Yemima Ben-Menahem (, born 23 December 1946) is a professor ( Emerita) of philosophy at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

. Her main area of expertise is philosophy of science, in particular philosophy of modern physics.

Biography

Yemima Goldschmidt (later Ben-Menahem) earned a BSc in physics and mathematics in 1969 and an

MSc MSC may refer to: Computers * Message Sequence Chart * Microelectronics Support Centre of UK Rutherford Appleton Laboratory * MIDI Show Control * MSC Malaysia (formerly known as Multimedia Super Corridor) * USB mass storage device class (USB MSC ...

(

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

) in philosophy of science in 1972, both from the

. She earned her PhD at the Hebrew University in 1983 with a dissertation entitled "Paradoxes and Intuitions", under the direction of

Mark Steiner Mark Steiner (May 6, 1942 – April 6, 2020) was an American-born Israeli professor of philosophy. He taught philosophy of mathematics and physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Steiner died after contracting COVID-19 during the COVID-1 ...

. Ben-Menachem is married to Hanina Ben-Menachem, a professor of law at Hebrew University, with whom she has four children. Her mother was

Elisabeth Goldschmidt Elisabeth Goldschmidt (; September 22, 1912 – May 6, 1970) was a German-born Israeli geneticist who founded the genetics program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has been described as "the founding mother of the field of genetics in I ...

, a pioneer of genetic research in Israel, and her father

Yosef Goldschmidt Yosef Goldschmidt ( he, יוסף גולדשמידט, 1907 – 25 July 1981) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the National Religious Party between 1969 and 1974. Biography Born in Frankfurt am Main, Goldschmidt w ...

, a Knesset Member and Deputy Minister representing the National Religious Party.

Academic career

In 2001, Ben-Menahem founded the Journal ''Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism''. She served as Director of the Edelstein Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine at the Hebrew University. Since 2006, she has been member of the Academic Board of the ''

Einstein Papers Project The Einstein Papers Project (EPP) produces the historical edition of the writings and correspondence of Albert Einstein. The EPP collects, transcribes, translates, annotates, and publishes materials from Einstein's literary estate and a multitude ...

''. In 2007, she curated the exhibition ''Newton's Secrets'' at the National Library of Israel. Ben-Menahem devoted several papers and a book to conventionalism, a position first articulated by

Henri Poincaré Jules Henri Poincaré ( S: stress final syllable ; 29 April 1854 – 17 July 1912) was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as "The ...

in the context of geometry. According to conventionalists, many of the assertions we take to express objective truths, are in fact conventions in disguise, derived from definitions or methodological decisions that are not forced on us by logic, mathematics, or empirical fact, and about which we have discretion. Ben-Menahem reads twentieth century science and philosophy from the perspective of the impact of conventionalism on these fields. The pronounced influence of conventionalism, according to her, is manifest in the philosophy of logic and mathematics, the theory of relativity, and the writings of leading twentieth century philosophers including

Carnap Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. ...

, Wittgenstein, Putnam, and Quine. Ben-Menahem has written on Jorge Luis Borges, Donald Davidson,

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...

, William James, Emil Meyerson,

Awards and recognition

In 2022, Ben-Menachem won the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

for the study of philosophy and religious sciences.‘A Striver for Truth Must Acknowledge Its Opposite’: Talking With Dr. Yemima Ben-Menahem

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

Published works

*''Conventionalism'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006) *''Causation in Science'' (Princeton University Press, 2018)

Books edited

*''Hilary Putnam'' (Cambridge University Press, 2005) *''Probability in Physics'' (with Meir Hemmo) (Springer, 2012)

Selected articles

* "Natural Laws and Human Language" in ''Engaging Putnam'' J. Conant and S. Chakraborty (eds.) (De Greuter) (2020) (forthcoming). * (With Hanina Ben-Menahem) "The Rule of Law: Natural, Human and Divine" ''Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science'' 35 (2020) 139–159. * "The PBR Theorem: Whose Side is it On?" ''Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics'' 57 (2017) 80–88. * “Borges on Replication and Concept Formation” in: ''Stepping in the Same River'' ''Twice,'' A. Shavit and A.M. Ellison (eds.) (Yale University Press) (2017) 23–36. * "If Counterfactuals Were Excluded from Historical Reasoning…" ''Journal of the Philosophy of History'' 10 (2016) 370–381 * “The Web and the Tree: Quine and James on the Growth of Knowledge” in ''Quine and His Place in History'', F. Janssen-Lauret and G. Kemp (eds) Palgrave (2016) 59–75. * “Poincare’s Impact on Twentieth Century Physics” ''HOPOS'' 6 (2016) 257–273. * “Revisiting the Refutation of Conventionalism”, ''The Library of Living Philosophers'' XXXIV'','' ''The Philosophy of Hilary Putnam'', E. Auxier, D.R. Anderson, L.E. Hahn (eds), Open Court (2015) 451–478. * “Historical Necessity and Contingency” in: ''The Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of History'', A. Tucker (ed) Blackwells (2009) 120–130 * “Convention: Poincare and Some of his Critics”, British Journal for the philosophy of Science'' 52 (2001) 471–513''.'' * ''“''Direction and Description''”, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics'' 32 (2001) 621–635''.'' * “Dummett Versus Bell on Quantum Mechanics”, ''Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 28''(1997) 277–290. * "Equivalent Descriptions", ''The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science,'' 41(1990) 261–279. * ''"''The Inference to the Best Explanation''", Erkenntnis'' 33 (1990) 319- 344''.''

References

External links

Academic profile: Hebrew University of JerusalemYemima Ben-Menahem, The "Newton's Secrets" at the National Library of Israel.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Menahem, Yemima Living people 1946 births Analytic philosophers 21st-century Israeli philosophers 20th-century Israeli philosophers Philosophers of science Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Lecturers