Lenn Evan Goodman

Lenn Evan Goodman (born 1944) is an American Jewish philosopher. His philosophy, particularly his constructive work, draws from classical and medieval sources as well as religious texts. Goodman is also an academic, scholar, and a historian with research interest in metaphysics, ethics, and Jewish philosophy. He is serving as a professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

Biography Goodman was born in Detroit, Michigan. He is the son of Calvin and Florence Goodman. His father was a World War II veteran while his mother was a poet and professor of English.

Goodman is married to Roberta Goodman. He was previously married to Madeline Goodman, who died in 1996. He is the father of the novelist and short story writer Allegra Goodman and Paula Fraenkel. Particularly, Goodman holds that the Torah and the way its principles are operationalized can be used to refine and perfect human nature. The messianic age is said to be the teleological consummation of human intellectual, moral, and spiritual potential. Goodman distinguished this concept from the personal Messiah, which he said is not particularly successful among the Jewish people.

Goodman also used Baruch Spinoza's views in his discourse on Jewish philosophy. Particularly, he maintained that the Dutch thinker's philosophy addresses the problems that the Jewish philosophical tradition share with other school through creative and constructive solutions. Goodman also found several Jewish themes in the Spinoza's philosophy. There is, for instance, the strong emphasis on philosophical monotheism, driving what Goodman believes as the most coherent metaphysical approach to philosophical speculation.

Goodman translated Ibn Tufayl's 12th-century Arabic novel called Hayy ibn Yaqzan. This work also included philosophical commentary.