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Medieval Jewish and Buddhist Morality

Ilana Maymind, a PhD Candidate in the department of Comparative Studies is working on the relationship between religion and ethics. Her dissertation project is tentatively titled "Through the Eyes of Maimonides and Shinran: Is Law a Prerequisite for Morality?" Her work will focus on juxtaposing the views of Shinran (1173-1263) a Japanese Buddhist monk, philosopher and the founder of the Jodo Shinshu sect in Japan and Maimonides (1135-1204) a Medieval Jewish rabbi, philosopher and a physician.

At the Third Annual Graduate Student Conference (2009) "The Body in Pain and Pleasure" Ilana presented a paper titled "Pain through the eyes of Aristotle and Maimonides" which compared views on pain is explicated by Aristotle and compared with these of Maimonides. Her paper argued that Maimonides connects moral concerns with both the body and the soul. It addressed the extent to which Maimonides was influenced by and diverged from Aristotle's theory of pain and it discussed the following question: how do Aristotle and Maimonides diverge in their views on ethical significance in pain and how do they articulate this significance?

Ilana is also interested in the concept of the dialogical teaching and last year published an article entitled "To Provoke or to Encourage? - Combining Both within the Same Methodology" in which she juxtaposed the ideas of the Frankfurt School with these of Martin Buber.
Talking About Teaching Contributors [PDF].

In the past, she made a presentation at the Purdue University Inaugural meeting: Levinas and the Political (2006), entitled "Levinas and the Morality of Responsiveness" in which she explored Levinas' views as contrasted with the Buddhist notion of compassion. Specifically, she compared Levinas‚ approach to ethics, namely his concept of responsibility in light of the orientations of "intimacy" and "integrity" as discussed by Kasulis (2002) in Intimacy or Integrity: Philosophy and Cultural Difference.
Levinas and the Political [DOC].

Currently Ilana is a Samuel Melton Graduate Fellow. In 2007 she was a recipient of The George M. & Renée K. Levine fellowship.