ABSTRACT
Jacob B. Agus was a leading scholar in the field of the philosophy of Judaism of the twentieth century. Writing about the work of David Neumark, Jacob Agus said that although Neumar's contributions to the study of Jewish philosophy are invaluable, he, however, never became an independent philosopher. One can say of Agus himself that his contributions to the study of Jewish philosophy are invaluable, and that he himself became an independent philosopher. Agus took the principle of polarity from the philosopher Morris Raphael Cohen. Agus opposed theories of society that were derived from Darwinism and an emphasis on "biologism" and the struggle for existence; or from the Marxist theory of the class struggle; or from a Freudian psychologist. Another central belief held by Agus was the centrality of ethics. Ethical values are the basis on which philosophy and religion must be based. Agus disparaged the idea of a secular Jewish culture for American Jews.
