Exile and Otherness. Ilana Maymind
Exile and Otherness
Studies in Comparative Philosophy and Religion
Series Editor: Douglas Allen, University of Maine
This series explores important intersections within and between the disciplines of religious studies and philosophy. These original studies will emphasize, in particular, aspects of contemporary and classical Asian philosophy and its relationship to Western thought. We welcome a wide variety of manuscript submissions, especially works exhibiting highly focused research and theoretical innovation.
Recent Titles in This Series
Exile and Otherness: The Ethics of Shinran and Maimonides, by Ilana Maymind
Gandhi’s Thought and Liberal Democracy, by Sanjay Lal
Plantingian Religious Epistemology and World Religions: Prospects and Problems, by Erik Baldwin and Tyler Dalton McNabb
Three Pillars of Skepticism in Classical India: Nāgārjuna, Jayarāśi, and Śrī Harṣa, by Ethan Mills
Dharma and Halacha: Comparative Studies in Hindu-Jewish Philosophy and Religion, edited by Ithamar Theodor and Yudit Kornberg Greenberg
Philosophy of the Ancient Maya: Lords of Time, by Alexus McLeod
Making Space for Knowing: A Capacious Approach to Comparative Epistemology, by Aaron B. Creller
Postmodern Ethics, Emptiness, Literature: Encounter between East and West, by Jae-seong Lee
Exile and Otherness
The Ethics of Shinran
and Maimonides
Ilana Maymind
LEXINGTON BOOKS
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Excerpts from The Collected Works of Shinran, Vol. I and Vol. II. Kyoto, Japan: Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-Ha, 1997. Reprinted with permission.
Published by Lexington Books
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ISBN: 978-1-4985-7458-7 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-1-4985-7459-4 (electronic)
Contents
1 Introducing Shinran and Maimonides
2Shinran and Maimonides: Exile and Tolerance
3Shinran and Maimonides: Exile and the “Other”
4 What Can We Learn from The Past
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Any scholarly writing, despite the possible claims otherwise, always represents that particular scholar’s point of view. Even when one is recording something as benign as one’s biography, it is always based on that particular scholar’s reconstruction of that biographical data. Any reflections on such thoughts assume an even more complicated stance. Yet, neither the reconstruction of one’s biography nor the reflections on one’s thought should be confused with falsification. Rather, it is an acknowledgment of a selective focus based on the scholar’s interests. For instance, even recording data related to Shinran’s and Maimonides’ biography is to some degree an arbitrary process since emphasis can be placed on certain periods of their life to highlight and underscore specific elements in their thought. Keeping this in mind, my focus was on the issues that interest me the most, namely, Shinran’s and Maimonides’ conception of human nature in general, their views of good and evil, the role of the Law, and the impact of exile on their thought. Thus, when sifting through the biographical information, I was more attuned to noticing any moments in their biography and their writings that shed light on these particular notions.
Writing this work made me recognize how little I am in this vast sea of ignorance and how much is there to learn. My sense of gratitude is immense. I am infinitely grateful for the support I received from my friends and family. My heartfelt thank you goes to Frederick Brenion, and Dolores Ciardelli. Their selfless help kept me honest!
My thank you goes to Casey Dorman, Martin Zwick, and Jonathon Cassell for reading and commenting on my chapters.
None of this work would have ever happened without Thomas Kasulis and Tamar Rudavsky who started me on this path of recognizing again and again how much is there to learn and learn and learn again.
My deepest thank you goes to my family Michael, Alex, Allie, and Leo. Thank you for believing in me.
My mistakes are mine only. My path of learning will never end.
I dedicate my writing to Noa with the hope for the better future.
Exile has been an ever-present phenomenon. However, in the twenty-first century, the presence of exilic people has become even more ubiquitous. There is not a nation that is unaffected by the influx of exiles. In many cases, exiles are perceived with suspicion and viewed as a threat to the homogeneous cohesion of a given society. Given the presence of hostility toward these exiles, it becomes even more imperative to revisit our understanding and approach to exile and to the exiled.
Adorno argues that exile is a “life in suspension” and is directly related to morality since “it is part of morality not to be at home in one’s home.”1 In his view, being in exile makes one a perpetual stranger and sharpens one’s ethical stance. He further suggests that “only by resisting the comforts of home (or homeland) is it possible to exercise one’s moral judgment.”2 Similarly, Lithuanian-born French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995) interprets exile as holding ethical implications. Levinas questions Western ethics and provides a conceptualization of ethics as being intricately connected to exile. In his Totality and Infinity, Levinas argues that the moral blindness that led to the absence of resistance to Nazism resulted from lack of concern for the “stranger.” A similar critique was offered by Horkheimer and Adorno in their Dialectic of the Enlightenment when they argued that “For Enlightenment, anything which cannot be resolved into numbers and ultimately into one, is illusion.”3
For Levinas, ethics is not a result of maxims but a consequence of human ability to empathize with