Dr. Yotam Benziman is a senior lecturer at Sapir Academic College. He earned his doctorate in philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jeruslem in 2001. He has published several books and articles dealing with ethics in general, and its connection with personal relations in particular.
Yotam's main research intersts are the ethics of personal relations and virtue ethics. Among the subjects he has been dealing with: friendship, forgiveness, gratitude, secrecy, modesty, insulting, lying, decency.
1999: Professor David and Rose Baumgart Award for Excellence in the Study of Ethics (Department of Philosophy, the Hebrew University).
2000: The Lacritz Fund Award for Academic Research in Martin Buber’s Fields of Interest (The Institute of Jewish Studies, the Hebrew University).
Books:
Yotam Benziman, Until You Are in his Place – Ethics, Impartiality, and Personal Relations, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2005 [in Hebrew]
Yotam Benziman, Forgive and Not Forget – The Ethics of Forgiveness, the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibutz Hameuchad, 2008 [in Hebrew]
Yotam Benziman, Thinking about Thanking – a Philosophical Theory of Gratitude, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2009 [in Hebrew]
Yotam Benziman, The Secret Is Out – The Ethics of Concealment and Disclosure, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2011 [in Hebrew]
Edited Books:
Yotam Benziman (ed.) Memory Games – Conceptions of Time and Memory in Jewish Culture, the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2008 [in Hebrew]
Dan Avnon and Yotam Benziman (eds.), Plurality and Citizenship in Israel: Moving Beyond the Jewish/ Palestinian Civil Divide, Routledge, 2010.
Yotam Benziman (ed.), Language as Culture: New Perspectives on Hebrew, the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2013 [in Hebrew]
Refereed Articles in Scientific Journals (peer Reviewed):
Yotam Benziman, Being 'Other-Directed' – a Reply to Atkins," Philosophia 32 , May 2005, pp. 327-330.
Yotam Benziman, “The Difference Between People and the Difference Between Comparisons,” Iyyun 54, April 2005, pp. 233-243.[in Hebrew]
Yotam Benziman, “The Ethics of Common Decency,” The Journal of Value Inquiry 48, 2014, pp. 87-94.
Yotam Benziman, “The Nature of Modesty,” Ethical Perspectives 22, 2015, pp. 419-435.
Yotam Benziman, “Dead People and Living Interests,” Mortality 22 (1), 2017, pp. 75-86.
Yotam Benziman, “Integrity and Self Image,” Journal of Philosophy in the Contemporary World 24 (1), 2017, pp. 29-39.
Yotam Benziman, “What Is Wrong With a Thumping Liar,” Journal of Philosophical Research 43, 2018, pp. 83-96.
Yotam Benziman, “Insulting and Losing Face,” Human Affairs 28, 2018, pp. 34-43.
Articls in Scientific Books:
Yotam Benziman and Hagit Benziman, “Impartiality and Personal Relations”, in Ethical Issues in Counseling and Mental Health Professions, eds. Gaby Shefler, Judith Achmon and Gaby Weil. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2003, pp.110-133 [in Hebrew].
Yotam Benziman, “Shame and Human Dignity,” in Joseph E. David (ed.) Questioning Dignity, The Israel Democracy Institute and The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2006, pp. 263-283. [in Hebrew]
Yotam Benziman and Yair Tzivoni, “The Interchange between Psychoanalysis and Philosophy in the Understanding of Ethical Decisions” in The Janus Face of Prenatal Diagnostics: A European Study Bridging Ethics, Psychoanalysis and Medicine. Eds. Marianne Leuzinger-Bohleber, Eve Marie Engles and John Tsiantis, Karnac, 2008, pp. 327-344.
Yotam Benziman, “On Officials and Affected Parties, “ in Daphne Barak-Erez, Mordechai Kremnitzer and Doron Navot (eds.) Conflict of Interest in the Public Arena, The Israel Democracy Institue, 2009, pp.45-53. [in Hebrew]
Dan Avnon and Yotam Benziman, “Effective Plurality Despite Categorical Rigidity,” (co-author, with Dan Avnon,) in Dan Avnon and Yotam Benziman (eds.) Plurality and Citizenship in Israel: Moving Beyond the Jewish/ Palestinian Divide, Routledge, 2010, pp.1-14.
Yotam Benziman,“Citizenship as a Home,” in Dan Avnon and Yotam Benziman (eds.) Plurality and Citizenship in Israel: Moving Beyond the Jewish/ Palestinian Divide, Routledge, 2010, pp. 53-67.
Yotam Benziman, “Forgiving Without Forgetting,” in Heather Levy and Tugba Yucel (eds.) Forgiveness: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue, ID Press (e-book), 2011, ISBN: 978-1-84888-083-2.
Yotam Benziman, “Envy and Jealousy: From Moral Vices to Social Virtues,” in Katarzyna Bronk (ed.) Looking Back to See the Future: Reflections on Sins and Virtues, Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary.Net, 2013, pp. 3-15.
Yotam Benziman, "The Morality of Dialogical Forgiveness," in Laura Jockusch, Andreas Kraft, and Kim Wunschmann (eds.) Revenge, Retribution, and Reconciliation (The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2015), pp. 196-211.
March 2001: “Friendship and Ethics,” the Fourth Annual Conference of the New Israeli Philosophical Society, Haifa University.
June 2001: “My Right to Educate,” commenting on Edna Ullmann-Margalit’s paper “Not Only the Right but also the Duty to Educate,” in an International Conference on “Rights in Moral and Legal Theory,” Faculty of Law, the Hebrew University.
April 2002: “Friendship as a Moral Concept,” an International Conference on “The Ethics of Altruism,” Department of Social and Political Science, Royal Holloway, University of London.
January 2005: “To Imagine a Language Means to Imagine a Form of Life,” a conference on Jewish Education in the State Sector – The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
December 2008: Academic Director: “Hebrew as a Cultural Language,” The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
March 2010: “Feeling in Hebrew” – Keynote Lecture at the Annual Conference of the Center for Jewish Culture, Haifa University, and the World Union of Jewish Studies.
July 2010: “The (Un)translatability of Ethical Concepts,” The European Association for Jewish Studies Congress, Ravenna, Italy.
July 2011: “Forgiving Without Forgetting,” 4th Global Conference: Forgiveness, Oxford University, United Kingdom.
November 2011: “Medical Secrecy and Transparency,” a Conference on “Law and Medical Ethics: Inspiration, Rivalry, and Dialogue,” the International Center for Health, Law, and Ethics, Haifa University.
June 2012: “In the Name of Our Love: Supererogation, Interpersonal Relations and the Limits of Morality,” a Conference on “Tolerance, Supererogation, and Moral Duties,” The Philosophy Department and the Faculty of Law, the Hebrew University.
March 2013: “Envy – a deadly Sin Or a Virtue?,” 2nd Global Conference: Sins, Vices, and Virtues, Lisbon, Portugal.
May 2015: “Dead People and Living Interests,” a Conference on “The Philosophy and Theology of Immortality,” University of Hull, United Kingdom.
August 2017: “Virtue, Integrity, and Self Image,” a Conference on Virtue, Skill, and Practical Reason, University of Cape Town, South Africa