Cooperation and confl ict. Philosophy of nature and natural sciences in Jewish thought in the 16th–17th centuries

Abstract

Persecution of Jews from the beginning of the 15th century and the need for emigration did not create conditions favorable to the intellectual development of Jewish communities. However, the movement caused by them and the creation of intellectual contacts with the non-Jewish community resulted in a partial depressurization of the Jewish intellectual and scientifi c community. As a result of signaled processes, Jewish thought began to take on an increasingly eclectic and universal character. Some Jewish thinkers were convinced that the philosophy of nature and the emerging science (and medicine in particular) is independent of the religious worldview in the sense that it provides universal knowledge about nature and its regularities. However, some representatives of Jewish thought at the time recognized this “insensitivity” of modern science to religious differences as a basis for discrediting medicine and other fi elds of science, not because they are false or ineffective, but because they only concern matter and empiricism with their interest and methodology. Analysis of the views of representatives of Jewish thought from the 16th and 17th centuries, such as: Judah Loew, David Gans, Joseph Solomon Delmedigo and Tobias Cohn, allows to show their scientific and philosophical activity as a tool for realizing non-scientifi c goals, which were: rapprochement and dialogue with representatives of non-Jewish backgrounds in order to prevent mutual hostility, gain the respect and recognition of the then social elite, protect Jewish communities from further persecution. Finally, the idea was to make the Jews remain in the sphere of religious beliefs and cultural traditions while avoiding harmful intellectual and social isolation on the part of the Christian community and to co-create the scientifi c climate of modern Europe. The developing science was, in the intention of mentioned researchers, to be a tool and at the same time a place for the fulfi llment of this ideal. 

Persecution of Jews from the beginning of the 15th century and the need for emigration did not create conditions favorable to the intellectual development of Jewish communities. However, the movement caused by them and the creation of intellectual contacts with the non-Jewish community resulted in a partial depressurization of the Jewish intellectual and scientifi c community. As a result of signaled processes, Jewish thought began to take on an increasingly eclectic and universal character. Some Jewish thinkers were convinced that the philosophy of nature and the emerging science (and medicine in particular) is independent of the religious worldview in the sense that it provides universal knowledge about nature and its regularities. However, some representatives of Jewish thought at the time recognized this “insensitivity” of modern science to religious differences as a basis for discrediting medicine and other fi elds of science, not because they are false or ineffective, but because they only concern matter and empiricism with their interest and methodology. Analysis of the views of representatives of Jewish thought from the 16th and 17th centuries, such as: Judah Loew, David Gans, Joseph Solomon Delmedigo and Tobias Cohn, allows to show their scientific and philosophical activity as a tool for realizing non-scientifi c goals, which were: rapprochement and dialogue with representatives of non-Jewish backgrounds in order to prevent mutual hostility, gain the respect and recognition of the then social elite, protect Jewish communities from further persecution. Finally, the idea was to make the Jews remain in the sphere of religious beliefs and cultural traditions while avoiding harmful intellectual and social isolation on the part of the Christian community and to co-create the scientifi c climate of modern Europe. The developing science was, in the intention of mentioned researchers, to be a tool and at the same time a place for the fulfi llment of this ideal.