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On the Dependence of Human Values on the Body: A Critical Pragmatic reading of Mishnah Avot 5:16

Sun, December 16, 4:15 to 5:45pm, Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center, Beacon Hill 1 Complex

Abstract

Mishnah Avot 5:16 states: “Any love that is dependent on something transient, when the thing that was the cause for that love perishes, the love will also perish”. Most commentators of this text have followed its premises, contending that a real or a true love is “lacking all interest” (to paraphrase Michael Fagenblat’s paper on Levinas and Leibowitz). A real love, it is frequently argued, is ‘clean’ of any self-interest.

However, a pragmatic account of this notion raises serious questions. Not only a for a logical problem such as the altruism paradox, but due to a more practical reason: What does it exactly mean for a human being to ‘lack all interest’? How can we properly phenomenologize the care for a spouse, family members, or any beloved human beings, without assuming that their body is a part of what constitutes and informs our intentionality towards them? Why should we assume that a sincere care for the well being of others is morally valueless, unless it transcends all interests? In which way can we make sense of this ‘sincere care’ for others, if it is abstract and detached from every sensual experience or human interest? Such an ethics of denial of the flesh, I will argue and demonstrate, leads to an attitude of ‘turning the other cheek’ to your perpetrator.

This paper will demonstrate some pragmatic connections between values and interests in ancient Jewish thought, for example between morality and financial interests, and make clear the pragmatic interdependence of facts and values. At the same time, I will clarify why making utility into the sole ethical factor is problematic, and why such a vulgar utilitarianism is not an authentic expression of American Pragmatism. This philosophical school, I will argue, is a vital resource for thinking about Mishnah Avot 5:16 and about the wider questions it raises. Considering the pragmatic holistic theory about facts and values, the paper will conclude by locating the above discussion on a large-scale philosophical and religious map.

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