Authority and Autonomy

Catalog description

This course will introduce the history of Jewish thought, focusing upon the problems of authority and autonomy, normativity and agency, law and freedom. We will investigate the relationship between legally mandated actions and an individual’s responsibility to tradition and community and question whether the concept of revealed “law” imposes a “necessary” obligation upon ethical agency or rather serves a pedagogical function (virtue). By focusing upon Jewish philosophical critiques and endorsements of the modern conception of autonomy, we will ask whether “I” am the legitimate authority of my own actions or whether I require tradition or community to set an example.