Kaplan, Pragmatism,

t is by now generally accepted that Pragmatism as Data Gathering Mordecai Kaplan's Reconstruc- There are tremendous overlaps Itionist bears many of the between Kaplan's work and that of marks of American pragmatist philos- William James and John Dewef- ophy I will begin here to take that Dewey's A Common Faitb, for exam- general acknowledgement in a direc- ple, is extraordinary in its subtle artic- tion unlike its usual one: I will sketch ulation of a naturalist that how a serious commitment to the sort many of us are familiar with from of pragmatist (methodological) prin- reading Kaplan. The connections ciples that so influenced Kaplan with James seem less obvious. It is entails a serious commitment to femi- only sometimes acknowledged that nism, at least feminism of a certain James was profoundly religi~us.~His kind. I am interested in arguing this 'religion' was deeply naturalist, com- because I believe that Kaplan is usual- mitted to our being intimately and ly seen merely as a defdcto feminist. I ultimately tied up with nature and want to say something stronger, some- thus to whatever source of life there thing that goes beyond the psycholo- was: "Every bit of us at every moment gy that Mordecai Kaplan contingently is part and parcel of a wider self, it happened to have, and how he hap- quivers along various radii like the pened to behave. I want to say that if wind-rose on a compass, and the actu- we understand the methodological al in it is continuously one with possi- basis of Kaplan's work, it behooves ble~not yet in our present ~ight."~ those of us who consider ourselves But James was also a 'methodolog- inheritors of his Judaism to help cre- ical naturalist.' He was committed to ate feminist Judaism' at a theoretical a sort of down-to-earth data gathering level-or, at least, to understand how when he wanted to make important a theoretically grounded feminism generalizations: "the only things that emerges out of Reconstructionism. shall be debatable among philoso-

Marcia Lind is an Assistant Professor of at Duke University. She has recent- ly become extremely interested in Judaism and plans full-time gaduate study of Judaism in the near future. The Reconstructionist Fall 1995 47 phers shall be things definable in 'scouring the landscape,' is to canvass terms drawn from experience." Even only those people his metaphysics more strongly: "Woe to him whose allow him to consider as fully human. beliefs play fast and loose with the That does not include, for example, order which realities follow in his slaves and women."y our current experience; they will lead him lights, Aristotle left out whole groups nowhere or else make false connex- of people who should have been ions."" included in his data base had he really And it is that parallel in Kaplan- been 'scouring the landscape' for the methodological naturalism-that opinions in the way his methodology I am interested in here-particularly required. as it gets transformed and applied in The story is much the same in Kaplan's views on community and the David Hume, and it emerges most importance of everyone's voice being clearly in his aesthetic theory."' present in the creating of rules or laws Hume's aesthetics depend on a figure governing Jewish community. he calls 'the good critic.' The 'good critic,' like the 'impartial/ideal observ- Some History: Empirical Ethics er' in his ethics, is supposed to repre- But first, some history, The com- sent how all people-merely by virtue mitment to what I am calling of being human-react when they are 'methodological naturalism' or 'the 'healthy' or 'well-functioning.' The pragmatist/naturalist methodology' good critic is supposed to represent derives from sources anterior to prag- the 'natural' (and thus, normative) matism-call it the empirical strain in reactions of all humans. ethics-that I want to quickly (and But upon closer inspection, it very selectively) canvass. turns out that the 'good critic' is not Let's look at two philosophical pre- a mere 'well-functioning' or 'healthy' decessors regarding empirical human, who can represent the reac- methodology: Aristotle and Hume.: tions of all people. Rxther, the 'good Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethic? is critic,' for Hume, is a kind of com- committed to a naturalist/empirical posite derived from the reactions of method that entails 'scouring the only certain kinds of people: those landscape.' To 'scour the landscape' who have been educated in the appre- would be to take the opinion of every- ciation of 'superior' beauties. And one into account regarding (to take Hume tells us explicitly that 'Indians but one of Aristotle's questions) what and savages' can never become good happiness consists of. Is happiness, critics. 'Negroes,' as he calls them, Aristotle wants to know, about mak- simply don't have-and can't ever be ing money, or living the political life, educated to have-the capacities and or having a life of study or of contem- judgments of those (such as, he plation? What Aristotle does in order believes, Caucasians) who are further to answer this question, instead of along the evolutionary scale. Whatev-

48 Fall 1995 The Reconstructionist er the composite of the 'good critic' is on the same plane with minors, is, under the rubric of representing slaves, and people of unsound mind. the universal (when well-functioning) Like them she is exempted from all human reaction, Hume has represent- observances which are intended for ed only the reactions of a very small fixed times, with very few excep- sub-set of people. The conclusions he tion~."'~"Since we cannot honestly gets about what are the 'correct' aes- assume that the laws as formulated in thetic reactions are therefore seriously the traditional codes meant women to biased. enjoy [that] equality, we must, if we There is a common problem, then, believe in the equality of the sexes, in Aristotle and Hume; in neither case make the necessary changes in law do they take their own methodologies and custom as a conscious and delib- seriously enough. They do not really erate amendment to earlier standards. 'scour the landscape;' rather, they This is an example of a planned scour it selectively. For to really jcour reconstruction of Jewish law and Jew- the landscape' is not to leave whole ish life."" groups out ofyour data base. When Kaplan talked about 'proper and proportionate' representation for Kaplan's Inclusiveness all Jews, he meant women as well as By the time this empiricistlnatural- men-and knew just how difficult it ist method got to Mordecai Kaplan, it would be to achieve this. I submit that was clear how important it was to not Kaplan really was committed to leave any relevant groups out of con- 'scouring the landscape,' attempting sideration. Because of his views about to properly use the method that the human equality and representation of pragmatists and Kaplan himself had that equality, Kaplan was well-placed inherited. The flawed empiricism of to understand this. Witness his say- the past would no longer do. ing, "not only must no Jew be exclud- ed from the Jewish community for his Feminist opinions and beliefs, but the commu- Now look at breakthrough feminist nity must provide in its administra- theologies in this light: tion for a proper and proportionate Plaskow: "The need for a feminist representation of every Jewish Judaism begins with hearing silence. It trend."" begins with noting the absence of Further, Kaplan knew, at least as women's history and experiences as regarded women, that this would shaping forces in the Jewish tradition. mean tremendous work within Half of Jews have been women, but Judaism. "Whatever the woman's lot men have been defined as normative may have been in past Jewish life, tra- Jews, while women's voices and expe- ditional Jewish law undoubtedly treat- riences are largely in~isible."'~ ed her as a lower type of human being Ruether: "The naming of males as than man. In Jewish law, the woman norms of authentic humanity has

The Reconstructionist Fall I995 49 caused women to be scapegoated for sin are now widely questioned. Feminist and marginalized in both original and philosophers doubt whether the redeemed humanity.. .Women, as the 'female' voice is indeed the voice of denigrated half of the human species, emotion, whether the 'female' context must reach for a continually expanding is indeed 'community,' and, perhaps definition of inclusive humanity- most importantly, whether there is inclusive of both ~genders."" any such viable notion as a 'female' or The demand is for a voice-to be 'maternal' voice at all." Rather, this taken into account. In the terms I 'female' voice, whether represented as have been describing above, the the voice of 'care' or as something else, demand is that the methodology not was seen to represent only a small slice be [gender] biased. This is a of what a small group of women felt demand-as I hope is now appar- or thought. Thus, "feminism has been ent-very much in the spirit of the preoccupied with gender... [but] the pragmatic, empirical methodology phrases 'as a woman' and 'oppressed as that underlay Kaplan's Reconstruc- a woman,' and attempts to isolate tionism. Ironically, feminism has itself gender from race and class, typically risked replicating the very problem it . . .obscure the race and class identity was ~oisedto solve-making sure of white middle-class women."lx everyone was represented. A quick That is, talk about 'women' or the historical sketch will be helpful. 'woman's voice' or 'women being more compassionate than men' is now Women's Voice or Voices? taken by much of current feminist We saw directly above the demand philosophy'~obe a cover for talk for the inclusion of a 'women's voice' about only a certain kind of women. in theology-similarly in feminist Albeit unintentionally, such talk moral psychology. The missing 'wom- makes all other sorts of women invisi- en's voice' was most often character- ble. And for what it is worth, the ized in a very limited way: as the voice 'ethics of care' itself is also considered laden with emotion, the voice arising geatly suspect. As feminist philoso- out of community, the voice of empa- pher Claudia Card has put it: "The thy, the voice of maternal attention. language of care can cover a reality of Witness Carol Gilligan saying that abuse in more than one way. It can "women perceive and construe social cover the carer's own manipulation or reality differently from men ...Wom- abuse, and it can refer to caring unrec- en's sense of integrity appears to be iprocated by others.. ..Values exalted intertwined with an ethic of care, so by women's ethic of care have made it that to see themselves as women is to difficult or impossible for women to see themselves in a relationship of escape abusive relationships and to connection."'" seek desperately needed assistance for Such claims regarding what has themselves ... How much of women's come to be called the 'ethics of care' self-defined ethic of care is a slavish

50 Fall 1995 The Reconstructionist ethic of envy and hatred? What have Further, such an unproblematized, women identified as 'mere j~stice'?"~" essentialist 'woman's voice' does not meet the criteria of an important strand Is in pragmatist/naturalist methodology, False positing of an 'essence' of namely James' anti-essentialism, which 'woman'-'essentialism'-is danger- says that "there is no property absolute- ous because it produces and repro- ly essential to any one thing."23 duces exclusion. This is the kind of I started by. saying.- I would sketch a exclusion that feminism-and, I narrative that would help us appreci- might add, Kaplan's 'democratic' ver- ate that to be committed to the sion of Judaism-was initially methodology underlying Kaplan's designed to counter. Allowing only pragmatist Judaism is also to be com- the voice of white middle-class hetero- mitted to feminism of a certain kind. sexual childbearing women to repre- I also said that this commitment is sent all women is a problem we cur- not just defdcto, but theoretically gov- rently face (and must continue to be erned. I hope it is now clear why I wary of) in the continuing construc- think this and what I think that 'kind' tion of a feminist Judai~m,~'especially of feminism is. It is an anti-essentialist a feminism gounded in a broad- feminism, one pledged to problema- based -going populati~n.~~tizing and probing the notion of a Rather, we need to make sure that 'female voice,' a notion that looked, women's voices, whether added to our for a time, as if it were an appropriate scholarship or our liturgy, whether continuation of Kaplan's legacy.z4+ gathered from our history or our cur- 1. On Feminist Judaism, see Susannah Hes- rent situations, preserve and honor chel, On Being a Jewish Feminist (: difference: the woman scholar as well Schocken, 1983); Judith Plaskow, Standing as the mother, the fighter as well as the Again at Sinai (San Francisco: Harper, 1990); nurturer, single and childless as well as Judith Wegner, Chattel or Person? The Status of Women in the Mishnah (New York: married, book-loving as well as peo- Oxford, 1988); Rachel Biale, Women and ple-loving, lesbian as well as hetero- Jewish Law (New York: Schocken, 1984); sexual. Anything less not only repli- Plaskow and Carol P. Christ, ed., Weaving cates the very problem with which we the Visions (San Francisco: Harper, 1989); began, but betrays our faith and trust Blu Greenberg, On Women and Judaism (Phi- ladlephia: Jewish Publication Society, 198l); and hopes for any kind of recon- Irena Klepfisz, Dreams ofAn Insomniac: Jew- structed Judaism or feminism. ish Feminist Essays, Speeches, and Diatribes In sum, then, to add a 'woman's (Portland, OR: Eighth Mountain Press, voice' to Judaism, without problema- 1990); Daniel Boyarin, Carnallsrael: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture (Berkeley: University tizing what that might be, without of California Press, 1993); Howard Eilberg- appropriately understanding the Schwartz, ? Phallus and Other Problems diversity of that voice, risks reinstating- -fir Men and Monotheism (Boston: Beacon the perspective Kaplan was Press, 1994); Tikva Frymer Kensky, In The concerned to be rid of. Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth

The Reconstructionist Fall 1995 51 (New York: Free Press, 1992); Lynn David- 10. David Hume, "Of The Standard of man and Shelly Tenenbaum, Feminist Per- Taste," from Of The Standard of Tmte and spectives on Jewish Studies (New Haven: Yale Essays (Indianapolis: Library of Liberal Arts, Univ. Press, 1994); Ellen Umansky and 1965). Also see my "Indians, Savages, Peas- Dianne Ashton, eds., Four Centuries ofJewish ants and Women" in Bat-Ami Bar On, Mod- Women's Spirituality (Boston: Beacon Press, ern Engendering Critical Feminist Readings in 1992). Also see articles by Rachel Adler [e.g. Modern Western Philosophy (Albany: State "The Virgin in the Brothel and Other Anom- Univ. of New York Press, 1993), my alies," Tikkun (Nov-Dec. 1988)l; Laura S. "Hume's Racism," unpublished ms.; and Bar- Levitt [e.g. Religious Studies Review (20), No. bara Hernnstein Smith, Contingency of Values 1, Jan. 19941; and Susan Shapiro [e.g. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, "Rhetoric as Ideology Critique," Journal of 1988). the American Academy of Religion 62 1 1. From The Future of the American Jew (1994)l." (1948), as cited in Kaplan's Dynamic Judaism, 2. See Allan Lazaroff, "Kaplan and John The Essential Writings of Mordecai Kaplan, ed. Dewey," in The American Judaism of Morde- Emmanuel Goldsmith and Me1 Scult (New cai Kaplan, ed. Emmanuel Goldsmith, Me1 York: Fordham University PresslThe Recon- Scult, and Robert Seltzer (New York: New srructionist Press, 1985), 162. York Univ. Press, 1990), 173-96; Jack 12. Dynamic Judaism, 188 Cohen, The Case for 13. Dynamic Judaism, 239 (New York: Reconstructionist Press, 1958); 14. Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai, 1. Richard Libowitz, "Mordecai Kaplan as Redactor: the Development of Reconstruc- 15. Rosemary Radford Ruether, Sexism and tionism," Ph.D. Dissertation, Temple Uni- God-Talk (Boston: Beacon Press, 1983), 20. versity, 1978; S. Daniel Breslauer, Mordecai 16. Carol Gilligan, In a Dzfirent Voice (Cam- Kaplan 's Thought in a Postmodern Age bridge: Harvard University Press, 1982), 20, 121. (Atlanta: Scholar's Press, 1994). 17. See Claudia Card, "A Review of Women 3. , A Common Faith (New York: and Moral Theory," Ethics (Oct., 1988), 127; Yale University Press, 1934. and Spelman, Inessential Woman. 4. Look at Oliver Wendell Holmes' saying: "I 18. Spelman, Inessential Woman, 165. now see, as I have seen in his other books that 19. See Card; Spelman; Linda Nicolson and I have read, that the aim and end of the whole Nancy Fraser, "Social Criticism Without Phi- business is religious." Cited in John McDer- losophy," in Nicholson, Ferninism/Postmod- mott, ed., The Writings of William James ernism (New York: Routledge, 1990). (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press), 1977, xxvi. 20. Card, 129-30. 5. Writings of WilliamJames, xlix. 21. Judith Plaskow, Irena Klepfisz, Daniel 6. Writings of WilliamJames, xxx. Boyarin and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, have been 7. For an extended treatment, see my "Emo- particularly careful in this regard. tion and Hume's Moral Theory," Ph.D. Dis- 22. For the importance of 'grass roots' in the sertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technol- construction of feminist theory, see Alison ogy, 1988. Jaggar, Feminist Politics and Human Nature 8. Aristotle, Nichornachean Ethics, trans. Ter- (Sussex, ENG: Rowman and Allenfeld, ence Irwin (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1983). 1985). 23. Writings of WilliamJames, xxxix. 9. For an extended treatment of these issues, 24. Thanks to Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Susan see, for example, Susan Okin's Women in Shapiro, Steve Sager, John McDerrnott, Western Political Thought (Princeton: Prince- Linda Nicolson, Jacob Staub, Mary Fulker- ton Univ. Press, 1992) or Elizabeth Spelman, son, for conversation and/or readings that Inessential Woman (Boston: Beacon Press, helped with this article. All mistakes, of 1988), Ch. 2. course, are my responsibility.

52 Fall 1995 The Reconstructionist