Jacob Talmon

{{Infobox person

| name = Jacob Leib Talmon

| native_name = יעקב טלמון

| native_name_lang = he

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|06|14|df=y}}

| birth_place = Rypin, Poland

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1980|06|16|1916|06|14|df=y}}

| death_place = {{flag|Israel}}

| nationality = {{flag|Israel}}

| occupation = Historian

| awards =

{{plainlist|

Israel Prize (1957)

}}

Jacob Leib Talmon ({{langx|he|יעקב טלמון}}; June 14, 1916 – June 16, 1980) was Professor of Modern History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He studied the genealogy of totalitarianism, arguing that political Messianism stemmed from the French Revolution, and stressed the similarities between Jacobinism and Stalinism. He coined the terms "totalitarian democracy" and "Messianic democracy/political Messianism".

Biography

Talmon was born in Rypin, a town in central Poland, into an Orthodox Jewish family. He left in 1934 to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, then in the British Mandate of Palestine, now Israel. He continued his studies in France but left for London after the Nazi invasion; in 1943 he was awarded a PhD from the London School of Economics. His main works are The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy and Political Messianism: The Romantic Phase. Talmon argued that Rousseau's position may best be understood as "totalitarian democracy", a philosophy in which liberty is realized "only in the pursuit and attainment of an absolute collective purpose." Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Talmon engaged in a debate with Arnold J. Toynbee on the role of Jews and Zionism in history.Hedva Ben-Israel, "Debates With Toynbee: Herzog, Talmon, Friedman," Israel Studies (Spring 2006), pp. 83ff; and two newspaper reports in Hebrew: Jacob Talmon, "Arnold Toynbee and His Relationship to the Jews," Haaretz, Sept. 5, 1956 and "The Exchange of Letters Between Professor Arnold Toynbee and Professor Y. Talmon following the Six-Day War," Maariv, Aug. 4, 1967.

Talmon died in Jerusalem on June 16, 1980, two days after his 64th birthday.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/06/18/archives/jl-talmon-is-dead-an-israeli-historian-hebrew-university-professor.html|title=J.L. Talmon is dead; an Israeli historian; Hebrew University Professor Was Author of Books on Evolution of Totalitarian Systems Threat of 'Racial War' Seen |first=David K. |last=Shipler |newspaper=New York Times|date=June 18, 1980 |page=38 }}

Awards

In 1957, Talmon was awarded the Israel Prize for social sciences.{{Cite web| title = Israel Prize Official Site - Recipients in 1956 (in Hebrew)| url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashyag/Tashkab_Tashyag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashtaz}}

Major works

{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.460216/page/n7/mode/2up |title= The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy |place= London |publisher= Secker & Warburg | volume= 1 |year= 1952}}; vol. 2: 1960
The Nature of Jewish History-Its Universal Significance, 1957
[https://archive.org/details/politicalmessian0000talm Political Messianism – The Romantic Phase, 1960]
The Unique and The Universal, 1965
[https://archive.org/details/romanticismrevol00talmrich Romanticism and Revolt, 1967]
Israel among the Nations, 1968
The Age of Violence, 1974
[https://archive.org/details/mythofnationvisi0000talm/ The Myth of Nation and Vision of Revolution – The Origins of Ideological Polarization in the 20th Century, 1981]The work was unpublished at the time of his death; The New York Times, June 18, 1980, p. 38.
The Riddle of the Present and the Cunning of History, 2000 (Hebrew, p.m.)

References

External links

[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/9681 Two Statements on the Mid-East War], 1973
Arie Dubnov, '[https://web.archive.org/web/20110721134508/http://mosse.huji.ac.il/files/Dubnov_A_tale_of_trees_and_crooked_timbers.pdf A tale of trees and crooked timbers: Jacob Talmon and Isaiah Berlin on the question of Jewish Nationalism]', History of European Ideas, Vol. 34, No. 2
Arie Dubnov, '[https://web.archive.org/web/20110721134526/http://mosse.huji.ac.il/files/Arie_Dubnov_INTRO-Priest_or_Jester.pdf Priest or Jester? Jacob L. Talmon (1916-1980) on History and Intellectual engagement (Introduction essay)]', History of European Ideas, Vol. 34, No. 2
{{Internet Archive author |sname= Jacob Talmon}}

Talmon, J. L.

Category:Critics of atheism

Category:Critics of Marxism

Category:Historians of the French Revolution

Category:Historians of Russia

Category:Israeli anti-communists

Talmon, J. L.

Category:Israeli Ashkenazi Jews

Category:Israeli Orthodox Jews

Talmon, J. L.

Category:Jewish anti-communists

Category:Jewish economists