In our personal and public life we encounter many perplexing problems: How to make a living? How to divide the national wealth among the population? Are our political institutions perfect, or are they flawed? Has modern democracy resolved once and for all the problem of a good government? Is human dignity preserved and cherished in the chaos of pursuits of the modern man? And what about our cultural life? Is every loud noise music? Is each bestseller a worthy book? Is modern painting true art?

In order to comprehend the ways of our so-called Western civilization, Paths through Mankind’s Perplexities explores the nature of its antecedents, namely the Hellenic heritage and the Israelite legacy. The meaning of each of these and their symbiosis is examined in a substantive way. This reveals that the present has some deep roots in the past, even if in many ways it is new.

Yet this study is not merely historical. It looks at the present and to the future. In the past there has been a variety of approaches on how to guide our lives and humanity’s way of life. There were Greek approaches and there were biblical judgments focused on moral guidance. There were skeptical approaches often motivated by moral concerns. And there was the Faustian attitude that centered on the quest of adventure, exploring the limits of man and looking incessantly for new experiences.

The right path through this dark wood is cautiously explored in this remarkable book.

About the Author

Mordecai Roshwald was born in Poland but received his secondary and university education in Israel, including a Doctor’s degree in Philosophy from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. One of his distinguished teachers there was Martin Buber. After teaching Political Philosophy for four years at the Hebrew University, he accepted a position at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and retired as Professor Emeritus of Social Science and Humanities after 23 years. He has also held visiting appointments at universities in Israel, England, Canada, and Taiwan. Roshwald’s publications include numerous articles, both scholarly and popular, written in English and Hebrew, some of which have been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Arabic, and Chinese. He is the author of several books, listed in the front of this volume.