Emmy Noether-Program – DFG
Early Modern Musar

"Hebrew has a term – musar – which if not strictly coterminous with 'ethics' nonetheless points in that direction. … This literature looks … to what ought to be done as well as to the dispositions, attitudes, values, and intentions of the doer. It is concerned with what we would call moral psychology, with motivation...

"For an artist who has the tool of his art in his hand can do his work but if he does not have the tool of his art he can do nothing. Therefore, hearken to correction (musar) and take the tool of your art into your hands in order to correct your qualities. [...] And weigh every single quality in the balance-scale of your...