
Fields of Interest
Biography

Michael A. Rosenthal was Professor of Philosophy and the Samuel and Althea Stroum Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of Washington. He is currently the Graftstein Professor of Jewish Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He received his bachelors degree from Stanford University and both his masters and doctorate degrees in philosophy from the University of Chicago. Before arriving in Seattle, he taught at Grinnell College in Iowa. He teaches and publishes in the areas of early modern philosophy, ethics, political philosophy, and Jewish philosophy. He is also interested in modern German philosophy and culture and held an adjunct appointment in the Department of Germanics while at the UW. He served as Chair of the Department of Philosophy from 2011 to 2016. He was recently a Fellow at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften (Institute for Advanced Studies) of the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, and he was invited to give the Martin Buber Lecture in Intellectual History and Philosophy in Frankfurt in 2017. His current research focuses on the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza.
Research
Selected Research
- Rosenthal, Michael. “Spinoza on Beings of Reason [Entia Rationis] and the Analogical Imagination.” In Spinoza in 21st-Century American and French Philosophy: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Moral and Political Philosophy, edited by Charles Ramond and Jack Stetter, 231-250. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2019.
- Rosenthal, Michael. “What Is Real About ‘Ideal Constitutions’? Spinoza on Political Explanation.” In Spinoza’s ‘Political Treatise': A Critical Guide, edited by Yitzhak Melamed and Hasana Sharp, 12-28. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
- Rosenthal, Michael A., “Prophetic Style and Ethical Experience in Hermann Cohen and Spinoza,” in Jewish Studies Quarterly, Issue 25 (2018), 1-18.
- Rosenthal, Michael A. "Spinoza's Political Philosophy." In The Oxford Handbook of Spinoza, edited by Michael Della Rocca, 408-433. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
- Rosenthal, Michael A. "Spinoza on Circumcision and Ceremonies." Modern Judaism 36 (2016): 42-66.
- Rosenthal, Michael. (2014, January 28). Is Spinoza Good for the Jews? - Michael A. Rosenthal [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwKqsPeYq3E
- Rosenthal, Michael A. “Politics and Ethics in Spinoza: The Problem of Normativity.” In Essays on Spinoza's Ethical Theory, edited by Matt Kisner and Andrew Youpa, 85-101. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
- Rosenthal, Michael A. “Spinoza” in Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Religion, revised second edition, edited by Chad Meister and Paul Copan, 150-160. London: Routledge, 2013.
- Rosenthal, Michael A. “The Siren Song of Revolution: Spinoza on the Art of Political Change.” Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 34.1 (2013): 111-132.
- Rosenthal, Michael A. “Art and Politics of the Desert: German Exiles in California and the Biblical Bilderverbot.” New German Critique 118.40.1 (2013), 43-64.
- Rosenthal, Michael A. “Why Spinoza is Intolerant of Atheists: God and the Limits of Early Modern Liberalism.” Review of Metaphysics 65.4 (2012): 813-839.
- Rosenthal, Michael A. “Benjamin’s Wager on Modernity: Gambling and the Arcades Project.” The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory 87.3 (2012): 261-278.
- Melamed, Yitzhak Y. and Rosenthal, Michael A., eds., Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise: A Critical Guide, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Courses Taught
Spring 2019
Winter 2019
Spring 2018
Winter 2018
Summer 2017 A-term
Spring 2017
Winter 2017
Autumn 2016
Summer 2016 B-term
Autumn 2015
Spring 2015
Autumn 2014
Spring 2014
Winter 2014
Autumn 2013
Spring 2013
Autumn 2012
Affiliations
Related News
Related News
- Celebrating Michael Rosenthal’s Retirement - June 20, 2019
- Spinoza on Freedom and the Highest Good: Workshop on Ethics, Part V - October 23, 2018
- Faculty Summer Reading Recommendations 2018 - June 26, 2018
- Pacific Northwest – Western Canada Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, March 2 – 4, 2018 - January 17, 2018
- Michael Rosenthal to give the “Martin Buber Lecture on Intellectual History and Philosophy” at the Goethe University in Frankfurt - October 25, 2017
- Call for Abstracts: Pacific Northwest/Western Canada Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy - September 5, 2017
- Summer Reading Recommendations from the Philosophy Faculty - July 16, 2017
- Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy International Conference - April 21, 2017
- Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy Conference - January 23, 2017
- Immigration, Toleration, and Human Rights Conference - November 18, 2016
- My father was a refugee. Here’s why the immigration conversation matters. - October 25, 2016
- From the Chair - July 26, 2016
- Michael Rosenthal chosen for Stroum Chair - July 6, 2016
- Letter from the Chair - March 31, 2016
- Professor Michael Rosenthal presents Spinoza and the Struggle for Toleration in the Modern World - February 24, 2016
- Jewish Studies: Feasting with Faculty - January 15, 2016
- Letter from the Chair - December 17, 2015
- UW Philosophers Talk About the Migration Crisis - December 15, 2015
- UW Philosophy Series of the Migration Crisis: Religion - Professor Michael Rosenthal - Podcast - November 9, 2015
- From the Chair - August 10, 2015
- Newsletter Spring 2015 From the Chair - March 31, 2015
- Newsletter Fall 2014 From the Chair - February 6, 2015
- Newsletter Summer 2014 From the Chair - June 29, 2014
- Newsletter Summer 2014 Awards Reception - June 29, 2014
- Awards and Achievements 2012 - April 1, 2014
- Newsletter Winter 2014 From the Chair - April 1, 2014
- Letter from the Chair - March 31, 2014
- Newsletter Fall 2011 Awards and Achievements Faculty - March 31, 2014
- Newsletter Fall 2011 From the Chair - March 27, 2014
- Newsletter Fall 2010 From the Chair - March 27, 2014
- Newsletter Winter 2012 From the Chair - March 13, 2014
- Letter from the Chair - March 3, 2014
- An Interview with Professor Michael Rosenthal: "Why Do Hannah Arendt's Ideas about Evil and the Holocaust Still Matter?" - October 23, 2013
- Letter from the Chair - October 21, 2013