Ze'ev Levy

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Ze'ev Levy (born March 25, 1921 in Dresden , † March 16, 2010 in Hama'apil, Israel ) was an Israeli philosopher . He emigrated to Palestine with his parents' family in 1934 , worked in the kibbutz , and began studying philosophy at the age of 43, which he completed with a PhD. From 1973 until his retirement he was professor of philosophy at the University of Haifa .

Life

Ze'ev Levy was born in Dresden in 1921 . One year after the takeover of the Nazis emigrated the family - parents and two children - in February 1934 to Palestine . The maternal grandfather died in the Theresienstadt camp . After finishing school in Tel-Aviv , Ze'ev Levy joined the Kibbutz Chefziba in 1939 , where he was engaged in agricultural work, mainly sheep and goat breeding. He was also interested in philosophical treatises, which he devoured with passion. From 1946 to 1948 he was sent to Europe by the kibbutz movement as Shaliach (envoy) for youth education. At the end of 1961, he moved with his wife and children to Kibbutz Hama'apil, where he lived until his death on March 16, 2010.

In 1963 Ze'ev Levy began to lead philosophical seminars in the seminar of the kibbutz movement Hashomer Hatzair in Giv'at Haviva. This task fascinated him so much that he - now 43 years old - decided to take up a formal degree in philosophy. In 1969 he completed his philosophy studies at the University of Tel Aviv with a master's thesis on Franz Rosenzweig - Franz Rosenzweig: A forerunner of Jewish existentialism (Hebrew), the first work on Rosenzweig in Israel - and added a postgraduate study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, from which he graduated in 1973 with a dissertation Structuralism - between Method and Theory .

From 1972 to 1974 Ze'ev Levy taught philosophy at Tel Aviv University and from 1973 until his retirement in 1989 philosophy and Jewish thought at Haifa University. Levy's areas of work include, on the one hand, the Jewish philosophy of modern times , with special emphasis on Spinoza , Moses Mendelssohn , Nachman Krohaben , Hermann Cohen , Martin Buber , Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas, and on the other hand, hermeneutics and ethics from both a general and a Jewish perspective. In 1983 and 1990/91 he was visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg and its affiliated College for Jewish Studies and in 1987 visiting professor at the State University of New York in Binghamton and at Queens College in New York City . In 2002 he was a Franz Rosenzweig visiting professor at the University of Kassel .

Fonts (in selection)

  • A Precursor of Jewish Existentialism: The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig, Tel-Aviv 1969 (Heb.).
  • Spinoza and the Concept of Judaism: A concept and its influence on Jewish Thought, Tel Aviv 1972 (hebr.), 2nd ed. 1983, 3rd ed. 1991.
  • Structuralism - between method and theory, Tel-Aviv 1976 (Heb.).
  • Science and Values: On the cognitive status of ethical values, Ramat-Gan 1979 (Heb.).
  • Between Yafeth and Shem: On the relationship between Jewish and general philosophy, Tel-Aviv 1982 (Heb.); Bern / New-York 1987 (English).
  • Hermeneutics, Tel-Aviv 1987, 2nd edition 1989 (Heb.).
  • David Baumgardt and Ethical Hedonism, New York 1989.
  • Baruch or Benedict. On some Jewish Aspects in Spinoza's Philosophy, Bern / New York 1989.
  • Judaism in the World-View of JG Hamann, JG Herder and W. von Goethe, Jerusalem 1994 (Heb.).
  • Otherness and Responsibility - A Study of Emmanuel Levinas' Philosophy, Jerusalem 1997 (Heb.).
  • Problems of modern Jewish hermeneutics and ethics, Cuxhaven / Dartford 1997.
  • Baruch Spinoza - His recording by the Jewish thinkers in Germany, Stuttgart 2001.
  • Bioethics - Philosophical and Jewish Aspects, Cuxhaven / Dartford 2001.
  • (with Nadav Levy), Ethics, Emotions and Animals, Tel-Aviv 2002.
  • Reflections on Death in Philosophy and in Jewish Thought, Tel-Aviv 2008 (Heb.).
  • “From Dresden to the Kibbutz” and “Emmanuel Levinas' relationship to Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig”, in: Wolfdietrich Schmied-Kowarzik (ed.), Dealing with the destroyed Jewish legacy. Franz Rosenzweig guest lectures 1999-2005, Kassel 2004.

Secondary literature

  • Trumah - Contributions to Jewish Philosophy - Commemoration for the 80th birthday of Ze'ev Levy (Journal of the College for Jewish Studies 11), Heidelberg 2001.
  • Confrontations with the destroyed Jewish heritage. Franz Rosenzweig guest lectures 1999-2005, ed. by Wolfdietrich Schmied-Kowarzik, Kassel 2004.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Levy, Ze'ev
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israelite philosopher and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 2010
Place of death Hama'apil, Israel