Philosophy Publications by Joseph Spoerl
Lonergan's Insight has frequently been compared with Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Giovanni B. ... more Lonergan's Insight has frequently been compared with Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Giovanni B. Sala, an internationally acknowledged Kant scholar, contrasts the cognitional theory of his former teacher Lonergan with the positions of Kant that have proved so influential, and in many ways so intractable, over the past two centuries.
The first essay is one of the most influential papers ever written on Lonergan; it and the second one inquire into the notion of the a priori. The third essay presents a detailed analysis of Kantian intuitionism and contrasts it with the `knowledge as structure' position of Lonergan's critical realism. In this essay intuitionism is generalized, to allow Sala to address representatives of neoscholasticism as well. The argument with neoscholasticism continues in the fourth essay. The final paper discusses Kant's resolution of the question regarding the agreement of a priori concepts with things, and finds in Lonergan's work an alternative position on correspondence and truth. Each essay is a model of careful and thorough scholarship, and also - surprising in a book of such proportions - of clarity. Lonergan appeals several times in Insight to the device of `Clarification by Contrast.' Sala's essays show us in intricate detail how illuminating such comparisons can be.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
American Journal of Jurisprudence, Volume 37, 1992
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is one of the most influential attacks on trad... more David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is one of the most influential attacks on traditional religion by an enlightenment thinker. Hume focuses on " natural religion " or " natural theology, " that is, conclusions about the existence and nature of God based not on revelation but on reason, attacking in particular two traditional arguments for God's existence, one a version of the teleological argument from design, the other a version of the cosmological argument from the contingency of the universe. Each of these attacks is heavily dependent on Hume's naïve empiricist epistemology, and they fail because his epistemology is so inadequate. Five centuries before Hume, Saint Thomas Aquinas had developed a natural theology based on a much more compelling, less naïve version of empiricism. Hume appears to have been completely unacquainted with Aquinas's thought, even though Aquinas is arguably the greatest natural theologian in the western tradition, and his philosophy provides the tools for assessing and cogently answering Hume's critique of " natural religion. "
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
In this paper I argue that in vitro fertilization is morally wrong and also should probably be ma... more In this paper I argue that in vitro fertilization is morally wrong and also should probably be made illegal.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
How impartial does Christianity require us to be? What does it mean to love your neighbor as your... more How impartial does Christianity require us to be? What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
A critique of Peter Singer's ethical theory.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
A version of the moral argument for belief in God.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Friedrich Nietzsche and Albert Camus had much in common. Both were atheists. Both were skeptics w... more Friedrich Nietzsche and Albert Camus had much in common. Both were atheists. Both were skeptics who affirmed the inability of human reason to make sense of the universe. Both denied that there was a source of meaning objectively there in the world apart from the human will. When Camus cites Nietzsche, it is more often than not with sympathy. Yet there are some major differences between these two quintessentially modern European thinkers. In this essay I shall argue that one major difference was that Nietzsche made a more consistent and decisive break with the Christian values of European culture. Camus, in contrast, despite his atheism, retained a surprising amount of Christianity in his world view.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
James Rachels criticizes ethical egoism on the grounds that it violates the principle that we oug... more James Rachels criticizes ethical egoism on the grounds that it violates the principle that we ought to give equal consideration to the interests of all those affected by our actions. I argue that this is an unconvincing critique of ethical egoism.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Thesis: As agents of shareholders, corporate managers have a fiduciary duty to manage the shareho... more Thesis: As agents of shareholders, corporate managers have a fiduciary duty to manage the shareholders' assets as profitably as possible, but they may only do so in ways that promote authentic human flourishing. This view of managerial responsibility is different from, and superior to, both Milton Friedman's view and the "stakeholder" view of R. Edward Freeman.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This paper criticizes J.L. Mackie's attempt to prove that "there are no objective values" by mean... more This paper criticizes J.L. Mackie's attempt to prove that "there are no objective values" by means of his "argument from queerness." I argue that Mackie's argument from queerness is either question-begging or performatively self-contradictory.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Publications on Islam, Israel, and the Middle East by Joseph Spoerl
Journal of the Middle East and Africa, 2022
Abstract: In his 2012 book Islamism and Islam, Bassam Tibi argues that Islamism, a political ideo... more Abstract: In his 2012 book Islamism and Islam, Bassam Tibi argues that Islamism, a political ideology, is quite distinct from Islam, which he defines as a religion focused on faith and spirituality. This article analyzes and evaluates the six arguments that Tibi advances for this thesis and finds all of them unconvincing. The main problem with Tibi’s case is that it ignores the figure of Muhammad, whom Islamic sources uniformly portray as someone who fused politics and religion and sought to overthrow a non-Islamic socio-religious order and to replace it with an Islamic one. For mainstream Muslims, Muhammad is the perfect role model who possessed divinely granted infallibility against sin and error. Due to Muhammad’s example, as enshrined in classical Islamic sources, Islamists have a strong claim to be following orthodox Islamic principles when they embrace an ideology in which religion and politics are tightly intertwined. The article concludes with some tentative suggestions as to how a Muslim reformer like Tibi might develop more promising arguments for a progressive form of Islam.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of the Middle East and Africa, 2021
Professors Fred Donner (U. of Chicago) and Tilman Nagel (U. of Goettingen, Germany) are two of th... more Professors Fred Donner (U. of Chicago) and Tilman Nagel (U. of Goettingen, Germany) are two of the giants in the study of Islamic history. They offer two very different interpretations of the Muslim/believer distinction in the Koran. This paper explains their different positions and argues that Tilman Nagel has the stronger position.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Combining vast erudition with a refusal to bow before the political pressures of the day, Muhamma... more Combining vast erudition with a refusal to bow before the political pressures of the day, Muhammad’s Mission: Religion, Politics, and Power at the Birth of Islam by Professor Tilman Nagel, one of the world’s leading authorities on Islam, is an introduction to three inseparable topics: the life of Muhammad (570-632 CE), the composition of the Koran, and the birth of Islam. While accessible to a general audience, it will also be of great interest to specialists, since it is the first English translation of Professor Nagel’s attempt to summarize a lifetime of research on these topics. The Introduction, Chapters 1-2, and Appendix 1 provide essential historical background on the Arab tribal system and Muhammad’s position within that system; the political situation in pre-Islamic Arabia; the history of Mecca; and pre-Islamic Arabian religions. Chapters 3-5 cover the beginnings of the revelations that Muhammad claimed to be receiving from Allah, paying special attention to the influence on Muhammad of the hanifs, a group of pre-Islamic pagan monotheists attested in the earliest Islamic sources. The hanifs claimed to trace their religion back to the putative original monotheism of Abraham, from which they claimed Jews and Christians had deviated by, among other things, abandoning animal sacrifice. Chapter 6 explains how Muhammad’s religious message included a thinly-veiled claim to have the right to political power over Mecca, a claim that exacerbated tensions with his own clan and led eventually to his expulsion from Mecca, as recounted in Chapter 7. Chapters 8-10 describe the impact of the hijra on the evolution of Islam. Seeing himself as the true heir to Abraham and the prophets who followed him, Muhammad would demand allegiance from Jews and Christians, as recounted in Sura 2 and other Medinan suras. He would initiate a war against Mecca, not in self-defense, but in order to gain control over the Kaaba, the central hanif shrine and the new qibla or direction of prayer for the Muslims. The Muslim victory at the Battle of Badr in 624 would help to shape a new ideal of a militarized religiosity in which those who waged war under Muhammad’s command would attain the rank of “true believers,” while those converts who refused to make hijra and to fight for Muhammad were relegated to the lower rank of “mere Muslims,” as Suras 8 and 49 make clear. Muhammad’s war against Mecca alienated many of his Medinan followers, the ansar. The refusal of the Jews to convert to Islam, combined with the close connection of the Jews to the ansar, led Muhammad to make war on the Jews as well as the Meccans. The surrender of Mecca in 630 (Chapter 11) did not lead to the end of war, for the aggressiveness and military success of Muhammad’s movement had made it attractive to a slew of new converts whose desire for booty had to be placated. Sura 9, promulgated near the end of Muhammad’s life, served as a broad declaration of war against polytheists, Jews, and Christians. Chapter 12 describes the evolution of Islam late in Muhammad’s life into a “religious warriors’ movement” that sought to extend the rule of Islam over the entire inhabited world. Chapter 13 covers the final pilgrimage and death of Muhammad, while Chapters 14-20 describe the development of Islamic dogma surrounding the figure of Muhammad and its implications for politics in the Islamic world and interfaith relations with non-Muslims up till the present day. The book concludes with appendices in which Nagel summarizes the state of scholarship regarding the life of Muhammad (Appendix 2) and the tensions between competing varieties of Muslim recollection of Muhammad (Appendix 3). Muhammad’s Mission: Religion, Politics, and Power at the Birth of Islam is an erudite and authoritative guide to events of world-historical importance by a scholar who has spent a lifetime mastering the primary sources documenting the birth of Islam.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of the Middle East and Africa, 2020
The Kitab al-Maghazi or “Book of the Raids” by the important early Islamic historian Muhammad b. ... more The Kitab al-Maghazi or “Book of the Raids” by the important early Islamic historian Muhammad b. ‘Umar al-Waqidi (ca. 747-823) appeared for the first time in English translation in 2011. The editor and lead translator, Rizwi Faizer, asserts in her introduction (co-authored with Andrew Rippin) that “…the primary theme that runs through al-Waqidi’s Maghazi is that Muhammad’s battles were always defensive.” I argue that this is a misinterpretation of the text. According to the evidence supplied by al-Waqidi, it is clear that Muhammad’s military efforts were motivated by far more than mere self-defense. Warfare as Muhammad practiced and preached it was missionary warfare. Its purpose was to stamp out polytheism, especially but not only in Mecca, thus establishing (among other things) total Islamic control over the Ka’ba and the pilgrimage rites of the Hajj and Umra. Muhammad aimed, more broadly, at destroying a non-Islamic social and political order and replacing it with an Islamic one. The purpose of this was, in turn, to induce conversion to Islam.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The New English Review, 2012
The ultimate sign of respect for a religion is to take seriously the question, Should I believe it?
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
New English Review, 2018
What does the important early Islamic historian al-Waqidi teach us about Muhammad's aim in wagin... more What does the important early Islamic historian al-Waqidi teach us about Muhammad's aim in waging warfare? Was he waging war merely in self-defense? Or was his aim to destroy a non-Islamic socio-political order so as to replace it with an Islamic one?
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Jewish Political Studies Review, 2020
Both the Nazis and modern-day Islamists portray the Jews as enemies bent on the utter destruction... more Both the Nazis and modern-day Islamists portray the Jews as enemies bent on the utter destruction of non-Jews. This leads to the great "either-or:" "Either we annihilate them, or they annihilate us." This is then used to justify genocidal measures against the Jews. Yet Islamist antisemitism is generally being ignored today by the academic and journalistic establishment.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Jewish Political Studies Review, Vol. 26, Nos. 3-4, Fall 2014, pp. 73-90., 2014
The struggle to thwart the Zionist project has taken many forms over the past century, including ... more The struggle to thwart the Zionist project has taken many forms over the past century, including terrorism, conventional warfare, propaganda, diplomatic pressure, commercial boycotts, and religious mobilization. Over the past decade, a new tactic among anti-Israeli activists based mostly in the West has been to contrast the imperfect reality of Israel with the perfect utopia of a single, liberal, secular, democratic state in which Jews and non-Jews would enjoy perfect equality. Since any actual society looks bad compared to a hypothetical utopia, this tactic allows anti-Israeli activists to paint Israeli society in harshly negative terms. It also allows them to reject the “two-state” solution on the grounds that it does not achieve the perfect justice of their imaginary utopia. In rejecting the two-state solution, they aim to keep the struggle against Israel alive indefinitely.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Philosophy Publications by Joseph Spoerl
The first essay is one of the most influential papers ever written on Lonergan; it and the second one inquire into the notion of the a priori. The third essay presents a detailed analysis of Kantian intuitionism and contrasts it with the `knowledge as structure' position of Lonergan's critical realism. In this essay intuitionism is generalized, to allow Sala to address representatives of neoscholasticism as well. The argument with neoscholasticism continues in the fourth essay. The final paper discusses Kant's resolution of the question regarding the agreement of a priori concepts with things, and finds in Lonergan's work an alternative position on correspondence and truth. Each essay is a model of careful and thorough scholarship, and also - surprising in a book of such proportions - of clarity. Lonergan appeals several times in Insight to the device of `Clarification by Contrast.' Sala's essays show us in intricate detail how illuminating such comparisons can be.
Publications on Islam, Israel, and the Middle East by Joseph Spoerl
The first essay is one of the most influential papers ever written on Lonergan; it and the second one inquire into the notion of the a priori. The third essay presents a detailed analysis of Kantian intuitionism and contrasts it with the `knowledge as structure' position of Lonergan's critical realism. In this essay intuitionism is generalized, to allow Sala to address representatives of neoscholasticism as well. The argument with neoscholasticism continues in the fourth essay. The final paper discusses Kant's resolution of the question regarding the agreement of a priori concepts with things, and finds in Lonergan's work an alternative position on correspondence and truth. Each essay is a model of careful and thorough scholarship, and also - surprising in a book of such proportions - of clarity. Lonergan appeals several times in Insight to the device of `Clarification by Contrast.' Sala's essays show us in intricate detail how illuminating such comparisons can be.