This article includes a study about the preface of Moreh ha-Moreh, a philosophical commentary on Guide for the Perplexed written by Sem Tob ibn Falaquera at the end of XIIIth century. In this introduction Sem Tob ibn Falaquera defends Maimonides and his works. In addition, he exposes his opinion about different subjects, like the nature, the determining factors and limits of philosophical labour or the harmony between reason and faith.

In his major philosophical opus, Kevod Elohim , written in Hebrew, Joseph ben Shem Tov investigates the summum bonum of man, which consists in the similarity to God's perfection called the "Glory of God" insofar as it can be realized by human nature. Opinions are divided, however, as to the nature of this greatest good. Some Jewish scholars claim that man's final purpose is in the observance of the 613 commandments of the Torah. According to the philosophers, the proofs (...) of Aristotle show irrefutably that man's highest happiness is in the grasping of cognition through reason. Other Jewish scholars assert that the mysteries of the Torah can be explored through philosophy and therefore the Torah and the sciences fulfill in principle the same purpose. This position, however, is objectionable to some believers on the ground that it denies the divine character of religion. On the other hand, to deny the proofs of Aristotle would be to coerce the findings of reason. If religion is the supreme good, it cannot contradict reason. Since the truth cannot be in conflict with the truth, Joseph's task is to compare, for the first time, the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle with the Torah to determine to what extent they agree or conflict. His method is to assemble all statements of Aristotle and his commentators on this subject and to submit them to critical analysis. Joseph's motivation is to justify the pursuit of Greek science, especially in view of his father Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov's virulent repudiation of philosophy, and to guide the perplexed of his generation who could not reconcile Greek wisdom with their faith. Joseph finds that the speculative eudemonia of Aristotle accords with the Torah. In an innovative interpretation of the Ethics, he reveals that Aristotle believed in individual providence over those who perfected their intellect and over those who practiced the ethical virtues. Joseph also identifies the study of Torah with the activity of speculation similar to the activity of the Separate Intellects. He finds no basis, however, in Aristotle's writings for the immortality of reason. Since the religious imperative grants immortality, it is infinitely greater than the eudemonia of reason. Thus, from a position of rapprochement between science and faith, Joseph considers them under the aspect of eternity and emerges with a complete denial of any ultimate resemblance between the two spheres. (shrink)

Maʼamarim she-hevi ha-Ḥo. ha-l. be-shem aḥerim -- Maʼamarim she-katav ha-Ḥo. ha-l. be-ʻatsmo.

Abraham Ibn Daud es conocido como el filósofo que en su _Ha-Emunah ha-Ramah_ (escrito originalmente en árabe ca. 1160) incorporó el aristotelismo de los _falāsifah_ musulmanes al-Farabi y Avicena al ámbito de reflexión judío. Unos 250 años después, Ḥasdai Crescas sometió este sistema a una severa crítica en su _Or Ha-Shem_ (ca. 1410). En su introducción, Crescas clasifica a Ibn Daud como un filósofo aristotélico, pero no se refiere más a él. Basándose en investigaciones previas, el artículo examina la cuestión (...) de hasta qué punto el trabajo de Ibn Daud fue relevante para Crescas. Paralelos literarios exactos que apunten a una clara influencia de Ibn Daud en Crescas con respecto a las doctrinas filosóficas son difíciles de descubrir porque las fuentes filosóficas de Ibn Daud son las mismas que las de Crescas. Además, el pensamiento de Ibn Daud muestra muchas similitudes con el de Maimónides y también con el de Gersónides, cuyas opiniones Crescas critica. La exégesis bíblica aporta más resultados: se puede demostrar que Crescas se basó en el uso de ciertos versículos bíblicos por parte de Ibn Daud. Es probable que la interpretación de Ibn Daud del Salmo 139 en relación con el problema clave del conocimiento de Dios, así como su uso de la metáfora de la luz, hayan llevado a Crescas a reflexionar sobre la relación entre filosofía y religión. (shrink)

On some of the end-leaves of a Bible manuscript someone has copied out a passage from the Theology of Aristotle in Hebrew translation. The passage deals with the immunity of person of intellect from magical manipulation. No other copies of this passage in Hebrew are known to exist. The dependence of the translator upon the so-called of the Theology, specifically the copy in St Petersburg, is demonstrated, and it is suggested that the translator may be Shem Tov ibn Falaquera. (...) The passage differs significantly from other versions of the Theology, and from Plotinus, in placing intellectual achievement ahead of ethical perfection in the scale of values. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Philosophy 41.2 (2003) 269-270 [Access article in PDF] Steven Harvey, editor. The Medieval Hebrew Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy: Proceedings of the Bar-Ilan University Conference. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000. Pp. xi + 547. Cloth, $239.00. This fine volume, covering the proceedings of a conference at Bar-Ilan University (January, 1998), is the first book devoted to the medieval Hebrew encyclopedias of science and philosophy. According to (...) the editor, the talks at the conference "were arranged to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle," and that intention is also reflected in the current volume: It is extremely well-organized, the earlier essays provide useful background for the later ones, and the various parts of the book complement each other quite well. Though they contain much that is highly technical, the editor has succeeded in making the essays comprehensible to the non-specialist, as was his declared intention. [End Page 269]The editor's introductory essay draws the book together and makes it a coherent whole. The most important part of that essay raises the conceptual problem underlying the entire book, namely: what defines a medieval encyclopedia? The contributors do not always agree on how to answer this question, nor should we expect such agreement. Some of their criteria are: an encyclopedia must treat a subject comprehensively; it must be well-enough organized to facilitate retrieval; it is meant to be consulted, not read cover-to-cover; it is usually an eclectic collection of previously extant material, not an original composition, and certainly not a major source for new ideas. Finally, an important goal of the encyclopedist is popular enlightenment.The book's first two sections deal with the predecessors of the medieval Hebrew encyclopedias, the medieval Latin and Arabic works. Only the latter had heavy influence on the structure and content of later Hebrew works. Nevertherless, the Islamic author who had the greatest influence by far on Jews during the age of the encyclopedias under discussion, namely Averroes, is judged by Butterworth (as well as by Biesterfeldt) not to be an encyclopedist at all. The basis for this judgment is that Averroes had no interest whatsoever in popular enlightenment; his books are not introductory, and nowhere does he address himself to anyone but the expert.Nevertheless, when it comes to Averroes, it would be prudent to honor the editor's admonition that we not be too demanding with our criteria for what constitutes a medieval encyclopedia. Perhaps the corpus of Averroes's works does not make him an encyclopedist, as the essays contend. But we should not lose sight of how his works were actually used by later Hebrew writers: their Hebrew translations were copied and paraphrased extensively as state-of-the-art presentations of science on nearly every important topic. In other words, even if Averroes himself did not have the intentions of an encyclopedist for his works, later authors mined them for informative essays as if they were encyclopedias.Part 3 deals with Early Hebrew Encyclopedias. Despite the volume's otherwise outstanding organization, Woolf's fine article on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah seems out of place here, since it is by no means an encyclopedia of science and philosophy.Part 4 deals with the structure and organization of the three thirteenth-century encyclopedias that are the focus of the volume: Judah ben Solomon ha-Cohen's Midrash ha-Hokhmah; Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera's De'ot ha-Filosofim; and Gershom ben Solomon's Sha'ar ha-Shamayim. The descriptive essays are extremely useful for getting a balanced picture of these books, but perhaps of even greater value are the content outlines, which include pagination from the manuscripts to make them easier to consult.The most fascinating section of the book by far, and the most likely to become a productive model for future research, is part 5, which analyzes specific topics within the encyclopedias. These essays trace scientific problems from Aristotle to the medieval Aristotelians, especially Averroes, and then examine how they are dealt with in the Hebrew... (shrink)

À la différence du sermon chrétien, le sermon juif n’est pas essentiel à la vie religieuse et le prédicateur n’a guère de statut. Il est pourtant une réalité sociale et littéraire de premier plan en Espagne. Que la philosophie ait place dans ce genre qui s’adresse à tous s’éclaire par trois choses : les textes que la liturgie amène à prendre pour occasions de la prédication ; la « reconfiguration rationaliste du judaïsme » par Maïmonide ; la résistance au prosélytisme. (...) D’où des sujets spéculatifs (création, libre arbitre, justice absolue ou dans l’intérêt public, service par crainte ou par amour, etc.), des références aux auteurs philosophiques, juifs ou non, un lexique et un type d’argumentation. Les conversions nombreuses lors des persécutions de 1391 firent apparaître la nécessité d’une prédication adaptée aux besoins du peuple. Les perspectives ouvertes par l’ Éthique à Nicomaque traduite en hébreu vers 1400 et l’exemple de la prédication chrétienne donnèrent lieu au milieu du xv e s. au programme de Joseph Ibn Shem Tov regardant le rôle du prédicateur, qui exprimait l’emprise de la philosophie sur les penseurs juifs les plus soucieux de sauvegarder la foi. La spécificité du judaïsme se désignait comme un savoir, selon deux modèles : celui, non avoué, de la scolastique chrétienne, avec une théologie au-dessus de la philosophie, et celui d’un niveau inaccessible aux autres hommes. Mais ce savoir spécifique ne se laisse guère cerner. Après 1492, des réfugiés d’Espagne dans l’Empire Ottoman tendirent à l’identifier au corpus des homélies des rabbins anciens : Jacob Ibn Ḥabib en procura le recueil, Salomon ha-Lévi en fit la théorie. L’avantage définitif pris par la kabbale de Safed à la fin du xvi e s. a-t-il pour cause l’échec de cette recherche, ou bien en va-t-il autrement? (shrink)

In the current paper I rely on two outstanding studies. The one, by Warren Zev Harvey, draws a portrait of Spinoza as Maimonidean, stressing the continuity between Maimonides and Spinoza on the issue of morality and the highest good. The other is the magisterial study by Steven Shmuel Harvey of the reception of the Nicomachean Ethics in medieval Jewish philosophy, from its being subject to almost complete indifference in the period before Maimonides until it became “the best known and most (...) cited work of Aristotle” in sixteenth-century Jewish philosophy. In the first part of this paper I will discuss some main junctions in the medieval Jewish reception of the notion of the highest good. This discussion will be cursory and will mostly focus on matters that will help us approach Spinoza’s views on the issue, views which will be examined closely in the second part of the paper. (shrink)

This contribution to the global history of ideas uses biographical profiles of 18th-century contemporaries to find what Salafist and Sufi Islam, Evangelical Protestant and Jansenist Catholic Christianity, and Hasidic Judaism have in common. Such figures include Muḥammad Ibn abd al-Waḥhab, Count Nikolaus Zinzendorf, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Israel Ba’al Shem Tov. The book is a unique and comprehensive study of the conflicted relationship between the “evangelical” movements in all three Abrahamic religions and the ideas of the (...) Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment. Centered on the 18th century, the book reaches back to the third century for precedents and context, and forward to the 21st for the legacy of these movements. This text appeals to students and researchers in many fields, including Philosophy and Religion, their histories, and World History, while also appealing to the interested lay reader. (shrink)

Much of the writing of and about the twelfth-century rabbi, philosopher, and theologian Moses Maimonides is addressed to an elite audience of philosophers and intellectuals. Here, Ralph Lerner's exploration of Maimonides' popular writings reveals that the education of the common man was one of the great teacher's chief concerns. Lerner describes the brilliant and sometimes wily ways in which Maimonides sought to break through the despair and superstition that gripped the Jewish people's minds, without sacrificing the dignity and core of (...) his message. These writings—presented here in uncommonly accurate, mostly new translations—also reveal that Maimonides was willing to risk the scorn of his contemporaries to enlighten both his own and future generations. By addressing the writings of Maimonides' disciples, including Shem Tov ben Joseph Ibn Falaquera in the mid-thirteenth century and Joseph Albo in the fifteenth century, Lerner shows how this technique was passed on. In striking contrast to the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, Maimonides' enlightenment is premised on the inequality of understandings and other differences between the elite and the common people. Instead of scorning the past, Lerner shows, Maimonides' enlightenment invests it with a new and ennobling dignity. A valuable reference for students of political philosophy and Jewish studies, Lerner's elegantly written book also brings to life the richness and relevance of medieval Jewish thought for all those interested in the Jewish tradition. (shrink)

The Arabic philosophical fable _Hayy Ibn Yaqzan _is a classic of medieval Islamic philosophy. Ibn Tufayl, the Andalusian philosopher, tells of a child raised by a doe on an equatorial island who grows up to discover the truth about the world and his own place in it, unaided—but also unimpeded—by society, language, or tradition. Hayy’s discoveries about God, nature, and man challenge the values of the culture in which the tale was written as well as those of every contemporary society. (...) Goodman’s commentary places _Hayy Ibn Yaqzan _in its historical and philosophical context. The volume features a new preface and index, and an updated bibliography. “One of the most remarkable books of the Middle Ages.”—_Times Literary Supplement_ “An enchanting and puzzling story.... The book transcends all historical and cultural environments to settle upon the questions of human life that perpetually intrigue men.”—_Middle East__ Journal_ “Goodman has done a service to the modern English reader by providing a readable translation of a philosophically significant allegory.”—_Philosophy East and West_ “Add[s] bright new pieces to an Islamic mosaic whose general shape is already known.”—_American Historical Review_. (shrink)

صدر عن المركز العربي للأبحاث ودراسة السياسات كتاب المنطق الإسلامي: حضور المنطق الأرسطي لدى مفكري المشرق الإسلامي، وهو من تأليف محمد بن يعيش. يقع الكتاب في 272 صفحة، شاملةً ببليوغرافيا وفهرسًا عامًّا. أمام ما يعرِّفه مؤلفُ الكتاب بـ "حقيقتين تاريخيتين"؛ هما أوّلًا: كثرة من اشتغلوا بعلم المنطق في الحضارة العربية الإسلامية من أفذاذ العلماء، وانتشارهم في أصقاع البلاد الإسلامية، وتنوّع أديانهم، وأصناف تخصصاتهم العلمية ونتاجاتهم، تأليفًا وحواشيَ مسهبةً وترجماتٍ ومختصراتٍ وشروحًا وأرجوزات، وثانيًا: إقراره بما لقيه هؤلاء العلماء من مضايقات وتجريح (...) واتهامات وملاحقات. يطرح الكتاب إشكاليةَ البحث، المتمثلةَ بالحيثيات التي رافقت استقبال المسلمين علمًا دخيلًا على العلوم الإسلامية كالمنطق وتعاملهم معه، ومراحل تردده بين الرفض والقبول في البيئة الجديدة، وأوجه الجِدّة لدى العلماء الذي ساهموا في تكريسه لغويًّا (الفارابي وابن سينا) ودينيًّا (الغزالي). وقد دفع "الحضور" الأرسطي لدى مناطقة الشرق الإسلامي الكاتبَ إلى تبيان مساهمة أرسطو - ضمن عناصرَ مساهِمة كثيرة - في تكريس خطاب إسلامي عقلاني جديد، وتشكيل المعالم الكبرى والجزئية لفلسفة هؤلاء المناطقة، التي تعبّر برأيه عن "تواصل" بين الفكرين اليوناني والإسلامي بدلًا مما يُحكى عن الانفصال والقطيعة والطلاق البائن، متجنِّبًا الانحياز إلى أحد طرفي الأزمة، المشنِّعين الذين يقذفون المنطق بشتى التهم، كإثارة الشبهات والباطل والرجم بالغيب من جهة، والقائلين بمادية فيلسوف اليونان وعقلانيته في مقابل لاعقلانية المسلمين وظلامية فكرهم، مع تشديده على تميز خطاب مفكري المشرق ضمن تاريخ الفلسفة المرافِق لهذا التواصل. وقد أتاح الجهد البحثي المبذول الانفتاحَ على أفق منطقي غير مدرسي اتبعته مجموعة من مفكري العالم الإسلامي، في محاولة لتكريس نظرة جديدة إلى التراثين اليوناني والإسلامي، متوسِّلًا لبلوغها كثرة الاستشهاد بنصوص المناطقة المشرقيين التي يُستدعى فيها أرسطو وسيلةً لإثبات حقيقة العلاقة بين الخطابين بطريقة علمية أمينة. (shrink)

Theatrical improvisation is a joyful, creative, and playful activity of discovery and a spontaneous process. It seems to be the opposite of teaching, which requires proper planning and advance thinking and seems a very “serious business” that deals with values and knowledge. Improvisation is shaped by flexibility and by transformative and equal relations among the participants. In contrast, there is in education usually a very clear hierarchy of teacher and pupils, and the relationships are mostly managed in a one-way direction. (...) This seemingly reasonable comparison of opposites can be continued and developed. If we look beyond these superficial, stereotypical, and binary images of improvisation and teaching.. (shrink)