 To learn more about Professor Goodman , read his interview: Philosophy, Creativity, and Tradition |
Lenn E. Goodman
Professor of Philosophy
Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities
Contact Information
Email: lenn.e.goodman@vanderbilt.edu
Office: 117 Furman Hall
Phone: (615) 343-3158
Fax: (615) 343-7259
Degrees
D.Phil. Oxford University
Research Area
His philosophical interests center on metaphysics and ethics, and he has paid special attention over the years to Islamic and Jewish philosophical thought and their creative interactions.
Publications
His books include:
- Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself (Oxford University Press, 2008)
- Islamic Humanism (Oxford University Press, 2003)
- In Defense of Truth: A Pluralistic Approach (Humanity Press, 2001)
- Jewish and Islamic Philosophy: Crosspollinations in the Classic Age (Edinburgh University Press and Rutgers University Press, 1999)
- Judaism, Human Rights and Human Values (Oxford University Press, 1998)
- God of Abraham (Oxford University Press, 1996) (winner of the Gratz Centennial Prize, 1997)
- Avicenna (Updated edition, Cornell University Press, 2005)
- On Justice (Yale University Press, 1991)
- Saadiah's Book of Theodicy (commentary on the book of Job, Yale University Press, 1988).
- The Case of the Animals Before the King of the Jinn (Twayne, 1978).
- Rambam: The Philosophical Writings of Maimonides (Viking, 1976).
- Ibn Tufayl's Hayy Ibn Yaqzan (Twayne, 1976).
He is editor of:
- Aristotle's Politics Today (Co-edited with Robert Talisse, SUNY Press, 2007)
- Jewish Themes in Spinoza's Philosophy (Co-edited with Heidi Ravven, SUNY Press, 2002)
- Neoplatonism and Jewish Thought (SUNY Press, 1992)
He has written philosophical essays on most of the major figures of Islamic and Jewish philosophy and on a variety of topics in political philosophy, biophilosophy, and the theory of knowledge and culture. He serves on the editorial boards of Philosophy East and West, Medieval Philosophy and Theology and Asian Philosophy, and has served on the board of History of Philosophy Quarterly and as Vice President and Program Chair of the Institute for Islamic/Judaic Studies.He is also program chair for the APA panels of the Academy for Jewish Philosophy He was Jewish Philosophy subject editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy , is a fellow of the Academy for Jewish Philosophy, and he edits the Brown Judaic Studies series Medieval Approaches to Judaism.
Professor Goodman has also contributed to the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, the Blackwell's Companion to the Philosophy of Religion, the Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy, as well as other works of reference. His most recently completed book is In Defense of Truth: A Pluralist Approach, to be published by Humanity Press. Professor Goodman is currently hard at work on God and Evolution for Routledge Publishing.
Miscellaneous
Maimonides Mini-Course
