Israel

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Israel, Hamas, and “Blowback” (guest post)

“The proportionality constraint is backward-looking in the following sense: to determine how bad a prospective harm is for a potential innocent victim, we sometimes need to look at what that victim has suffered in the past, and whether we’re responsible for what they’ve suffered” as well as “whether we should have acted differently in the past thereby avoiding the n..

Proportionality, Psychic Harm, and the Day After (guest post)

“Once we count psychic harm, it looks like Israel’s war might be proportional. But it could be proportional only if the Israelis aren’t imposing on basically all Gazans a greater psychic burden than the psychic burden that Israelis hope to avoid,” which could be the case “if Israel takes it upon itself, as soon as possible, to reassure the Gazans that Gaza will not ..

Condemnations, Moral Guidance, and Gaza (guest post)

“The absence of moral guidance by philosophical condemners conveys that they do not think of Israelis as friends whom they want to morally improve. Perhaps, worse, it reflects the sense that there is something morally improper about providing Israelis with guidance and advice…” (more…)

There Is No Military Objective In Gaza (guest post)

“There is no feasible or achievable military goal, legitimate or otherwise, for Israel’s bloody campaign in Gaza.” (more…)

Israel & Hamas: Another Letter, Another Critical Response (updated)

As mentioned in an update to this post, a group of philosophers posted an open letter, dated November 1, 2023, under the heading “Philosophy for Palestine.” (more…)

David Enoch Arrested While Protesting Judicial “Reforms” in Israel

David Enoch, professor of philosophy at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was among those protesting the Israeli government’s controversial plans to scale back the independence and power of its judiciary yesterday near Tel Aviv when he was arrested by police. (more…)

Israeli Philosophers Oppose Government’s Anti-Democratic “Reforms” (updated)

Over 100 Israeli philosophers have signed an open letter to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the nation’s Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, expressing concern about recently advanced legal changes. (more…)

Israeli Philosophers Object To Deportation of African Refugees (updated w/ link to petition)

Over 70 Israeli philosophers have signed an open letter objecting to their government’s efforts to deport African refugees and migrants. (more…)

Heyd Wins EMET Prize

David Heyd, professor of philosophy at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is the winner of the 2017 EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture in the Humanities category. (more…)

Israeli Philosophy Community Calls For Rejection Of Proposed Ethics Code

Over 80 Israeli philosophers—the vast majority of the Israeli philosophical community—have issued a statement urging their government’s Council for Higher Education to reject a proposed academic ethics code. (more…)

Is Academic Freedom in Israel Threatened by a Philosopher-Authored Ethics Code? (Updated with English Translation of Proposed Code)

Israel’s Minister of Education has proposed the adoption of a code of ethics for academics that some worry poses a threat to the academic freedom of professors there. The code was authored by Asa Kasher, the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Chair in Professional Ethics and Philosophy of Practice at Tel Aviv University. (more…)

Israel Proposes Philosophy for Elementary Students

The Education Ministry of Israel has proposed to add philosophy to the country’s elementary school curriculum. The proposal would have students “be taught the works of the prominent philosophers, develop critical thinking and learn how to ask meaningful questions and answer them in a serious manner,” starting in the third grade, according to an article at Israel Hay..

Students Object to Philosophy Prof’s Facebook Post About Gaza

Andrew Pessin, professor of philosophy at Connecticut College, is at the center of a controversy at Connecticut College regarding offensive speech for a Facebook post he wrote in August, 2014. In the post, reports Inside Higher Ed,

Pessin describes the situation in Gaza as one in which “a rabid pit bull is chained in a cage, regularly making mass efforts to escap..

Philosophers on the Israeli – Palestinian Conflict

Jason Stanley (Yale) has a piece in today’s Frankfurter Allgemeine, a German newspaper. It is entitled “An Open Letter to the Protestors on the streets of Berlin chanting ‘Jude, Jude, feiges Schwein, komm heraus und kämpf allein’ ”” which looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reactions to it, as well as the ideas of democracy and pluralism, through the lens ..