Carlos Fraenkel (born March 21, 1971 in
Münster, Germany) is a German-Brazilian scholar and writer currently living in
Canada. He is
James McGill Professor of Philosophy and Religion at
McGill University in
Montreal and was previously Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at
Oxford University.
Biography
Fraenkel's parents moved to Germany in 1970 as political refugees from the military dictatorship in Brazil. His paternal grandparents were
German Jews who fled Nazi Germany and settled in São Paulo. His maternal grandfather is Joaquim Câmara Ferreira, a leader of Brazil's Communist Party, and, in the 1960s, of the armed resistance against Brazil's military dictatorship.
Work
Fraenkel wrote his Ph.D. (summa cum laude, 2000) at the
Freie Universität Berlin and the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Fraenkel has held visiting professorships at the
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, the
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and ''grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...
in Paris, and the
State Islamic University in
Makassar, Indonesia
Fraenkel's work spans ancient, medieval and early modern philosophy, Jewish and Islamic thought, and political philosophy. His research interests include
Plato,
Themistius,
al-Fārābī
Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi ( fa, ابونصر محمد فارابی), ( ar, أبو نصر محمد الفارابي), known in the West as Alpharabius; (c. 872 – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951)PDF version was a renowned early Isla ...
,
al-Ghazālī
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian polymat ...
,
Maimonides, and
Spinoza, as well as conducting philosophical discussions in places of conflict, for example with Palestinian students, lapsed Hasidic Jews, and members of a Native American community. He has also contributed to the discussion of religious and cultural diversity.
Bibliography
* ''From Maimonides to Samuel ibn Tibbon: The Transformation of the Dalālat al-Ḥāʾirīn into the Moreh ha-Nevukhim'' (Hebrew), The Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem 2007, .
* ''Philosophical Religions from Plato to Spinoza: Reason, Religion, and Autonomy.'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012, .
* ''Teaching Plato in Palestine: Philosophy in a Divided World''. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2015, .
Awards and honors
* Sheikh Zayed Book Award in Arabic Culture in Other Languages 2016 (finalist)
* Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction 2015
References
External links
Official websiteAcademia page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraenkel, Carlos
21st-century German philosophers
20th-century German philosophers
Academic staff of McGill University
1971 births
Living people
Spinoza scholars