“The Mystery of Human Uniqueness”: Common Sense, Science, and Judaism

Zygon 58 (2):471-484 (2023)
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Abstract

Uniqueness implies singularity, incomparability. Nonetheless, as applied to everything within the human lifeworld, including ourselves, uniqueness is relativized. This becomes clear in the tension between “commonsensical” and “scientific” perspectives on the human. Our commonsense approach posits that human beings are unique among animals—unique because of our properties, most especially our consciousness, as well as because of our significance and value. From a scientific perspective, however, the uniqueness of the human—if it can be affirmed at all—is possibly a matter of degree, not kind. Additionally, the scientific perspective prescinds from judgments of the value of the human. To join these perspectives, without giving up on the importance of either one, is a philosophical and theological challenge. A Jewish approach to the challenge is offered here.

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Alan Mittleman
Jewish Theological Seminary

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Philosophical Explanations.Robert Nozick - 1981 - Mind 93 (371):450-455.
The View from Nowhere.Thomas Nagel - 1986 - Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 43 (2):399-403.
The View from Nowhere.Thomas Nagel - 1986 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 50 (4):729-730.
Between Man and Man.Martin Buber & Ronald Gregor Smith - 1948 - Philosophy 23 (85):177-178.

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