Educating a Society of Perceivers: Practical Wisdom and Perception in Nicomachean Ethics and Deuteronomy*

Abstract

ABSTRACT A renewed interest in reading the Hebrew Bible as a work of philosophy has reasserted the value of pursuing comparative studies of Greek and Hebrew literature within their common intellectual environment in the Eastern Mediterranean. This study will contribute to a retrieval of Hebraic philosophy in its ancient context through a comparison of Aristotelian practical wisdom and perception as seen in Nicomachean Ethics with commensurate conceptions of wisdom and perception in Deuteronomy. This comparison will advance an appreciation of Deuteronomy as a work of philosophy in its own right, which is distinct yet comparable to Nicomachean Ethics in educating what Martha Nussbaum calls a “society of perceivers” who are skilled at making wise and discerning decisions to attain the Deuteronomic vision of the good.