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Jonathan Israel

May 08, 2023

Jonathan Irvine Israel FBA (born 22 January 1946) is a British writer and academic specialising in Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment and European Jews. Israel was appointed as Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, in January 2001 and retired in July 2016.[1] He was previously Professor of Dutch History and Institutions at the University College London.

In recent years, Israel has focused his attention on a multi-volume history of the Age of Enlightenment. He contrasts two camps. The "radical Enlightenment" was founded on a rationalist materialism first articulated by Spinoza. Standing in opposition was a "moderate Enlightenment" which he sees as weakened by its belief in God.

Life

Israel's career until 2001 unfolded in British academia. He attended Kilburn Grammar School, and like his school peer and future fellow historian Robert Wistrich went on to study History as an undergraduate at Queens' College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree in Part II of the Tripos in 1967.[2] His graduate work took place at the University of Oxford and the El Colegio de México, Mexico City, leading to his D.Phil. from Oxford in 1972. He was named Sir James Knott Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1970, and in 1972 he moved to the University of Hull where he was first an assistant lecturer then a lecturer in Early Modern Europe. In 1974 he became a lecturer in Early Modern European History at University College London, progressing to become a reader in Modern History in 1981, and then to Professor of Dutch History and Institutions in 1984. In January 2001, Israel became a professor of modern European history in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.[3] In 2007, the 375th anniversary of the birth of Spinoza, he held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam.[4]

Works

Israel has defined what he considers to be the "Radical Enlightenment," arguing it originated with Spinoza. He argues in great detail that Spinoza "and Spinozism were in fact the intellectual backbone of the European Radical Enlightenment everywhere, not only in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, and Scandinavia but also Britain and Ireland", and that the Radical Enlightenment, leaning towards religious skepticism and republican government, leads on to the modern liberal-democratic state.[5][6]

Israel is sharply critical of Jean-Paul Marat and Maximilien de Robespierre for repudiating the true values of the Radical Enlightenment and grossly distorting the French Revolution. He argues, "Jacobin ideology and culture under Robespierre was an obsessive Rousseauiste moral Puritanism steeped in authoritarianism, anti-intellectualism, and xenophobia, "and it repudiated free expression, basic human rights, and democracy."[7]

In response to Israel's series on the Enlightenment, writes Johnson Kent Wright, there appeared —

a series of in-depth critiques, from leading practitioners of every stripe, including Theo Verbeek, Harvey Chisick, Anthony La Vopa, Antoine Lilti, Samuel Moyn, and Dan Edelstein. Though all expressed admiration for the breadth of Israel's reading and display of sheer scholarly stamina, they also reached a strikingly unanimous verdict. In the eyes of his critics, Israel's interpretation of the Enlightenment is a kind of academic juggernaut, careening destructively through the discipline, in the service of a false idol—Spinoza, supposed demiurge of modernity—and an unsustainable principle—the idea of an umbilical connection between metaphysical monism and political radicalism.[8]

A Marxist defense of Israel against one critic (Samuel Moyn) appeared in 2010 on the World Socialist Web Site, particularly in the article, "The Nation, Jonathan Israel and the Enlightenment". The two defenders also criticize Israel, saying:

There are problems in his argument. The dichotomy between a radical and moderate Enlightenment, however suggestive and stimulating, tends at times to overly simplify complex and contradictory processes in the development of philosophical thought. It is not always the case, as Professor Israel seems to suggest, that the most significant advances in philosophical thought were made by individuals who held the most politically radical views.[9]

In 2004, in response to a Historisch Nieuwsblad survey, which asked members of the Royal Netherlands Historical Society what were the classic works about Dutch history, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477–1806 came in second place.[10]

Honors and awards

He was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1992, Corresponding Fellow of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) in 1994,[11] won the American Historical Association's Leo Gershoy Award in 2001, and was made Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2004. In 2008, he won the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for history, medicine, environmental studies and cognitive science.[12]

In 2010 he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) for his outstanding contribution to Enlightenment scholarship.[13]

In 2015 he was awarded the PROSE Awards in European & World History by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for professional and scholarly excellence.[14]

In 2017 Israel received the Comenius Prize by the Comenius Museum for his work on the Age of Enlightenment, Dutch history, and European Jewry and his ability to connect economic and intellectual history with the history of politics, religion, society, and science.[15]

Bibliography

  • Race, Class and Politics in Colonial Mexico, 1610–70. Oxford Historical Monographs. 1975. ISBN 0-19-821860-5 HB.
  • The Dutch Republic and the Hispanic World, 1606–61. 1982. ISBN 0-19-826534-4 HB; ISBN 0-19-821998-9 PB.
  • European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550–1750. 1985. ISBN 0-19-821928-8 HB; ISBN 1-874774-42-0 PB.
  • Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585–1740. 1989. ISBN 0-19-821139-2 PB.
  • Empires and Entrepots: The Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews, 1585–1713. 1990. ISBN 1-85285-022-1 HB.
  • The Anglo-Dutch Moment: Essays on the Glorious Revolution and Its World Impact. 1991. (editor). ISBN 0-521-39075-3 HB; ISBN 0-521-54406-8 PB.
  • From Persecution to Toleration: Glorious Revolution and Religion in England. 1991. (co-editor) ISBN 0-19-820196-6 HB.
  • The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477–1806. Oxford History of Early Modern Europe. 1995. ISBN 0-19-873072-1 HB; ISBN 0-198-20734-4 PB. Documents the golden age of the United Provinces of the Netherlands and its historical context.
  • Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585–1713. 1997. ISBN 1-85285-161-9 HB.
  • Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650–1750. 2001. ISBN 0-19-820608-9 HB; ISBN 0-199-25456-7 PB. Emphasizes the role of 17th century Holland, and Spinoza in particular, in the Enlightenment.
  • Diasporas Within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews and the World of Maritime Empires (1540–1740). Brill's Series in Jewish Studies. 2002. ISBN 90-04-12765-8 HB.
  • Dutch Jewry: Its History and Secular Culture (1500–2000). Brill's Series in Jewish Studies. 2002. (co-editor) ISBN 90-04-12436-5 HB.
  • Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man, 1670–1752. 2006. ISBN 0-19-927922-5 HB.[16][17]
  • ‎Benedict de Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise. 2007. (co-editor) ISBN 978-0-521-53097-2 HB.
  • A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy. 2009. ISBN 978-0-691-14200-5 HB.
  • Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights 1750–1790. 2011. ISBN 978-0-199-54820-0 HB.[18]
  • Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre. 2014. ISBN 978-0-691-15172-4 HB.
  • The Expanding Blaze: How the American Revolution Ignited the World, 1775-1848. 2017. ISBN 978-0-691-17660-4 HB.
  • The Enlightenment That Failed: Ideas, Revolution, and Democratic Defeat, 1748-1830. 2019. ISBN 978-0-198-73840-4 HB.


(Radical Enlightenment (2001), Enlightenment Contested (2006), and Democratic Enlightenment (2011) constitute a trilogy on the history of the Radical Enlightenment and the intellectual origins of modern democracy. A Revolution of the Mind (2009) is a shorter work on the same theme.)

See also

  • Counter-Enlightenment
  • Comments by Margaret Jacob in "Spinoza Got It", London Review of Books (8 November 2012): 26–27. Israel used the title (but not subtitle) of her book, "The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans", paperback, 2006 (first edition 1981). Also by Jacob: "The Radical Enlightenment and Freemasonry: Where we are now", Philosophica 88 (2013) pp. 13–29.

References

  1. ^ https://www.ias/edu/hs/israel Jonathan Israel, Institute for Advanced Study accessed 6 September 2022
  2. ^ 'Cambridge University Tripos Results', The Times, 23 June 1967.
  3. ^ . Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. 17 January 2001. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  4. ^ Amsterdam, Universiteit van. "The Spinoza Chair - Philosophy - University of Amsterdam". Uva.nl. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  5. ^ Israel, J. (2001). Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650-1750. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. vi. ISBN 0-19-820608-9.
  6. ^ Chamberlain, Lesley (8 December 2006). "When freedom fought faith". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  7. ^ Israel, Jonathan (2014). Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 521. ISBN 978-0-691-15172-4.
  8. ^ Wright, Johnson Kent. "Review essay" (PDF). H-France Forum. 9 (1): 1. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  9. ^ Talbot, Ann; North, David (9 June 2010). "The Nation, Jonathan Israel and the Enlightenment". World Socialist Web Site. International Committee of the Fourth International. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  10. ^ "De vijftien klassieke werken over de Nederlandse geschiedenis". 12 January 2004. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  11. ^ (in Dutch). Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  12. ^ . Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. Archived from the original on 21 September 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  13. ^ . Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. 24 November 2010. Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  14. ^ . Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. 10 February 2015. Archived from the original on 22 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  15. ^ . Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. 8 February 2017. Archived from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Review: Banishing the dark". The Economist. 30 November 2006. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  17. ^ Moyn, Samuel (12 May 2010). "Review: Mind the Enlightenment". The Nation. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  18. ^ Bell, David A. (8 February 2012). "Review: Where Do We Come From?". The New Republic. Retrieved 19 February 2012.

External links

  • Seeing reason: Jonathan Israel's radical vision

May 08, 2023
jonathan, israel, jonathan, irvine, israel, born, january, 1946, british, writer, academic, specialising, dutch, history, enlightenment, european, jews, israel, appointed, andrew, mellon, professor, school, historical, studies, institute, advanced, study, prin. Jonathan Irvine Israel FBA born 22 January 1946 is a British writer and academic specialising in Dutch history the Age of Enlightenment and European Jews Israel was appointed as Andrew W Mellon Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study Princeton New Jersey in January 2001 and retired in July 2016 1 He was previously Professor of Dutch History and Institutions at the University College London Jonathan IsraelFBABornJonathan Irvine Israel22 January 1946NationalityBritishOccupation s Academic historianAwardsWolfson History PrizeFellow of the British AcademyLeo Gershoy AwardOrder of the Netherlands LionDr A H Heineken PrizeBenjamin Franklin MedalPROSE AwardAcademic backgroundAlma materQueens College CambridgeUniversity of OxfordAcademic workInstitutionsNewcastle University 1970 1972 University of Hull 1972 1974 University College London 1974 2001 Institute for Advanced Study Princeton 2001 present University of Amsterdam 2007 Main interestsDutch historyAge of EnlightenmentEuropean JewsSpinozaIn recent years Israel has focused his attention on a multi volume history of the Age of Enlightenment He contrasts two camps The radical Enlightenment was founded on a rationalist materialism first articulated by Spinoza Standing in opposition was a moderate Enlightenment which he sees as weakened by its belief in God Contents 1 Life 2 Works 3 Honors and awards 4 Bibliography 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksLife EditIsrael s career until 2001 unfolded in British academia He attended Kilburn Grammar School and like his school peer and future fellow historian Robert Wistrich went on to study History as an undergraduate at Queens College Cambridge graduating with a first class degree in Part II of the Tripos in 1967 2 His graduate work took place at the University of Oxford and the El Colegio de Mexico Mexico City leading to his D Phil from Oxford in 1972 He was named Sir James Knott Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1970 and in 1972 he moved to the University of Hull where he was first an assistant lecturer then a lecturer in Early Modern Europe In 1974 he became a lecturer in Early Modern European History at University College London progressing to become a reader in Modern History in 1981 and then to Professor of Dutch History and Institutions in 1984 In January 2001 Israel became a professor of modern European history in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study Princeton New Jersey 3 In 2007 the 375th anniversary of the birth of Spinoza he held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam 4 Works EditIsrael has defined what he considers to be the Radical Enlightenment arguing it originated with Spinoza He argues in great detail that Spinoza and Spinozism were in fact the intellectual backbone of the European Radical Enlightenment everywhere not only in the Netherlands Germany France Italy and Scandinavia but also Britain and Ireland and that the Radical Enlightenment leaning towards religious skepticism and republican government leads on to the modern liberal democratic state 5 6 Israel is sharply critical of Jean Paul Marat and Maximilien de Robespierre for repudiating the true values of the Radical Enlightenment and grossly distorting the French Revolution He argues Jacobin ideology and culture under Robespierre was an obsessive Rousseauiste moral Puritanism steeped in authoritarianism anti intellectualism and xenophobia and it repudiated free expression basic human rights and democracy 7 In response to Israel s series on the Enlightenment writes Johnson Kent Wright there appeared a series of in depth critiques from leading practitioners of every stripe including Theo Verbeek Harvey Chisick Anthony La Vopa Antoine Lilti Samuel Moyn and Dan Edelstein Though all expressed admiration for the breadth of Israel s reading and display of sheer scholarly stamina they also reached a strikingly unanimous verdict In the eyes of his critics Israel s interpretation of the Enlightenment is a kind of academic juggernaut careening destructively through the discipline in the service of a false idol Spinoza supposed demiurge of modernity and an unsustainable principle the idea of an umbilical connection between metaphysical monism and political radicalism 8 A Marxist defense of Israel against one critic Samuel Moyn appeared in 2010 on the World Socialist Web Site particularly in the article The Nation Jonathan Israel and the Enlightenment The two defenders also criticize Israel saying There are problems in his argument The dichotomy between a radical and moderate Enlightenment however suggestive and stimulating tends at times to overly simplify complex and contradictory processes in the development of philosophical thought It is not always the case as Professor Israel seems to suggest that the most significant advances in philosophical thought were made by individuals who held the most politically radical views 9 In 2004 in response to a Historisch Nieuwsblad survey which asked members of the Royal Netherlands Historical Society what were the classic works about Dutch history The Dutch Republic Its Rise Greatness and Fall 1477 1806 came in second place 10 Honors and awards EditHe was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1992 Corresponding Fellow of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994 11 won the American Historical Association s Leo Gershoy Award in 2001 and was made Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2004 In 2008 he won the Dr A H Heineken Prize for history medicine environmental studies and cognitive science 12 In 2010 he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts Manufactures and Commerce RSA for his outstanding contribution to Enlightenment scholarship 13 In 2015 he was awarded the PROSE Awards in European amp World History by the Association of American Publishers AAP for professional and scholarly excellence 14 In 2017 Israel received the Comenius Prize by the Comenius Museum for his work on the Age of Enlightenment Dutch history and European Jewry and his ability to connect economic and intellectual history with the history of politics religion society and science 15 Bibliography EditRace Class and Politics in Colonial Mexico 1610 70 Oxford Historical Monographs 1975 ISBN 0 19 821860 5 HB The Dutch Republic and the Hispanic World 1606 61 1982 ISBN 0 19 826534 4 HB ISBN 0 19 821998 9 PB European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism 1550 1750 1985 ISBN 0 19 821928 8 HB ISBN 1 874774 42 0 PB Dutch Primacy in World Trade 1585 1740 1989 ISBN 0 19 821139 2 PB Empires and Entrepots The Dutch the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews 1585 1713 1990 ISBN 1 85285 022 1 HB The Anglo Dutch Moment Essays on the Glorious Revolution and Its World Impact 1991 editor ISBN 0 521 39075 3 HB ISBN 0 521 54406 8 PB From Persecution to Toleration Glorious Revolution and Religion in England 1991 co editor ISBN 0 19 820196 6 HB The Dutch Republic Its Rise Greatness and Fall 1477 1806 Oxford History of Early Modern Europe 1995 ISBN 0 19 873072 1 HB ISBN 0 198 20734 4 PB Documents the golden age of the United Provinces of the Netherlands and its historical context Conflicts of Empires Spain the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy 1585 1713 1997 ISBN 1 85285 161 9 HB Radical Enlightenment Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650 1750 2001 ISBN 0 19 820608 9 HB ISBN 0 199 25456 7 PB Emphasizes the role of 17th century Holland and Spinoza in particular in the Enlightenment Diasporas Within a Diaspora Jews Crypto Jews and the World of Maritime Empires 1540 1740 Brill s Series in Jewish Studies 2002 ISBN 90 04 12765 8 HB Dutch Jewry Its History and Secular Culture 1500 2000 Brill s Series in Jewish Studies 2002 co editor ISBN 90 04 12436 5 HB Enlightenment Contested Philosophy Modernity and the Emancipation of Man 1670 1752 2006 ISBN 0 19 927922 5 HB 16 17 Benedict de Spinoza Theological Political Treatise 2007 co editor ISBN 978 0 521 53097 2 HB A Revolution of the Mind Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy 2009 ISBN 978 0 691 14200 5 HB Democratic Enlightenment Philosophy Revolution and Human Rights 1750 1790 2011 ISBN 978 0 199 54820 0 HB 18 Revolutionary Ideas An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre 2014 ISBN 978 0 691 15172 4 HB The Expanding Blaze How the American Revolution Ignited the World 1775 1848 2017 ISBN 978 0 691 17660 4 HB The Enlightenment That Failed Ideas Revolution and Democratic Defeat 1748 1830 2019 ISBN 978 0 198 73840 4 HB Revolutionary Jews from Spinoza to Marx The Fight for a Secular World of Universal and Equal Rights 2021 ISBN 978 0 295 74866 5 HB Historical Dictionary of the Enlightenment 2023 ISBN 978 1 538 12313 3 HB Spinoza Life and Legacy 2023 ISBN 978 0 198 85748 8 HB Radical Enlightenment 2001 Enlightenment Contested 2006 and Democratic Enlightenment 2011 constitute a trilogy on the history of the Radical Enlightenment and the intellectual origins of modern democracy A Revolution of the Mind 2009 is a shorter work on the same theme See also EditCounter Enlightenment Comments by Margaret Jacob in Spinoza Got It London Review of Books 8 November 2012 26 27 Israel used the title but not subtitle of her book The Radical Enlightenment Pantheists Freemasons and Republicans paperback 2006 first edition 1981 Also by Jacob The Radical Enlightenment and Freemasonry Where we are now Philosophica 88 2013 pp 13 29 References Edit https www ias edu hs israel Jonathan Israel Institute for Advanced Study accessed 6 September 2022 Cambridge University Tripos Results The Times 23 June 1967 Jonathan Israel Appointed to Faculty of Institute for Advanced Study Princeton Institute for Advanced Study 17 January 2001 Archived from the original on 27 May 2010 Retrieved 21 September 2011 Amsterdam Universiteit van The Spinoza Chair Philosophy University of Amsterdam Uva nl Retrieved 7 August 2018 Israel J 2001 Radical Enlightenment Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650 1750 Oxford England Oxford University Press pp vi ISBN 0 19 820608 9 Chamberlain Lesley 8 December 2006 When freedom fought faith The Independent Archived from the original on 14 June 2022 Retrieved 21 September 2011 Israel Jonathan 2014 Revolutionary Ideas An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre Princeton New Jersey Princeton University Press p 521 ISBN 978 0 691 15172 4 Wright Johnson Kent Review essay PDF H France Forum 9 1 1 Retrieved 21 January 2014 Talbot Ann North David 9 June 2010 The Nation Jonathan Israel and the Enlightenment World Socialist Web Site International Committee of the Fourth International Retrieved 15 April 2015 De vijftien klassieke werken over de Nederlandse geschiedenis 12 January 2004 Retrieved 10 June 2015 Jonathan Israel in Dutch Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 17 July 2015 Jonathan Israel biographical details Princeton Institute for Advanced Study Archived from the original on 21 September 2009 Retrieved 21 September 2011 Jonathan Israel Awarded 2010 Benjamin Franklin Medal Princeton Institute for Advanced Study 24 November 2010 Archived from the original on 1 January 2011 Retrieved 21 September 2011 Jonathan Israel Awarded 2015 PROSE Award in European and World History Princeton Institute for Advanced Study 10 February 2015 Archived from the original on 22 May 2016 Retrieved 7 May 2023 Jonathan Israel Awarded 2017 Comenius Prize Princeton Institute for Advanced Study 8 February 2017 Archived from the original on 30 November 2017 Retrieved 7 May 2023 Review Banishing the dark The Economist 30 November 2006 Retrieved 21 September 2011 Moyn Samuel 12 May 2010 Review Mind the Enlightenment The Nation Retrieved 21 September 2011 Bell David A 8 February 2012 Review Where Do We Come From The New Republic Retrieved 19 February 2012 External links EditSeeing reason Jonathan Israel s radical vision Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jonathan Israel amp oldid 1153680024, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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