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Jonathan Silver Dissertation UNTO THY CHILDREN’S CHILDREN: LOCKEAN FREEDOM AND THE HEBRAIC HORIZONS OF SOCIETY AND SELF A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Government. By Jonathan L. Silver, M.A. Washington, DC August 27, 2013 Copyright 2013 by Jonathan L. Silver All Rights Reserved ii UNTO THY CHILDREN’S CHILDREN: LOCKEAN FREEDOM AND THE HEBRAIC HORIZONS OF SOCIETY AND SELF Jonathan L. Silver, M.A. Thesis Advisor: Joshua Mitchell, Ph.D. ABSTRACT The signature forms of modern constitutional politics include such features as egalitarianism and equality before the law; the separation of constitutionally limited powers; the ability for each citizen, regardless of social standing, to appeal to impartial arbiters who will judge each case on the basis of publicly known and clearly documented laws; a diffusion of power amongst multiple aggregated nodes of power within the greater community, each tasked with some degree of local government while maintaining final allegiance to the state, or federalism; and all this sanctioned as legitimate on the basis of an open and public statement of the basic laws to which each individual must freely consent. The fact that each of these features is systematically developed in the ancient Israelite regime of the Hebrew Bible, and the fact that early modern constitutional thinkers frequently quoted the Hebrew Bible in their political writing, has led a burgeoning subfield in the history of political thought to conclude that the Hebrew Bible has served an underappreciated causal role in the intellectual development of modern constitutionalism. This dissertation endorses the integration of the Hebrew Bible into the canonical study of the history of political thought. But by analyzing the deeper foundations of iii Lockean and Hebraic thought, this dissertation concludes that, whatever their institutional similarities, the Lockean doctrine opposes the Hebraic worldview on matters such as human nature and human excellence, freedom and tradition, reason and memory, and consent and inheritance. Locke’s normative political vision is designed for individuals who bear no inherent obligations to the past, have little responsibility for the future, and relate to society only so long as it serves their interest. Locke’s political doctrine is brought into comparison with the Hebraic anthropology of heart and soul, and a Hebraic social teaching whose fundamental axes, husband/wife and parent/child, acknowledge the inescapably social character of creation, celebrate the cultivation of national memory from generation to generation, and propose the presence of an intergenerational morality in which the deeds of the parents redound unto their children’s children. iv Table of Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 2. The Doctrine of John Locke and Political Hebraism .................................................. 6 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 6 2.2. John Locke’s Political Hebraism ......................................................................... 7 2.2.1. Intellectual Background ................................................................................ 7 2.2.2. The Case for John Locke’s Political Hebraism ........................................... 11 2.3. Freedom and The Case Against John Locke’s Political Hebraism .................... 18 2.3.1. A Question of Methodology ....................................................................... 21 2.3.2. Freedom: The Origins and Ends of Locke’s Political Thought .................. 23 2.3.3. Individual Freedom ..................................................................................... 28 2.3.4. Liberation from the Past .............................................................................. 36 2.3.5. The Lockean Family ................................................................................... 39 3. Anthropology of the Hebrew Bible ........................................................................... 46 3.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 46 3.1.1. Anthropology and the Study of Politics ...................................................... 46 3.1.2. Hebraic Anthropology ................................................................................ 48 3.2. The Hebrew Soul .............................................................................................. 51 3.2.1. Creation and Cosmos in Man ..................................................................... 54 3.2.2. Basar: The Human Body’s Correspondence to Earth ................................. 62 3.2.3. Nefesh: The Soul’s Correspondence to Water ............................................ 67 3.2.4. Ruaḥ: The Soul’s Correspondence to Wind ................................................ 79 3.2.5. Neshama: The Soul’s Correspondence to Fire ............................................ 94 3.2.6. Conclusion: A Microcosm of Creation ..................................................... 103 3.3. The Hebrew Heart ............................................................................................ 109 3.3.1. Anatomy .................................................................................................... 109 3.3.2. Emotion and Desire ................................................................................... 111 3.3.3. Fear and Courage ...................................................................................... 114 3.3.4. Cognition .................................................................................................. 117 3.3.5. Fear of Solipsism ...................................................................................... 129 3.3.6 Memory and Imitation ............................................................................... 134 3.3.7. Integrity of Lev: The Moral Dimension .................................................... 138 3.3.8. Inner Depths and Nebulous Heights ......................................................... 144 3.3.9. Conclusion: Cognition, Memory, and Morality ........................................ 148 v 3.4. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 149 4. Social Theory of the Hebrew Bible ........................................................................ 151 4.1. Introduction: Descent as the Ground of Consent ................................................. 151 4.2. Husband and Wife in the Hebrew Bible .......................................................... 158 4.2.1. The Challenge of Human Association ...................................................... 158 4.2.2. Sex and Society ......................................................................................... 162 4.2.3. The Covenantal Bond: Human Identity and the Generations ................... 166 4.2.4. Husband and Wife in Patriarchal History ................................................. 172 4.2.5. Leviticus: The Legal Redemption of Patriarchal History ......................... 190 4.2.6. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 201 4.3. Parent and Child in the Hebrew Bible .............................................................. 202 4.3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 202 4.3.2. Obligation to Have Children ..................................................................... 204 4.3.3. God’s Promise ............................................................................................ 207 4.3.4. Memory and Education: Divine and Human ............................................ 209 4.3.5. Memory and Identity ................................................................................. 213 4.4. The Intransigencies of Character Through the Generations ............................. 219 4.4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 219 4.4.2. Levi and the Levites Through Time ........................................................... 221 4.3. Intergenerational theology ................................................................................ 226 4.3.1. Human Perception ...................................................................................... 227 4.3.2. Divine Disclosure ....................................................................................... 228 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 232 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 239 vi 1. Introduction Let me begin with a metaphor about Thucydides. During the Cold War, Western readers of Thucydides looked to the historian to ground their political realism in an ancient intellectual figure. They found it, and Thucydides was dubbed, in Introduction to International Relations courses ever since, “the father of realism.” In the aftermath of the Cold War, scholars returned to the text and discovered that Thucydides is a tremendous educator
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