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Reproducing moral agents: The concept of human nature in an orthodox Jewish community.
Author(s): Eriksen, Eva von Hirsch
Date: 1993
Topics: Haredi / Strictly Orthodox Jews, Family and Household, Jewish Education, Age and Generational Issues, Main Topic: Other
Abstract: The theoretical emphasis in this thesis is on the ideas that people have regarding the sociocultural construct of human nature. Regarded as a construct whose form and content is intrinsically connected to economic, historic and sociocultural factors, the thesis attempts to explain how specific circumstances have caused the orthodox Jewish community of Gateshead to re-negotiate and crystallize the concept of human nature in their quest to live ethical and moral lives. In the last fifty years this community has become known as a prominent centre for higher rabbinical studies and attracts students from all over the world. Apart from its high intellectual standards it has also gained a reputation as harbouring members who are devoted to inter-personal ethics. The contention of this thesis is that the community's level of compliance to such behaviours requires an awareness and a well-defined notion of one's "inner" self and its various components that govern the process of moral and ethical conduct. Underpinning a wide range of sociocultural activities the thesis deals in particular with the way in which ideas of human nature are inherent to the content and form of indigenous educational theory. The process of child-rearing not only ensures the reproduction of competent sociocultural members, it also aids the child in acquiring an understanding of its "inner" self. The latter is in Gateshead defined as the locus of personal and individual responsibility and is consequently vital in making the child aware of its potentiality for moral conduct. By carefully analyzing mother-child interactions it is revealed how the structure and content of these interactions are organized by and expressive of inherent ideas concerning the concept of human nature. Through active participation in these interaction sequences the child is provided with an opportunity to construct and acquire an understanding of itself as a moral agent.