A Comparative Study of the Origins of Ethical Thought
Hellenism and Hebraism- Authors:
- Publisher:
- 2005
Summary
The Origins of Ethical Thought: A Comparative Study Between Hellenism and Hebraism is the first text to analyze both Greek and Hebrew ethical thought based on a comprehensive and ideological interpretation of the two systems on their own and in relation to one another. An innovative work of interdisciplinary scholarship, this book focuses on the plurality of perspectives between and within the respective ethical systems. Without overdrawing comparisons, the author engages selected primary and secondary texts and highlights the traits that distinguish the two fields while revealing the commonalities underlying ancient Hebraic and Hellenistic concepts of the self in relation to the "other," whether on the human or super-human level. He reveals that both ethical systems are based on a sense of "wonder," which, he argues, can and should be rehabilitated as a foundation for a new ethics that is in touch with the transcendent and metaphysical.
Moreover, writing from a Japanese frame of reference, the author incorporates important insights by Eastern thinkers that are often overlooked in the West. Well conceived and logically presented, The Origins of Ethical Thought covers the practical philosophy of the ancient Greeks from the Presocratics through Aristotle, the religious ethics of the Ancient Hebrews from the Ten Commandments to the Wisdom literature, and the consequences of Greek and Hebrew ethics from philosophical ideas of love and righteousness to religious notions of retribution and atonement.
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Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 2005
- ISBN-Print
- 978-0-7425-3240-3
- ISBN-Online
- 978-1-4616-7459-7
- Publisher
- Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 281
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- Contents No access
- Preface to the English Edition No access
- Explanatory Notes No access
- Introduction: "Wonder" No access Pages 1 - 6
- 1 The Pre-Socratics (1): The Ionians No access
- 2 The Pre-Socratics (2): The Italian Thracians No access
- 3 Socrates and Plato (1): Socrates, the Sophists, and Plato No access
- 4 Socrates and Plato (2): Focusing on Plato No access
- 5 Aristotle (1): Happiness and Ethical Excellence No access
- 6 Aristotle (2): The Doctrine of the Mean and the Doctrine of Virtue No access
- 7 Aristotle (3): Intellectual Excellence and Contemplation No access
- 8 The Ten Commandments (1): Focusing on the Sixth to Ninth Commandments No access
- 9 The Ten Commandments (2): Focusing on the First Commandment No access
- 10 Legal Codes: The Book of the Covenant, the Deuteronomic Code, and the Holiness Code No access
- 11 The Wisdom Literature (1): Proverbs No access
- 12 The Wisdom Literature (2): The Book of Job No access
- 13 Retribution Ethics in Hebrew Religion: Focusing on the Qohelet No access
- 14 Hebrew Religious Ethics and Atonement Ideology: Focusing on the Prophets No access
- 15 A Reflection on the Greek Philosophy of Love and Righteousness, Based on Aristotle No access
- Conclusion: Revisiting "Wonder" No access Pages 259 - 268
- Index No access Pages 269 - 281





