Q&A: Platonism and Platonic Jewish Law
Platonism and Platonic Jewish Law
Question
According to the Rabbi’s view that one should issue halakhic rulings autonomously, does that mean there is no Platonic Jewish law and therefore there is no point in trying to aim at it, so everyone should just do what they understand? Or is there such a Jewish law, but even so the value of ruling autonomously overrides the value of reaching it (even though Plato is sitting in heaven wagging his finger at us)?
In Prof. Shalom Rosenberg’s book he gives an overview of the different approaches to the question whether Jewish law (and tradition) is Platonic or constructivist. I’d be interested to know the Rabbi’s view.
A related question: according to the Platonist approach, are all things necessarily Platonic, or can there be things that are not?
Thank you.
Answer
I’ve explained several times that the second option is correct. The value of autonomy overrides doubt concerning the value of truth.
If you formulate a concrete question about Platonism and define the terms, I can discuss it.