Leon Roth (scholar)

Leon Roth

Hyam Leon Roth, FBA (31 March 1896 – 1 April 1963), commonly known as Leon Roth, was an English philosopher and historian of philosophy.

Early life and education

Born in London^[1] to a Jewish merchant,^[2] his brother was the academic Cecil Roth. Roth attended the City of London School and then Exeter College, Oxford, where he read classics. His university studies were interrupted by service in the First World War. Returning to Oxford, he graduated in 1920 and was awarded the John Locke Scholarship. In 1921, he received the James Mew Hebrew Scholarship. In the meantime, he completed a doctorate at the University of Oxford;^[1] his DPhil was awarded in 1922 for his thesis "A Critical Discussion of the Sources of Spinoza, with Special Reference to Maimonides and Descartes". He was only the 13th person to receive the DPhil degree from Oxford.^[3]

Career, scholarship and recognition

In 1923, Roth was appointed to a lectureship in philosophy at the University of Manchester. He remained there for five years, before moving in 1928 to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he took up the Ahad Ha-am Professorship of Philosophy. He also served as the university's rector from 1940 to 1943. Roth retired from his chair in 1953.^[1]

Early in his career, Roth took at interest in 17th-century rationalist philosophy and published some of Descartes's letters and a book on Spinoza, Descartes and Maimonides. Later, Roth focused increasingly on Maimonides. He also wrote more broadly on Judaism, Jewish philosophy, education and ethics.^[4] Roth was appointed an Officier d'Académie in 1926 and elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1948. He died in 1963.^[1] He was the subject of a Festschrift: Studies in Rationalism, Judaism and Universalism in Memory of Leon Roth, edited by Raphael Loewe and published by Routledge in 1966.

References

1. "Prof. Leon Roth", The Times (London), 5 April 1963, p. 18.
2. Geoffrey Alderman, "The Young Cecil Roth, 1899–1924", Jewish Historical Studies, vol. 34 (1994–96), p. 2.
3. "A Celebration of the DPhil Centenary" (University of Oxford, 2019). Retrieved 10 March 2021.
4. Kathryn L. Plant, "Roth, Leon", in Stuart Brown (ed.), Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers (Continuum, 2005), pp. 900–903.

Further reading

• "Dr. Leon Roth, 67, teacher, author", The New York Times, 5 April 1963, p. 36.
• Neve Gordon and Gabriel Motzkin, "Between Universalism and Particularism: The Origins of the Philosophy Department at Hebrew University and the Zionist Project", Jewish Social Studies, vol. 9, no. 2 (2003), pp. 99–122.
• T. E. Jessop, "Leon Roth, 1896–1963", Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. 50 (1963) pp. 317–329.
• Jan Katzew, "Leon Roth – His Life and Work: The Place of Ethics in Jewish Education" (unpublished PhD thesis, Hebrew University, 1997).
• Mordecai Roshwald, "Leon Roth: A Philosopher-Teacher," Modern Age, vol. 48 (2006), pp. 337–346.
• Benjamin Schvarcz and Edward Brodsky, "Love, Freedom and Bondage in the Writings of Leon Roth", University of Toronto Journal of Jewish Thought, vol. 3 (2013).