Contents -- Glossary -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. On Writing an Intellectual History of the Bavli -- The Meaning of Literary Forms -- The Bavli: A Preliminary Description -- The Bavli's Sources: On the Reliability of Attributions -- 2. A History of Amoraic Literary Expression -- The First Amoraic Period -- The Second Amoraic Period -- The Third Amoraic Period -- The Meaning of the Evidence -- 3. The Preservation of Amoraic Argumentation -- The Evidence -- More Evidence and Conclusions -- Appendix A: The Data at a Glance -- Appendix B: The Data in Detail -- 4. The Bavli Considered as a Whole -- The Urgency for Argumentation -- Building on Earlier Argumentation -- Building on Brief Traditions -- Fictional Argumentation -- Argumentation for Its Own Sake -- The Bavli and the Yerushalmi Distinguished -- 5. The Meaning of Argumentation -- A Philosophical Analysis: The Indeterminability of Truth -- Historical Underpinnings -- Theological Underpinnings -- Appendix: The Erosion of Authority in the Bavli's Sources -- 6. The Bavli on "Truth" -- The Separation of Truth and Practice -- The Centering of Human Reason: Reason and Revelation -- Human Reason on Its Own Terms: Learning Becomes Torah -- 7. The Bavli in Comparative Perspective -- Truth in the Classical Philosophical Tradition -- Religious Traditions and Truth -- Philosophy Meets Scripture -- In Conclusion: Why the Bavli? -- Notes -- Bibliography -- General Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- Y -- Z -- Index to Primary Rabbinic Sources.