Malahova K. The ideas of modern European philosophy in the rabbinical literature of Eastern Europe in the second half of XVIII - early XIX cent. (by the example of Pinkhas Hurwitz's "Sefer ha-Brit")

ThethesisdiscusseshowtheideasofnewEuropeanphilosophywereadoptedintherabbinicalliteratureof eighteenth-century EasternEurope. ThroughanalyzingapproachestophilosophyandthemannerofquotingphilosophicaltextsintheworksoftheHaskalahforerunnersandHassidicauthorsitispossibletodefineinwhatwaythoseworksallowedforthefunctioningofphilosophyingeneral - bothmedievalJewishphilosophyandthepopularideasofmodernEuropeanphilosophy. The specific way of the reception of philosophic ideas is defined by both negative attitude to the philosophy in general, which reflects medieval antirationalistic discussions, and the confrontation between Jewish mystic movements of Eastern Europe (e.g. chassidism)and Haskalah. TheprocessoftranslatingmodernEuropeanphilosophicalideas (inparticular, thoseof I. Kant) inthetraditionalJewishenvironmentisstudiedthroughtheencyclopedictreatise "Sefer Ha-Brith" byPinkhasHurwitz. The way in which modern scientific discoveries contaminated with the traditional Lurianic lore of "Haskalah forerunners" is shown in Hurwitz's work. Thethesisdevelops a methodologicalbasisfortheanalysisofEasternEuropeanrabbinicaltextsinthecontextofhistoryofphilosophy, openingnewwaysforfurtherresearchinthefield.