Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein Book

My friend Robin Friedman, Amazon's Hall of Fame top 100 reviewers, wrote an excellent comprehensive review of this book, as he usually does. He describes the man and his book, gives us an understanding of the thinking of the three philosophers that Putnam discusses, and tells us that Putnam's aim was to provide insights to a good life and a religious life, more than a philosophy of Judaism. He informs us that the philosophers that Putnam discusses share the view of experiential philosophy, that philosophy should be developed from inside, from personal experiences, not from abstractions, and more. It is hard to add to Robin Friedman's writings, but I will try by addressing a few items that Robin Friedman did not address.

Putnam tells us that in the past, he had two parts of himself, a religious part and a purely philosophical part, and he is attempting to reconcile them, for people who feels attached to religion should be unwilling to turn their back on modernity. This is an important idea because too many people live a schizophrenic life, a life without direction, a life of conflicts.

Putnam gives us insights to the understanding of the philosopher Rosenzweig and others. For example, Rosenzweig says "the awareness of being loved by a personal God arrives in some sense prior to my hearing the command" in the Bible. (The italics is by Putnam.) For Rosenzweig the veracity of biblical stories was not important, but its message is important. Rosenzweig believed that the world will be redeemed in the future and this idea is important to Judaism, but he recognized that he had no idea how specifically this will occur; yet, he felt, significantly, that this change must begin now in the life of every individual. We must be "moral perfectionists." We must be able to answer the question "Am I living as I am supposed to live," by answering "Yes."

He tells us that Levinas taught that all we know about God is what God asks of us: total willingness to help others. Our fundamental obligation is to make ourselves available to the needs of others. We must learn to sacrifice for others. Yet, at the same time, we must not regard others as being obligated as we are. Putnam states that he disagrees with Levinas on this point and accepts the view of Buber: total responsibility for others "seems to me to go beyond what is right to demand."

Whether one agrees with Putnam's philosophy of life or not, this book is important because it prompts us to think and perhaps even change our behavior and society for the better.