Nathan Rotenstreich (; born 31 March 1914, died 11 October 1993) was an Israeli professor of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Biography

Nathan Rotenstreich (31.3.1914 – 11.10.1993) was born in

Sambir Sambir (, ; ; ) is a city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the Capital city, administrative center of Sambir Raion (Raion, district) and is located close to the border with Poland. Sambir hosts the administration of Sambir urba ...

, Galicia, then in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, later in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, now in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. His father, Ephraim Fischel Rotenstreich, was a

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

leader and a member of the Polish two houses of Parliament. In 1932, at the age of 18, Rotenstreich emigrated to

Mandate Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...

. Rotenstreich studied philosophy at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, receiving his PhD in 1938. He joined the faculty in 1950 and served as Dean of the faculty of Humanities (1958-1962) and the Rector of the university from 1965 to 1969. He was a member of the

Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on res ...

from 1959, and its vice president at the time of his death. He wrote 80 books and more than 1000 papers in various languages. In 1973, he was appointed the first Chairman of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education in Israel. He was actively involved in public life in Israel, was a member of

Mapai Mapai (, an abbreviation for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', ) was a Labor Zionist and democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in January ...

party for a while, and expressed his political views in many articles published in Israeli newspapers. He engaged in public debates with

David Ben Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder and first prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency from 1935, and later president of the Jewish Agency ...

together with other colleagues regarding Ben Gurion's views of the role of the Jewish State in history and also at the time of the

Lavon Affair The Lavon affair was a failed Israeli covert operation, codenamed Operation Susannah, conducted in Egypt in the summer of 1954. As part of a false flag operation, a group of Egyptian Jews were recruited by Israeli military intelligence to pla ...

. Awards and honors The

Tchernichovsky Prize Tchernichovsky Prize is an Israeli prize awarded to individuals for exemplary works of translation into Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasia ...

for the translation of Kant's Critiques in 1964. The

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

in Humanities in 1963 for his works and achievements in philosophy. The

Bialik Prize The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik. There are two separate p ...

in Jewish Thought in 1991. He died in Jerusalem in October 1993. In his memory there is a square in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and a street in

Be'er Sheva Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most po ...

. Also, Nathan Rotenstreich scholarships for Ph.D. Students in Humanities are awarded each year by the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education

Awards and honours

* In 1963, Rotenstreich was awarded the

in the humanities. * In 1991, he was the co-recipient (jointly with

Mordechai Altshuler Mordechai Altshuler (; October 25, 1932, Suwałki, Poland – July 18, 2019, Jerusalem, Israel) was an Israeli historian and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He specialized in the study of the demography, history and culture of So ...

) of the

for Jewish thought.

Published works

* Between Past and Present. An Essay on History. New Haven: Yale, 1958. Repr. New York: Kennikat, 1973. * Humanism in the Contemporary Era. The Hague: Mouton, 1963. * The Recurring Pattern: Studies in Anti-Judaism in Modern Thought. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1963. * Spirit and Man: An Essay on Being and Value. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1963. * Basic Problems of Marx's Philosophy. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965. * Experience and Its Systematization Studies in Kant. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1965. 2nd enl. ed. 1972. * On the Human Subject: Studies in the Phenomenology of Ethics and Politics. Springfield: Thomas, 1966. * Jewish Philosophy in Modern Times: From Mendelssohn to Rosenzweig. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968. Repr. Wayne State University Press, 1994. * Philosophy: The Concept and Its Manifestations. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1972. * Tradition and Reality: The Impact of History on Modern Jewish Thought. New York: Random House, 1972. * From Substance to Subject: Studies in Hegel. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1974. * Philosophy, History, and Politics: Studies in Contemporary English Philosophy of History. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1976. * Theory and Practice: An Essay on Human Intentionalities. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1977. * Practice and Realization: Studies in Kant's Moral Philosophy. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1979. * Essays on Zionism and the Contemporary Jewish Condition. New York: Herzl Press, 1980. * The Holocaust as Historical Experience: Essays and a Discussion New York: Holmes and Meier, 1981. * Wege zur Erkennbarkeit der Welt. Freiburg, München: Alber Verlag 1983. * Man and His Dignity. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1983. * Legislation and Exposition: Studies in Kant and Hegel. Bonn: Bouvier Verlag Herbert Grundmann, 1984. * Jews and German Philosophy. New York: Schocken, 1984. * Reflection and Action. Dordrecht: Nijhoff, 1985. * Time and Meaning in History. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1987. * Order and Might. Albany: SUNY, 1988. * Alienation: The Concept and Its Reception. Leiden: Brill, 1989. * Immediacy and Its Limits: A Study in Martin Buber's Thought. Chur: Harwood, 1991. ''(To be completed)''

Biography

Awards and honours

Published works

References

See also