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Why study Jewish thought? Among the questions posed to the contributors to this symposium, this was the central question. What is the value of this entire enterprise?
My personal perspective is that the answer to this question revolves around two fundamental axes-meaning and complexity. These are the two essential values that lie at the heart of this discipline. These two concepts are central to an individuals living a purposeful life, as well as to our creating a thriving culture and society.
The pursuit of meaning is central to the discipline of Jewish thought. I chose to major in philosophy in college, instead of literature, because of the following realization. While literature dealt with big ideas, it also dealt with form as well as content, and therefore its study involved not only the pursuit of truths but also analysis of style and structure; in addition, with the concept of art for arts sake, and with the increasing popularity of deconstructionism, pursuit of objective meaning receded farther into the background. Philosophy, on the other hand (at least in the curriculum of the time), dedicated itself purely to the pursuit of the ideas themselves. In my philosophy classes, we were involved in the search for truth and meaning, as well as the attempt to cut to the core ideas upon which we build our values, our interpersonal interactions, our communities, and our culture.
This endeavor cannot be achieved without the second principle I mentioned, which serves as the tool enabling this discovery of truth and meaning through intellectual excavation and thoughtful sharpening of ideas, which is the ability to think complexly. Studying philosophy entails learning how to evaluate ideas, see nuance, and understand the interplay between opposing or dialectical truths. In addition, one learns either to hone the arguments and ideas on each side until the dialectical concepts can coexist without contradiction, or to hold seemingly contradictory values at the same time, recognizing the contribution of each, and maintaining the tension between them. These tools, the thinking skills that are developed through the study of Jewish thought, ultimately become a lifelong gift.
These two values are foundational and necessary, now more than ever. We are living in a...