Alan Montefiore

Alan Claude Robin Goldsmid Montefiore (born 29 December 1926, London) is a British philosopher and Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.[1] He has been President of the Forum for European Philosophy;[2] Joint President of the Wiener Library, and a former Chair of Council of the Froebel Educational Institute.[3]

He is the son of Leonard Montefiore (1889-1961) who had been the Wiener Library's second president and later its chairman.[4] He is also grandson of Claude Joseph Goldsmid Montefiore (1858–1938), a past president of the Anglo-Jewish Association. Montefiore received an Honorary Silver Medal of Jan Masaryk at the Czech Republic Ambassador's residence in London in November 2019.[5][6]


Early life and education

He was educated at Clifton College a boarding school which had a separate house for Jewish boys. –He then did national service as a soldier in Singapore.[7][8]

Philosophy and identity

A recurring theme of Montefiore's philosophical enquiries is the notion of identity. His philosophical arguments can be characterized as addressing four related concerns which, inevitably given his own Jewish origins, revolve around notions of Jewish identity. His book A Philosophical Retrospective[9] summarizes his thinking so that the four themes become evident: 1. concerns the issue of how far it may be in anyone’s meaningful power to determine the nature and implications of their own identity—not only but especially in the case of those who may be considered by themselves or by others to be Jews; 2. concerns questions of how far the possession of a Jewish identity is to be seen as bound up with a relationship to Judaism as a system of religious belief and/or practice and of what might be the longer-term prospects for a purely secular Jewish identity, whether in Israel or in the Diaspora; 3. concerns an apparent tension between Judaism’s claim to being both a religion of universal import and yet that of a historically very particular people; 4. Montefiore’s personal perspective as being identified as a Jew and whether or not the possession of a Jewish identity is to be understood as carrying with it the acceptance of any particular obligations as to how to order one’s life.

Publications

Known for 30 works reproduced in 127 publications.[10]

References
  1. "Balliol College University of Oxford People". Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  2. "London School of Economics and Political Science". Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  3. "University Lecturer Alan Montefiore, Retired Alan Claude Robin Goldsmid Montefiore". directorstats.co.uk. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  4. Barkow, Ben (1997). Alfred Wiener and the making of the Holocaust Library. London: Vallentine Mitchell. p. 104.
  5. Czech Embassy London Facebook post, 6 November 2019: 'Celebrating 30th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and Awarding Ceremony of Jan Masaryk Silver Medal, 5th of November 2019, London – Hampstead, Ambassador´s Residence/Oslavy 30. výročí sametové revoluce a slavnostní předání Medaile Jana Masaryka, 5. listopadu 2019 v Londýně – Hampstead, rezidence velvyslance.' accessed 10/11/2019, 10.35 GMT
  6. "Stříbrná medaile Jana Masaryka".
  7. Stuart Brown, ed. (2005), "MONTEFIORE, Alan Claude Robin Goldsmid", Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers, A&C Black, pp. 692–693, ISBN 9781843710967
  8. Michael Rosen, MONTEFIORE, Alan (PDF)
  9. Montefiore, Alan (2011). A Philosophical Retrospective; facts, values and Jewish Identity. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231526791.
  10. "Worldcat". Retrieved 20 November 2016.


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