Yearbook of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies 2017 Yearbook of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies Edited by Giuseppe Veltri Yearbook of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies 2017 Volume Editor Bill Rebiger The Yearbook is published on behalf of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies. ISBN 978-3-11-052796-4 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-052797-1 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-052809-1 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 Licence. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, Ms Cod. Levy 115, fol. 158r: Maimonides, More Nevukhim, Beginn von Teil III. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Contents Editorial VII Part I: Articles Rachel Aumiller Epoché as the Erotic Conversion of Oneinto Two 3 EmidioSpinelli Some Blunt Instruments of Dogmatic Logic: Sextus Empiricus’ Sceptical Attack 15 Teresa Caligiure In antiquam litem relabimur. ScepticalHints in Petrarch’s Secretum 29 Bill Rebiger Sceptical Strategies in Simone Luzzatto’sPresentation of the Kabbalists in his Discorso 51 MichelaTorbidoni The ItalianAcademies and Rabbi Simone Luzzatto’s Socrate:the Freedom of the Ingenium and the Soul 71 Guido Bartolucci Jewish Thought vs. Lutheran Aristotelism: Johann Frischmuth (1619 –1687) and Jewish Scepticism 95 GiuseppeVeltri Negotiating the Principle of (Non)-Contradiction: Johann Frischmuth on the Rabbinic Dialectic Discussion 107 Libera Pisano Silence, Translation, andGrammatical Therapy: Some Features of Linguistic Scepticism in the Thought of Rosenzweig and Wittgenstein 121 Harald Bluhm WasLeo Strauss aZetetic Political Philosopher? 145 VI Contents Roi Benbassat Jewish Faith and Scepticism—The Example of Yeshayahu Leibowitz 161 Part II: Lectures Josef Stern What is Jewish Philosophy? AView from the Middle Ages 185 WORKSHOP: Jewish-Christian Polemics in the Middle Ages and in the Early Modern Period 205 1. Daniel J. Lasker 2. LawrenceKaplan 3. Racheli Haliva 4. Michael Engel 5. Paolo L. Bernardini Jonathan Garb Doubt and Certainty in Early Modern Kabbalah 239 Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann LinguaAdamica and Philology:The Rise and Destruction of aConcept 247 Part III: Reports Activities and Events 269 Stephan Schmid and Yitzhak Melamed Report on the Sceptical Atelier on Maimon’s Lebensgeschichte (6–9February, 2017) 293 MichelaTorbidoni Report on the Sceptical Atelier on Simone Luzzatto’s Socrates:Reading the Forthcoming First English Translation(22–24 May,2017) 299 SilkeSchaeper Report on the LibraryofJewish Scepticism 303 Editorial This Yearbook presents some results of the research done at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies – JewishScepticism in its second academic year 2016-17.The contributions collected in this volume show the broad scope of the Centre’smain topic, thatis, scepticism. First and foremost,scepticism is aphilosophicaltradition beginning in antiquity and persisting into the present.Sceptical elements, concepts, methodologies and strategies are present also in philology, political thought,reli- gion, and, generally, in cultureand language. This variety and abundance of scepti- cal topics and methods are mirrored in the present Yearbook. The aim of the Yearbook is to document the research, activities, and events that wereaccomplished at the MaimonidesCentre. It is divided into three parts:articles, lectures,and reports. The section of articles, subject to adouble-blind peer review,offers abroad rangeoftopics and approachesand follows achronological order.They reflect the interests of the fellows, which rangefrom classicalsceptic topics such as the suspen- sion of judgment,Sextus Empiricus’ logic, the principle of non-contradiction, and critiquesofdogmatism to new insights in specializedareas of the history of philos- ophyand religion such as sceptical strategies in anti-Kabbalistic tendencies,scepti- cal references in Petrarch, the Italian academies, and Luzzatto’s Socrates. One of the main featuresofthe Maimonides Centre is the manylectures givennot onlybythe fellowsbut also by other distinguishedscholars from all over the world. The second part of our Yearbook displays afew of these inspiring moments. We are very happy to publish the opening lecture held by Josef Stern in October 2015.We also highlightthe papers presented at the workshop ‘Jewish-Christian Polemics in the Middle Ages and in the EarlyModern Period’ and two lectures givenbyJonathan Garb and Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann as part of our ongoing lecture series on scep- ticism. The last part of the Yearbook consists of reports including an annotated listingof the Centre’sactivities and events, asummary of two Sceptical Ateliers,and,finally, a bibliographical report of the Centre’slibrarian. The Centre’snew event series, intro- duced for the first time in 2017,takes the form of the Sceptical Atelier.The Sceptical Atelier is designed as adiscussion forum, in which specialistsfrom diverse fields contributetothe understanding of acertain topic or historical phenomenon. Thus, the participants willnot have prepared aparticulartalk or paper,but will rather have studied the object of common enquiry in advancesoastoshare their notes and thoughts about it in the joint discussion. Detailed reports on the ateliers on Sa- lomon Maimon’s Lebensgeschichte and on Simone Luzzatto’s Socrates are presented in the third section. We owe manythanks for the excellent languageediting by Katharine Handel. In addition,weare thankful to RachelAumiller who also revised parts of this volume. We would also like to acknowledge the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for the gen- VIII Editorial erous financial support that made the creation of the Centre possible, to the Board of Trustees for theirsupervisory role, the advisory board for theirhelp and assistance in selecting the fellows, and the President of the Universität Hamburg, Dieter Lenzen, the Chancellor,Martin Hecht,the Dean of the faculty,OliverHuck, and the head of the Philosophydepartment,Benjamin Schnieder for their active presenceinmain- taining an international centretoits highstandard. Hamburg, August 2017 Giuseppe Veltri (Chief Editor) Bill Rebiger (Volume Editor) Part I: Articles Rachel Aumiller Epoché as the Erotic Conversion of One into Two This philosophicalessayinterprets the epoché of ancient scepticism as the perpetual conversion of the loveofone into the loveoftwo. The process of one becomingtwo is represented in Plato’s Symposium by Diotima’sdescription of the second rung of ‘the ladder,’ by which one ascends to the highest form of philosophicaldevotion (Pl. Sym. 209e-210e). Diotima’sladder offers avision of philosophyasatotal conversion of both the loverand the object of love(or philosopher and object of knowledge). Isug- gest that scepticism, however,isfound in the frustration of Platonic ascension, which results in apartial conversion. Because the process of conversion (from the loveof one to the loveofOne) remains suspended midway, the sceptic’stransformation is erotic—this is to say, drivenbyadesire that is characterised by asplit (whichmay be identified between subject and object,between incompatible objects of desire or knowledge,orwithin the subject herself). In contrast to the understandingofconversion as the transition from one (spiri- tual/intellectual/political/sexual) orientation to another,Iconsider how conversion operates as an epoché by splitting the timeline of an individual or community into two irresolvable, conflicting orientations. In an effort to achieve peace and unity, we maytry to completelyabandon the old for the new.However,remnants of our ‘former’ life tend to resurfacedisruptingour vision of alife that is unified by our pro- fessed beliefs. Isuggest that the sceptic is one who embraces the failureofconver- sion to achieve unity.What would the life and philosophyofone who openlyembra- ces such contradiction look like? Iconsider how boththe content and form of Diogenes Laertius’ specific depiction of Pyrrho offers us apicture of both alife and atext of asceptic as aenactment of epoché as the erotic space of the in-between. To further explore the paradoxasepoché as akind of transformation that occurs through suspension, Iidentify two kinds of Platonic conversion narratives: one dog- matic and one sceptical. The first model, represented by Augustine’s Confessions,is the familiar portrayal of conversion as atransformative event in which one abandons aformerway of being-in-the-world for aworthier pursuit.The exchangeofobjects of love/knowledge at first seems to resultinanew ontological stance: the apparent death of the old givesbirth to the new.However,Augustine’sown struggles to adhere to his ‘new being’ call this dogmatic model of conversion into question. The second model of conversion, as depicted in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses,isatale of partial con- version, which leavesone suspended between two incompatible ways of being in the world. Both experiences introduce acrisis that conversion fails to overcome. Andyet the sceptic’sacceptance of her repeated failure