Leibowitz
I heard the rabbi explain Leibowitz’s moral rebukes, even though he believes that morality is an atheistic category, but we are committed to it. But I remember seeing Leibowitz say several times that there is only one supreme value and everything else is a necessity. As he famously said, a true humanist is necessarily also: a cosmopolitan, an anarchist, a pacifist, and an atheist.
Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I didn't understand. He said that morality is an atheistic category, so what kind of religious obligation? What is atheistic about it?
And he couldn't see himself as a humanist, because as I quoted, he claimed that a humanist is necessarily an atheist (“Conversations on Faith and Philosophy”, Aviezer Ravitzky in conversation with Leibowitz, The Broadcast University 1992, Chapter 4. Quoted in Wikipedia)
Humanism is not defined by what you do but by why you do it.
The same actions can be done for a humanistic reason, which is what is called moral motivation. This can only be done by atheists. But the same actions can be done because “you did the right thing”, which is a religious (not humanistic) motivation.
Leave a Reply
Please login or Register to submit your answer
