26 Apr 2017

Direct Path Project, Ethics Project
In an earlier post (See below, "The Ethic of Three Metals; February 22 2017), I cited the Platinum Rule as formulated by the philosopher Karl K. Popper in his book “The Open Society and Its Enemies”. Popper’s reference was somewhat offhand, embedded in the making of a larger point on standards of behavior: “But although we have no criterion of absolute rightness, we certainly can m...
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24 Apr 2017

Ethics Project
What does it mean to restrict the definition of "doing" to acts in the physical realm? Doing clearly includes direct physical action with the intent to affect another. The example cited previously of giving food to the hungry person is direct physical action. How about telling the hungry person where he can get food? Yes, I think the telling is also a doing. If directly communic...
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21 Apr 2017

Direct Path Project, Ethics Project
In my post of March 1 on the issue of commanded love I noted that some have identified the Ethic of Reciprocity as actually being: “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I emphasize being as opposed to, say, proceeding from. And the question of the identification of that (seeming) command as being the Ethic is as opposed to the Ethic being: “Do unto others as you wou...
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20 Apr 2017

Judaic Topics
On the Shabbat that falls within the Festival of Passover it is customary to read a portion of biblical text from the book of Exodus; Chapter 33 verse 12 through Chapter 34 verse 26. Its general connection to the holiday is clear: it contains specific mention of and commandments related to Passover. But it also contains an interesting textual anomaly. The initial letter nun in 34:7...
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13 Apr 2017

Judaic Topics
The philosopher Immanuel Kant, best known for his theory of the Categorical Imperative, concluded that: “In the moral judgement of action we refer the consequences produced to the agent who produced them. Unlike the intentional or the negligent, the unforeseeable and unintended are never blamed. Moral judgement is directed, not to the effects of an action, but to the good or bad inten...
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12 Apr 2017

Ethics Project
I’ve been studying the work of some of the more influential Enlightenment-era philosophers lately. Brilliant thinkers, linguists, logicians; they still arrive at conclusions that are seemingly inescapable while inescapably flawed in my view. Why is that? How can it be? A few thoughts: The fundamental purpose of language is to communicate, but language communicates because it discri...
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04 Apr 2017

Ethics Project, Judaic Topics
It is often said that the laws of ritual sacrifice that dominate the early chapters of the book of Leviticus (or VaYikra in Hebrew), are among the most difficult to relate to in our day. That is largely because of our discomfort with the idea of animal sacrifice (even though not all sacrifices are of animals). If we ignore for the moment the issue of what is to be sacrificed and focus...
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03 Apr 2017

Judaic Topics
The central book of the Five Books of Moses was originally known as Torat Kohanim, or the Law of Priests because of its concentration on the ritual activities of the Levitical priests. That it is unique in many respects as a document that can stand on its own in literary, legal and ritual senses is without question. But my thought while studying the text this year was not about its se...
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17 Mar 2017

Judaic Topics
The centerpiece of Parashat Ki Tisa is the episode of the golden calf; the egel zahav that is formed (in some way) by Aaron at the insistence of (some of) the people when Moses was “late” in descending from his encounter with God. The sense one gets when reading the story is that Moses had to have been quite late in his return; late enough to cause a great deal of anxiety among those ...
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14 Mar 2017

Ethics Project
If we restrict the question of "doing" or "not doing" to acts in the physical realm, as we've suggested, a critical distinction between the two can be drawn. It is (for practical purposes) always in my power to refrain from purposely acting. No agreement or connection between us is needed for me to act towards you in accordance with the Silver Rule. My forbearance does not need your k...
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