Seder Hishtalshelus - Relation To Western Philosophy

Relation To Western Philosophy

Study and contemplation of Seder Hishtalshelus is central to the Intellectual-Hasidism school of Habad. Some speculate that the recent Hasidic explanations of Seder Hishtalshelus may have been influenced by certain principles in Western Philosophy. Various dichotomies mentioned in philosophy are strikingly similar to those mentioned in late Hasidic texts: Form/Matter, Sense/Feeling, Initial Cognition/Semiotic Cognition/Semiotic Transition. Furthermore, the prose of the Rebbe Rashab is almost identical to that of G.W.F. Hegel.

Others counter that the dichotomies meantioned in Hasidic texts originate in sources predating Western Philosophy. Proponents of Hasidic philosophy, counter that since Intellectual-Hasidut is an essential wisdom that is higher than, and includes all other wisdoms it would necessarily make reference to all other forms of wisdom, whether Western or otherwise. They would argue that such similarities are not proof of influence of Western philosophy, but rather are evidence that Hasidic philosophy touches upon, unites, and enlightens every other wisdom, whether it be Torah or secular.

The website and books of Sanford Drob bring the Seder Hishtalshelut theosophical scheme of Lurianic Kabbalah into dialogue with Modern and Postmodern Philosophy and Psychology. In our age when Western Philosophy deconstructs the possibility of metaphysics, he sees the Lurianic scheme as an essence-myth that transcends and incorporates secular disciplines, allowing it to re-open the possibilities of philosophy. This process both enriches the secular disciplines, while giving intellectual insights into the Lurianic myth through revealing its facets in human life. This dialogue includes Hegelian dialectics and its application in Marxism, Freud, Jung and Deconstructionism, as well as ancient systems of thought.