Is There a Jewish Philosophy? Rethinking Fundamentals

Leon Roth (1896-1963) was the first Professor of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He wanted to encourage his students to think, and to think about their Judaism. Typical of his approach is the question with which this selection of essays opens: in what sense can we talk about Jewish philosophy, and what can we expect to find if we look for it?
Defining philosophy as 'the search, through thought, for the permanent,' Roth argues that in order to say whether there is a truly Jewish philosophy one has to 'rethink fundamentals' - those elements in our lives, in history, in nature which appear to be not incidental and trivial but basic. The twelve elegantly written essays published here represent a selection of Roth's explanations of various aspects of his theme.