Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies: Jewish Scepticism (HCAS, KOFOR)

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The goal of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies – Jewish Scepticism (MCAS–JS: FOR 2311) was and is to address scepticism in Jewish thought and culture. As formulated in the first application, scepticism is understood in a broad sense, not only comprising particular philosophical concerns about our epistemic prospect, but also including dialectical strategies, concepts, and attitudes in the cultural field. The latter are manifested in the open and unbiased enquiry of a “perpetual student,” who harbours doubts about different dimensions and systems of secular or revealed knowledge and received authorities. Acting on the assumption that the distinctive nature of a phenomenon is best revealed in comparison and contrast to its opposite, MCAS has also supported research on non-Jewish scepticism and (Jewish) anti-scepticism.In addressing the question of Jewish scepticism (and anti-scepticism), MCAS opened up a new field of research, whose fecundity is testified by more than 100 publications produced in the previous three years of its existence.Being a multifaceted phenomenon, the adequate study of Jewish scepticism requires the cooperation of several disciplines. Hence MCAS has constantly strived to create a stimulating interdisciplinary environment with a scholarly community focusing on various aspects of (Jewish) scepticism from antiquity until today. To this end, MCAS has hosted over 90 events in different formats (such as workshops, lectures, dialectical evenings, reading evenings, conferences, and sceptical ateliers), which have provided various platforms for scholarly and/or public exchange.In its three years of existence, MCAS has already established Jewish scepticism in the scholarly landscape of Jewish studies: scepticism is increasingly acknowledged as a pivotal element of Jewish thought and culture, whose precise extent and nature are yet to be determined and explored.While research in the first funding period was primarily devoted to the investigation of Jewish scepticism from antiquity until the early modern period, in its intended second funding period, MCAS seeks to evolve research into Jewish scepticism by extending its investigation up to and including the twentieth century, as suggested in the original application. The research in the second funding period shall be structured around four annual key topics, which highlight both a specifically Jewish dimension of scepticism and a more general dimension: (1) scepticism between enquiry and doubt; (2) sources of knowledge; (3) scepticism and language; (4) limits of scepticism, limits of faith.In addition to focusing on the above four key topics, two additional common projects will be launched: the Encyclopaedia of Scpeticism in Jewish Tradition and a Sourcebook of Jewish Scepticism. Furthermore, the unpublished letters of Richard H. Popkin on Jewish scepticism will be a highlight of MCAS’s work.