Volume 1 Issue 1 (2005)
Provocative Idea

On Borges' Amnesia and Talmudic Understanding: Reviving Ancient Traditions in Re-Search

Zvi Bekerman
Melton Center, School of Education, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, ISRAEL
Yair Neuman
Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, ISRAEL
Published March 5, 2005
Keywords
  • psychology,
  • paradigmatic perspectives,
  • Talmud,
  • epistemology,
  • self

Abstract

The paradigmatic bases, which sustain traditional western psychological interpretative efforts, need not be just a footnote to Plato. In this paper we introduce the Talmudic interpretative perspective, which we use to point at some weaknesses we identify in contemporary research imaginings. While the empiricist approach may be traced to Plato and the interpretative and the critical approaches may be traced to Heraclitus, we argue that the Talmudic approach is a differentiated and unique perspective that, because of its non-epistemic nature, its dialogical character, and its recognition of two intermingled levels of interpretation, can make an important contribution to new ways of thinking about understanding and meaning in research.