Jonathan Israel | |
---|---|
Born | Jonathan Irvine Israel 22 January 1946 (age 78) |
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Academic, historian |
Awards | Wolfson History Prize Fellow of the British Academy Leo Gershoy Award Order of the Netherlands Lion Dr A.H. Heineken Prize Benjamin Franklin Medal PROSE Award |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Queens' College, Cambridge University of Oxford |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Newcastle University (1970–1972) University of Hull (1972–1974) University College London (1974–2001) Institute for Advanced Study,Princeton (2001–present) University of Amsterdam (2007) |
Main interests | Dutch history Age of Enlightenment European Jews Spinoza |
Jonathan Irvine Israel FBA (born 22 January 1946) is a British historian specialising in Dutch history,the Age of Enlightenment,Spinoza's Philosophy and European Jews. Israel was appointed as Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study,Princeton,New Jersey,in January 2001 and retired in July 2016. [1] He was previously Professor of Dutch History and Institutions at the University College London.
In recent years,Israel has focused his attention on a multi-volume history of the Age of Enlightenment. He contrasts two camps. The "radical Enlightenment" was founded on a rationalist materialism first articulated by Spinoza. Standing in opposition was a "moderate Enlightenment" which he sees as weakened by its belief in God.
Israel's career until 2001 unfolded in British academia. He attended Kilburn Grammar School,and like his school peer and future fellow historian Robert Wistrich went on to study History as an undergraduate at Queens' College,Cambridge,graduating with a first-class degree in Part II of the Tripos in 1967. [2] His graduate work took place at the University of Oxford and the El Colegio de México,Mexico City,leading to his D.Phil. from Oxford in 1972. He was named Sir James Knott Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1970,and in 1972 he moved to the University of Hull where he was first an assistant lecturer then a lecturer in Early Modern Europe. In 1974 he became a lecturer in Early Modern European History at University College London,progressing to become a reader in Modern History in 1981,and then to Professor of Dutch History and Institutions in 1984.
In January 2001,Israel became a professor of modern European history in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study,Princeton,New Jersey. [3] In 2007,the 375th anniversary of the birth of Spinoza,he held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. [4]
Israel has defined what he considers to be the "Radical Enlightenment," arguing it originated with Spinoza. [5] [6]
Israel is sharply critical of Jean-Paul Marat and Maximilien de Robespierre for repudiating the true values of the Radical Enlightenment and grossly distorting the French Revolution. He argues,"Jacobin ideology and culture under Robespierre was an obsessive Rousseauiste moral Puritanism steeped in authoritarianism,anti-intellectualism,and xenophobia,"and it repudiated free expression,basic human rights,and democracy." [7]
Anthony J. La Vopa makes a comprehensive analysis of Jonathan Israel's interpretation of the Enlightenment. The analysis challenges Israel's binary classification of the Enlightenment into a cohesive "radical" faction and a purportedly disjointed "moderate" counterpart. He contends that Israel's dichotomy oversimplifies the intricate intellectual landscape of the Enlightenment,failing to appreciate the subtleties and diverse perspectives of individual thinkers. A central argument revolves around the idea that Israel's approach lacks the necessary nuance to capture the complexity of Enlightenment thought. He questions the validity of reducing the rich tapestry of ideas to a binary framework,arguing that this oversimplification neglects the diversity of intellectual currents within the Enlightenment. He highlights the inadequacy of Israel's method in dealing with the dense interplay of content and form,particularly in rhetorical practices and imaginative literature. He argues that Israel's methodology struggles to accommodate the intricate relationship between content and form,thought and representation,particularly in texts relevant to the remapping of the Enlightenment. He also challenges Israel's emphasis on a Spinozist,foundationalist rationalism as the singularly modern legacy of the Enlightenment. The author argues that Hume's approach to social and political issues,often considered conservative by Israel,actually offers a different perspective on modernity. Instead of embracing a rigid,systematic rationalism,Hume advocates for a more pragmatic and uncertain approach,which the author sees as a vital aspect of the Enlightenment's philosophical modernity. Anthony J. La Vopa cautions against accepting Israel's dichotomous classification,asserting that it imposes an artificial divide on the historical movement of the Enlightenment. By adhering to this binary framework,the opportunity to learn from the Enlightenment's efforts to explore human consciousness and expand spaces for human freedom is forfeited. [8]
Samuel Moyn evaluates Jonathan Israel's perspective on the Enlightenment,focusing on Israel's assertion that Spinoza played a central and overlooked role in shaping the era. Moyn challenges Israel's approach,pointing out several limitations in his analysis. A primary criticism is Israel's oversimplification of the Enlightenment,reducing it to a binary classification between radical and moderate thinkers. Moyn argues that such a simplistic framework overlooks the diversity and complexity within the Enlightenment,where different intellectuals held diverse views and priorities. Moyn also critiques Israel for excluding alternative perspectives and for lacking social depth in his explanations of historical events. Moyn introduces Dan Edelstein's perspective,offering a contrasting view on Enlightenment ideas and their impact on the French Revolution. Moyn raises questions about Israel's justification for the success of emancipatory values during the Enlightenment,suggesting that attributing their triumph to inherent truth is an insufficient historical explanation. Moyn contends that Israel's insistence on a clear moral horizon for today's proponents of Radical Enlightenment is overly optimistic. Moyn argues that the Enlightenment's legacy is ambiguous and subject to various interpretations,cautioning against treating it as a monolithic,unchanging entity. [9]
A Marxist defense of Israel against Samuel Moyn appeared in 2010 on the World Socialist Web Site,particularly in the article,"The Nation,Jonathan Israel and the Enlightenment". The two defenders also criticize Israel,saying:
In 2004,in response to a Historisch Nieuwsblad survey,which asked members of the Royal Netherlands Historical Society what were the classic works about Dutch history,The Dutch Republic:Its Rise,Greatness and Fall,1477–1806 came in second place. [11]
He was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1992,Corresponding Fellow of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) in 1994, [12] won the American Historical Association's Leo Gershoy Award in 2001,and was made Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2004. In 2008,he won the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for history,medicine,environmental studies and cognitive science. [13]
In 2010 he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts,Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) for his outstanding contribution to Enlightenment scholarship. [14]
In 2015 he was awarded the PROSE Awards in European &World History by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for professional and scholarly excellence. [15]
In 2017 Israel received the Comenius Prize by the Comenius Museum for his work on the Age of Enlightenment,Dutch history,and European Jewry and his ability to connect economic and intellectual history with the history of politics,religion,society,and science. [16]
(Radical Enlightenment (2001), Enlightenment Contested (2006), and Democratic Enlightenment (2011) constitute a trilogy on the history of the Radical Enlightenment and the intellectual origins of modern democracy. A Revolution of the Mind (2009) is a shorter work on the same theme.)
Baruch (de) Spinoza, also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenment, Spinoza significantly influenced modern biblical criticism, 17th-century rationalism, and Dutch intellectual culture, establishing himself as one of the most important and radical philosophers of the early modern period. Influenced by Stoicism, Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, Ibn Tufayl, and heterodox Christians, Spinoza was a leading philosopher of the Dutch Golden Age.
The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe in the 17th and the 18th centuries. The Enlightenment featured a range of social ideas centered on the value of knowledge learned by way of rationalism and of empiricism and political ideals such as natural law, liberty, and progress, toleration and fraternity, constitutional government, and the formal separation of church and state.
Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissance—in the Age of Reason of 17th-century thought and the 18th-century Enlightenment. Commentators variously consider the era of modernity to have ended by 1930, with World War II in 1945, or as late as the period falling between the 1980s and 1990s; the following era is often referred to as "postmodernity". The term "contemporary history" is also used to refer to the post-1945 timeframe, without assigning it to either the modern or postmodern era.
The Counter-Enlightenment refers to a loose collection of intellectual stances that arose during the European Enlightenment in opposition to its mainstream attitudes and ideals. The Counter-Enlightenment is generally seen to have continued from the 18th century into the early 19th century, especially with the rise of Romanticism. Its thinkers did not necessarily agree to a set of counter-doctrines but instead each challenged specific elements of Enlightenment thinking, such as the belief in progress, the rationality of all humans, liberal democracy, and the increasing secularisation of European society.
The Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (TTP) or Theologico-Political Treatise, is a 1670 work of philosophy written in Latin by the Dutch philosopher Benedictus Spinoza (1632–1677). The book was one of the most important and controversial texts of the early modern period. Its aim was "to liberate the individual from bondage to superstition and ecclesiastical authority." In it, Spinoza expounds his views on contemporary Jewish and Christian religion and critically analyses the Bible, especially the Old Testament, which underlies both. He argues what the best roles for state and religion should be and concludes that a degree of democracy and freedom of speech and religion works best, such as in Amsterdam, while the state remains paramount within reason. The goal of the state is to guarantee the freedom of citizens. Religious leaders should not interfere in politics. Spinoza interrupted his writing of his magnum opus, the Ethics, to respond to the increasing intolerance in the Dutch Republic, directly challenging religious authorities and their power over freedom of thought. He published the work anonymously, in Latin, rightly anticipating harsh criticism and vigorous attempts by religious leaders and conservative secular authorities to suppress his work entirely. He halted the publication of a Dutch translation. One described it as being "Forged in hell by the apostate Jew working together with the devil". The work has been characterized as "one of the most significant events in European intellectual history", laying the groundwork for ideas about liberalism, secularism, and democracy.
Michael Laban Walzer is an American political theorist and public intellectual. A professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey, he is editor emeritus of the left-wing magazine Dissent, which he has been affiliated with since his years as an undergraduate at Brandeis University, an advisory editor of the Jewish journal Fathom, and sits on the editorial board of the Jewish Review of Books.
Early modern philosophy The early modern era of philosophy was a progressive movement of Western thought, exploring through theories and discourse such topics as mind and matter, is a period in the history of philosophy that overlaps with the beginning of the period known as modern philosophy. It succeeded the medieval era of philosophy. Early modern philosophy is usually thought to have occurred between the 16th and 18th centuries, though some philosophers and historians may put this period slightly earlier. During this time, influential philosophers included Descartes, Locke, Hume, and Kant, all of whom contributed to the current understanding of philosophy.
Franciscus van den Enden, in later life also known as 'Affinius' was a Flemish former Jesuit, Neo-Latin poet, physician, art dealer, philosopher, and plotter against Louis XIV of France. Born in Antwerp, where he had a truncated career as a Jesuit and an art dealer, he moved later to the Dutch Republic where he became part of a group of radical thinkers sometimes referred to as the Amsterdam Circle, who challenged prevailing views on politics and religion. He held strong ideas about education, and viewed theater as an important teaching tool. He was a Utopian planning to set up an ideal society in the Dutch colonies in America and a proponent of democracy in the administration of states. He is best known as the Latin teacher of Spinoza (1632–1677), with whom Spinoza boarded for a period. Scholars have examined Van den Enden's philosophical ideas and those of Spinoza to assess whether he influenced his pupil, Spinoza biographer Steven Nadler suggests this is not the case. Spinoza biographer Jonathan I. Israel argues that Van den Enden preceded Spinoza in writing radical philosophical texts with a combination of democratic republicanism, rejection of religious authority, and advocacy for basic equality, building on the influence of Pieter de la Court, but only after Spinoza left Amsterdam. Van den Enden was implicated in a plot against Louis XIV and executed by hanging.
The Treatise of the Three Impostors was a long-rumored book denying all three Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, with the "impostors" of the title being Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad. Hearsay concerning such a book surfaces by the 13th century and circulates through the 17th century. Authorship of the hoax book was variously ascribed to Jewish, Muslim, and Christian writers. Fabrications of the text eventually begin clandestine circulation, with a notable French underground edition Traité sur les trois imposteurs first appearing in 1719.
Adriaan Koerbagh was a Dutch physician, scholar, and writer who was a critic of religion and conventional morality. He was in the circle of supporters of Baruch Spinoza.
Atheism, as defined by the entry in Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, is "the opinion of those who deny the existence of a God in the world. The simple ignorance of God doesn't constitute atheism. To be charged with the odious title of atheism one must have the notion of God and reject it." In the period of the Enlightenment, avowed and open atheism was made possible by the advance of religious toleration, but was also far from encouraged.
The history of human thought covers the history of philosophy, history of science and history of political thought and spans across the history of humanity. The academic discipline studying it is called intellectual history.
Lodewijk Meyer was a Dutch physician, classical scholar, translator, lexicographer, and playwright. He was a radical intellectual and one of the more prominent members of the circle around the philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza.
Gabriel Wagner was a radical German philosopher and materialist who wrote under the nom-de-plume Realis de Vienna. A follower of Spinoza and acquaintance of Leibniz, Wagner did not believe that the universe or bible were divine creations, and sought to extricate philosophy and science from the influence of theology. Wagner also held radical political views critical of the nobility and monarchy. After failing to establish lasting careers in cities throughout German-speaking Europe, Wagner died in or shortly after 1717.
Yirmiyahu Yovel was an Israeli philosopher and public intellectual. He was Professor Emeritus of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the New School for Social Research in New York. Yovel had also been a political columnist in Israel, cultural and political critic and a frequent presence in the media. Yovel was a laureate of the Israel Prize in philosophy and officier of the French order of the Palme académique. His books were translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Hebrew, Korean and Japanese. Yovel was married to Shoshana Yovel, novelist and community organizer, and they had a son, Jonathan Yovel, poet and law professor, and a daughter, Ronny, classical musician, TV host and family therapist.
Een Bloemhof is a dictionary published in 1668 and written by Adriaan Koerbagh under his own name. Its full title was Een Bloemhof van allerley Lieflijkheyd sonder verdriet. The book sparked controversy in Amsterdam because of its articles defining political and religious terms, even though they comprise only a small portion of the overall dictionary. The book also offers laymen explanations for technical jargon and foreign terms, covering topics such as medicine and law.
Frederik van Leenhof was a Dutch pastor and philosopher active in Zwolle, who caused an international controversy because of his Spinozist work Heaven on Earth (1703). This controversy is extensively discussed in Jonathan Israel's 2001 book Radical Enlightenment.
Hendrik Wyermars was a Dutch radical Enlightenment thinker from Amsterdam who in 1710 published a philosophical book defending the eternity of the world and rejecting the literal version of the Creation story from the Book of Genesis. For contradicting fundamental Christian doctrine the book was condemned by the local church authorities and Wyermars was subsequently jailed for 15 years in the Amsterdam Rasphuis. He was considered an adherent of Spinozism, proclaiming atheist and materialist views.
Discourses Concerning Government is a political work published in 1698, and based on a manuscript written in the early 1680s by the English Whig activist Algernon Sidney who was executed on a treason charge in 1683. It is one of the treatises on governance produced by the Exclusion Crisis of the last years of the reign of Charles II of England. Modern scholarship regards the 1698 book as "fairly close" to Sidney's manuscript. According to Christopher Hill, it "handed on many of the political ideas of the English revolutionaries to eighteen-century Whigs, American and French republicans."