The Historiography of Jewish Philosophy

Abstract Even as each Jew understands Judaism differently and each philosopher understands philosophy differently, so a fortiori each Jewish philosopher understands Jewish philosophy differently and each historian of Jewish philosophy understands the history of Jewish philosophy differently. In what follows, the historiographies of Jewish philosophy of some leading philosophers and historians are discussed. The survey begins in 1897 with Simon Bernfeld, the author of the first general history of Jewish philosophy. It could have begun in 1818 with Leopold Zunz, the first Jewish historian to use the term “jüdische Philosophie,” or in 1736 with the Christian scholar Johann Jakob Brucker, who incorporated jüdische Philosophie in his history of philosophy. Alternatively, it could have begun in 1638 with Simone Luzzatto’s discussion of the filosofanti among the Jewish nation. Had one wanted to be even more thorough, one could have begun in 1305 with Jedaiah Bedersi’s inventory of rabbis who engaged in philosophy. However, Bernfeld was chosen.