor (h.c.) of comparative religious studies at the University of Leipzig, and he has been the director of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies in Hamburg since 2015. His fields of research are Jewish cultural history, Jewish philosophy in the Renaissance and early modern period, magic, and biblical tradition and translations. Among his publications are Il Rinascimento nel pensiero ebraico (2020); an edition and translation of Simone Luzzattoâs Discourse on the State of the Jews (2019; with Anna Lissa) and Socrates, or On Human Knowledge (2019; with Michela Torbidoni); Lâebraismo come scienza. Cultura e politica in Leopold Zunz (2019; with Libera Pisano); Alienated Wisdom: Enquiry into Jewish Philosophy and Scepticism (2018), and Renaissance Philosophy in Jewish Garb (2009).
Michela Torbidoni is an interim professor of Jewish philosophy at the Institute for Jewish Philosophy and Religion at the University of Hamburg. Her research focuses on early modern Jewish thought and Spinozaâs reception within Italian and French philosophical circles during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She is the co-editor and translator of Simone Luzzattoâs Socrates, or On Human Knowledge (2019; with Giuseppe Veltri) and the author of the monograph Acosmismo come religione. G. Gentile and P. Martinetti interpreti di Spinoza (2019).
Michela Torbidoni is an interim professor of Jewish philosophy at the Institute for Jewish Philosophy and Religion at the University of Hamburg. Her research focuses on early modern Jewish thought and Spinozaâs reception within Italian and French philosophical circles during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She is the co-editor and translator of Simone Luzzattoâs Socrates, or On Human Knowledge (2019; with Giuseppe Veltri) and the author of the monograph Acosmismo come religione. G. Gentile and P. Martinetti interpreti di Spinoza (2019).
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
What Kind of (Sceptical) Work is Simone Luzzattoâs Socrates?
âJosef Stern
Sextus Empiricusâs Works as Guideline for Simone Luzzattoâs Socratic Ignorance
âMichela Torbidoni
Apologetic Strategies, Scepticism, and Empiricism in Simone Luzzattoâs Works
âGiuseppe Veltri
Simone Luzzattoâs Scepticism in Light of Medieval Jewish Apologetics
âFabrizio Lelli
âEveryone is Free to Decide to Investigate Every Kind of Discourseâ
Simone Luzzattoâs Lettera Approbatoria to The Revealer of Secrets (1640?) by Samuel ha-Kohen da Pisa Lusitano
âAnna Lissa
The Image of King Solomon in Simone Luzzattoâs Writings
âWarren Zev Harvey
Simone Luzzattoâs Political Thought: Between Reason of State, Scepticism, and Jewish Political Tradition
âGuido Bartolucci
Simone Luzzattoâs View on Jewish Ritual and Its Social Functions: A Consideration of His Sceptical Thought in the Intellectual Context of His Age
âMina Lee
Simone Luzzattoâs Appraisal of Prudence
âGiuseppe Veltri and Anna Lissa
Varieties of Mercantilism: Simone Luzzatto and the Economic Role of the Jews in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
âLuca Andreoni
âSeek the Peace of the City to which I have exiled youâ in Simone Luzzatto and Menasseh ben Israel, with Azariah deâ Rossi behind the Scenes
âMyriam Silvera
Index
Introduction
Part 1 The Relationship to Ancient Scepticism
What Kind of (Sceptical) Work is Simone Luzzattoâs Socrates?
âJosef Stern
Sextus Empiricusâs Works as Guideline for Simone Luzzattoâs Socratic Ignorance
âMichela Torbidoni
Part 2 Apologia and Apologetics
Apologetic Strategies, Scepticism, and Empiricism in Simone Luzzattoâs Works
âGiuseppe Veltri
Simone Luzzattoâs Scepticism in Light of Medieval Jewish Apologetics
âFabrizio Lelli
Part 3 Wisdom and Jewish Tradition
âEveryone is Free to Decide to Investigate Every Kind of Discourseâ
Simone Luzzattoâs Lettera Approbatoria to The Revealer of Secrets (1640?) by Samuel ha-Kohen da Pisa Lusitano
âAnna Lissa
The Image of King Solomon in Simone Luzzattoâs Writings
âWarren Zev Harvey
Part 4 Political Views
Simone Luzzattoâs Political Thought: Between Reason of State, Scepticism, and Jewish Political Tradition
âGuido Bartolucci
Simone Luzzattoâs View on Jewish Ritual and Its Social Functions: A Consideration of His Sceptical Thought in the Intellectual Context of His Age
âMina Lee
Simone Luzzattoâs Appraisal of Prudence
âGiuseppe Veltri and Anna Lissa
Part 5 Economic Theory
Varieties of Mercantilism: Simone Luzzatto and the Economic Role of the Jews in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
âLuca Andreoni
âSeek the Peace of the City to which I have exiled youâ in Simone Luzzatto and Menasseh ben Israel, with Azariah deâ Rossi behind the Scenes
âMyriam Silvera
Index
This book will be of interest to specialists in Jewish studies and early modern sceptical thought.