1. Introduction. There is no Jewish philosophy as such. There are only Jewish philosophies. All of the emphases and modulations of Western philosophy — Greek, Hellenistic, Christian scholasticism and Moslem rationalism and skepticism, German idealism, and contemporary existentialism have been registered within Jewish thought.

The Jewish people did not begin to philosophize because of an irresistible inner compulsion to do so. Rather it may be argued that …