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HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
3
T153 000b3537
7
be ken"
A HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
-o >9 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA
NEW YORK
•
•
•
MACMILLAN & LONDON
•
CO., Limited
BOMBAY CALCDTTA MELBOURNE •
CO. OF TORONTO
THE MACMILLAN
CANADA,
LTD.
A HISTORY OF
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
BY ISAAC HUSIK, A.M., Ph.D. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF PENNSYLVANIA
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 All rights reserved
COPYMGHT, I916
By
the MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and electrotyped.
Published October, 1916.
This book
is
issued
by the Macmillan Company
in conjunction with the Jewish Publication Society of America.
TO
SOLOMON
SOLIS COHEN, M.D. AS A TOKEN
OF
GRATITUDE AND ESTEEM
PREFACE No
excuse
is
needed for presenting to the English reader a History
The English
of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy.
in books on Jewish history
thing at
all in
domain
the
and
literature,
language, poor enough
can boast of scarcely any-
of Jewish Philosophy.
The Jewish Ency-
clopedia has no article on Jewish Philosophy, and neither has the
eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
pedia of Religion
and Ethics
will
have a
from the conscientious and able pen there
is
none.
But while
of Dr.
Hastings' Encyclo-
brief article
on the subject
Henry Malter, but
of
books
due to several causes, chief among
this is
them perhaps being that English speaking people in general and Amermore interested in positive facts than in tentative
icans in particular are
speculations, in concrete researches than in abstract theorizing
are ample signs that here too a change
we
are called
upon
to
is
coming, and in
— there
many spheres
examine our foundations with a view to making
our superstructure deep and secure as well as broad and comprehensive.
And
this is
nothing else than philosophy.
are happily on the increase in this country of literary endeavor
increase of books
an awakening
is
beginning to
and researches
Philosophical studies
and more than one branch
feel its influence.
in the history of the
to the fact that the philosophical
and
And Jews
with the
is
coming
rationalistic
move-
ment among the Jews in the middle ages is well worth study, influential as it was in forming Judaism as a religion and as a theological and ethical system. But it is not merely the English language that is still wanting in a general history of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy, the German, French and ItaHan languages are no better off in this regard. For while it is true that outside of the Hebrew and Arabic sources, German books and monographs are the sine qua non of the student who wishes to investigate the philosophical movement in mediaeval Jewry, and the present writer owes very
much
Guttmann, Kaufmann and there
is
as yet
to the researches of such
others,
no complete history
it
men
as Joel,
nevertheless remains true that
of the subject for the student or the
PREFACE
viii
The German
general reader.
writers have done thorough
and
distin-
guished work in expounding individual thinkers and problems, they
have gathered a complete and detailed bibliography
and
sophical writings in print translated
in manuscript, they
of Jewish philo-
have edited and
and annotated the most important philosophical
France has also had an important share takings, but for
in these
texts.
fundamental under-
some reason neither the one nor the other has
so far
undertaken to present to the general student and non-technical reader the results of their researches.
What was
omitted by the German, French and English speaking
was accomplished by a scholar who wrote
writers
S. Bernfeld has written in
(The Knowledge
in
the
title
Dr.
"Daat Elohim"
of Jewish Religious philos-
down to " Ahad Haam." A German scholar America), Dr. David Neumark of Cincinnati, has undertaken
ophy from (now
Hebrew under
God) a readable sketch
of
Hebrew.
in
on a very
Biblical times
large scale a History of Jewish Philosophy in the
Ages, of which only a beginning has been
made
in the
Middle
two volumes so
far issued.
The
present writer at the suggestion of the Publication Committee
of the Jewish Publication Society of America has undertaken to write
a history of mediaeval Jewish
—a history
rationalistic
philosophy in one volume
that will appeal alike to the scholar
and the intelhgent
Treating only of the rationalistic school, I
non-technical reader.
did not include anything that has to do with mysticism or Kabbala.
In
my
attempt to please the scholar and the layman,
have succeeded
in satisfying neither.
The
I fear I shall
professional student will
miss learned notes and quotations of original passages in the language of their authors.
The
general reader will often be wearied
scholastic tone of the problems as well as of the
and argument.
sion
classes
good
And
yet I cannot but feel that
— the one to get
less,
the other
latter will find oases in the desert where
a
rest,
and the former
to sources
manner
by the
of the discus-
it will
do both
more than he wants.
The
he can refresh himseK and take
and bibUography references more can be had after his own
will find in the notes
and
technical articles where
not
much room
heart.
There
work
is
for originality in a historical
and expository
of this kind, particularly as I believe in writing history objec-
PREFACE
have not attempted to read into the mediaeval thinkers
tively.
I
modern
ideas that were foreign to them.
their ideas
IX
from
their
own
I
endeavored to interpret
sources, religious
under the influence of which they came.
I based
to
and
my
of the original sources where they were available all
by
point of view as determined
and environment and the hterary
their history
philosophical,
book on a study
—and
this applies
the authors treated with the exception of the two Karaites,
Joseph
al Basir
and Jeshua ben Judah, where I had
to content
seK with secondary sources and a few fragments of the original
For the
rest I tried to tell
my-
texts.
my story as simply as I knew how, and I hope
the reader will accept the book in the spirit in which
an objective and not too
critical exposition of
it is
offered
—as
Jewish rationalistic
thought in the middle ages.
My
task would not be done were I not to express
to the PubHcation
Committee
my
obligations
of the Jewish Publication Society of
America to whose encouragement I owe the impulse but
for
which
the book would not have been written, and whose material assistance
enabled the pubUshers to bring out a book typographically so attractive.
Isaac Husik. Philadelphia, July, igi6.
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
Preface Introduction CHAPTER I.
vii xiii
Isaac Israeli
David ben Merwan Al Mukammas III. Saadia ben Joseph Al-Fayyumi IV. Joseph Al-Basir and Jeshua ben Judah V. Solomon Ibn Gabirol VT. Bahya Ibn Pakuda VII. Pseudo-Bahya VIII. Abraham Bar Hiyya IX. Joseph Ibn Zaddik X. Judah Halevi XI. Moses and Abraham Ibn Ezra XII. Abraham Ibn Daud XIII. Moses Maimonides XIV. Hillel ben Samuel XV. Levi ben Gerson XVI. Aaron ben Elijah of Nicomedia XVII. Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas XVIII. Joseph Albo Conclusion II.
i
17 23
48 59 80 106 114 125
150 184 197 236
312
328 362
388
406 428
Bibliography
433
Notes
439
List of Biblical
Index
and Rabbinic Passages
449 451
INTRODUCTION The
philosophical
the desire
and
movement
in mediaeval
the necessity, felt
by the
Jewry was the
result of
leaders of Jewish thought, of truth.
In the
middle ages, among Jews as well as among Christians and
Moham-
reconciling
two apparently independent sources
of
medans, the two sources of knowledge or truth which were clearly present to the minds of thinking people, each claiming recognition,
were religious opinions as embodied in revealed documents on the one hand, and philosophical and
scientific
judgments and arguments,
the results of independent rational reflection, on the other. tion ity
and reason,
religion
and independent
and philosophy,
faith
Revela-
and knowledge, author-
reflection are the various expressions for the
dualism in mediaeval thought, which the philosophers and theologians of the time
endeavored to reduce to a monism or a unity.
Let us examine more intimately the character and content of the
two elements
in the intellectual horizon of mediaeval Jewry.
On
the
we have the Bible, the Mishna, The Bible was the written law, and represented Uterally God as revealed to lawgiver and prophet; the Talmud
side of revelation, rehgion, authority,
the Tahnud. the word of
(including the Mishna)
was the
commentary on the words latter,
of the
contemporaneous with
to writing until
by word
of
many
oral law,
it
in
embodying the unwritten
Law, equally authentic with the revelation, though not committed
ages subsequently and until then handed
mouth; hence depending upon tradition and
tion for its validity
and acceptance.
down
faith in tradi-
Authority therefore for the
Rabbanites was two-fold, the authority of the direct word of God
which was written down as soon as communicated, and about which there could therefore be
the indirect word of before
it
God
no manner
of doubt;
and the authority
as transmitted orally for
was written down, requiring
many
of
generations
belief in tradition.
By
the
Karaites tradition was rejected, and there remained only belief in the
words
On
of the Bible.
the side of reason was urged
first
the claim of the testimony of
INTRODUCTION
xiv
the senses, and second the vaHdity of logical inference as determined
by demonstration and
This does not mean that the
syllogistic proof.
Jewish thinkers of the middle ages developed unaided from without a
system
of
thought and a Weltanschauung, based solely upon their
own
observation and ratiocination, and then found that the view of the
world thus acquired stood in opposition to the rehgion of the Bible
and the Talmud, the two thus requiring adjustment and
The
No! ing,
so-called
demands
of the reason
and on the other hand the
relation
between philosophy and
To discuss
gion was not altogether one of opposition. the teachings of the Bible
clear
on a great many questions. documents
pro and con.
Thus
of
reli-
the latter point
and the Talmud were not altogether
first,
religious
reconciliation.
were not of their own mak-
Passages could be cited from the
Judaism in reference to a given problem both
in the matter of
argue on the one hand that
man must
freedom
of the will
one could
be free to determine his conduct
since if he were not there would have been no use in giving him commandments and prohibitions. And one could quote besides in favor of freedom the direct statement in Deuteronomy 30, 19, "I call heaven
and earth thee
life
you
to witness against
this day, that I
and death, the blessing and the
set before
curse: therefore choose
that thou mayest Hve, thou and thy seed."
was
have
life,
But on the other hand
it
just as possible to find Biblical statements indicating clearly that
God
preordains
how a
person shall behave in a given case.
Pharaoh's heart was hardened that he should not Israel
go out of Egypt, as we read in Exodus
7,
3:
let
Thus
the children of
"And
I will harden
my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people, the children Pharaoh's heart, and multiply
Egypt by great judgments." Similarly Heshbon we read in Deuteromony 2, 30:
of Israel, out of the land of in the case of Sihon king of
"But Sihon king
of
Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that
Lord thy God hardened
he might deliver him into thy hand, as at not merely of heathen kings, ticed
by a divine
Lord
said.
Who
Ahab king
this
of Israel
instigation according to I shall entice
Ramoth-Gilead?"
day."
Ahab, that he
Kings
may
And was
this is true
similarly en-
22, 20:
"And
go up and
fall
the at
INTRODUCTION The
fact of the matter
in the
is
the Bible
and problems are not
principles
domain
of ethics
a question here
which
is its
of opposition
is
clearly
xv
not a systematic book, and
and
formulated even
strictly
strong point.
It
was not therefore
between the Bible and philosophy, or
authority and reason.
required was rather a rational
analysis of the
What was problem on its own
merits and then an endeavor to
show that the
conflicting passages in the Scriptures are capable of
interpretation so as to harmonize with each other
To
of rational speculation.
freedom
be sure,
fundamental to the
is
it
spirit of
was
and with the
results
that the doctrine of
felt
Judaism, and the philosophic
analyses led to the same result though in differing form, sometimes
dangerously approaching a thorough determinism, as in Hasdai Crescas.
^
such doubt was possible in an ethical problem where one would
If
suppose the Bible would be outspoken, the uncertainty was
still
greater in purely metaphysical questions which as such were really
book
foreign to its purpose as a
of religion
clear that the Bible teaches the existence of
universe,
and
to extract
the
manner
and
of
from
man it
a
as
rigid
endowed with a and
and
ethics.
God
While
it
was
as the creator of the
soul, it is manifestly difficult
detailed theory as to the nature of God,
which the world was created, the nature of the soul
in
its relation
to
man and
centered and did not
come
to God.
As long as the Jews were
in close contact with
an
self-
alien civilization of
a philosophic mould, the need for a carefully thought out and consistent theory
we have
on
in the
concerning
all
the questions suggested was not
Talmudic
literature quite a
God and man.
rationalistic or philosophic,
have
But
it
much
in the Bible itself at least
felt.
good deal
And
thus
of speculation
can scarcely lay claim to being
less to
being consistent.
Nay, we
two books which attempt an
dogmatic treatment of ethical problems.
In Job
is
anti-
raised the question
whether a man's fortunes on earth bear any relation to his conduct
moral and life is
self
spiritual.
Ecclesiastes cannot
make up
worth Hving, and how to make the best of
aHve, whether
here too Job
is
by seeking wisdom
or
it
his
mind whether
once one finds him-
by pursuing
pleasure.
But
a long poem, and the argument does not progress very
rapidly or very far.
Ecclesiastes
on the whole mostly negative.
is
rambling rather than analytic, and
The Talmudists were
visibly puzzled
INTRODUCTION
xvi
in their attitude to both books,
wondered whether Job
really existed
or was only a fancy, and seriously thought of excluding Ecclesiastes
But
from the canon.
had no further
life
They did not
Greek Sophists, to a Socrates, a Plato or an dria
and Maimonides
Talmud
the
in Fostat
and content
to the credit of reason.
The
Bible and
of
It
was
of reason.
must be bent
to
Philo in Alexan-
Hebraism and Hellenism,
spirit of
Islam in Maimonides.
second point mentioned above,
what was attributed
Talmud were
was the document efforts
Aristotle.
were the products not of the Bible and
this leads us to consider the
the nature
in reality once
middle ages
in the
more a
set of
Each was supreme
make them
in its sphere,
hand the documents esoteric
all
But not
all
of reason is necessarily so in truth, of faith are subject to interpreta-
and may mean something other than appears on the
That the Bible has an
and
agree, for as revelation cannot be
doubted, so neither can the assured results of reason.
tion
documents.
the documents of revelation, Aristotle
which pretends to be the conclusion as on the other
of
lead, as in the case of the
alone, but of a combination of
pure in the case of Philo, mixed with the
And
meaning
these attempts at questioning the
results.
surface.
meaning besides the Kteral has
its
Talmud itself. Reference is found there to a mystic doctrine of creation known as "Maase Bereshit" and a doctrine of the divine chariot called "Maase Merkaba." ^ The exact nature of these teachings is not known since the Talmud itself prohibits the source in the
imparting of this mystic lore to any but the initiated,
i.
e.,
to those
showing themselves worthy; and never to more than one or two at a time.^
But
it is
clear
from the names
of these doctrines that they
centered about the creation story in Genesis and the account of the divine chariot in Ezekiel, chapters one and ten.
and Agada are far
from the
full of
literal
the beliefs current
B. C. found their literature of the
Hebrews, who case, it
interpretations of Biblical texts which are very
and have
httle to
do with the context.
Moreover,
among the Jews in Alexandria in the first century way into mediaeval Jewry, that the philosophic
Greeks was originally borrowed or stolen from the
lost it in
times of storm and stress.^
was believed that the Bible
lusions to philosophic doctrines.
teach philosophy
Besides the Halaka
is
itself
This being the
cannot be without some
That the Bible does not
due to the fact that
it
was intended
al-
clearly
for the salva-
INTRODUCTION tion of all
xvii
men, the simple as well as the wise, women and children
as well as male adults.
For these
it is
know
they
sufficient that
tain religious truths within their grasp
cer-
and conduct themselves
cording to the laws of goodness and righteousness.
A
ac-
strictly philo-
sophic book would have been beyond their ken and they would have
been left without a guide in life. But the more intellectual and the more ambitious are not merely permitted, nay they are obHgated to search the Scriptures for the deeper truths found therein, truths akin to the philosophic doctrines found in will help
them
Greek
literature;
in understanding the Bible aright.
and the
latter
became a
It thus
duty to study philosophy and the sciences preparatory thereto, logic,
mathematics and physics; and thus equipped to approach the
Scriptures
and
interpret
them
in a philosophical
two
of mediaeval Jewish rationahsm has therefore sis of
The study
manner. sides to
it,
the analy-
metaphysical, ethical and psychological problems, and the ap-
plication of these studies to
Now
let
an interpretation
of Scripture.
us take a closer glance at the rationalistic or philosophic
literature to
which the Jews
middle ages
in the
In 529 A. D.
fell heirs.
by order
the Greek schools of philosophy in Athens were closed
Emperor
Justinian.
of
This did not, however, lead to the extinction of
For though the West was
Greek thought as an influence in the world.
gradually dechning intellectually on account of the
fall of
the barbarian invasions which followed in
its train,
of progress in the East which, feeble at
was destined
first,
of several centuries to illumine the whole of
Rome and
there were signs in the course
Europe with
its enlight-
ening rays.
Long
before 529, the date of the closing of the Greek schools, Greek
influence
was introduced
movement victories
in the
East in Asia and Africa.^
goes back to the days
he gained in the Orient.
of
The whole
Alexander the Great and the
From
that time on Greeks settled in
Asia and Africa and brought along with them Greek manners, the
Greek language, and the Greek arts and capital of the Ptolemies in
Egypt
sciences.
Alexandria, the
after the death of Alexander,
and
Antioch, the capital of Syria under the empire of the Seleucidae,
were well-known centres of Greek learning.
When province,
became a Roman and the introduction
Syria changed masters in 64 B. C. and its
form
of civilization did not change,
INTRODUCTION
xviii
of Christianity
and
had the
effect of spreading the influence of the
their language into
Greeks
The
Mesopotamia beyond the Euphrates.
Christians in Syria had to study Greek in order to understand the Scriptures of the Old
and the
of the ecclesiastical councils,
New Testaments, the decrees and canons and the writings
of the
Church Fathers.
Besides rehgion and the Church, the hberal arts and sciences, for
which the Greeks were so famous, attracted the Christians,
and schools were established
interests of the Syrian
in the ecclesiastical centres
where philosophy, mathematics and medicine were studied.
These
branches of knowledge were represented in Greek literature, and hence the works treating of these subjects for the benefit of those
who
had to be translated
know
did not
Greek.
into Syriac
Aristotle
was the
authority in philosophy, Hippocrates and Galen in medicine.
The
oldest of these schools
in the year 363
by
St.
was
Ephrem
in
Edessa in Mesopotamia, founded
of Nisibis.
It
was closed
teachers migrated to Persia where two other schools
one at Nisibis and the other at Gandisapora,
A
in
489 and the
became famous,
third school of phil-
osophy among the Jacobite or Monophysite Christians was that connected with the convent of Kinnesrin on the phrates, which
became famous as a
left
bank
of the
Eu-
seat of Greek learning in the
beginning of the seventh century. Christianity was succeeded in the Orient
and
this
on the part
who came
into
of
Greek studies
The Mohammedan Caliphs employed
of the Syrians.
the Syrians as physicians.
dynasty,
by Mohammedanism,
change led to even greater cultivation
This was especially true of the Abbasid
power
in 750.
When
CaUphate they raised Nestorian Syrians to
they succeeded to the
ofl&ces of
importance, and
the latter under the patronage of their masters continued their studies of
Greek science and philosophy and translated those writings into
Syriac and Arabic.
and Galen
Among
the authors translated were, Hippocrates
in medicine, Euclid,
Archimedes and Ptolemy in mathe-
matics and astronomy, and Aristotle, Theophrastus and Alexander of Aphrodisias in philosophy.
In
many
cases the Greek writings were
not turned directly into Arabic but as the translators were Syrians, the versions were into Arabic.
made
The Syrian
first
into Syriac,
and then from the Syriac
Christians were thus the mediators between
the Greeks and the Arabs.
The
latter,
however, in the course of time
INTRODUCTION
xiy
far surpassed their Syrian teachers, developed important schools of
philosophy, became the teachers of the Jews, and with the help of the
Greek philosophy as well as
latter introduced
Europe
thereof into Christian
in
their
own development
the beginning of the thirteenth
century.
We
see
Greeks,
now
—and
as well as the
we
ings
that the impulse to philosophizing
came from the
not merely the impulse but the material, the matter
method and the terminology. an
find developed
In the Aristotelian writ-
system of thought.
entire
There
is
branch of knowledge dealing with fundamental principles which there represented. of the
organon of thought, the tool which we
He
logic.
is
the
first
all
employ
treats besides of the principles of nature
in the Physics
and the
ment
'
treatise
and natural phe-
on the Heavens.
and
discusses the
the Metaphysics
The Jews first
He
discusses
Psychology."
In the Nikomachean and Eudemian Ethics he analy-
meaning
a list and classification of the virtues bonum or the aim of human life. Finally in summum
of virtue, gives
we have an
being, of the nature of reality
the
'
History of Animals" and other minor works we have a treat-
of biology.
zes the
in our reason-
formula tor of the science and art of
the nature of the soul, the senses and the intellect in his
In the
not
First of all Aristotle stands alone as the discoverer
ing and reflection; he
nomena
not a is
did not get
place
it
analysis of the fundamental notions of
and
of
God.
all this in its
purity for various reasons.
In
was only gradually that the Jews became acquainted
with the wealth of Aristotelian material.
Ibn Daud, the forerunner
of
We
are sure that
Abraham
Maimonides, had a thorough familiarity
with the ideas of Aristotle; and those
who came
after him, for
example
Maimonides, Gersonides, Hasdai Crescas, show clearly that they were deep students of the ideas represented in the writings of the
But
there
Israeli,
is
Stagirite.
not the same evidence in the earlier writings of Isaac
Saadia, Joseph Ibn Zaddik,
Judah Halevi.
They had picked up
Gabirol,
Bahya Ibn Pakuda,
Aristotelian ideas
and
principles,
but they had also absorbed ideas and concepts from other schools,
Greek as well as Arabian, and unconsciously combined the two. Another explanation ated Aristotle
among
for the rarity of the
complete and unadulter-
the Jewish thinkers of the middle ages
is
that
people in those days were very uncritical in the matter of historical
INTRODUCTION
XX and
facts
relations.
Historical
unknown, and a number
and
literary criticism
was altogether
works were ascribed to Aristotle which
of
did not belong to him, and which were foreign in spirit to his thinking.
They emanated from a
different presuppositions.
"Theology
alike,
but
it
of
referring to the treatise called the
and that known as the "Liber de Causis."^
of Aristotle,"^
to Aristotle in the middle ages
Both were attributed Arabs
am
I
mode
different school of thought with
has been shown recently
^
by Jews and
that the former represents
extracts from the works of Plotinus, the head of the Neo-Platonic
school of philosophy, while the latter
derived from a treatise of
is
Proclus, a Neo-Platonist of later date.
Finally a third reason for the
phenomenon
in question is that the
Jews were the pupils of the Arabs and followed their lead in adapting Greek thought to
their
own
happens therefore that even
intellectual
and
in the case of
It so
spiritual needs.
Abraham Ibn Daud, Mai-
monides and Gersonides, who were without doubt well versed in Aristotelian
thought and entertained not merely admiration but
reverence for the philosopher of Stagira,
we
notice that instead of
reading the works of Aristotle himself, they preferred, or were obliged as the case
may
be, to
go to the writings of Alfarabi, Avicenna and
Averroes for their information on the views of the philosopher. the case of Gersonides this neither Latin nor Arabic^ text of Aristotle.
is
easily explained.
In
seems he could read
It
and there was no Hebrew translation
of the
Averroes had taken in the fourteenth century the
place of the Greek philosopher
and instead
of reading Aristotle all
students read the works of the Commentator, as Averroes was called.
Hebrew translation of Aristotle's even among those who read Arabic the demand for
Of course the very absence text proves that
of a
the text of Aristotle was not great, and preference
was shown
works of the interpreters, compendists and commentators,
and Avicenna.
And
this helps us to
Daud and Maimonides who
understand
and
Aristotle.
literary criticism
same preference
One reason may have been
any language by reason
Aristotle
for
the
the lack of historical
spoken of above, and the other the
of the Arabic translations of Aristotle.
into
that Ibn
it is
not only read Arabic but wrote their
philosophical works in Arabic showed the
secondhand
why
for the
like Alfarabi
is
difficulty
hard to translate
of his peculiar technical terminology;
INTRODUCTION and the
difficulty
Syriac in
many
and
was considerably enhanced by the
cases stood between the original Greek
in the second place
language and
xxi
its
by the great
Indo-European
dissimilarity
This
original.
fact that the
and the Arabic,
between the Semitic
may have made
names
great authority which
acquired
still
further served to
like Alfarabi,
the
The
copies of Aristotle's text rare, and gradually led to their disuse.
Avicenna and Averroes
stamp them as the approved expositors
of the AristoteHan doctrine.
Among
the Arabs the earliest division based
question was that of the parties
was that
of free will
idea that
man
is
and determinism.
will does not count.
it is
is
will,
and that
own
determined, and his
This was the popular feehng, though as far as the
not consistent in
its
way
and arguments can be drawn
The
idea of determinism, however,
in plenty in favor of either opinion.
reward and punishment and the justice of God.
possible that a righteous
or the
stand,
seemed repugnant to many minds, who could not reconcile their idea of
and the
Orthodox Islam favored the
concerned the question cannot be decided one
is
other, as
theoretical
the cause of the difference
completely dependent upon the divine
not only his destiny but also his conduct
Koran
upon a
as the ''Kadariya"
The problem which was
^°
"Jabariya."
known
God would
force a
man
with
this
How is it
to act in a certain
manner and then punish him for it? Hence the sect of the " Kadariya,"
who were
in favor of
freedom of the
will.
The Jabariya were
the
determinists.
This division goes back to a very early period before the introduction of the Aristotelian philosophy its
among
the Arabs,
and hence owes
inception not to reason as opposed to religious dogma, but to a
pious endeavor to understand clearly the rehgious view upon so im-
portant a question.
From the Kadariya, and in opposition to the AristoteUan movement which had in the meantime gained ground, developed the school of theologians known as the "Mutakallimun." They were the first among the Arabs who dehberately laid down the reason as a source of knowledge in addition to the authority of the Koran and the "Sunna" or tradition. They were not freethinkers, and their object was not was
to oppose orthodoxy as such.
to purify the faith
by
freeing
it
On
the contrary, their purpose
from such elements as obscured
INTRODUCTION
xxii
in their
minds the purity
They
God.
As a
of the monotheistic tenet
started where the Kadariya left off
and the
justice of
and went
further.
school of opposition their efforts were directed to prove the
creation of the world, individual providence, the reality of miracles,
as against the "philosophers,"
i. e.,
the Aristotehans,
who
held to the
eternity of motion, denied God's knowledge of particulars, sisted
For
on the unchanging character this
and
in-
of natural law.
purpose they placed at the basis of their speculations not
the AristoteHan concepts of matter
and form, the former uncreated
and continuous, but adopted the atomistic theory
of Democritus,
denied the necessity of cause and effect and the validity of natural law,
and made God
moment
every
in
directly responsible for everything that
God, they
life.
said, creates continually,
not hampered by any such thing as natural law, which
name
for that
which we are accustomed to
are accustomed to see the ground wet, and
a necessary connection wetness of the ground. or the
Mu tazila,
willed that shall
a
it
be wet.
rain, it
of cause
and
Nothing
effect
God
of the kind,
willed that the
would be dry; and the one
than the other.
is
it
rains
we
that there
is
between the rain and the say the Mutakallimun,
the oldest sect of the school.
should rain, and the ground If
we conclude
and he
merely our
is
Whenever
see.
happened
is
It rains because
wet because God
God
wills it
ground should be dry following is
no more and no
less
natural
Miracles cease to be miracles on this conception of
natural processes.
Similarly the
dogma
of creation is easily vindi-
cated on this theory as against the Aristotelian doctrine of eternity of the world,
which follows from
his doctrine of
matter and form, as
we shall have occasion to see later. The Mu tazila were, however, chiefly known not for their principles of physics but for their doctrines of the unity of God and his justice. It was this which gave them their name of the "Men of Unity and Justice," i. e., the men who vindicate against the unenlightened views of popular orthodoxy the unity of God and his justice. The discussion of the unity centered about the proper interpretation of the anthropomorphic passages in the Koran and the doctrine of the divine attributes. When the Koran speaks of God's eyes, ears, hands, feet; of his seeing, hearing, sitting, standing, walking,
being angry, smiling, and so on, must those phrases be understood
INTRODUCTION If so
literally?
by
To
God.
of
God
similar to
is
man, corporeal
This seemed to the
passions.
xxiii
Mu tazila
like
him, and swayed
an unworthy conception
vindicate his spirituality the anthropomorphic passages
Koran must be understood metaphorically. The other more difficult question was in what sense can
in the
be ascribed to phism.
If I
God
at all?
say that
I attribute to
God
God
It is
is
omniscient, omnipotent and a living God,
power, knowledge.
life,
attributes
not here a question of anthropomor-
same with God's essence or are they
Are these attributes the
different?
If different
(and they
God was never without them), then we have more than one eternal being, and God is dependent upon others. If must be
eternal since
they are not different from God's essence, then his essence
composed
strict unity, since it is
of
life,
is
not a
power, knowledge; for
life is
The only way to defend the is not knowledge. God in its absolute purity is to say that God has no attributes, i. e., God is omniscient but not through knowledge as his attribute; God is omnipotent but not through power as his attribute, and so on. God is absolutely one, and there is no distinction between knowledge, power, and life in him. They are all one, and are his not power, and power unity of
essence.
This seemed in opposition to the words of the Koran, which
fre-
quently speaks of God's knowledge, power, and so on, and was accordingly
condemned as
heretical
by the orthodox.
In the tenth century a new sect arose named the "Ashariya" after Al-Ashari,
its
conciliate orthodoxy
thinking.
tic
This was a party of moderation, and tended to
founder.
by not going too
They
solved the problem
through a knowledge which
The
of the justice of
Kadariya before them. will.
is
God.
justice as the only
be
just
saying,
"God knows
Mu' tazila devoted
This was in
line
their attention
with the efforts of the
It concerned itself with the doctrine of free
They defended man's
on
by
not different from his essence."
other problem to which the
was that
far in the direction of rationalis-
absolute freedom of action, and insisted
motive of God's deahngs with men.
and cannot act otherwise than
God must
in accordance with justice.
In reference to the question of the nature of good and orthodox position was that good that which
God
forbids.
is
that which
evil,
God commands,
In other words, nothing
is
in itself
the evil
good or
INTRODUCTION
xxiv
the ethical character of an act
evil,
to
God were
If
it.
command
to
and
evil.
because an act
it is
purely relative to God's attitude
would be a good
it
act.
They believed in the absolute What makes an act good or bad is reason, good that God commands it, and not the
The Mu'tazila were opposed character of good and
is
cannibalism,
is
to this.
reverse.
The lite
foregoing account gives us an idea of the nature of the Mu'tazi-
discussions of the
Their works were
two
into
all
two problems
of
God's unity and God's
parts, one dealing with the question of the unity,
The
other with that of justice.
justice.
They were divided
arranged in the same way.
and the
by
proofs of the unity were preceded
the proofs of God's existence, and the latter were based upon a demonstration that the world
not eternal, but bears traces of having come
is
These are the earmarks by which a Mu'taziHte book
to be in time.
could be recognized, and the respect for them on the part of the philosophers,
i. e.,
tions of nature to suit the religious beUefs
Maimonides expresses a
latter did
not
in a philosophical fight, claiming
came with preconceived notions and arranged
that they
fend.
The
the AristoteUans, was not great.
them worthy combatants
consider
similar
worthlessness as philosophical thinkers.
their concep-
which they desired to de-
judgment concerning
their
^^
This school of the Mutakallimun, or of the more important part of it
known
as the Mu'tazila,
In the
rationaHsm.
first
is
of great interest for the history of Jewish
place their influence on the early Jewish
philosophers was great and unmistakable. late
day but
is
well
been said and as of these to
of his
will
known
to
appear with greater detail
him unphilosophical
"Guide
It
Maimonides who thinkers.
of the Perplexed,"
he says,
no discovery
is is
of a
himself, as has just
later,
a strong opponent
In the seventy-first chapter
"You
will find that in the
few works composed by the Geonim and the Karaites on the unity of
God and on such matter lowed the lead of the
as
is
connected with this doctrine, they
Mohammedan
Mutakallimun. ...
fol-
It also
Mohammedans adopted this among them a certain sect, called
happened, that at the time when the
method
of the
Mu'tazila.
method
Kalam, there arose
In certain things our scholars followed the theory and the
of these Mu'tazila."
Thanks
to the researches of
modern Jewish and non- Jewish
scholars
INTRODUCTION we know now more
that the Rabbanite thinker Saadia and the Karaite
Joseph Al Basir and Jeshuah ben Judah, are indebted
writers, like
far
XXV
to the
Mohammedan
Mu'tazihtes than would appear from
Maimonides's statement just quoted.
The Rabbanites being staunch
adherents of the Talmud, to the influence of which they owed a
and
national
the Karaites,
much
religious self-consciousness
who
themselves to be carried rationalists as to
stronger than that of
rejected the authority of tradition, did not allow
away
become
so far
by the
ideas of the
scrupulous; and as they were the
first
among
Mohammedan
The Karaites
their slavish followers.
are less
the Jews to imitate the
Mu'tazila in the endeavor to rationalize Jewish doctrine, they adopted their views in all details,
and
it is
sometimes impossible to
contents of a Karaite Mu'tazilite work whether
Jew
or a
Mohammedan.
The arrangement
it
tell
from the
was written by a
work
in the
two
discussion of substance
and
accident, of the creation of the world, of the existence, unity
and
divisions of
"Unity" and "Justice," the
of the
incorporeality of God, of his attributes, of his justice,
two that
free will, are so similar in the
we owe
to which
of
human
external evidence alone
it is
the knowledge of certain Karaite works as Jewish.
There are no mediaeval Jewish works treating ical
and
problems in which there
theological prepossession
so
is
and
writings of Mu'tazilite stamp.
much
of religious
and theolog-
aloofness, such absence of
religious feeling as in
some Karaite
Cold and unredeemed logic gives the
tone to the entire composition.
Another reason for the importance of the history of Jewish thought ^^
gested
is
tact, particularly in the city of
The
Mu tazila
Basra, an important centre of the
reader will recall that the two
were the unity of God and his
signified the
would
Schreiner has sug-
Mu' tazilite movement was due to the Jews with whom the Mohammedans came in con-
that the origin of the
influence of learned
school.
Mu tazilite school for the
of recent discovery.
freedom of the
of course
will.
main doctrines
justice.
The
of the
latter really
That these are good Jewish views
prove nothing for the origin of similar opinions among
Mohammedans. For it is not here a question simply of the dogbelief in Monotheism as opposed to polytheism. Mohammedanism is as a religion Monotheistic and we know that Mohammed was indebted very much to Jews and Judaism. We are here concerned the
matic
INTRODUCTION
xxvi
with the origin of a rationalistic movement which endeavors to defend
a
spiritual conception of
God
against a crude anthropomorphism, to
vindicate a conception of his absolute unity against the threatened multiplication of his essence
and which puts
human
justice rather
of eternal attributes,
than upon his omnip-
Another doctrine of the
freedom.
was that the Koran was not eternal as the orthodox be-
but that
lieved,
by the assumption
upon God's
to save
otence so as
Mu tazila
stress
it
Now we
was created.
can find parallels for most
Anthropomorphism was avoided
of these doctrines.
in the
Aramaic
Hebrew and known as
translations of the Pentateuch, also in certain changes in the text
which are recorded in Rabbinical
"Tikkune Soferim," or corrections maintaining the unity of
men
with which the
God
of the
literature,
Scribes. ^^
of the
Agada
forbid
any prayer which may have
a semblance, however remote, of dualism. ^^
The freedom
clearly stated in the Rabbinic expression, "All
except the fear of Heaven." sage in Job 23, 13,
in the following
him who with
"But he
is
manner, "It
his
is
in the
is
by Rabbi Akiba
explained
not possible to answer the words of
is
for he rules all things with
And we
find a parallel also for the
Koran
^^
in the Midrashic statement that the
parallels alone
The
Mu'tazilite
sects,
founders were in close relation. ^^
two
Moreover, there
The
one
is
a
movement
ascetic literature
by the Halaka
Mohammedan
tradition or
to the effect that the doctrine of the creation of the
also of the rejection of
is
with the leaders of
bears unmistakable traces of having been influenced
and the Agada. ^^
Torah
^'^
would not be of much weight, but they are
seems to have developed among the ascetic its
God
one and who can turn him, and what
strengthened by other considerations.
whom
of
apparently deterministic pas-
of the six or seven things created before the world.
These
of the will is
hands
word created the world,
truth and with righteousness." creation of the
And an
^^
even that he doeth, "
his soul desire th,
Concern for
in its absolute purity is seen in the care
Koran and
anthropomorphism goes back to a Jew, Lebid-
ibn Al-A'sam.2°
More
recently
still
Patristic writings
* C. H. Becker proved from a study of certain
that
the polemical literature of
played an important role in the formation of *CJ. Zeitschrift
fiir
the
Christians
Mohammedan dogma,
Assyriologie, 1912, 175
ff.
INTRODUCTION
sxvii
and he shows conclusively that the form in which the problem of freedom was discussed among the Mohammedans was taken from Christianity, The question of the creation or eternity of the Koran or word of Allah, eternal Logos,
and
on the other
is
similarly related to the Christian idea of the
is
who
on the one hand the Word and the Wisdom,
is
identified with Jesus Christ.
holds of the doctrine of attributes. tian
dogma than
And
the
same thing
It played a greater role in Chris-
ever did in Judaism prior to the philosophic era
it
To
in the middle ages.
be sure, the Patristic writers were
much
in-
debted to Philo, in whose writings the germ of the mediaeval doctrine of attributes
plainly evident.
is
not read Philo.
It
would seem,
be considerably modified,
if
But the Mohammedan
schools did
therefore, that Schreiner's
view must
not entirely rejected, in view of the later
evidence adduced by Becker.
The more extreme
ariya, such as the denial of
the denial of man's abihty to determine his actions,
effect, likewise
none
of the
more orthodox Ashnatural law and the necessity of cause and
doctrines, however, of the
Here we have again the testimony
Jews accepted.
Maimonides, who, however,
is
of
not inclined to credit this circumstance
to the intelligence and judgment of his predecessors, but to chance.
His words
are,
"Although another
sect, the
Ashariya, with their
pecuhar views, was subsequently established among the medans, you
will
not find any of these views in the writings of our
authors; not because these authors preferred the opinions of the
named
own
Moham-
sect to those of the latter, but because they
become acquainted with the theory
chanced
of the Mu'tazila,
first
first
to
which they
adopted and treated as demonstrated truth."^^
The
philosophers up to
gave
Kalam is present in greater or less degree in the Abraham Ibn Daud and Maimonides. The latter
influence of the
this
system
its
death blow in his thoroughgoing criticism, ^^ and
thenceforth Aristotelianism was in possession of the field until that
too was attacked by Hasdai Crescas.
Another sect fluence ascetics their
tian
on some
and the
mode
of the
Mohammedans which had
of the Jewish philosophical Sufis
of life
and
who
and
are related to them.
their doctrines
considerable in-
ethical writers are the
The
latter
developed
under the influence of the Chris-
monks, and are likewise indebted to Indian and Persian
ideas.
^^
INTRODUCTION
xxviii
In
their
mode
of life they belong to the class of ascetics
human
abstinence, indifference to
absolute trust in one's
own
behalf,
him even and
in
praise
and blame, love
to the extent of refraining
from
and preach of
God and
all effort
in
extreme cases going so far as to court danger.
In theoretical teaching they adopted the emanatistic doctrine of the This has been called dynamic Pantheism.
Neo-Platonic School.
Pantheism because universe.
in its last analysis
At the same time
it
it
does not bring
God
It is
God with
identifies
the
directly in contact
with the world, but only indirectly through the powers or Bvvdfiei^^
These powers emanate successively from
hence dynamic Pantheism.
the highest one, forming a chain of intermediate powers mediating
between God and the world
dimmer and
less
of matter, the links of the chain
growing
pure as they are further removed from their origin,
while the latter loses nothing in the process.
This latter condition
saves the Neo-Platonic conception from being a pure system of emanation like
gives
some Indian
In the latter the
doctrines.
away something
of itself
process in both systems
is
and
loses thereby
first
from
cause actually
The
its fulness.
explained by use of analogies, those of the
radiation of light from a luminous body,
and
of the overflowing of a
fountain being the most common.
The
chief exponent of the ethics of the Sufis in mediaeval Jewish
literature is
In his ethical work "The Duties of
Bahya Ibn Pakuda.
the Hearts," he lays the same stress on intention and inwardness in
rehgious
life
and
practice as against outward performance with the
limbs on the one hand and dry scholasticism on the other, as do the Sufis.
sect
In matters of detail too he
is
very
much
indebted to this Arab
from whose writings he quotes abundantly with as well as without
acknowledgment men.
To be
of his sources except in a general
sure,
way
he does not follow them slavishly and
as the wise rejects the
extremes of asceticism and unworldly cynicism which a great of the Sufis preached
and practiced.
He
is
many
sympathy with
He adopts their teachings only where he can support
their mysticism.
them with analogous views
as expressed in the Rabbinical writings,
which indeed played an important role in erature, being the source of
The systems
also not in
of thought
Jewish as well as
many
Mohammedan
of the sayings
ascetic
found in the
lit-
latter.
^^
which had the greatest influence upon
Mohammedan
theology, were the great systems of
INTRODUCTION Plato
as
(especially
xxix
and
developed in Neo-Platonism)
Aristotle.
These two philosophies not merely affected the thinking of Jew and
Mohammedan
but really transformed
a person, he creates the world
he
theless
soul into
will
of
of
God and
in the
manner
in
in time
and
it
man and communicates
to
in
God
the world.
nothing to be sure
and a purpose
thought of doing
is
such things with a
—out
ethical
In the Bible and similarly
the Koran we have a purely personal view is
from rehgious and
it
discussions into metaphysical systems.
—but never-
which a person does
him laws and
He
place.
puts a
prohibitions.
Man
God and must obey these laws because they and he will be rewarded and punished according to his attitude
are good,
are the will of
obedience and disobedience. is
human,
personal,
The
There
teleological, ethical.
at an impersonal and
in
character of the entire point of view
objective analysis of the
is
no attempt made
common
existing things, the elements underlying all nature.
aspects of
Nor
is
there
all
any
conscious effort at a critical classification of the various kinds of things existing in nature
in Genesis
beyond the ordinary and evident
—
heaven and earth;
classification
moon and
in heaven, sun,
found
stars;
on
earth, grass, fruit trees, insects, water animals, birds, quadrupeds,
Then
man.
light
and darkness, the seasons
of the year,
dry land and
water.
In Greek philosophy for the ing the
common
first
time
we
find speculations concern-
element or elements out of which the world
the material cause as Aristotle later called
it.
is
made
The Sophists and Socwhat is involved in
rates gave the first impulse to a logical analysis of
description or definition.
thing
is
The concept
as denoting the essence of
the important contribution Socrates
made
a
to knowledge.
Plato objectified the concept, or rather he posited an object as the basis of the concept,
and
raised
inteUigible world of realities
But
it
was
Aristotle
it
out of this world of shadows to an
on which the world
of particulars depends.
who made a thoroughgoing
analysis of thing as
and he was the master of knowledge through the middle ages alike for Jew, Christian and Mohammedan. First of all he classified all objects of our experience and found that well as thought,
they can be grouped in ten classes or categories as he called them.
Think
of
object in
any thing you please and you will find that it is either an the strict sense, i. e., some thing that exists independently
INTRODUCTION
XXX of anything else,
a mountain, a
the recipient of quahties, as for example a man,
is
Or
it is
a quantity,
and so on throughout the ten
slave;
like four, or cubit; or
a qual-
good, black, straight; or a relation like long, double, master,
ity, like
applies to words
the
and
chair.
first
two
and
led
it
This classification
categories.
thoughts as well as to things.
him
As an
more important investigations
to
analysis of
of speech
and
thinking and arguing, and resulted in his system of logic, which
is
momentous discovery of a single mind recorded in history. As applied to things it was followed by a more fundamental analysis of the most
all real
He
objects in our world into the two elements of matter
argued as follows: nothing in the material world
an individual
and
It changes its state
thing.
finally ceases to be the thing
stages before
changes
its
and when
it is
from moment to moment
An
was.
acorn passes a number of
placed in the ground
form continually and then comes out as an oak.
products
tificial
ripe,
it is
it
and form.
permanent as
is
man
in a
measure imitates nature.
of marble and makes a statue out of
He
it.
He
again
it
In ar-
takes a block
forms a log into a bed.
man becomes civilized and learned. All these examples change. What then is change? Is there any similarity in
So an ignorant illustrate all
Can we
the cases cited?
which
apply to
will
all
express the process of change in a formula
instances of change?
an insight into a process of nature which two elements
we
Yes,
in our experience.
is
If so,
can, says Aristotle.
in the changing thing.
we
shall
have gained
all-embracing and universal
When
Change
is
a play of
a thing affected with one
quality changes into a thing with the opposite quahty, there
be the thing
Thus when
changing.
It is the uncolored
and now
lost that
There
change.
is
is
something neither white nor
matter which
and took on the form in all
is
a white fence becomes black, the fence itself
or that which undergoes the change black.
must
without either of the opposite qualities, which
itself
first
had the form
of black.
This
is
of white
typical of all
change ultimately an unchanging substratum
always the same, which takes on one quality after another, or as Aristotle
which
and
it is
go.
thing
would say, one form
which
matter,
is
in its purity
the seat
and
is
after another.
This substratum
come The changing matter and form, and change means separa-
residence.
The forms on
the other hand
Form does not change any more than matter. the composite of
is
not affected with any quality or form, of
INTRODUCTION tion of the actual
and makes room
made out
is
still
for its opposite.
have some form if it is
not pure matter,
is
In
this case the
left
But marble
is
ultimately
water, earth, which are simpler;
fire, air,
though not in practice, we can think away
theoretically,
and we have
present, will
already endowed with
it is
composite.
is
reducible to the four elements,
only that which takes forms but
is itself
all
form,
not any form.
matter.
is
Here the reader whatsoever,
will ask,
what kind
not nothing at
is it
of thing
How
all?
longer pure matter.
matter
answer
Aristotle's
moment
is
that
object and
it is
that matter
is
composed
And
no
yet
it is
not true
it
has an existence of
this leads us to
another important
a pure figment of the imagination;
own, a potential existence.
it is
true that pure
Point to any real
And
and form.
of matter
that
it is
it is
never found as an objective existence.
is
that has no form
is it
can anything exist without
being a particular kind of thing, and the
its
the marble which lost
is
In that case then the matter underlying
to be marble.
some primitive form and
This
matter
marble, for marble must have certain
if it is still
the change in question
and
In a given case, say, when a statue
of a block of marble, the
you take away both the previous form and the
if
qualities
which one, the form, disappears
of
form and assumed the form of a statue.
its original
marble,
components
xxxi
conception in the Aristotelian philosophy.
PotentiaHty and actuality are correlative terms corresponding to
matter and form.
Matter
the potential, form
is
ever potentiaHties an object has essence
due to
is
at once.
it is
its
A
form.
liable to
sublunar world are not of this kind.
matter the
is
This
it is
life
and form. all
anything
from
It is clear
then
due to
actually nothing.
moment
sublunar
is
and
this
They
What-
Its actual all
that
It
is
realize themselves gradu-
all
their matter.
it is
that they are capable of
On
the other hand, pure
just capacity for being anything,
and
affected with form.
account that matter and form are the bases of
existence.
For motion
processes of
the actual.
matter.
change of any kind, whether
and are never at any given moment
becoming.
is
its
All the objects of our experience in the
progress or retrogression.
ally,
owes to
thing free from matter would be
would not be
It
it
life
is
No
change, no motion without matter
presupposed in
all
and death and change
kinds of change.
If
of all kinds presuppose
INTRODUCTION
xxxii
matter and form, the latter cannot themselves be
and motion,
to believe in the eternity of matter
is
composed
Aristotle
This
an Aristotelian definition and applies not merely to motion sense,
strict
but embraces of the air in
e.,
i.
In
end
The
Take
state as cold
potentially
it is
itself actual, for
to
make
its
actuality are contradictory states
same thing at the same time
a state of being
warm,
i. e., it is
At the
actual
it
is
potential cannot
must be
being potential.
same
actual,
above
illustration,
exist side
by
and
side in the
There must there-
relation.
a cold room cannot make
which
Potentiality
fore be an external agent, itself actual, to actualize a potential. in the
a kind
is
itself is
and cannot
in the
warming
room
Hence the process
That which
itself
contrary to the hypothesis of
in the
becoming warm.
of
warm.
the actualization of the potential.
is
of being cold to
is
translation,
as an example the
warm, but has the capacity
of the process it is actually
make
of
process of heating the
passes from a state
its original
actually not
or motion
in place,
kinds of change.
all
a cold room.
of motion; the air
warm.
movement
led
in other words, the
the realization of the potential qua potential.
is
is
of
we know them.
eternity of the world processes as
Motion
and
liable to genesis
decay and change, for that would mean that matter matter and form, which is absurd. We thus see how
itself
Thus,
warm. There
must be some agency itself actually warm to cause the air in the room to pass from cold to warm. This is true also of motion in place, that a thing cannot move
But that something something
else.
itself
else
and must be moved by something
if itself
in
motion must again be moved by
This process would lead us to
that a given thing shall be in motion, infinite
number
of things to
it
be in motion.
infinity.
In order
would be necessary This
is
a contradiction in
there
number of things all here and now. terms. Hence if anything is to move at
must be at the end
the next link to move, in the world
mover. it
of the finite chain
is itself
unmoved.
must be due ultimately
If this
for
it
It all,
a link which while causing
Hence the motion existing an unmoved
to the existence of
being causes motion without being
does not act upon the bodies
an
impossible, because
there cannot be an infinite is
else.
moves
as one
body
itself in
acts
motion
upon another,
for a body can move another body only by being itself in motion. The manner in which the unmoved mover moves the world is rather to be
INTRODUCTION
xxxiii
conceived on the analogy of a loved object moving the loving object
without
being moved.
itself
and unite with the object
moved
being
This
in turn.
The person is
the
way
Matter
an eternal mind for the love
is
on
is
in
approach
which
is
no room here
motion
eternal,
of
which Aristotle conceives
There
of the cause of the world's motion.
creation of the world.
in love strives to
of his love without the latter necessarily
for the
and there
eternal,
is
motions have been going
all
eternally.
The unmoved mover, or God, is thus not body, for no body can move another body without being itself in motion at the same time. Besides, all
body
is finite, i. e., it
infinite
magnitude
that
must be bounded by
it
is
has a
finite
A
magnitude.
body
of
an impossibihty, as the very essence
A
surfaces.
finite
of body is body cannot have an
power, as Aristotle proves, though we need not at present
infinite
go into the
But a being which causes eternal infinite power to do this. Hence
details of his proof.
motion in the world must have an
God
another proof that If
God
is
is
not corporeal.
not subject to motion, he
change God
is
without matter, hence he
tuahty without the least potentiahty. wholly
is
not subject to change of any
is
As matter
kind, for change involves motion.
is
at the basis of
is
pure form,
This means that he
is
what he
the time; he has no capacities of being
all
pure ac-
e.,
i.
what he
at any But if he is not corporeal, the nature of his actuahty or must be Thought, pure thinking. And the content of his all
is
time not. activity
thought cannot vary from topic to
which
is
thought; and the highest thought himself; hence
is
God
is
it
would be change,
topic, for this
He must
foreign to him.
be eternally thinking the same
must
be.
But the highest thought
pure thought thinking himself, thought
thinking thought.
The
universe
in the centre
to us.
which its
is
The element is
the
same
natural motion
toward the centre. place
in the
is
just
shape of a sphere with the earth stationary
and the heavens revolving around earth
is
the heaviest, hence
thing, in the centre.
when away from Water is the next
This
it
is its
the centre
exactly as appears
place
its
is
is
in
a straight
heaviest element and
above earth; hence the water
below
or,
natural place; and
its
line
natural
in the world occupies
position spherical in shape round about the earth,
i.
e., it
a
forms a
INTRODUCTION
xxxiv
hollow sphere concentric with the earth.
Next comes the hollow
sphere of air concentric with the other two.
Its natural
away from
its
place in the direction of the earth
motion when
in a straight line
is
toward the circumference of the world, not however going beyond the sphere of the lightest element of
all,
namely,
This has
fire.
its
natural place outside of the other elements, also in the form of a hollow
sphere concentric with the other three.
Its natural
away from the Our
and
straight line
of the circumference.
and
centre of the world earth, water, air
Each one has
the elements in their purity.
in
the other three elements, the one which gives
is
in
a
in the direction
fire it
it
motion
are not really
also mixtures of
the
name predom-
inating.
All minerals, plants
by
and animals are formed from these four elements
various combinations,
all
or the world of generation
world
struction,
There
The
No
individual thing in this
and
All are subject to change
permanent.
is
together forming the sublunar world,
and decay.
though the destruction of one thing
is
to ultimate de-
the genesis of another.
no annihilation.
is
causes of the various combinations of the elements and the
generation and destruction of mineral, plant and animal resulting therefrom, are the motions of the heavenly bodies.
These are made This
of a purer substance than that of the four elements, the ether. is
proven by the fact that the heavenly bodies are not subject to
They
change or destruction. visible in
them is change
from those
are
of place.
all
of the four elements.
toward the centre or away from in a circle eternally
permanent and the only change
But even
it,
The
their
motions are different
latter are in
a straight
line
whereas the heavenly bodies move
around the centre.
This
is
another proof that
they are not composed of the same material as sublunar bodies.
The heavens
consist of transparent spheres,
as the planets are set in
them and remain
and the
fixed.
stars as well
The motions
of the
heavenly bodies are due to the revolutions of the spheres in which they are
set.
These spheres are hollow and concentric.
most sphere forming the outer according to Aristotle)
is
This motion
is
outer-
studded with the fixed stars and moves
from east to west, making a complete revolution hours.
The
limit of the universe (the world is finite
in
twenty-four
transmitted to the other spheres which carry
INTRODUCTION Since, however,
the planets.
we notice in
xxxv
the sun,
moon and
the other
planetary bodies motions in the contrary direction in addition to that
from east to west, there must be other spheres having the motions apparent to us in the positions of the planets borne by them.
moon
given body like the sun or of is
which has
own proper
its
set in
is
more than one
motion, and the star's apparent motion
the resultant of the several motions of
its
know
that Aristotle counted in
came the sphere
it will
be
its
motion, as the object of
each of the other motions has also
form or
spirit,
First
Moon.
himself sets the outer sphere in motion, or rather
cause of
sufficient for
fifty-five spheres.
all
of the fixed stars, then in order the spheres of Saturn,
Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Sun,
God
Without entering
spheres.
into further details concerning these motions,
us to
Thus a
sphere, each
which moves
its
its desire;
its
and
the eternal
is
in the
same way
proper mover, likewise a pure
sphere in the same incorporeal and
unmoved manner as God. Thus we have in the supra-lunar world pure forms without matter in God and the spirits of the spheres, whereas in the sublunar world matter and form are inseparable.
Neither
is
found separately
without the other.
In man's
soul,
which combines forms.
When
however, or rather in his intellect
in contact with the
human body
nature of other sublunar forms exhibiting
and being inseparable from of the body.
The
it.
It continues as
But
it is
its
it
activity through matter
a separate form after death.
the word realization or actualization and the Aristotelian use of the
The body
is
is
word form.
The us may be replaced by
very close in meaning to
The
soul then, according
human
the composition and the structure which give
forming the functions of a
ity of being
body.
the realization or actualization or form of the body.
takes the place of matter in the
say an axe, the
a form
partakes of the
soul, Aristotle defines as the first entelechy of the
to Aristotle,
find
not destroyed with the death
term entelechy which sounds outlandish to
is
we
in itself the peculiarities of sublunar as well as celestial
steel is the
made
human
it
being, as in
It has
the capacity for per-
any other composite,
matter which has the potentiality or capac-
into a cutting instrument.
the form of the axe
composite.
Its cutting function
—we might almost say the soul
of the axe,
if
INTRODUCTION
xxxvi it
were not for the circumstance that
must be wielded by someone
it
cannot do
its
own
cutting;
it
else.
So far then the human soul forms an inseparable unit with the body
which
it
As we do not think
informs.
axe existing apart
emotion or memory as existing without a body.
tion,
soul
is this it is
a material form
thinking faculty.
like the rest,
But the
solution of the body.
As such
soul
is
not in
it is
an
of the cutting function of
from the axe, so neither can we conceive
In so far as the
and ceases with the
more than
its
of sensa-
this.
It
is
dis-
also
a
upon the
essence dependent
body or any corporeal organ. It comes from without, having existed before the body, and it will continue to exist after the body is no more. That it is different from the sensitive soul is proven by the fact that the latter
is
inherent in the physical organ through which
we have
being the form of the body, as
And
seen.
it
acts,
hence when an
unusually violent stimulus, say a very bright light or a very loud sound,
impinges upon the sense organ, the faculty of sight or hearing injured to such an extent that sight or sound.
But
it
is
cannot thereafter perceive an ordinary
in the rational faculty this
is
The
not the case.
more intense the thought occupying the thinking soul, the more capable
it
becomes
To be
of thinking lesser thoughts.
seems to weaken in old age, but
body with which the
soul
this is
connected during
is
sure, the reason
due to the weakening life;
the soul
of the
itself is
just as active as ever.
We
must, however, distinguish between two aspects of the rational
soul, to differs
of the individual thing,
latter perceives the particular
The
form
whereas the former apprehends the essential
nature of the object, that which constitutes class.
Thought
one of which alone the above statements apply.
from sensation in that the
it
a
member
sense of sight perceives a given individual
reason understands what
it is
to be a
member
Reason therefore deals with pure form.
In
of
a certain
man; thought or
human species. man we observe the
of the
The memory
reason gradually developing from a potential to an actual state. objects of the sense with the help of the faculties of sensation,
and imagination act upon the potential intellect of the child, which without them would forever remain a mere capacity without ever being realized. This aspect of the reason then in man, namely, the passive aspect which receives ideas, grows and dies with the body.
INTRODUCTION But
there
another aspect of the reason, the active reason which has
is
nothing to do with the body, though it
during the
intellect to
ideas,
life
it is
some manner resident
when
there
no hght.
is
of sight with
It is the active intellect
which develops the human capacity for thinking and makes This alone, the active
thought.
in-
rational capacity of the individual with actual
any more than a surface can endow the sense
the sensation of color
in
which enables the passive
For the external objects as such are
realized.
endow the
in
it is
This
of the latter.
become
sufficient to
xxxvii
intellect, is
it
active
the immortal part of
man. This very imperfect sketch of Aristotle's mode of approach to the ever-living problems of God, the universe
diversity of his
and man shows us the wide
method from that with which the Jews
Rabbinic tradition were
of Bibhcal
and
Greek philosophy must have
identified.
seemed a revelation to them, and we do not wonder that they became such enthusiastic followers of the Stagirite, feeUng as they must have
done that
his
method as
their intellectual
and
well as his results were calculated to enrich
spiritual
original Jewish philosophy
betraying
its
life.
Hence the current
belief of
borrowed or stolen by the Greeks, and
traces in the Bible
an
still
and Talmud was more than welcome
And
to the enlightened spirits of the time.
they worked this unhis-
torical belief to its breaking point in their Biblical exegesis.
Aristotle, however,
know
was not
their only master,
though they did not
Plotinus in Aristotelian disguise contributed not a
it.
their conception of
"Theology
God and his
of Aristotle" ^^
point of view
is
is
The
relation to the universe.
a Plotinian work, and
in reahty foreign to Aristotle's dualism.
its
little
to
so-called
Pantheistic
But the middle
ages were not aware of the origin of this treatise, and so they attrib-
uted
it
to the Stagirite philosopher
and proceeded
with the rest of his system as they knew Aristotle's
pantheistic
system
may
be called
and monistic.
derived from God,
to harmonize
it
it.
theistic
and duahstic;
In Aristotle matter
is
Plotinus's
is
not created by or
who is external to the universe. Plotinus derives who through his powers or activities pervades
everything from God, all.
The
different gradations of being are static in Aristotle,
in Plotinus.
dynamic
Plotinus assumes an absolute cause, which he calls the
One and the Good. This
is
the highest
and
is
at the top of the scale of
INTRODUCTION
xxxviii
Being as well as to Thought, for the
It is superior to
existence.
imply a duality whereas unity
Hence we can know nothing as can know only
He
that
prior to
is
latter
all plurality.
We
to the nature of the Highest.
not what he
is,
and above
From
is.
this highest
Being
proceeds by a physical necessity, as light from a luminous body or
water from an overflowing spring, a second hypostasis or substance, the nous or Reason.
This is a duality, constituting Being and KnowlThus Thought and Being hold a second place in the universe. In a similar way from Reason proceeds the third h3^ostasis or the edge.
This stands midway between the
World-Soul.
which
it is
the
and the phenomenal world,
last,
The Soul has a dual
aspect, the one spiritual
intelligible world, of
which
of
intelligible world, the other, called Nature, residing in the
This
the material world of change and decay.
is
for all
change and
above
it,
and
indirectly.
is
evil,
the lower world
Matter of
Matter
is
two-fold, intelligible
and
sensible.
the non-existent and the cause of
is
is
this
nature
is
found also in the
by the One or the Good. This
matter, but
responsible
it is
The matter
of
Matter
a
evil.
in
the indeterminate, the indefinite and the potenintelligible world.
activity,
potentiality to actuality, its indeterminateness being
is
lower world.
is
a product of the powers
too, is
Reason as the second hj^ostasis, being an ate
first.
ultimately a derivative of the Absolute Cause, though
Matter
more general sense tial.
and yet matter,
the
it is
and pertaining to the
potentiality
The
passes from
made determin-
and indeterminateness
not to be confused with the other matter of the phe-
nomenal world.
Man
partakes of the
His body
But
is
his soul
material, is
intelligible,
and
in so far forth partakes of the evil of matter.
derived from the universal soul, and
properly in this world, whither
it
aloof from bodily contamination,
where
is its
as well as of the sensible world.
conducts
itself
came from without, and holds
itself
it will
return to the intelligible world
home.
We see here a number of ideas foreign first in
God
if it
Philo the
Jew and appear
to Aristotle, which are found
later in mediaeval philosophy.
as a Being absolutely unknowable, of
true just because he
is
the
acme
whom
of perfection
Thus
negations alone are
and bears no analogy to
the imperfect things of our world; matter in our world as the origin of evil,
and the existence
of
matter in the
intelligible
world
—
all
these
INTRODUCTION meet us again
ideas will
some
in one,
some
xxxix
Ibn Gabirol, in Ibn Daud, in Mainionides,
in
in the other.
Alike in respect to Aristotle as in reference to Plotinus, the Jewish
The "Theology
philosophers found their models in Islamic writers. Aristotle" which, as Aristotelian,
exerted
seen,
is
really Plotinian rather
was translated into Arabic
in the ninth century
of
than
and
on the Brethren of Purity, a Mohammedan secret the tenth century. These men composed an encyclopaedia of
its
order of
we have
influence
fifty-one treatises in
which
is
combined Aristotelian
with Neo-Platonic metaphysics and theology. writers as
logic
and physics
In turn such Jewish
Ibn Gabirol, Bahya, Ibn Zaddik, Judah Halevi, Moses and
Abraham Ibn
Ezra, were
much
indebted to the Brethren of Purity.
This represents the Neo-Platonic influence in Jewish philosophy.
The Arab
Aristotelians, Al Kindi,
Al Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes,
while in the main disciples of the Stagirite, were none the less unable to steer clear of Neo-Platonic coloring of their master's doctrine,
and
Abraham Ibn
they were the teachers of the Jewish AristoteUans,
Daud, Moses ben Maimon, Levi ben Gerson.
One
other phase must be mentioned to complete the parallelism of
Islamic and Jewish philosophy, and that attitude adopted
the anti-philosophic
is
by Judah Halevi and Hasdai
Crescas.
It
was not a
dogmatic and unreasoned opposition based simply upon the unJewish source of the doctrines in question and their incompatibility with Jewish behef and tradition, such as exhibited troversies that raged
Especially do
with
man
we
find this to be the case in
on philosophic grounds.
less rigor
and
Here we own weapons. Crescas who opposes
trained in philosophic hterature,
theology of
all
the philosophic
warm
yearning after
God
of the rehgious
that was racial and national and historic in religion, its
very heart and innermost essence.
this attitude, too,
Gazali,
who found
nevertheless a
could not abide the philosophic exclusion from their natural
which was to him In
we have
and unsatisfying because cold and impersonal,
faihng to do justice to the
He
their
In Judah Halevi similarly, though
Httle technical discussion,
attitude unsympathetic
soul.
the con-
around the "Guide" of Maimonides.
have rather a fighting of the philosophers with
Aristotle
itself in
who
we
find
an Arab prototype
similarly attacked the philosophers
in the person of
on
their
Al
own ground
INTRODUCTION
xl
and found
his consolation in the asceticism
and mysticism
of the
Sufis.
We
have now spoken
in a general
way
of the principal motives of
mediaeval Jewish philosophy, of the chief sources, philosophical and
dogmatic, and have classified the Jewish thinkers accordingly as
We
Mutakallimun, Neo-Platonists and Aristotelians. briefly the schools of
and determined
philosophy which influenced the Jewish writers
their point of
There
AristoteUan.
also sketched
still
view as Kalamistic, Neo-Platonic or
remains as the concluding part of the in-
troductory chapter, and before
we take up
the detailed exposition of
the individual philosophers, to give a brief and compendious char-
We
acterization of the content of mediaeval Jewish philosophy.
shall
start with the theory of knowledge.
We
have already referred to the attitude generally adopted by the
mediaeval Jewish thinkers on the relation between rehgion and philos-
With the exception of Judah Halevi and Hasdai Crescas the commonly accepted view was that philosophy and religion were at ophy.
bottom
identical in content,
though their methods were
different;
philosophy taught by means of rational demonstration, religion by
dogmatic assertion based upon divine revelation.
So far as the actual
philosophical views of an Aristotle were concerned, they might be
erroneous in some of their details, as was indeed the case in respect to the origin of the world
from
his errors
and the question
of Providence.
an indispensable adjunct to rehgious behef because It explains the why's
intelligent.
traditions
and dogmas.
origin of our
of
God and
find for the
it
makes the
and the wherefore's
is
latter
of religious
Into detailed discussions concerning the
knowledge they did not as a rule
scientific questions did
main object
But apart
he was an important guide, and philosophy generally
These
go.
strictly
not concern, except in a very general way, the
of their philosophizing, his attributes
and
most part a simple
which was to gain true knowledge
his relation to
man.
Accordingly
classification of the sources of
edge or truth as consisting of the senses and the reason. contains some truths which
may
we
knowl-
The
latter
be called innate or immediate, such
as require no experience for their recognition, like the logical laws of
thought, and truths which are the result of inference from a fact of sensation or an immediate truth of the mind.
To
these
human
sources
INTRODUCTION was added
xli
tradition or the testimony of the revealed
word
of
God
in
the written and oral law.
When
Aristotle
began to be studied
details of the psychology cially
in his larger treatises and the and the metaphysics became known espe-
through Averroes, we find among the Jews also an interest in the
finer points of the
problem of knowledge.
idealism and Aristotle's conceptualism
(if
The motives
of Plato's
this inexact description
may
be allowed for want of a more precise term) are discussed with fulness
and
detail
by Levi ben Gerson. He Knowledge must be
realizes the difficulty involved in
the problem.
But the
particular
permanent,
is
not
is
of the real
and the permanent.
not permanent, and the universal, which
real.
is
Hence either there is no knowledge or there is a
reality corresponding to the universal concept.
view adopted by Plato.
This latter was the
Gersonides finds the reality in the thoughts of
the Active Intellect, agreeing in this with the views of Philo and
Augustine, substituting only the Active Intellect for their Logos.
Maimonides does not statement that
discuss the question, but
like Aristotle
it is
clear
from a casual
he does not believe in the independent
reahty of the universal (Guide III, i8).
In theoretical physics the Arabian Mutakallimun, we have seen (p.xxii), laid great stress
on the theory
believe in the eternity of the world. laid
down
of
atom and accident
and form by which
to the concepts of matter
his physical theory
Aristotle
as opposed
was
led to
Accordingly every Mutakallim
and based on
it
his proof of creation.
This method was followed also by the early Jewish thinkers.
The
Karaites before Maimonides adopted the atomic theory without question.
And Aaron ben
Elijah,
who had Maimonides's "Guide"
before him, was nevertheless sufficiently loyal to his Karaite predecessors to discuss their views side
and the
to defend first
by
them against the
side with those of the Aristotelians strictures of
Rabbanite philosopher, discusses no
Maimonides. less
Saadia,
than thirteen
er-
roneous views concerning the origin and nature of the world, but he does not lay
down any
He does not seem
principles of theoretical physics explicitly.
to favor the atomic theory, but he devotes no special
treatment to the subject, and in his arguments for creation as opposed to eternity he
makes use
of the Kalamistic concepts of substance
and accident and composition and
division.
The same
is
true of
INTRODUCTION
xlii
Bahya Ibn Pakuda. Joseph Ibn Zaddik
the
is
first
who
finds
it
neces-
sary to give an independent treatment of the sciences before proceed-
and
ing to construct his rehgious philosophy,
destruction, the four elements
and
he expounds
accident, genesis
and so on
their natures
Ibn Daud follows in the path
Aristotelian concepts.
and
in so doing
and form, substance and
the concepts of matter
discusses the relevant concepts of potentiaHty
of
ough
criticism
and actuality and
and refutation
ground
clears the
these
is
of the Kalamistic physics,
based of
by a
first
thor-
but he does
it
necessary to expound the Aristotelian views which he
He
refers the reader to the original sources in the Physics
not think adopts.
God.
Maimonides
all
Ibn Zaddik
the nature of motion and infinity, upon which his proof the existence of
—
and
and Metaphysics
and contents himself with giving a
list
now
the
which he regards as estabHshed.
of principles
master of
of Aristotle,
all
those
And he
who know.
to
deny some
is
supreme for over a
Or Adonai" of Hasdai Crescas, upon which Maimon-
century until the appearance of the
who ventured
Aristotle
reigns
of the propositions
God
ides based his proof of the existence of
—such, for
example, as
the impossibility of an infinite magnitude, the non-existence of an infinite fulness or
finiteness of our
vacuum
world and
outside of the limits of our world, the its
unity,
and so
on.
These discussions of the fundamental principles of physics were applied ultimately to prove the existence of God. difference in the
before the
the is,
manner
of the application.
"Emunah Ramah"
method employed was that
of
But there was a
During the
earlier period
Abraham Ibn Daud was
of the
written,
Arabian Mutakallimun.
That
the principles of physics were used to prove the creation of the
world in time, and from creation inference was made to the existence
The
of a Creator, since nothing can create itseK.
creation itself in
time as opposed to eternity was proved from the fact of the composite character of the world.
Composition,
it
existence of the constituent elements, eternal, for
common With
an
infinite
to Saadia,
past time
is
was
said, implies the prior
and the elements cannot be
unthinkable.
Bahya, Joseph Ibn Zaddik, and
This method
is
others.
the appearance of Ibn Daud's masterpiece, which exhibits
a more direct familiarity with the fundamental ideas of Aristotle, the method changed.
The
existence of
God
is
proved directly from
INTRODUCTION
xliii
Motion
physics without the mediation of the doctrine of creation.
we must posit an not himself moved at
proves a mover, and to avoid an infinite regress
unmoved mover, the same is
time.
the spiritual
that
is,
a
mover who
first
is
An unmoved mover cannot be corporeal, hence he being whom we call God. Ibn Daud does not make
use of creation to prove the existence of God, but neither does he
And
posit eternal motion as Aristotle does.
no vaHd proof that
way
the result
that he has
is
unmoved mover is a pure spirit not in any This defect was made good by Maimonides.
this
related to body.
Let us frankly adopt tentatively, he says, the Aristotehan idea eternity of the world,
i. e.,
the eternity of matter
then prove the existence of an unmoved mover for
none but a pure
spirit
can have an
infinite force
pure
is
such as
spirit,
is
mani-
Creation cannot be demon-
fested in the eternal motion of the world.
strated with scientific rigor, hence
who
of the
We can
and motion.
not safe to build so important
it is
a structure as the existence of God upon an insecure foundation.
Show
that eternity of the world leads to God, and you are safe no
matter what the ultimate truth turns out to be concerning the origin
For
of the world.
that
God made
the world originated in time there
if
is
no doubt
it.
Thus Maimonides accepted provisionally the eternity of matter and motion, but provisionally only. No sooner did he prove his point, than he takes up the question of the world's origin and argues that while strict demonstration there creation, the better reasons are
is
as yet none either for or against
on the
side of creation.
Gersonides, on the other hand, was a truer Aristotelian than Mai-
monides and he decided in favor not of
The Jewish Mutakallimun,
God from step
was
as
we have
show that there
is
the sense of uniqueness was
proved the existence
is
The next God is
is
incorporeal.
The unity
God was not
Maimonides, indeed, pointed out, if
there
in
shown by pointing out that dualism or
incompatible with omnipotence and perfection
Mutakallimun, that
of
only one God, and that this one
butes the possession of which by proof.
seen,
the fact that a created world impUes a creator.
to
simple and not composite, and that he
pluralism
though
of the eternity of matter,
our world.
this
is
—
attri-
considered to require
in his opposition to the
a plurality of worlds, a plurality of
INTRODUCTION
xKv Gods would not
and
necessarily be in conflict with the omnipotence
God in his own sphere (Guide I, 75), and he inferred the unity of God from his spirituaHty. The simpHcity of God was proved by arguing that if he is composite, perfection of each
his parts are prior to him,
and he
is
neither the
first,
nor
and hence not God; and the incorporeality followed from for all
body
is
composite.
and
existence, unity
him
leads
tellect.
first
For his argument from motion
mover
as a "separate" form or in-
This clearly denotes incorporeality, for body
But
it
he eternal,
his simplicity,
Maimonides proved with one stroke God's
incorporeality.
to conceive of the
matter and form.
is
is
composed of
also denotes unity, for the immaterial
is
not
subject to numerical distinction unless the one be the cause and the
But
other the effect.
Next
in that case the cause alone is
God.
in importance to the proof of God's existence, unity
corporeahty,
the doctrine of attributes.
is
much emphasis of attributes. alike for a
the Arabian
We have seen
and
(p.xxiii)
Mutakalhmun placed upon
in-
how
the problem
was important to Jew, Christian and Mohammedan of reasons. The crude anthropomorphism of many
It
number
expressions in the Bible as well as the
Koran offended the more
ticated thinkers ever since Alexandrian days.
Hence
it
sophis-
was neces-
sary to deal with this question, and the unanimous view was that the Biblical expressions in question are to be understood as figures of
The more difl&cult problem was how any predicates at all God without endangering his unity. If God is the possessor of many qualities, even though they be purely spiritual, such as justice, wisdom, power, he is composite and not simple. The speech.
can be applied to
Christian theologians found indeed in this problem of attributes a philosophical support for the doctrine of the Trinity.
cannot be devoid of power, reason and
he
one.
is
The
difi&culty
distinctions within the three.
And
was
he
is
of course that the
Godhead, there
is
Since
trinitarian,
God
though
moment you admit
no reason
for stopping at
the Jewish critics were not slow to recognize this weak-
ness in the system of their opponents. it
life,
At the same time they found
necessary to take up a positive attitude toward the question of
attributes so as to harmonize the latter with God's absolute unity.
And
the essence of the solution of the problem
the attributes.
was
Saadia says that the ascription of
to explain life,
away
power and
INTRODUCTION
xlv
knowledge to God does not involve plurality distinction of three attributes
In reality the essence of which we predi-
quate powers of expression. cate these attributes
one and simple.
is
The
in his essence.
due to our limited mind and inade-
is
This solution did not seem
thoroughgoing enough to Saadia's successors, and every one of the
Jewish philosophers tried his hand at the problem.
God our own
same
the attributes cannot apply to
in the
have when we use them
experience.
in
All agreed that
signification as they
The meaning
of the
term attribute was investigated and the attributes were divided into system of Maimonides
classes, until finally in the
received
God
its classical solution.
cendent and unknowable.
No
as to indicate his essence.
We can
say what he
not the faintest
and
There
is.
his creatures.
is
And
yet he
the experiences denoted
God
is
we mean
just
him so we cannot resemblance between him
positive predicate can apply to
say only what he
all justice in
that he
is
God
is
not unjust, and that he
meaning attributes expressive
of
all its
the cause of
When we
attributes in question.
is
say
the cause of
Hence Maimonides says there are no
the world.
tial attributes,
by the
not,
is
the cause of the world and of
is
Positive attributes signify only that
happenings.
this question too
conceived as absolutely trans-
is
essen-
God's essence, and
the only predicates having application are negative and such as desig-
nate
efifects
Gersonides was
of God's causal activity in the world.
opposed to Maimonides's radical agnosticism in respect of the nature of God,
he
is
and
and defended a more human view.
of the nature of our thought, perfect,
From God we It
is
God
though of course
is
pure thought,
infinitely greater
but to deny any relation whatsoever between God's
thought and ours, as Maimonides does,
soul.
If
pass to man.
proved that
corporeal, that
it is
And
man has
a
is
absurd.
the important part of
soul, that the soul is
man
is
his
not material or
a substantial entity and not a mere quality or
accident of the body.
Both Plato and
Aristotle are laid under con-
tribution in the various classifications of the soul that are found in
Saadia, in Joseph Ibn Zaddik, in Judah Halevi, in in Maimonides. tive,
The commonest
animal and rational.
appetitive, spirited
and
We
is
Abraham Ibn Daud,
the three-fold division into vegeta-
also find the Platonic division into
rational.
descriptions of the senses, external
Further psychological details and
and
internal, the latter
embracing
INTRODUCTION
xlvi
the
common sense, memory,
imagination and judgment, are ultimately
based upon Aristotle and are found in Judah Halevi, Abraham Ibn
Daud and Maimonides, who
derived them from Avicenna and Al-
Israeli, Solomon Ibn Moses Ibn Ezra, Pseudo-Bahya, Abraham
In the Neo-Platonic writers, such as Isaac
farabi.
Gabirol, Joseph Ibn Zaddik,
Bar Hiyya, and so
on,
we
also find reference to the
emanation from Intelligence. In the conception
World Soul and
of the
human
its
soul the
Jewish philosophers vary from the Platonic view, related to the BibUcal, that the soul spiritual world,
is
a distinct entity coming into the body from a
and acting
in the
body by using the
latter as its in-
strument, to the Aristotelian view that at least so far as the lower faculties of sense,
memory and
imagination are concerned, the soul
is
the form of the body, and disappears with the death of the latter.
The human unit, according to this opinion, is body-and-mind, and the human activities are psycho-physical and not purely psychical as they are according to Plato. Some writers occupying intermediate positions combine unwittingly the Platonic and Aristotelian views, or rather they use Aristotelian expressions and interpret them Platonically (Saadia, Joseph Ibn Zaddik, Hillel ben Samuel).
As
the influence of the
especially Averroes,
Active Intellect and
hand and
among
to the
the Jews
its relation
human
Aristotelians, Alfarabi, felt,
on the other found
their effect
spirits as
on the one
their
on the conception
an active and a passive
about the spheral
Avicenna and
the discussions about the
to the higher Intelligences
intellect
and had
Aristotle's distinction of
his ideas
Arab
began to make itseK
way
also
of prophecy.
intellect in
man, and
pure Intelligences endowing the
heavenly spheres with their motions, were combined by the Arabian
The
Aristotehans with the Neo-Platonic theory of emanation.
result
was that they adopted as Aristotehan the view that from God emanated in succession ten Intelligences and their spheres. first
emanation was the
sphere of the fixed stars
From
this
telligence,
emanated
first Intelligence.
moved by
it
From
in turn the sphere of Saturn
emanated the Active
sublunar spheres of the four elements. identified with the angels of Scripture.
Intelligence.
and the
to the
Thus the
emanated the
and the second
and so on through the seven planets
Intelligence of the lunar sphere
this
third In-
moon. From the Intellect
and the
These Intelligences were
With some modifications
this
INTRODUCTION
xlvii
laeory was adopted by the Jewish AristoteUans,
Abraham Ibn Daud,
Maimonides, Levi ben Gerson.
The Active
Intellect
gences whose function
was thus placed among the miiversal it is
to control the motions of the sublunar
world, and in particular to develop the is
in the infant a
Intelli-
mere capacity
human
—a material
faculty of reason which
Sensation and
intellect.
experience alone are not sufficient to develop the theoretical reason in
man,
for they present concrete, individual material objects, whereas
the reason
is
concerned with universal truth.
experience into immaterial concepts
And
the Active Intellect.
produced
this
new
at the end of the process a
man, the Acquired
in
man and
part of
The conversion
of sense
accomplished through the aid of
is
This alone
Intellect.
theoretical study creates
intellect is
the immortal
is
Averroes believed that
it.
Acquired Intellect exists separately in every individual so long
only as the individual
is alive.
As soon
as the individual
his acquired intellect loses its individuahty (there being
body
to individuate
entire
human
lect.
There
it)
species,
is
and there
which
is
man
dies,
no material
only one acquired intellect for the
in turn is
absorbed into the Active Intel-
thus no individual immortality.
Maimonides,
it
would
seem, though he does not discuss the question in his "Guide," shared the same view.
Adonai"
intellect as
The
Gersonides devotes an entire book of his "Milhamot
to this problem, but he defends individuation of the acquired
such and thus saves personal immortality.
practical part of philosophy, ethics, the
Mutakallimun among
the Arabians discussed in connection with the justice of God.
opposition fatalistic
actions, evil,
to the
Jabariya and
the Ashariya
determinism denying man's ability to
some going
so far as to say that right
and wrong, good and
that good and evil are absolute and that
justice
is
to act.
if
man had
The Karaites Joseph Al
God
not true that a thing
is
is
desires the
is
just because
Hence reward
not the freedom to will
Basir and Jeshua ben Judah dis-
cuss the problem of the nature of good and evil
absolute character.
man
God
inherently right, injustice inherently wrong.
and punishment would be unjust
of
man
are entirely relative to God's will, the Mu'tazila insisted that
is free,
and
In
who advocated a determine his own
good because
and vindicate it is
good because God has commanded
a coroUary of the goodness of God.
their
good, and it.
it is
Freedom
The Rabbanites take
it
INTRODUCTION
xlviii
for granted that
good
mands
it is
of
because
it
man
is
good inherently, and God desires and com-
wisdom and
identical with his
does follow as a corollary from the justice of
The very
taught in the Bible and the Talmud.
God and
ad is
of
power to determine our acts also
a strong argument in favor of freedom.
felt to
have
And God sometimes
man's freedom are explained away by interpretations
Our own consciousness
hoc.
also
has freedom.
those passages in Scripture which seem to suggest that interferes with
it is
fact of the existence of
man
a divine law and commandments shows that
Freedom
his will.
its difficulties
Nevertheless the subject
and the arguments against
is
taken
free will
from the causal sequences of natural events and the influence of heredity, environment
and motive on the individual
are not
will
Judah Halevi as well as Abraham Ibn Daud discuss these argimients in detail. But freedom comes out triumphant. It is even ignored.
sought to reconcile the antinomy of freedom vs. God's foreknowledge.
God knows beforehand from
all
eternity
given moment, but his knowledge decision
tingent,
He
man
will act at
thereof.
This
is
Judah Halevi's
free act,
which
is
undetermined,
therefore sacrifices God's knowledge of
the contingent and the free so as to save man's freedom. fect,
he argues, not to be able to predict what
unpredictable.
unpredictable for us
of everything, he seen,
is
is
is
unwilling
to admit
God, and
What
As he
is
the cause
we have
Maimonides's agnosticism and tran-
way
as Ibn
Daud.
knows events in so far as they are determined, he does not
them
in so far as they are contingent.
and that act
in
Gersonides who, as
scendentalism, solves the problem in the same
God
no de-
God's knowledge.
not necessarily so for God.
must know everything.
It is
in the nature of the case
Maimonides cannot admit any ignorance
takes refuge in the transcendent character of is
is
is
that
absolutely
a
better insight realizes that the con-
which has no cause, and the
are as such unpredictable.
given
merely a mirror of man's actual
and not the determining cause
Abraham Ibn Daud with
view.
is
how a
There
is still
know
another possibility
God knows in advance every man's acts because no And there is an advocate of this opinion also. free.
Hasdai Crescas frankly adopts the determinist position on the basis of God's knowledge, which cannot be denied, as well as of reason and experience, which recognizes the determining character of tempera-
ment and motive.
But reward and punishment are natural and nee-
INTRODUCTION
xlix
essary consequences, and are no more unjust than
the finger
when put
into the
is
the burning of
fire.
In respect to the details of ethical doctrine and the classification of the virtues,
we
find at first the Platonic virtues
and
their relation to
the parts of the soul, in Saadia, Pseudo-Bahya, Joseph Ibn Zaddik
and even Abraham Ibn Daud.
In combination with
this Platonic
given also to the Aristotelian doctrine of the mean.
basis expression
is
Maimonides, as
in other things, so here also, adopts the Aristotelian
views almost in their entirety, both in the definition of virtue, in the
and
division of practical
and
intellectual virtues,
and the hst
vices in coimection with the doctrine of the
expected, the ultimate sanction of ethics
is
of the virtues
As
mean.
is
to be
and BibUcal, and
theistic
the ceremonial laws also are brought into relation with ethical motives.
In
this rationalization of the ceremonial prescriptions of Scripture
Maimonides, as in other things, surpasses
all his
predecessors in his
He
method and completeness.
boldness, scientific
goes so far as to
suggest that the institution of sacrifice has no inherent value, but was in the nature of a concession to the crude notions of the people who, in
agreement with their environment, imagined that God's favor
is
obtained by the slaughter of animals.
Among
the pecuHar
phenomena
of religion,
and
in particular of
Judaism, the one that occupies a fundamental position tion of God's will to
man and
his
Dreams and
prophetic visions.
announcement
is
the revela-
of the future through
divination had already been investi-
gated by Aristotle and explained psychologically.
The Arabs made phenomenon of
use of this suggestion and endeavored to bring the
prophecy under the same head.
The Jewish
philosophers, with the
exception of Judah Halevi and Hasdai Crescas, followed suggestion that prophecy true dreams it
is
Israeli.
form
Gerson discusses the
The
Judah Halevi mentions
Abraham Ibn Daud adopts
it its final
suit.
a psychological phenomenon related to
found as early as Isaac
with protest.
gives
is
it,
and Maimonides Levi ben
in Jewish rationahstic philosophy.
finer details of the process, origin
and nature
of
prophetic visions.
In short the generally accepted view
Active Intellect
the chief agent in communicating true visions of
is
future events to those worthy of the
gift.
combination of innate and acquired powers
And is
to
is
that the
become worthy a
necessary together with
INTRODUCTION
1
the grace of God.
The
faculties chiefly concerned are reason
Moral excellence
imagination.
development
in aiding the
is
and
an indispensable prerequisite
also
of the theoretical powers.
Proceeding to the more dogmatic elements of Judaism, Maimonides
was the
commandments
to reduce the 613
first
to thirteen articles of faith.
Hasdai Crescas
principle of selection as well as the to six.
And Joseph Albo went
still
mental dogmas from which the
list
of
further
of
Rabbinic Judaism
criticised
Maimonides's
dogmas, which he reduced
and
down three fundaThey are the exist-
laid
rest are derived.
ence of God, revelation of the Torah and future reward and punish-
ment.
The law
And
Moses
of
is
unanimously accepted as divinely revealed.
in opposition to the claims of Christianity
an endeavor
is
made
to prove
by reason as
and Mohammedanism
well as the exphcit state-
ment of Scripture that a divine law once given is not subject to repeal. The laws are divided into two classes, rational and traditional; the former comprising those that the reason approves on purely rational
and
ethical grounds, while the latter consist of such ceremonial laws
commandment would not be dictated by man's own reason. And in many of these commandments no reason is assigned. Nevertheless an endeavor is made to rationahze these also. Bahya introduced another distinction, viz., the "duties of the heart," as without specific
as he calls them, in contradistinction to the "duties of the limbs."
He
lays stress
on intention and motive as distinguished from the mere
external observance of a duty or Finally,
some consideration
is
commandment. given in the works of the majority
of the writers to eschatological matters, such as the destiny of the soul
after death, the nature of future reward
rection of the
body and the Messianic
other world.
This brief sketch
and punishment, the
period,
will suffice as
and
resur-
its relation to
the
an introduction to the
detailed treatment of the individual philosophers in the following
chapters.
A HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY CHAPTER
I
ISAAC ISRAELI
We know next to nothing about the condition of the Jews in Mohammedan Eg}^t in the ninth and tenth centuries. But the fact that the two first Jewish writers who busied themselves with philosophical problems came from Egypt would indicate that the general level of intellectual culture
among
the Jews at that time was not so low as the
absence of literary monuments would lead us to believe.
knows
of Saadia, the first
icographer, the
first
Hebrew grammarian,
was
known also
called to the
Gaonate
He was
of
in
born in Egypt and from
Egypt and from there went
later to
he was court physician to several of the Fatimide
have lived to the age
of
so well
who
Kairuan, where
Califs.
The
certainty, but he
is
dates
said to
one himdred years, and to have survived the
who
third Fatimide Calif Al-Mansur,
may assume
But not
Sura in Babylonia.
and death are not known with
lex-
Jewish
first
earher contemporary, Isaac ben Solomon Israeh,
is his
was born
of his birth
Hebrew
first
Bible translator and exegete, the
philosopher of mediaeval Jewry. there
the
Every one
the years of his birth
died in 953.
Accordingly
we
and death as 855 and 955 respec-
tively.
His fame rests on his work in theory and practice as a physician; and as such he icine.^®
is
To
mentioned by the Arab annalists and historians
the Christian scholastics of mediceval Europe he
of
is
med-
known
as the Jewish physician and philosopher next in importance to Maimonides.^^
This
lated into Latin
men
like
others.
is
due to the accident
by Constantinus
of his
Afer,^^
works having been trans-
and thus made
Albertus Magnus, Vincent of Beauvais,
For
his intrinsic merits as a philosopher,
Jev/ish philosopher,
do not by any means
with Maimonides.
The
latter, indeed, in
accessible to
Thomas Aquinas and and particularly as a
entitle
him
to be coupled
a letter which he wrote to
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
2
Samuel Ibn Tibbon, the translator expresses himself in terms
He
a philosopher.^^
and empty
a mere physician, Maimonides says, and his
is
talk.
We need not be quite as severe in our judgment,
but the fact remains that
what
is
Guide of the Perplexed,"
concerning Israeli's worth as
little flattering
on the Elements, and on Definitions consist of windy imagin-
treatises
ings
of the "
more
Israeli is little
to the purpose, he takes
more than a compiler and,
no attitude
in his philosophical
writings to Judaism as a theological doctrine or to the Bible as
The main problem,
source.
touched upon in
Israeli's
therefore, of Jewish philosophy
its
not
works, and no wonder Maimonides had no
For the purely
use for them.
is
scientific questions treated
could in Maimonides's day be studied to
much
by
Israeli
better advantage in
the works of the great Arabian Aristotehans, Al Farabi and Avicenna,
compared
to
whom
Israeli
was mediocre.
We
ation he was surpassed outstrips
mas, of
him
are not to judge him,
In his own day and gener-
however, from Maimonides's point of view.
by none as a physician; and Saadia alone far and perhaps also David Al Mukam-
as a Jewish writer,
whom we
shall
speak
later.
Whatever may be said
intrinsic value of the content of his philosophical
away from him
the merit of having been the
first
know, to devote himself to philosophical and
of the
work, none can take Jew, so far as
we
scientific discussions,
though not with the avowed aim of serving Judaism.
The rest was come later as a result of the impulse first given by him. The two works of Israeli which come in consideration for our pur-
bound
to
pose are those mentioned by Maimonides in his letter to Samuel
Ibn Tibbon spoken
and the "Book
of above,
namely, the "Book of the Elements,"
of Definitions."
^^
Like
all scientific
^°
and philosophic
works by Jews between the ninth and thirteenth centuries with few exceptions, these were written in Arabic.
Unfortunately, with the ex-
ception of a fragment recently discovered of the ''Book of Definitions," the originals are
lost,
Hebrew and Latin lished.^^
sources,
We
see
and we owe our knowledge
translations,
from these that
and that he had a
pocrates, with
Israeli
was a compiler from various
special predilection for
whose writings he shows great
use besides of Aristotelian notions, and
Pla tonic
treatise,
known
of their contents to
which are extant and have been pub-
is
Galen and Hip-
He makes by the Neo-
familiarity.
influenced
as the "Liber de Causis,"
and derived from
ISAAC ISRAELI a work of Proclus. standpoint, but for reasons It
two
we
which
3
It is for this reason difficult to characterize his shall not
will
go far wrong
we
if
call
him aNeo-Platonist,
appear in the sequel.
would be useless for us here to reproduce the contents of
Israeli's
which would be more appropriate for a history of me-
treatises,
A
diaeval science.
brief
resume
will
show the correctness
In his "Book of the Elements" Israeh
of this view.
is
primarily concerned with a
definite physical problem, the definition of
an element, and the number
and character
He
of the elements out of
which the sublunar world
is
made.
begins with an Aristotelian definition of element, analyzes
into its
four
weU-known
opportunities
ones,
now and
fire, air,
Incidentally he seizes
water, earth.
then, sometimes
by
force, to discuss points in
Thus the composition may come
physiology and psychology.
logic, physics,
human body,
of the
it
parts and comes to the conclusion that the elements are the
the various
into being, that the yellow
modes
and black
which a thing
in
galls
and the phlegm are resident
in the blood, the purpose of phlebotomy, the substantial character of
prime form, that the soul
is
not an accident, the two kinds of blood
in the body, the various kinds of "accident," the nature of
erty" and the manner in which
it is
caused
—
all
these topics are dis-
cussed in the course of proof that the four elements are earth,
He
and not seed or the quahties
a "prop)-
fire, air,
of heat, cold, dryness
water,
and moisture.
then quotes the definitions of Galen and Hippocrates and insists
that though the wording of Aristotle,
is
different the
meaning
is
the
same as that
and hence they all agree about the identity of the elements.
Here again he takes occasion to combat the atomic theory
Mu tazila and points.
Democritus, and proves that a fine
In the
last part of the treatise
is
of the
not composed of
he refutes contrary opinions
concerning the number and identity of the elements, such as that there is
only one element which
is
movable or immovable,
namely, the power of God, or species, or or that the
number
motion; or
six, viz.,
is
number.
finite or infinite,
or air, or water, or earth;
two, matter and God; or three, matter, form and
the four which he himself adopts, and composition
and separation; or the number of
fire,
In the course of
ten,
which
this discussion
is
the end and completion
he takes occasion to define
pain and pleasure, the nature of species, the difference between
ment and
principle.
And
thus the book draws to a close.
ele-
Not very
MEDIJEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
4
promising material
would seem,
this, it
for the ideas of
which we are
in search.
The other book, promising.
that dealing with definitions of things,
For while there too we do not
God, of the world and of man,
of
find
is
more
any connected account can be
Israeli's general attitude
gathered from the manner in which he explains some important con-
The book,
cepts.
as its title indicates, consists of a series of definitions
made
or descriptions of certain terms and ideas
use of
scheme of the world
in their construction of their
by philosophers ideas and
—such
terms as Intelligence, science, philosophy, soul, sphere,
and so
some
From
on.
which
to
these
we may
glean some information of the school in the "
And
Israeli belongs.
nature,
spirit,
Book
of the Elements," too,
of the episodic discussions are of value for our purpose.
Philosophy, Israeli
When
evil.
a
himself truly
—he knows everything.
and the
Spiritual
spiritual.
the body with — " accidents " in attributes corporeal
self-knowledge and keeping far from
—
man knows
corporeal aspects the corporeal
tells us, is
For is
other similar quahties borne
and so on are
epitome, as
it
man
by the
corporeal.
are combined
and the reason,
In his qualities and
the terminology of Israeli
find the spiritual as well as the corporeal.
stature,
in
the soul
three dimensions.
its
is
his spiritual as well as his
—we similarly
Humility, wisdom and
soul are spiritual; complexion,
Seeing that
man
were, of the universe (for spiritual
thus forms an
and corporeal sub-
stance and accident exhausts the classes of existence in the world),
a knowledge
knows
means a knowledge
of self
all this is
worthy
of everything,
and a man who
of being called a philosopher.
more than knowledge; it involves also action. The formula which reveals the nature and aim of philosophy is to become like unto God as far as is possible for man. This means to
But philosophy
is
imitate the activities of
ing
what the truth
study science so as to in the world. in
man
of
God
requires.
know
in
knowing the
To know
soul.
and do-
must
the various causes and purposes existing
The most important
body and
realities of things
the realities of things one
This
is
of these is the
in order that
purpose of the union
man may know
reahty
and distinguish between good and evil, so as to do what is true and just and upright, to sanctify and praise the Creator and to
and
truth,
keep from impure deeds of the animal nature.
A man who
does this
ISAAC ISRAELI
reward from the Creator, which consists in cleaving to the
will receive
upper
S
from the
soul, in receiving light
he becomes
knowledge, and the
man
reaches this degree,
a
to the created Hght which
by cleaving
spiritual
light of
When
beauty of splendor and wisdom.
directly
from God, and praising the Creator.
and
reward and perfection.
is
his
Hence Plato
by being thus
ened, he wUl
man
will
and wiU enter the house
and
indulges his animal pleasures
said that philosophy this that
animal desires and pleasures.
all
delivered from them, a
the higher splendor,
comes
his paradise
is
He meant by
the strengthening and the help of death.
philosophy helps to deaden
This
For
reach excellence and
But
of truth.
if
he
and they become strengthhim astray
desires
to agencies which will lead
become subject
from the duties he owes to God, from fear
of
him and from prayer
at the prescribed time.
We
look in vain in Israeli's two treatises for a discussion of the
and nature
existence
when God wanted
of
Concerning creation he
God.
show
to
his
tells
us that
wisdom and bring everything from
potentiality to actuahty, he created the world out of nothing, not after
a model
(this in opposition to
pose of deriving any benefit from
on account
Plato and Philo) nor for the pur,
or to obviate harm, but solely
it
of his goodness.
But how did the creation proceed? of IsraeU entitled
summary
"The Book
of Spirit
fashion an idea of the
of the order
and connection
A
fragment from the treatise
and Soul"^^ wiU give us
manner
in
which IsraeH conceived
of things in the world.
In the name of the ancients he gives the following account. This having come to a
created a splendor.
manence, a spark of
power
light
the Intelligence
The from is
proceeded from
This
of the rational soul.
and
is
of its greater distance
rational soul again it
is less
affected with
from
its origin,
it,
and
from which arose the
shadow and darkness by reason
becoming permanent and
cogitative
and imaginative
in its existence, because of the
tween
and
the pure light of God.
God
real per-
bright than the splendor of
and the intervening
manent it
standstill
Intelligence.
fixed, there issued
likewise a spark, giving rise to the animal soul.
endowed with a
in
faculty, but
This latter is
not per-
two intervening natures be-
From
the animal soul there like-
wise issued a splendor, which produced the vegetative soul.
This
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
6 soul, being so far
by
it
removed from the
and made
coarse,
nourishment, but
and is
is
it
from which
from these elements
it
dimmed
growth and
From the vegemade the sphere
Motion being the nature
air;
from
air,
arise minerals, plants
in Plotinus,
it
of the sphere,
water; from water, earth.
fire.
And
and animals.
Here we recognize the Neo-Platonic scheme
saw
is
of
pushes the other, and from this motion results
proceeds
fire
splendor
its
not capable of change of place.
accessible to the sight.
From
has
This becomes thickened and materialized so that
(the heaven).
one part of
souls,
endowed only with the motions
tative soul proceeds again a splendor,
is
and separated from
original light,
and the other two
the Intelligence
emanation as we
of
a gradual and successive emanation of the lower
from the higher in the manner of a ray of
light radiating
from a lumi-
nous body, the successive radiations diminishing in brightness and spirituality until
when we reach the Sphere the process of obscuration make the product material and visible to the The Intelligence and the three Souls proceeding from
has gone so far as to physical sense.
in order are clearly not individual
it
The
relation
but cosmic, just as in Plotinus.
between these cosmic hypostases, to use a Neo-Platonic
man
term, and the rational and psychic faculties in
we must no doubt conceive
explains, but
nowhere
Israeli
of the latter as
somehow
contained in the former and temporarily individualized, returning again to their source after the dissolution of the body.
Let us follow Israeh further in his account of the nature of these
The Intelligence is
substances.
the divine light without
that which proceeds immediately from
any immediate agency.
permanent ideas and principles
—which are contains
them
all in herself
eternally
know anything
knows its
When
reflection.
skilful artisan
We
the Intelligence
can
it
there
illustrate
this,
who, when he wishes to
anything, retires into himself and finds
its
terminology
The Intelhgence
she returns into herself and finds
he continues, in the case of a
difference,
Israeli's
and immediately, and requires
reach them.
reflection to
without requiring thought or
make
in
not subject to change or dissolution.
no searching or wishes to
—species
It represents the
it
there.
There
is
a
however, in the two cases, because Intelligence always ideas without thought or reflection, for
it
exists
always and
ideas are not subject to change or addition or diminution; whereas
ISAAC ISRAELI
7
may arise, and then his soul is divided and he and thinking and discrimination before he can
in the smith a difficulty
requires searching realize
what he
What
desires.
has been said so far applies very well to the cosmic Intel-
hgence, the vov^ of the Neo-Platonists.
It represents
thought as
embracing the highest and most fundamental principles of existence,
upon which
mediate and discursive and inferential thinking de-
all
But the further
Its content corresponds to the Ideas of Plato.
pends.
account of the Intelligence must at least in a part of individual
human
indication where the one stops
He
refer to the
and where the other
begins.
appeals to the authority of Aristotle for his division of Intelli-
gence into three kinds.
This
it
faculty of that name, though Israeli gives us no
is
what has
First, the Intelhgence
just been described.
in the soul potentially before
the child which learns
is
at
first
becomes actual,
it
potential,
described as the second Intelligence. it
always actual.
is
like the
and when the
and acquires knowledge, becomes
soul in which
which
Second, the Intelligence which
knowledge
child grows
The senses impress
receives things from the senses.
The
When
the rational soul.
is
imagination, or phantasy, takes
the latter
is
It represents that state of the
forms of objects upon the imagination {(j>avTaaia) which front part of the head.
up and
Third, that which
actual.
is
of
the
in the
them
to
knows them, she becomes identical
with them spiritually and not corporeally.
We have
seen above the Aristotelian distinction between the active
intellect
and the
upon
it,
though
upon
it.
passive. it
The account
just given is evidently based
modifies Aristotle's analysis, or rather
The first and second
to Aristotle's active
it
enlarges
divisions in IsraeH's account correspond
and passive
intellects respectively.
The
third
class in Israeh represents the process of realization of the potential or
passive intellect through the sense stimuli on the one influence of the active intellect left this
other.
hand and the
Aristotle seems to
have
intermediate state between the potential and the eternally
actual unnamed.
very
on the
difficult
We
shall see,
however, in our further study of this
and comphcated subject how the
classification of the
various intellects becomes more and more involved from Aristotle
through Alexander and Themistius down to Averroes and Levi ben Gerson.
It
is
sufficient for us to see here
how
Israeli
combines Aris-
MEDIjEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
8
totelian psychology, as later Aristotelian logic
and physics, with Neo-
Platonic metaphysics and the theistic doctrine of creation.
But more
of this hereafter.
From
the Intelhgence, as
we have
seen, proceeds the rational soul.
In his discussion of the general nature of the three-fold soul (rational,
animal and vegetative)
Israeli
makes
the unhistoric but thoroughly
mediaeval attempt to reconcile Aristotle's definition of the soul, which
we
dualism, Aristotle's, a monism. this
a
The two conceptions
discussed above (p.xxxv), with that of Plato.
are in reality diametrically opposed.
Plato's
is
For Plato the soul
an anthropological in its origin not of
is
world and not in essential unity with the body, which
body as one
of
form and matter; and there
is
is
A
impossible.
another form immediately takes
and form
is
controls as
no union more perfect
than that of these two constituent elements of
Decomposition
it
between soul and
Aristotle conceives of the relation
sailor his boat.
all
natural substances.
may
given form
disappear, but
The combination
its place.
of
matter
the essential condition of sublunar existence, hence there
can be no question of the soul entering or leaving the body, or
of its
activity apart from the body.
But
Israeli
does not seem to have grasped Aristotle's meaning, and
him the notion that the
ascribes to
soul
that bodies have
when
life
To be
a separate substance per-
meaning by
this
and
the soul does apprehend them,
actually.
is
potentially before the soul apprehends them;
fecting the natural body, which has
sure,
life
potentially,
makes them
it
perfect
not mean temporal before and
after, for things are
were created; and that his mode of expression
is
that the
signifies
simultaneously.
But he
always just as they
totelian notion he seeks to
it
mean not
them
by
clothing
living
illuminates
And
into being
distinct substances
with this pretended Aris-
harmonize that of Plato, which he under-
and then leaves
them with
it,
its light
and moving, as the sun it
them as
regards
that the soul enters the body, being clothed with
as with a garment,
bodies
any other way.
human body and its soul come
still
forming only a passing combination.
stands to
living
due to the impossibil-
ity of conveying spiritual ideas in corporeal terms in
This merely
and
he adds in the immediate sequel that he does
but that the soul apprehends
and splendor, and thus makes
clothes the world with its light
so that sight can perceive
it.
The
difference
is
and
that the
ISAAC ISRAELI light of the it is
sun
corporeal,
is
and
sight perceives
borne; whereas the hght of the soul
alone can perceive
it,
9 in the air
it
spiritual,
is
and
by which
intelligence
not the physical sense.
Among the conceptual terms in the Aristotehan logic few play a more important part than those of substance and accident. that which does not reside in anything else but is
an independent existence and
have no existence independent
Thus
is its
The
stone.
The
other nine
relation,
come under the genus
side in.
accident.
existing
all
man,
city,
Quantity, qual-
time, place, position, possession, action, passion
these represent attributes which
There
must have a substantial being
no length or breadth, or
is
It
latter
which they inhere.
which Aristotle embraces
things, the first includes all substances, as for example,
ity,
is
subject.
the subject of accidents.
is
of the substance in
of the ten categories, in
Substance
own
—
all
to re-
color, or before or after, or
here or there, and so on except in a real object or thing.
This then
is
the meaning of accident as a logical or ontological term, and in this signification
it
has nothing to do with the idea of chance.
stance represents the higher category, and accident
Thus
dependent and variable.
it
it is
The nature
of the soul has
some regarded
essence of nxmiber
it
Some thought
as spiritual.
its
mun, defenders
of religion
equally defended
ham ben David
faith,
by other
held to this very opinion.
religionists, like
some
was the material atom which
or activity in
any atom or group
is
of
it
But
of the soul's materiality
Tertulhan for example,
on the part
The Mutakallimun were
theory, which they found
It followed then according to
identified with the
there have not been
Strange to say the Mutakalli-
to Maimonides's spiritualism
of Posquieres.
by the atomic
was a material sub-
dependence upon body, said
amenable to theological treatment than unit
And
no stranger than the maintenance
and the opposition idea
and
it
was
It
by the Pythagoreans.
was an accident and not a substance. really
refer-
status in this respect,
been a puzzle to thinkers and philoso-
wanting those who, arguing from
it is
is its
substance or accident.
phers from time immemorial. stance,
because
becomes important to know in
ence to any object of investigation what
whether
Clearly sub-
is inferior,
it
politic to
of
Abra-
led to their
adopt as more
Matter and Form. them that the fimdamental without quality, and any power Aristotle's
of
atoms
is
a direct creation of God,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
lo
which must be re-created every moment in order to
and
the nature of accident,
God in
activity of
And
on the subject. he defends
The
For
from the body, he says,
substance that makes
Thus when
soul
is
is
an accident, but
it
it
The
substance but ceases to exist.
its
leaves the body.
it
should be possible for
animal body to something pian's skin, in
when
destruction
its
Another argmnent to prove the soul a substance
an accident
of its
a white substance turns green, the white color
not destroyed when
soul were
no proof
not the separability of an accident from
it is
not merely separated from
is
Like the other Jewish philosophers
substantiality.
its
separated.
matter incidentally in
Israeli also refers to the
fact of its separability
being an accident. its
is
one that
of the Elements." ^^
"Book
the
is
This
Thus the "substantial" or "accidental" is touched on by most Jewish writers
the world.
character of the soul
exist.
makes more manifest the ever present
it
as blackness
else,
ebony wood and
in pitch.
is
is this.
If
the
to pass from the
it
found in the Ethio-
But the
soul exists only in
living beings.
We find, besides, that the activity of the soul extends far beyond the body, and acts upon distant things without being destroyed. follows that the soul
it
isting
Having made to the body, he
man
that
is
is
a substance.
clear the conception of soul generally
and
is
the rational soul, which
arises
from
its
shadow.
and
evil,
he
is
is in
The
the horizon of the
It is in virtue of this soul
between things desirable and
undesirable, approaching the meritorious this
its relation
a rational being, discriminating, receptive of wisdom,
distinguishing between good
For
and
next proceeds to treat of the three kinds of soul.
highest of these Intelligence
the agent of the activity, keeps on ex-
itself,
without the body, and
Hence
and departing from wrong.
he receives reward and punishment, because he knows what
doing and that retribution follows upon his conduct.
Next to the shadow
rational soul
of the former.
gence, the animal soul
is
the animal soul, which arises from the
Being far removed from the light of is
dark and obscure.
or discrimination, but only a
dim notion
appearance only and not according to sense perception, motion and change
Intelli-
She has no knowledge
of truth,
reality.
in place.
Of
and judges by
its
For
properties are
this reason the
ISAAC ISRAELI animals are
and
fierce
II
violent, endeavoring to rule,
knowledge and discrimination,
like the lion
but without clear
who wants
to rule over the
other beasts, without having a clear consciousness of what he
A
dim notions
proof that the animals have only
a thirsty ass coming to the river
from
will fly
his
water, though he needs the latter for preserving his
not hesitate to approach a
lion,
who
will
doing.
is
of things
is
own shadow life,
that
in the
whereas he
devour him.
will
Therefore the
animals receive no reward or punishment (this in opposition to the
Mutakallimun) because they do not know what to do so as to be
re-
warded, or what to avoid, in order not to be punished.
The She
vegetative soul proceeds from the shadow of the animal soul.
is still
removed from the
further
more weighed down with shadow. She
motion.
next to earth and
is
light of Intelligence,
and
still
She has no sense perception or is
characterized
by the powers
of
reproduction, growth, nutrition, and the production of buds and flowers, odors
Next
and
to the soul
tastes.
comes the Sphere (the heaven), which
arises in the
The Sphere
horizon and shadow of the vegetative soul.
is
superior
to corporeal substances, being itself not body, but the matter of body.
Unlike the material elements, which suffer change and diminution
through the things which arise out of them as well as through the return of the bodies of plants
and animals back
to
them as
their ele-
ments, the spiritual substances (and also the sphere) do not suffer
any
increase or diminution through the production of things out of
them.
a
For plants and animals are produced from the elements through
celestial
power which God placed
decay in order that
But the splendor
this
is
of the things
coming from them because that
produced by them issues from the shadow of their splendor
and not from the essence splendor of a thing in
shadow,
and
exist.
of the higher substances, viz., the three souls, suffers
no change on account which
in nature effecting generation
world of genesis and dissolution should
viz.,
its
is
is
And
The
latter
clear that the
Hence the splendor
it.
becomes
and corporeality so that
of the senses
it is
brighter than the splendor of
undoubtedly brighter than that
shadow.
ering, thickness
But no other
essence
that which comes from
vegetative soul
comes from
of the splendor itself.
its
can perceive
it
it
rigid
of the sphere,
its
of the
which
and assumes a cov-
can be perceived by
sight.
because, although corporeal,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
12 it is
near to the higher substances in form and nobihty, and
and complete motion, motion
a perfect fect
which
is
moved by
is
more
per-
than other motions and not subject to influence and change.
Hence this
in a circle,
there
is
no increase or diminution
in
it,
no beginning or end, and
on account of the simplicity, spirituality and permanence of that
which moves
The
it.
Intelligence pours of her splendor
the light of her knowledge, rational,
and the sphere becomes
and knows, without investigation or
of its Creator,
cannot be removed, and gave
it
of the production of time
and the four seasons
the day and the hour, and
made
the upper souls light,
Sphere
may
and to make
charge
it
and the
of the year,
ruler of the production
it
of perishable things in this world of generation
of
and
without
glorified
this reason the Creator assigned to the
a high degree from which
month and
and
it,
reflection, the lordship
and that he should be praised and For
intermission.
upon
intelligent
and
dissolution, so that
find bodies to apprehend, to clothe with their
visible in
them
their activities according to the
determination of God.
The Sphere by
its
motion produces the four elements,
fire,
air,
water, earth; and the combinations of these in various proportions give rise to the minerals, plants
and animals
of this world, the highest
whom is man. That the elements are those mentioned above and nothing else is proved by the definition of element and its distinction from "prinof
A
ciple."
principle
is
something which, while being the cause of
change, and
even possibly at the basis of change,
to change.
Thus God
happens
in the world.
is
is
not
itself
subject
undoubtedly the cause of everything that
He may
therefore be called a principle of the
world, but he does not enter with his essence the changing things.
Hence it is absurd Matter,
and
is
i.
e.,
to speak of
God as an element of the sublunar world.
primary formless matter, does enter
at the basis of all change; but
it
does not
a principle but not an element.
matter also
is
thing which
is itself
all
itself
An
changing things
Hence
change.
element
some-
is
a composite of matter and form, and changes
form to become something potentially, not actually.
else in which, however,
The product
element or elements from which
it
resolution of a given composite into
is
its
contained
ultimately goes back to the
was made. its
it
When we
follow this
elements back as far as
we can
ISAAC ISRAELI until
we
reach a
the same
Such
them
is
way
first
which
no longer produced out
as things were produced from
the nature of
them which changes tentially in fire
But
indicated.
form to become
its
and returns
it,
anything in
of
we have
the element.
made from
All things are
water, earth.
fire, air,
manner above
in the
is
15
there
fire,
nothing prior to
is
continues to reside po-
to its original state
by the
resolution of
The same applies to the other three. The matter is now clear. The elements stand at the head of physical
fire.
change and take part in
and form, but as entities.
Hence
it.
Prior to the elements are indeed matter
logical principles, not as physical
it
would seem, according
and independent matter and
to Israeli, that
form are side-tracked in the gradual evolution of the lower from the higher.
For the elements, he
tells us,
come from the motion
of the
Sphere, the Sphere from the shadow of the Soul, the Soul from the
shadow
of the Intelligence, the Intelligence
sure he
tells
us that the Sphere
is
prime matter surely, for
of
undoubtedly endowed with form, nay
When
is
rational
and
it is
intelligent, as
seen. Israeli says that prior to the four
but the Omnipotence
of
elements there
above the elements belongs to the
of their production one
is
nothing
God, he means that the sublunar process of
change and becoming stops with the elements as is
by God. To be
created
not body, but the matter of body.
Yet the Sphere cannot take the place
we have
is
its
upper
from the other
is
limit.
What
and the manner
intelligible world;
a spiritual one, emanation.
The Sphere
stands on the border line between the corporeal and the
intelligible,
itself
elements by
its
nor
like
a product of emanation, though producing the
—a process apparently neither
motion
like
emanation
sublunar becoming and change.
Creation in Israeli seems to be the same as emanation, for on the one
hand he
tells
us that souls are created, that nothing precedes the four
elements except the Omnipotence of God, and on the other that the elements come from the motion of the Sphere, and the souls issue from the shadow of the Intelligence.
be no room at
all
For matter and form there seems to
except as logical principles.
the fact that Israeli
is
This
is
evidently due to
unwittingly combining Aristotehan physics
with Neo-Platonic emanationism.
For Aristotle matter and form
stand at the head of sublunar change and are ultimate.
There
is
no
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
14
The
derivation of matter or form from anything.
a matter of
own, and
its
is
celestial
God
changes.
mover
the
of the Spheres,
as influencing
its
their Creator,
hence he stands outside of the world.
In
Israeli there is
is
a continuity of God, the
corporeal, all being ultimately the
two worlds are
in the
declaring that
We
God
same
And
different.
He
or the Bible.
words he
but not
Theism.
though the processes
thing,
yet he obviates Pantheism
by
no avowed attitude to Jewish
never quotes any Jewish works, and there is
Jew and
a
harmonize Judaism with philosophy and
effort to
is
world and the
intelligible
nothing in his writings to indicate that he
an
This
a principle not an element.
is
said before that Israeli takes
dogma is
world has
not the cause of the being of this one except
refers to creation ex nihilo,
it
might be just as well
as
we have seen,
which
Mohammedan
is
his ideas of the cosmic process are far it
making In
not necessarily Jewish,
But
or Christian.
from the orthodox doctrine of creation as
is
science.
in reality,
enough removed
appears in Bible and
Talmud.
we
Incidentally
learn also something of Israeli's ideas of God's
mankind,
relation to
of his
created the world, he
God and
of prophecy.
God
He wanted
because of his goodness.
This could not be without their knowing
to benefit his creatures.
the will of
commandments, and
tells us,
performing
it.
The
God
will of
could not be
revealed directly to everybody because the divine wisdom can speak
only to those in
by the
whom
Intelligence.
the rational soul
But people are not
is
and
mistress
all of this
is
enlightened
kind; for some have
the animal soul predominating in them, being on that account ignorant, confused, forward, bold, murderous, vengeful, unchaste like an-
imals; others are mastered
and are thus stupid and plants.
and conduct a composite character.
was necessary separated,
man
for
God
to
whom
to select a person in
and illumined by the
in his nature
He
i.
e.,
the appetitive,
their appetites like
In others again their souls are variously combined, giving
to their life
for a
by the vegetative soul, and given over to
dull,
this.
This
account
it
the rational soul
is
this
—a man who
Intelligence
and eager to imitate the angels as do
On
man he made
is spiritual
far as it is possible
a messenger to mankind.
gave him his book which contains two kinds of teaching.
kind
is
spiritual in its nature,
One
and needs no further commentary of
ISAAC ISRAELI This
interpretation.
The
other kind
This
is
is
is
meant
for the intellectual
and
corporeal,
by which they
and prepared
is
not sufficient for the purposes of those
understand.
Dreams and prophecy
are closely related, hence an explanation of
A
the former will also throw light on the latter.
dream
the influence of the Intelligence on the soul in sleep. receives
between him and the his creatures.
forms which
it
soul, like
that they
the
may
Intelligence
a prophet
who mediates between
received from God, the Intelligence translates
and
be quickly impressed upon the
The common
to receive them.
first
The
caused by
In communicating to the soul the spiritual
into forms intermediate between corporeality
is
is
knowledge directly from God, and serves as a mediator
its
God and
for the recep-
These people therefore need instructors and
guides because a book alone
who cannot
who cannot understand
but who can grasp the corporeal teach-
are gradually trained
tion of higher truths.
and discriminating.
requires spiritual interpretation.
intended for the various grades of those
directly the spiritual meaning, ing,
1$
common
sense stands
sense,
chamber
of the brain,
and
is
known
which
midway
tween the corporeal sense of sight and the imagination, which anterior
them
spirituality in order
is in
be-
the
as phantasy (Aristotehan
t^avTaaid).
That the forms thus impressed on the common sense in sleep are intermediate between corporeal and spiritual is proved by the fact that they are different from the corporeal forms of things seen in the
waking
state.
The
latter are obscure
and covered up, whereas those
seen in sleep are finer, more spiritual and brighter.
Proof of this
that a person sees himself in sleep endowed with wings and
between heaven and earth.
He sees
the heavens opening
is
flying
and someone
speaking to him out of the heaven, and so on. There would be no sense
phenomena had no spiritual meaning, for they are contrary to nature. But we know that they have real significance The prophets also in if interpreted by a really thoughtful person.
in all this
if
these
wishing to separate themselves from mankind and impress the latter
with their qualities, showed them spiritual forms of similar kind,
which were preternatural.
Hence
all
who
believe in prophecy admit
that dreams are a part of prophecy.
Now
these intermediate forms which are impressed
upon the com-
MEDIJEFAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
l6
mon
sense in sleep are turned over
forms from the phantasy.
When
memory.
latter to the
memory
He then
by
it
to the phantasy
and by the
the person awakes, he recovers the
just as they were deposited there
and if
consults his thinking power;
by the
this is spiritual
and pure, the Intelligence endows him with its light and splendor and him the spiritual forms signified by the visions seen in sleep.
reveals to
He
is
But
then able to interpret the dream correctly.
if
his
powers of
thought are not so good and are obscured by coverings, he cannot properly remove the husk from the kernel in the forms seen in sleep, is
not able to penetrate to the true spirituality beneath, and his in-
terpretation
is
erroneous.
This explanation does not really explain, but the
first
it is
noteworthy as
Jewish attempt to reduce prophecy to a psychological phenom-
enon, which was carried fiurther by subsequent writers until its definitive
form
it
received
middle ages in Maimonides and Levi ben
for the
Gerson,
To sum
up, Israeli
an
is
eclectic.
There
philosophy to be found in his writings.
He
combines Aristotelian
logic,
is
no system of Jewish
He had no
such ambitions.
physics and psychology with Neo-
Platonic metaphysics, and puts on the surface a veneer of theistic creationism.
His merit
is
chiefly that of a pioneer in directing the
attention of Jews to the science in
Arab
dress.
There
is
and philosophy
no trace yet
of the
of the Greeks, albeit
Kalam
in his writings
except in his allusions to the atomic theory and the denial of reward
and punishment
of animals.
CHAPTER
MERWAN AL MUKAMMAS
DAVID BEN
Mukammas until recently when fragments
Nothing was known of Al of his philosophical
work were found
The
tary on the Sefer Yezirah.^^
mas
said to
is
II
in
Judah ben
Barzilai's
latter tells us that
have associated with Saadia, who learned a good deal
from him, but the matter
not certain.
is
If this
account be true we
have a second Jewish philosopher who preceded Saadia.
work
is
known by
were discovered
the
title
of
in the original
of St. Petersburg. ^^
Hebrew fragments
His chief
"Twenty Chapters," fifteen of which Arabic in 1898 by Abraham Harkavy
Unfortunately they have not yet been published,
and hence our account
will
have to be incomplete, based as
in the Yezirah
These fragments are
it is
sufficient to
show us that unlike
knowledge of the Mu'taziHte discussions, Al
Mukammas is Moham-
little
Mu'taziHte and moves in the path laid out by these rationalists.
Whether
this difference is
residence (Israeli having lived in
kammas was the
Kalam
respectively,
Kalam; but though coming
originally
The
Egypt
to
from Egypt, he spent his where he was
we know,
the cities
Babylon and Mesopotamia than to
or Kairuan.
The first quotation in Judah ben Barzilai has reference philosophy, their definition and classification.
edge of the reahty of existing things. theoretical its
Neo-
Saadia knows
not certain.
centres of Arabian rationalism were, as
Bagdad and Basra, nearer
of
is
fruitful years in Babylonia, in the city of Sura,
gaon.
their places of
Egypt and Kairuan, while Al Mu-
in Babylon), or to their personal predilections for
Platonism and the
most
due to
who
Israeh,
a
medan
on the
commentary above mentioned.
shows real
commen-
David Al Mukam-
own
and
practical.
is
It is divided into
an end beyond knowledge,
We call it then art.
in so far as one desires to
to science
and
the knowl-
two parts,
Theoretical science aims at knowledge for
sake; practical seeks
duction of something.
Science
viz.,
the pro-
Thus geometry is a science know the nature and relations to each other of 17
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
l8
solid, surface, line, point, square, triangle, circle.
to
know how
But
his
if
or dig a well, or measure land, he becomes an artisan. science
the highest and most important of
and
logic
which help
ethics,
Theoretical
and foremost stands theology, which God and his laws and commandments. This
investigates the unity of is
is
First
three-fold.
is
purpose
to build a square or circular house, or to construct a mill,
men
The
in the path of understanding.
Next comes
the sciences.
all
in forming opinions
and guide them knowledge of
last is physics, the
created things.
In the ninth and tenth chapters of his book Al
we saw
Mu'tazilite schools, as
Mu'tazilite works in the
in the Introduction,
—
—not
individual creature
is
one, nor as the
is
is first
He
and ground
of God's essence
mitted to ask what is
to limit
it,
God
make
this
God
is difificult.
the created.
different
by
because
from any other, and there
saying, he
is
the
first
His
life is
and the
He
is
his judgments.
own testimony
We
He
is
like
him.
the cause
Some say
it is
not per-
Others again say that
we can
is
last,
And
his glory because his being is
nothing that bears any resem-
and the
is living,
wisdom.
understanding in
is
it is
use in our answer the
visible
all his
He
God
and the hidden,
but not through
life
acquired
not sustained and prolonged by food.
wise, but not through acquired
without eyes,
no second
no
is
Accordingly we should answer the question what
without begirming or end.
from without.
is
an
one, nor as
himself testifies in his revealed book.
would not be limiting or defining
blance to him. is,
is
this inquiry,
expressions to which
is
For to answer the question what a thing
is.
and the limited
permitted to
said to be one, nor in
caused and effected.
of everything
The question
is
number one
without end.
last
of
results of his previous
one and there
is
without beginning, and
in
title
one, but as a simple unity in which there
distinction or composition.
He
which a genus
in the sense in
that in which a species
and was treated
which went by the
first division,
"Bab al Tauhid," the chapter on the unity. God is one so Al Mukammas sums up the discussions
Mukammas discusses
This was a very important problem in the
the divine attributes.
He
works, and a true judge in
Such would be our answer
is
hears without ears, sees
in accordance with
all
God's
of himself.
must on no account suppose that the expressions
living, wise,
DAVID BEN MERWAN AL MUKAMMAS
19
and so on, when apphed to God mean the same thing when we ascribe them to ourselves. When we say God is Hving we do not mean that there was a time when he was not living, or that there will be a time when he will not be hving. This is true of us but not of God. His life has no beginning or end. The same thing applies
seeing, hearing,
as
to his wisdom.
It
not acquired hke ours,
is
it
has no beginning or
end,
and
It
not strange that his attributes should be so imlike ours, for
is
is
not
fitting that the
the
We
the thing made.
must, however, analyze the matter of divine attributes more
When we
say
as his attribute, living, or
life,
but that he
attribute.
further It
i.
is
is living,
that there
that there
may mean
is
first
and became
We
unworthy conception.
still
is
distinct
from
This
must
is
clearly a
wrong and
is
eternal like him,
is
and
continue to be
will
The
not yet settled.
life
from
his being, or is
we
question
it
a part of
If
it?
his eternal
we say
it
are guilty of introducing other eternal
The
Christians are
guilty of this very thing when they say that God's eternal
Wisdom
is
the Son.
If
life is
we say
the
that his
a part of his being, we do injury to the other aspect of his unity,
For to have parts
namely, his simphcity. position.
We
is
no attribute
not through
in one's being
imphes com-
are forced therefore to conclude that God's
identical with his being.
there
as
as an
therefore adopt the other alterna-
beings beside God, which destroys his unity.
life is
him
through which he hves identical with his be-
his being,
Holy Ghost, and
in
life
statement that
living.
But the matter
remains. Is this
living with
which makes
and not through
hence he was always living from eternity and
ing, or is it distinct
is
any such attribute
which makes him living
Hving to eternity.
life
we will investigate God is living with was a time when God was not hving and
that there
life
tive, that the life
an attribute
this subtle distinction clear
involved in the
then he acquired
we may mean he
is
living through himself
is
To make
what
God e.,
we may deny
him
life.
it is
Creator should be different from the thing created, and
Maker from
closely. life
subject to error, forgetfulness, addition or diminution.
life.
We may make
life
The
But
this is really
which makes him
difference
is
life
is
tantamount to saying that living, or that
he
is
hving
only in expression.
by illustrations from other The soul is the cause of life
this conception clearer
spheres, inadequate though they be.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
20 to the body,
leaves
it,
i.
e.,
body
the
the body loses
not live through anything
were the case
through the
lives its
Ufe
else,
this other soul
and
dies.
soul lives through
live
through their own being; and that
The same
light
and incomposite.
why
is
A
Hence
anything distinct from their being, for
is
if
this
souls
spirit is
their life
it
absurd.
thing applies to angels.
called in the Sacred Scriptures spirits.
and
For
again another, and so on ad infinitum, which
and
itself.
latter
soul itself does
say through another soul.
The
fine
and when the
But the
would need again another soul to make
live
this
soul,
They
and angels are
something that
is
cannot be due to
would make them compos-
this
ite.
This statement, however, that souls and angels are living through
own being must not be understood as meaning that they have no creator who gave them being and life. The meaning merely is that the being which God gave them is different from the being he gave their
to bodies.
So
Bodies need a soul to become
in material things, also, the
living, the soul is itself living.
sun shines with
its
own
light
and not
The odor of myrrh is fragrant through itself, not The eye sees with its own power, whereas man sees with the eye. The tongue does not speak with another tongue, man speaks with a tongue, and so on. So we say of God, though in a manner a thousand-fold more sublime, that he is living, but not with light acquired.
through anything
with a hfe which
else.
is
distinct
butes, hearing, seeing,
from
and so
his being;
on, that
we
and so
of the other attri-
find in the Scriptural praises
of him. It is necessary to
add that as on the one hand we have seen that
God's attributes are identical with his being, so
it
follows on the other
that the various attributes, such as wise, seeing, hearing, knowing,
and
so on, are not different from each other in meaning, though dis-
tinct in expression.
Otherwise
it
would make God composite.
The
we employ a number of distinct expressions is in order to remove Thus when we say God is living we mean to indicate that he is not dead. The attribute
reason
from God the several opposites of the terms used.
wise excludes folly and ignorance; hearing and seeing remove deafness
and blindness. The philosopher Aristotle says that it is appropriate to apply negative attributes to
have said that we must not speak
truer
and more
God than positive. Others
of the Creator in positive
terms
DAVID BEN MERWAN AL MUKAMMAS for there
is
21
danger of endowing him with form and resemblance to Speaking of him negatively we imply the positive
other things.
without risking offence.
Mukammas
In the sequel Al
the Christians and those
refutes the views of the dualists, of
who maintain
God has
that
We
form.
cannot afford to linger over these arguments, interesting though they
and must hurry on to say a word about the sixteenth chapter, which deals with reward and punishment. This no doubt forms
be,
"Bab
part of the second Mu'tazilite division, namely, the or section concerning God's
He
al 'Adl,"
justice.
defines reward as the soul's tranquillity
and
joy in the
infinite
world to come in compensation for the sojourn in
world which
this
she endured and the self-control she practiced in abstaining from the
Punishment, on the other hand,
pleasures of the world.
is
the soul's
disquietude and sorrow to the end of days as retribution for indulging
Both are imposed by God with
in the world's evil pleasures.
justice
is fitting
that the promises of reward and threats
of punishment consequent
upon obedience and disobedience should
and
It
fairness.
be specified in connection with the commandments and prohibitions in the Scriptures, because this
practice self-control.
A
child
the only
is
who
ment, or has no confidence in his good
The same
instruction.
It is fear alone
kings.
So God
masters. hibiting
what
is
in
is
way
to train the soul to
does not fear his teacher's punish-
not be amenable to
will will
who
true of the majority of those
which induces them to obey the
commanding us
unworthy saw
fit
to
in his
do what
wisdom
worthy and pro-
is
to specify the
panying rewards and punishments that he who observes pleasure and joy in his obedience, fected with sorrow
As the world
to
and
reward which
it is
so
it is
punishment
find af-
proper that the reward of the
wicked should be
Arguments have been advanced to show that unlike properly infinite as is becoming to God's goodness,
is
claimed on
limit, for
God
is
merciful.
the basis of the finiteness of
both reward and punishment should be be shown in
may
and the unobservant may be
come has no end,
punishment should have a hand,
accom-
fear.
of the righteous as well as the
without end.
serve
will of their
finite.
On
human
But
the other
action that
in reality
it
can
many ways that reward and punishment should be infinite.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
22
Without naming vanced
the arguments
all
—in favor of
this view,
—as many as
we may urge some
ten have been adof the
more impor-
tant.
was God's own goodness that prompted him to benefit mankind by giving them laws for their guidance, and not any prior merits on their part which gave them a claim on God's protection. God himself It
by man's obedience or injured by his disobedience. Man knows that it is for his own good that he is thus admonished; and if he were asked what reward he would like to have is
not in any
way
benefited
good deeds he would
for his
no
select
less
than
infinite happiness.
demands that punishment be commensurate with reward. The greater the reward and the punishment the more effective are
Justice
Besides in violating God's law a person virtually
the laws likely to be.
him who gave
denies the eternity of for he hides himself
omnipresence of
God
is
the only
question whether the soul alone
fit
is
the subject of reward and punishment
man
to the grade of angels,
ing of
man
On
For such
retribution.
has been urged that reward
it
who
are pure spirits.
the other hand,
it is
of the
How
then
same nature
claimed that the Bible says noth-
we know in this The Garden of Eden
being raised to the status of angels, and
world of physical reward and punishment of
whereas the
rewarded or the body alone
And punishment must be
can the body take part? as reward.
guilty of contempt;
In favor of the soul alone as
or both has been answered variously.
raises
is
their displeasure,
has no deterring effect upon him.
offence infinite punishment
The
and
it,
from men, fearing
which the Bible speaks
is
only.
not peopled with angels, and that
is
where
the righteous go after death.
The
true solution
is
that as
man
is
composed
of
body and
soul,
and both share in his conduct, reward and pimishment must attach to both.
As we do not understand the nature
so the composite
is
equally inconceivable to us.
But everyone who
dead has no
difficulty in holding
believes in the resurrection of the
that the
of spiritual retribution
body has a share
in future
reward and pimishment.
CHAPTER
III
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI (892-942) Saadia was the
first
important Jewish philosopher.
Philo of Alex-
andria does not come within our purview as he was not mediaeval. Besides his work
is not systematic, being in the nature of a commenHoly Writ, Though Philo was a good and loyal Jew, he stood,
tary on
so to speak, apart from the real centre of Jewish intellectual spiritual development.
He was on
the one
hand too
closely
and
dependent
on Greek thought and on the other had only a Hmited knowledge
The
Jewish thought and tradition. translation, not in the original
was
still
in the
making
knew only
Bible he
Hebrew; and
in Palestine,
he knew
of
in the
Greek
of the Halaka,
which
still less.
It was different with Saadia. In the tenth century the Mishna and the Talmud had been long completed and formed theoretically
as well as practically the content of the Jew's in Babylonia,
where Saadia was the head
chief centre of Jewish learning, line of
Jewish development as
and prophet, Gaon.
scribe
As the head
resentative of the
Sura
academy, was the
and Saadia was the
heir in the
main
passed through the hands of lawgiver
and Pharisee, Tanna and Amora, Saburai and academy he was the intellectual rep-
of the Sura
Jewry and Judaism
period of agitation and
whose lands the Jews
in
it
and thought.
life
of the
lived
of his day.
His time was a
not only in Judaism but also in Islam,
strife,
and
to
whose temporal
rulers they
owed
allegiance in the East as well as in Spain.
In Islam we saw in the introduction Kadariya, the
demand
Mu tazila
of clarifying the chief
Judaism there was local
and
problems of
in addition to this
internal conflict of Karaite
about the problem of tradition.
aU
this
and proved equal
how
the various schools of the
and the Ashariya arose
in obedience to the
and life. In more general demand the more faith, science
and Rabbanite which centred
Saadia found himself in the midst of
to the occasion.
We are not here concerned with the vicissitudes of Saadia's personal 23
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
24 life
we
afford
more
than merely to state that Jewish science in the larger
sense begins with Saadia.
The
not exist before him.
Hebrew grammar and lexicography did Bible had been translated into several
languages before Saadia's day, but he was the into Arabic, est
Nor can
or of his literary career as opponent of the Karaite sect.
work
and the
first
of Saadia, that
to write a
first
commentary on
it.
to translate
But the
it
great-
which did the most important service to the
theory of Judaism, and by which he will be best remembered,
his
is
endeavor to work out a system of doctrine which should be in harmony with the traditions of Judaism on the one hand and with the most authoritative scientific
we have
Israeli,
and philosophic opinion
seen,
was
physician he was probably more at
But
than Saadia. the
Gaon
of Sura,
there
is
of the time
on the other.
As a
interested in science before Saadia.
home in purely physical
discussions
no evidence that he had the larger
interest of
namely, to construct a system of Judaism upon the
basis of scientific doctrine.
Possibly the example of Islam was lacking
in Israeli's environment, as
he does not seem to be acquainted with the
theories
and
discussions of the Mutakallimun,
and draws
tion from Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic sources.
very midst of Arab speculation as his chef d'ceuvre, "
The work divisions in
is
is
Emunot ve-Deot,"
evident from the composition of Beliefs
and Opinions. ^^
arranged on the Mu'taziHte model.
works
his informa-
Saadia was in the
of this character are
The two main The first
Unity and Justice.
begins with some preliminary considerations on the nature and sources of knowledge.
It proceeds then to
prove the existence of God by
showing that the world cannot have existed from eternity and must
have been created in time.
Creation implies a creator.
lowed by arguments showing that God rest is
is
one and
This
is fol-
incorporeal.
The
devoted to a discussion of the divine attributes with the pur-
pose of showing that God's unity and simplicity are not affected
them.
The
views, such as those of the duahsts or Trinitarians or infidels. section
on Justice centres about the doctrine
of free will.
psychology and ethics are treated in this part of the work.
may
The Hence
To
this
be added problems of a more dogmatic nature, eschatological
and otherwise. is
by
section on unity closes with a refutation of opposing
We
shall see in the sequel that Saadia's masterpiece
modeled on the same plan.
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI But not merely the plan and arrangement upon Saadia
of the influence
of his
of Islamic schools,
those for example on the existence of are taken directly from them.
God and
25
work give evidence
many
of his arguments,
the creation of the world,
Maimonides, who was a strong op-
ponent of the Mutakalhmun, gives an outline of their fundamental principles
and
however, is
is
their
arguments for the existence, unity and incorporeal-
Some of
ity of God.^^
these are identical with those of Saadia.
not interested in pure metaphysics as such.
Saadia,
His purpose
decidedly apologetic in the defence of Judaism and Jewish dogma.
Hence we look of cause,
book
in vain in his
tion of existing substances,
and so
on.
on the constitu-
for definite views
on the nature of motion, on the meaning
We get a glimpse of his attitude
to
some
of these
questions in an incidental way.
The Mutakallimun were opposed ter
and form, and substituted
atoms without magnitude or ties to inhere in
dents,
can
and one
last
to the Aristotelian theory of mat-
for it the
quality,
groups of atoms.
atomic theory.
These
of time.
created
The
quali-
qualities they called acci-
of their important discussions
more than a moment
God
and he likewise created
was whether an accident
opinions were various and
the accidents were classified according to their powers of duration.
That
is,
there were
own
exist of their
some accidents which once created continued
to
accord some length of time, and there were others
which had to be re-created anew every moment in order to continue to exist.
Saadia does not speak of matter and form as constituting the
essence of existing things; he does speak of substance
and accident, ^^
which might lead us to believe that he held to the atomic theory, since he speaks of the accidents as other,
mun. tion,
coming and going one
after the
by the MutakalliOn the other hand, when he answers an objection against mo-
which suggests the constant creation spoken
which
is
as old as Zeno, namely,
nitely divisible distance, since of parts,
he
tells
us that
it is
it is
how can we
ity of matter,
traverse an
necessary to pass an infinite
number
Mu tazilites
to
meet
We may believe in the continuity and infinite divisibil-
but as long as
this divisibility is
only potentially
infinite,
actually always finite, our ability to traverse the space offers no culty.^^
infi-
not necessary to have recourse to the
atomic theory or other theories adopted by some this objection.
of
Finally, in refuting the second theory of creation,
difii-
which com-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
26
bines Platonism with atomism, he argues against an atomic theory
primarily because of
its
implications of eternity of the atoms, but
partly also on other grounds, which would also affect the Kalamistic
conceptions of the atoms/^
These points are not treated by Saadia
expressly but are only mentioned incidentally in the elucidation of
other problems dealing with the creation of the world and the exist-
ence of God.
Like Israeli Saadia shows considerable familiarity with Aristotelian notions as found in the Logic, the Physics and the Psychology.
It is
doubtful, however, whether he really knew Aristotle's more important treatises at first
forming the
hand and
first
book
in detail.
For while he passes in review
them
that none of
he no doubt knew, but the
of Aristotle's logic,
concepts he probably derived from secondary
other Aristotelian sources.
" Categories," a small treatise
The
all
applicable to God,^^
is
the ten categories showing
we
scarcely find
any mention
important and fundamental AristoteHan conceptions as matter
of such
and form, potentiality and
actuality, the four causes, formal, material,
—concepts which as soon as Aristotle began
and
efl&cient
final
by Al Farabi and Avicenna became
studied
anything at
all
familiar to all
who wrote
bearing on philosophy, theology, or Biblical exegesis.
Nay, the very concepts which he does employ seem to indicate
way he
them that he was not
uses
to be
in the
familiar with the context in which
they are found in the AristoteHan treatises, or with the relation they
Thus no one who knew
bear to other views of Aristotle. first
as of
hand could make the mistake
making the motion
^^
latter
an accident. ^^
instead of three,
When
Saadia speaks of six kinds
he shows clearly that his knowledge of the
AristoteHan theory of motion was Hmited to the
contained in the
We
'
little of it
that
is
Categories."
are thus justified in saying, that Saadia's sources are Jewish
literature
and
tradition, the
at
first
Saadia
MutakaUimun, particularly book on the ''Categories " he whose
works
the Mu'taziHtes, and Aristotle,
knew
Aristotle at
of regarding his definition of the soul
of the
hand.
tells
us he was induced to write his book because he found
that the beHefs and opinions of
men were
in
an unsatisfactory
state.
While there are some persons who are fortunate enough to possess the truth and to
know
that they have
it
and
rejoice thereat, this
is
not
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI true of
false
For there are others who when they have the truth know
all.
and hence
not,
it
27
shp; others are
let it
still less
fortunate and adopt
erroneous opinions, which they regard as true; while
and
still
others vacillate continually, going from one opinion and belief to
This gave him pain and he thought
another.
book
less
which to
belief
a creature,
and
i.
a man's
to do with
is
by
and simplify
it.
him
its
a creature as such that
For whatever a
brow.
doubts and is,
a
it
human
its exist-
must labor for
man
does or has
work must be accomplished grad-
part, in successive portions of time.
And
This takes time; while certainty and knowledge canis
accompHshed.
Before that point
is
reached
"^^
sources of truth are three. If
many
The answer
at the beginning complex, he has to analyze
is
naturally in doubt.
The
by
step, part
not come until the task
testify.
knowledge.
subject to time; each
as the task before
in every respect, in relation
life
a being dependent upon another for
e.,
in the nature of
it is
ually, step
is
result of such study,
that one encounters so
is
the truth with the sweat of
he
duty to make use
fellow-men.'*^
difficulties before arriving at true
ence,
Another
through tradition.
will affect for the better
is
his
important, will be improvement of character and disposition,
God as well as to his One may ask why it
being
it
conscientious study of his
tend to remove doubt and will substitute belief through
will
knowledge for not
A
knowledge to help them.
of his limited
First
that to which the senses
is
our normal sense perceives under normal conditions which
we are certain of that perception. The judgment is another source of truth. There are certain truths of which we are certain. This apphes especially to such judgments of
are free from illusion,
value, as that truth
is
good and falsehood
is
immediate knowledge, there
two sources
of
these two.
This
is
logical inference.
We
bad.
is
In addition to these
a third source based upon
are led to beUeve
what we
have not directly perceived or a matter concerning which we have no immediate knowledge of the second kind, because we infer
it
from
we have immediate something else which we certainty. Thus we believe man has a soul though we have never seen it because we infer its presence from its activity, which we do see. These three sources are universal. They are not peculiar to a given race or religious denomination, though there are some persons who have perceived or of which
MEDLEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
28
deny the validity in
of
some
We Jews believe in them and
or all of them.
another source of truth, namely, authentic tradition, ^'^
still
Some think reflection
Jew
that a
about the truths of
forbidden to speculate or philosophize
is
This
religion.
and speculation
is
is
not
not prohibited.
leave the sacred writings aside and rely on
Genuine and sincere
so.
What
one concerning the beginnings of time and space.
may
the truth or one
miss
if
own
it,
find
he
is
it,
he
never sure that
is
not later be assailed by doubts, which will lead him to drop his
adopted our
to
he does find what seems to him the
truth and bases his belief and conduct upon
may
is
may
For one
In any case until a person finds
it.
without a religious guide; and
he
forbidden
is
any opinions that occur to
But
belief.
if
ratiocination
we hold
fast to the
on the truths
commandments
of religion will
of the Bible,
be of great benefit to
us.^s
Our and
investigation of the facts of our religion will give us a reasoned
knowledge of those things which the Prophets taught us
scientific
dogmatically, and will enable us to answer the arguments and icisms of our opponents directed against our faith.
Hence
crit-
not
it is
merely our privilege but our duty to confirm the truths of rehgion by reason.
^^
Here a question presents
If the reason
itself.
the truths communicated to us
by divine
can discover by
revelation,
Why was it not left
sary to have recourse to the latter?
alone to guide us in our beUef and in our conduct?
was suggested not reach left
its
before, that
aim
until the
without a guide.
discover truth.
human end
hinder their progress.
of the process.
all
is
as
is,
and
is
adequate to
is
task,
difificult
perplexities
which
necessity of revelation, because in
are equally at home,
men and women,
old.^°
The most important fact of religion is the existence know it from the Bible, and we must now prove it by proof
to the reason
In the meantime one
to harassing doubts
Hence the
itself
neces-
reason proceeds gradually and does
are altogether incapable of this
the witness of the senses
it
The answer
Besides not everybody's reason
Some
and many more are exposed
young and
why was
necessarily indirect because
have we an immediate
no one
We
must
We
reason.
The
of us has seen
certainty of his existence.
then by the method of inference.
of God.
We
start with
God, nor
must prove something
it
we
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI do know with certainty and proceed from logical inference as
search.
may
many
steps of
be necessary until we reach the object of our
^^
The world and
the things in
How
and our judgment.
how
through as
it
29
it
are directly accessible to our senses
long has the world been in existence and
The answers to these questions also we do and we must prove them by a chain of reasoning. There are several possibilities. The world just as it is may have existed from eternity. If so nobody made it; it just existed, and we have no proof of God. The world in its present form might not
did
it
come
to be?
know through our
senses,
have proceeded from a primitive matter.
moves the problem
This h3^othesis only
how
For, leaving aside the question
further back.
re-
did this prime matter develop into the complex world of our experience,
we
prime matter itself, and ask, Has
direct our attention to the
existed from eternity or did
made
then nobody
mean an
it,
it
come
to be?
If it existed
and we have no proof
of a
that whether the world
not,
it
made
at
any
was developed out
is, it
was created out
have been someone wlio created
it,
first
time,
and
show that the world this is
what Saadia
Here are some
is
of nothing.
an
infinite
it
not eternal, that
The world
If
they were
a revolution.
A
is
make a complete
would take an
derived, gives the proof.
eternity.
But
this
we
to be in
in magnitude.
in the centre,
it
going
shows also that
Hence the world came
and the
But the heavens
infinite
time to complete
infinite
Hence the
is finite
it
is
revolution in twenty-four
body cannot have an
within the world which keeps exhausted.
Here
itself.
came
This
power.
Saadia regards as self-evident, though Aristotle, from
statement
must
This shows that the earth
all sides.
infinite it
finite
it
is finite
is
body cannot be surrounded.
are finite too, for they hours.
on
was
be,
does.
of his proofs.
heavens surrounding
may
If so there
It follows therefore that
For the world consists of the earth, which
finite, for
third alternative
as nothing can create
proof of the existence of God,
must
The
of a primitive matter or
rate, or the primitive matter, as the case
in time, that
we have
God, for by God we
with purpose and design, and the
intelligent being acting
cause of the existence of everything in creation. is
it
from eternity,
whom
force or
this
power
and must one day be
could not have gone on from
to be in time.^^
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
30
Another proof
and
in heaven
based on the composite character of
is
other.
The
Minerals, plants and animals are
earth.
The heavens
parts and elements.
the world as
A
we
see
it
not eternal.
is
universal,
These manifestations are the accidents
and decay.
The heavenly
animal's substance.
and
is
is
that of sub-
come and
go.
of the plant or
bodies have various motions,
But
colors as their accidents.
eternal, since they
Hence
together.
^^
Plants and animals are born (or sprout), grow
stance and accident.
lights
now
of
In other words, the parts
and somebody put them
form of composition, which
special
made up
But composition implies
spheres are studded with stars.
first
things
consist of spheres, one within the
a time when the composition took place.
must have been there
all
these accidents are not
Hence the substances bearing the
accidents, without which they cannot exist, are also temporal like
them.
Hence our world
is
not eternal. ^^
For
Finally, past time itself cannot be eternal.
that an infinite time has actually elapsed
What
a contradiction in terms.
is
be
infinite.
Infinity
we may speak
is
is
down
But
this
possible only as a potentiahty, for example,
of a given length as infinitely divisible.
can never say that one has actually made an Therefore not merely the world,
begun to
would mean
already accomplished cannot
means that one may mentally continue dividing sions.
this
to our day.
it
This merely
forever, but
we
number of divibut even time must have infinite
be.^^
It will be seen that the first three argimients prove only that the
world in the form which is
it
has
now
is
not eternal.
The
possibility
not yet excluded of an eternal matter out of which the world pro-
ceeded or was made.
The
shows that nothing which even prime matter. to time.
Time, as
and moving
is
fourth argument proves a great deal.
It
subject to time can be eternal, hence not
God can be eternal because he is not subject we shall see later, cannot exist without motion
things, hence before the world there
was no
time,
and
the fourth argument does not apply to premundane existence.
To to
complete the
first
three arguments Saadia therefore proceeds
show that the world, which we now know came
have been made by someone that too out of nothing,
(since nothing
and not out
to be in time,
can make
itself),
must and
of a pre-existing eternal matter.
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMJ If
an eternal matter existed before the world, the explanation of
the origin of the world
is
open to two
This
absurd, for
is
One is that there world which came from it.
possibilities.
nothing outside of this matter and the
is
31
would mean that an unintelligent dead thing
it
the cause of intelligence and
life
We
in the universe.
must
have recourse to the other alternative that someone, an
made
being,
the world out of the primitive, eternal matter.
For
impossible.
if
the matter
is
maker
eternal like the
The only an
He
purpose.
now
alternative left
make
This
Whether he
time nothing.
will to
adapt it.
him
of
is
eternal.
the world outright,
is
is
He
was at one
created a matter and then from
first
made
the universe, or whether he
also
the world out of
responsible for the existence of the world, which
is
is
that the author of the universe
is
and that nothing outside
intelligent being,
alone
could therefore not
intelligent
of the world, it
independent of him, and would not be obedient to his
is
itself to his
is
therefore
it
of secondary-
importance.^^
There nothing,
is still
a possibility that instead of making the world out of
God made
out of himself,
it
as light from the sun.
and
Platonists;
Saadia It
is
Israeli
This, as
comes very
strongly opposed to
is
unlikely,
i. e.,
we know, close to
any such
that
emanated from him
it
is
the opinion of the Neo-
it
as
we saw
before
(p. 6).
doctrine.
he says, that an eternal substance having neither
form, condition, measure, place or time, should change into a body or bodies having those accidents; or that a wise being, not subject to change or influence, or comprehensibility should choose to
himself into a
body subject
to all of these.
What
make
could have induced
a just being who does no wrong to decree that some of his parts should be subject to such with? it
for
It
is
evils as
matter and material beings are
conceivable only in one of two ways.
The
are absurd.
and it was an act Both suppositions
into the
fire.
but
fact of the matter
ourselves
To be
is
that the authors of this opinion
that
become
went from the frying pan
sure, creation out of nothing is difficult to con-
this is the reason
To demand
it,
was committed against them.
to avoid the theory of creation ex nihilo
ceive,
Either they deserved
having done wrong, or they did not deserve
of violence that
afflicted
why we
we show how creators.
^'^
this
power to God
ascribe this
can be done
is
to
demand
alone.
that
we
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
32
The
question what existed in place of the earth before
By
evinces ignorance of the idea of place.
place
is
it was created meant simply
the contact of two bodies in which the one
is
When
no such thing as place.
there
no earth and no bodies there
is
The same
the persistence of
heaven and earth under changing conditions.
no world, there
is
the place of the other.
Time means
thing apphes to time.
existing things in
there
is
no time.
is
Where
This answers the objection raised
by some, namely, how is it possible that before all these bodies were made time existed void of objects? Or the other difficulty which is closely related, viz., Why did not God create the world before he did? The answer to both is, there was no before and there was no time, when the world was not. The following question is a legitimate one. Why did God create all things? And our answer is, there was no cause which made him create them, and yet they were not made in vain. God wished to exhibit wisdom; and his goodness prompted him to benefit his creatures by enabling them to worship him.^^ We have now proved the existence of God as the cause of the existence of all things. We must now try to arrive at some notion of what his
God is
as far as this
is
God cannot be corporeal or body, we began with the world which is notion of God as the cause of all corporeal
in our power.
for in our proof of his existence
body and arrived at the existence.
If
we should body, he
God
still
himself
want
of
motion or
God and
pression
corporeal our search
know
to
the cause of him.
not body and hence
is
But
cannot go beyond him. ject to
is
still
and
rest or
if
God
Being the cause
not corporeal, he
look for these accidents in him
retain the idea.
The incorporeahty
of
of all
knowledge ultimate, we
for our is
not at an end, for
is
not sub-
anger or favor, for to deny the corporeality
God
is
to change the ex-
Bodily accidents involve body.^^ proves also his unity.
body cannot have the corporeal hence
is
is
For what
is
not
attributes of quantity or number,
God cannot be more than one.^ And
there are
many
powerful
arguments besides against a duahstic theory.
A For
unitary if
other,
one
is
efifect
cannot be the result of two independent causes.
responsible for the whole, there
and the assumption
consists of
two parts
of
of his existence
is
is
nothing
gratuitous.
which each does one, we have
really
left for
If
the
the effect
two
effects.
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI But if
the universe
one
one and
is
them wishes
of
the other, neither acter of deity.
If
which
is
they are free and independent, then
if
would have to be at the same time if
kill it,
and dead, which
alive
If
is
Having proved God's
and
existence, unity
and Omniscience. These
otence,
We cannot
power implies
absurd. is all-
incorporeality, he pro-
easily follow
life;
Omnip-
from what was said be-
conceive a creator ex nihilo unless he
maker knows what
is
all-powerful;
and the thing made carmot be perfect unless going to be before he makes
it is
ing effort, for they are
all
use three expressions
is
of its think-
involved in the concept. Maker.
The reason we
gradual inference from one to the other.
its
it.
These three concepts our reason discovers with one act
it
one
body
they cannot, they are not all-powerful.^^
ceeds to discuss his most essential attributes, which are. Life,
fore.
if
the
each one can conceal aught from the other, neither
knowing.
of
inconsistent with the char-
should desire to keep a body alive and the other to
Again,
Again,
and cannot without the help
he can compel the other to help him, they are both
And
under necessity.
parts cannot be separated.^^
its
to create a thing
all-powerful,
is
33
There
is
no
are forced to
Hence They are
because of the limitations of language.
must not be thought that they involve
plurality in God.
simply the implications of the one expression, Maker, and as that does
not suggest plurality in God's essence, but
made by
thing
signifies
only that there
is
a
the maker, so the three derivative terms, Living,
Omnipotent, Omniscient, imply no more.
The
Christians erred in this matter in
say one cannot create unless he his life
But
and
this is
distinct
his
wisdom
as
is
and
trinity.
They
wise, hence they regard
two other things outside
of his essence.
a mistake. For in saying there are several attributes in him
one from the other, they say in
error
which we have already refuted.
what
constitutes proof: In
man we
are not his essence because
sometimes not.
They say
making God a
living
In
essence,
and seeing?
If
life,
this is
he
is
corporeal
—an
Besides they do not understand
say that his
life
and
knowledge
his
see that he sometimes has
not the case.
Again,
why
them and
only three?
wisdom; why do they not add power, or hearing
they think that power
seeing in wisdom, so
They quote
God
we
effect that
is life
is
implied in
life,
and hearing and
implied in wisdom.
Scripture in their support, for example, the verse in
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
34
2), "The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me, and his Word was upon my tongue." "Word" denotes, they say, his attribute
II Samuel (23,
wisdom, and "Spirit" his
of
The
mistaken.
life,
expressions in question denote the words which
puts into the mouth of his prophets.
which they
cite,
and
in the
Godhead, in accordance with the many
hand
the Bible concerning the
God, the anger
The above
Hebrew take metaphorical
of
phrases of
God, the eye of God, the glory of
God, the mercy of God, and so
of
many
they are consistent, they should add
If
God
There are other similar instances
in their ignorance of
expressions literally.
more persons
But they are
as distinct persons.
discussion, as also that of
on.^^
Al-Mukammas
shows
(p. 19),
clearly the origin of the doctrine of attributes as well as its motive.
Both Al-Mukammas and Saadia and the
owed
their interest in this
we know
schools in which
tion, pp. xxiii, xxvi)
.
But
it
dogma
There
is
Mohammedan
played an important role (see Introduc-
there
no doubt that the problem originated
is
in the Christian schools in the Orient,
the
Jewish philosophers
later
problem primarily to the
who made
use of
it
of the Trinity.
extant a confession of faith attributed to Jacob Baradasus
(sixth century), the founder of the Syrian
Church
of the
Monophysites
or Jacobites, in which the phrase occurs that the Father lect,
to rationahze
the Son
is
the
Word and
the
Holy Ghost
Elias of Nisibis of the Nestorian Church,
Saadia (975-1049), sions essence,
life
we
also find
is Life.
who
is
the Intel-
In the works of
lived shortly after
a passage in which the three expres-
and wisdom are applied to the three persons
of the
The passage is worth quoting. It reads as follows: "As the essence of God cannot receive accidents, his life and his wisdom cannot be accidents. But whatever is not accident is either substance or person. Hence as the essence of the Creator and his life and his wisdom are not three substances or three accidents, it is proved that Trinity.
they are three persons."
^*
Monotheism was a fundamental dogma of the Mohammedan faith. Hence it was necessary for their rationalizing theologians to meet the Trinitarians with their
own weapons and show
that the multiplicity of
Koran was The problem was
the divine attributes which they could not deny, since the
authority for
it,
does in no
way
affect
quite as important for Judaism as
it
God's unity.
was
for Islam,
and
for the
same
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI Hence Saadia's
reason.
35
insistence that inadequacy of language is
alone responsible for our expressing God's essential attributes in the three words, Living, Omnipotent, Omniscient; that in reahty they are
no more than interpretations
We have now shown He
the word.
him; and he
is
is
one in the two important senses of
is
i. e.,
one from the other and from his
in
any
sense,
simple and not com-
it
one.
all is
not
God cannot be compared
and a person who
is
of Scrip-
no doubt that
successfully interprets
so as to
it
with the data of sense or reason will be rewarded for
For not the Bible alone
the source of Judaism, Reason
is
to
in the
In reference to Biblical interpreta-
literally.
makes the general remark that whenever a verse
figurative,
reconcile
are
Nevertheless Saadia
ture apparently contradicts the truths of reason, there it is
are not dis-
and that the anthropomorphic expressions
Bible must not be taken tion Saadia
no second God beside
is
Wisdom essence. They
God's in corporeality.
he has shown in detail that
satisfied until
is
he
His Life and his Power and his
We have also proved man
God
one in the sense that there
one in his own essence,
posed of parts. tinct
that
Maker.
of the expression
source preceding the Bible, and Tradition
is
it.
another
a third source coming
is
after the Bible.^^
In order to show that in creation Saadia finds
God it
is
not to be compared to any other thing
convenient to use Aristotle's classification
under the ten
of all existing things
exists is either a substance, or it is
quality of a substance.
Substance
important of the categories and
Everything that
horse, city.
are nine classes of accident,
ten categories.
The
his treatise of the
is
is
is
all existing
our object
is
and
an attribute or
exemplified
and most by such terms as man,
not substance
accident, but there
is
and with substance they make up the
order of the categories as Aristotle gives
same name
things
is,
The one It
familiar.
accident, hence he
is
good heed
in
If these categories in-
is
is
not any of them,
general argument
that
God
is
is
one with
the cause of
all
sub-
himself neither the one nor the other.
Scriptm-e supports our view, as in Deuteronony 4, 15: therefore
them
substance, quantity, quality, relation,
and we can prove that God
accomplished.
which we are already stance
i. e.,
therefore the first
place, time, position, possession, action, passion.
clude
Everything that
categories.^^
an accident,
of yourselves; for
ye saw no manner
"Take ye of
form on
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
36
the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the
ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image
fire: lest
in the
form
of
any
any beast that flieth in
is
figure,
the likeness of male or female, the likeness of
on the earth, the
likeness of
any winged fowl that
the heaven; the likeness of anything that creepeth on the
ground, the likeness of any
water under the earth:
fish that is in the
up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away," etc. And tradition is equally emphatic in this regard. Our sages, who were the disciples of the prophets, render the and
lest
thou
lift
the sun and the
anthropomorphic passages This
understanding. of the
is
in the Bible so as to avoid
particularly true of the
it
is
Aramaic translation
Targum.
Such terms as head, eye, foot,
an objectionable
which are used
ear,
mouth,
in relation to
lip, face,
God in
hand, heart, bowels,
the Bible, are figurative. For
the custom of language to apply such terms metaphorically
to certain ideas like elevation, providence, acceptance, declaration,
command,
wisdom, mercy, dominion.
favor, anger, power,
would be a very inadequate instrument literal
meaning
of the
words
it
What was
said of the
and
uses;
be limited to the statement that he
if
" he heard,"
confined
in the case of
Language
itself
God we
to the
should
is.
nouns above mentioned applies also to other
parts of speech, such as verbs attributing
Such phrases as
it
activity to God.
open thine eyes,"
incline thine ear,"
"he spoke" are
human
"he saw,"
So the expression, "the Lord
figurative.
smelled," which sounds especially objectionable, denotes acceptance.
The theophanies
in the Bible,
certain form, as in Ezekiel, Isaiah
view, for there are
meant
honor of the prophet.
is
what
is
Sometimes
without an individual form.
it
God cannot be
that he should not be dazzled light,
which
is
too
is
and
Glory of the
simply a created light
asked to see God, he meant
seen with the eye nor can he be
Hence Moses could not have
to see God, but the created light.
ning of the
represented under a
meant by the
When Moses
grasped in thought or imagination.
meant
is
specially created forms for the benefit
This
Lord," and "Shekinah."
the created light.
where God
and Kings, do not argue against our
His face was covered so
by the exceeding splendor
much
of the begin-
for a mortal to endure;
but later
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMl
the covering was taken off and
when the brightest part passed by, Moses saw the last part of the light. pression in shalt see
Exodus
Having treated
God
of
This
"And I will
33, 23,
my back: but my face shall
take
the meaning of the ex-
away mine hand, and thou and having
as the creator of the world
same
the
is
is
not be seen."
learned something about his attributes,
study of man, or which
37
we must now proceed
thing, to
an investigation
to the
God's
of
relations to the rational part of his creation in the sublunar world.
That man
is
endowed with a
soul cannot be doubted, for the activities
The problem which
of man's soul are directly visible.
concerning the nature of the
soul.^^
Here opinions
regard the soul as an accident of the body, some think
substance like air or soul in
man.
while others believe there
fire,
is difficult is
differ, it is
is
and some
a corporeal
more than one
be our task to vindicate our own view against
It will
these erroneous ideas.
The
soul
is
too important in
its
functions
It is neither air nor fire because it has not the
to be an accident.
And
properties of these bodies.
if
the soul consisted of two or
distinct parts, the perceptions of sense
more
would not reach the reason, and
The true view is therefore that the soul of man is a substance created by God at the time when the human body is completed. The soul has no there would be no co-operation between these
eternal existence before the eternal outside of God, as
from the outside, but is
is
two powers.
body as Plato thought,
we saw
before.
Nor does
it
created with and in the body.
for nothing
is
enter the soul Its substance
as pure as that of the celestial spheres, receiving its light like them,
but
much
is
finer
than the substance of the spheres, for the latter are
not rational, whereas the soul
is.
The
soul
is
knowledge upon the body, which without the nor knowledge, but
When spirit
ers
it
uses the
body
and
desire.
parts of the body. is
faculties, reason,
But we must not think with Plato that
these
pow-
of the soul, residing in different
All the three faculties belong to the one soul
in the heart; for
its
as an instrument for its functions.
connected with the body the soul has three
form so many divisions or parts
seat
not dependent for
latter has neither life
from the heart
issue the arteries,
whose
which give
the body sense and motion.
The soul was put in the body because from its nature it cannot act by itself; it must have the body as its instrument in order thereby to
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
38
attain to perfect happiness, for the soul's functions either purify or defile
When
it.
body
the soul leaves the body she can no longer repent;
must be done while she
all this
good
therefore a
is
would be no use
is
she were
If
To
ask
left alone,
in her existence or in that of the body,
the entire creation would be in vain, which was
man.
Being placed in the
in the body.
for the soul.
why was
not the soul
made
made
there
and hence
for the sake of
so as to be independent of
the body is foolish and tantamount to saying why was not the soul made something else than soul. The soul is not in any way harmed by being with the body, for the injury of sin is due to her own free will
and not to the body.
Moreover, the body
is
not unclean, nor are
them are when they leave the body, but this is one of those ordinances which, as we shall see later, are not demanded by the reason for their own sake, but are specially commanded for a different purpose. As for the sufferings which the soul undergoes by reason of her connection with the body, some are due to her own negligence, such as cold, heat, and so on, others are inflicted by God for the soul's own good so that she may be later rewarded. We see here, and we shall learn more definitely later, that Saadia the fluids of the body unclean while in the body; some of declared in the Bible to cause uncleanness
is
—a —that matter and body as such are
view Neo-Platonic in
opposed to the view of the ascetics
origin
evil,
effort of
which
it
man must is
be to free the soul from the taint of the body in
imprisoned, and
pristine nobility
its
and that the constant
and
purity.
by which
it
is
dragged down from
its
Saadia's opposition to the belief in the
pre-existence of the soul at once does
away with
the Neo-Platonic
view that the soul was placed in the body as a punishment for wrongdoing.
The
soul
was created at the same time with the body, and the
two form a natural
unit.
Hence complete
life
involves both
body and
soul.
We ness.
have seen that God's creation His
the world.
him
first
of the
world
is
due to his good-
act of kindness was that he gave being to the things of
He showed himself especially beneficent to man in enabling
to attain perfect happiness
by means
prohibitions which were imposed
upon obedience was the
real
The laws which God gave
commandments and The reward consequent
of the
upon him.
purpose of the commandments.^^ us through the prophets consist of two
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI groups.
The
embraces such acts as our reason recognizes to be
first
right or wrong,
proval which
39
good or bad, through a
God planted
in our minds.
feeling of approval or disap-
Thus reason demands that a
benefactor should receive in return for his goodness either a kind re-
ward eral
if
he needs
demand
it,
or thanks
of the reason,
he needs no reward.
if
God
As
this is a gen-
could not have neglected
in his
it
and hence the commandments that we should serve him, that we should not offend or revile him and the other laws bearing
own
case,
on the same It
subject.
likewise a
is
demand
of the reason that
one should prevent the
creatures from sinning against one another in
prohibited because
any way.
would lead to the destruction
it
Murder is and the
of the race
consequent frustration of God's purpose in creating the world.
miscuous association of the sexes
prohibited in order that
is
Pro-
man
be different from the lower animals, and shall know his father
may
and other
relatives that
versal stealing
when
itself
explain
all
he
may show them
there
is
nothing more to
The second group
The
first,
which we
made so by
This class shall
traditional laws are
may
name
which are inherently
the act of God's
command-
be called Traditional in contrast
Rational.
imposed upon us primarily so that we
be rewarded for obeying them.
Uni-
end would destroy
way we can among mankind.
of laws has reference to acts
or prohibition.
to the
in the
In a similar
steal.
laws relating to social dealings
neither right nor wrong, but are
ment
honor and kindness.
would lead to indolence, and
At the same time we
may
shall find
on
careful examination of these laws that they also have a rational signification,
and are not purely
arbitrary.
tifying certain days of the year, like
by
resting
from labor we
may
Thus the purpose
of sanc-
Sabbaths and holy days,
is
that
devote ourselves to prayer, to the ac-
quisition of
wisdom, and to converse with our fellows in the interest
of religion.
Laws
man
of ceremonial purity
have
for their pm-pose to teach
humihty, and to make prayer and the visitation of holy places
more precious in his eyes after having been debarred from his privileges during the period of his uncleanness. It
is
clear that
we should not know how
commandments without
to perform the traditional
divine revelation since our
not have suggested them.
But even
own
reason would
in the case of the rational laws
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
40
the general principles alone are
not the
known
We know in general
details.
to us from our
are wrong, but the details of these matters
among mankind, and hence also be directly
The
it
reason but
would lead to disagreement
was necessary that the
rational laws
communicated tD us by divine messengers.
They knew
divine messengers are the prophets.^^
revelations
own
that theft, unchastity, and so on,
came from God through a
sign
that their
which appeared at the
The
beginning of the communication and lasted to the end.
was a
an extraordinary bright
pillar of cloud or of fire, or
sign
light, as
we
learn in the case of Moses.
The genuineness
of a prophet's
message
is
tested
first of all
by the
nature of the content, and then by his ability to perform miracles.
The It
is
would not have believed Moses, notwithstanding
Israelites
miracles,
if
his
he had commanded them to commit murder or adultery.
because his teaching was found acceptable to the reason that the
miracles accompanying
it
were regarded as a confirmation of Moses's
divine mission.
The Jewish Law^°
contains three elements,
for effective teaching.
First, the
all of
which are necessary
commandments and
prohibitions, or
the laws proper; second, the reward and punishment consequent
upon
obedience and disobedience; and third, examples of historical characters in which the laws
and
their consequences are illustrated.
But the written law would not accomplish in tradition.
This
No
society can exist.
senses alone. others.
And
is
its
purpose without belief
fundamental, for without
one can
live
by what he
He must depend upon while this information
it
no individual or
perceives with his
own
the information he receives from is liable
to error either
by reason
of the informant being mistaken or his possible purpose to deceive,
these two possibilities are ehminated in case the tradition for not
by an
individual, but
by a whole
is
vouched
nation, as in the case of the
Jewish revelation.
As
Saadia's emphasis on tradition, apart from its intrinsic impor-
tance for Judaism, has
its
additional motive in refuting Karaism, so the
following discussion against the possibility of the is
directed no doubt against the claims of the
Christianity and
Law being two
abrogated
sister religions,
Mohammedanism.^^
Abrogation of the law, Saadia says,
is
impossible.
For
in the first
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI
41
place tradition has unanimously held to this view, and in the second
Law itself
place the
assures us of
its
permanent
"Moses com-
validity,
manded
us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob" (Deut.
$T„ 4).
The law
constitutes the national existence of our people;
hence as we are assured by the Prophets that the Jewish nation eternal, the
Law must
evidence of miracles in favor of a
we saw
as
before, it
We
be likewise.
new law abrogating
For
the old.
was not primarily Moses's miracles that served
authenticate his teaching, but the character of the teaching
Now
Moses stood the
that the law of
to
itself.
and
test of internal acceptability
by the performance
external confirmation
is
must not even accept the
of miracles, its declaration of
permanent validity cannot be upset by any new evidence even
if it
be
miraculous.
Man
''^
alone of
all
commandments and by reason of
created things was given
prohibitions, because he
is
superior to
all
other creatures
the rational faculty which he possesses, and the world was created for
him.
His
Man's body
life is
short,
The
after death.
is
but
small, but his it
mind
was given him to
diseases
is
great and comprehensive.
assist
and other dangers
him
to the eternal
to which he
intended to keep him humble and God-fearing.
The
is
life
subject are
appetites
and
passions have their uses in the maintenance of the individual and the race. If it is true that
God gave man commandments and
wards and punishes him according to
we
attribute injustice to
and
This
ments.
Everyone of
God he must have
to refrain in the matters which
any
is
actually the case
when .
.
.
given
man
the power to do
form the subject of the command-
and can be proven
in
conscious of freedom in his actions, and
force preventing
to this
death
is
it
him
that he re-
his conduct, it follows that unless
in his voluntary acts.
many is
The Bible
says (Deut. 30, 19), "I have set before you
therefore choose thou life," or (Malachi
i, 9),
ways.
not aware testifies life
and
"From your
hand has this thing come." Tradition is equally explicit in the statement of the Rabbis (Berakot 33b), "Everything is in the hands of God except the fear of God."
a given individual
from the freedom
To be sure God is
will act in
omniscient and knows
of the individual to determine his
For God's knowledge
is
how
a given case, but this does not take away
own
conduct.
not the cause of a man's act, or in general of a
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
42
If that
thing's being.
knows
were
own
choose of his
would be eternal since God
so, all things
God simply knows
things from eternity.
all
free will to
do certain
God's knowledge, but
fact never acts contrary to
outcome
Since
it is
man
will
as a matter of
this is
God's knowledge determines his act, but only because final
that
Man
things.
not because
God knows
the
a man's free deliberation.
of
now
clear
from every point of view that God does not
man's freedom of action, any passages
interfere with a
in the Bible
which seem to indicate the contrary are not properly understood, and
must needs be interpreted
God says
(Exod.
7, 3)
"I
we have Thus when
in accordance with the evidence
adduced from various sources including the Bible will
itself.
harden the heart of Pharaoh,"
it
mean, as many think, that God forced Pharaoh to refuse to
The meaning
go.
rather
is
that he gave Pharaoh strength to with-
stand the plagues without succumbing to them, as
The same method should be
Egyptians did.
does not
let Israel
many
of the
followed with
all
the other expressions in the Bible which appear to teach determinism.
A
soul, making it pure or Though man cannot see this effect, an intellectual substance, God knows it. He also
man's conduct has an influence upon the
impure as the case since the soul
is
may
be.^^
keeps a record of our deeds, and deals out reward and punishment in the world to come.
number
of souls
are also rewards to
come
his
will
wisdom
and punishments
not come until he has created the dictates.
At the same time there an earnest of what is
in this world as
in the hereafter.
A man
is
called righteous or
deeds predominate. this
This time
which
And
wicked according as his good or bad
the recompense in the next world
predominating element in his character.
A
is
given for
man
righteous
is
punished for his few bad deeds in this world, and rewarded for his
many good
deeds in the world to come.
Similarly the wicked
man
is
paid for his good deeds in this world, while the punishment for his
wickedness
is
reserved.
This answers the old problem of the pros-
perity of the wicked and the misery of the righteous in this world.
There are also sufferings of
punishment
of the righteous
for past conduct,
which are not in the nature
but in view of the future so as to
increase their reward in the world to
come
for the trials they
endured
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI The
without murmuring.
43
come under
sufferings of little children
this head.
On
the other hand, a sinner
sometimes well treated and
is
To give him time
prolonged for one of the following reasons: as in the case of Manasseh; that he
may
his life
to repent,
beget a righteous son, hke
Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah; to use him as God's tool to punish others
—witness the
more wicked than he
role of Assyria as Isaiah describes
it
in chapter ten of his prophecies; for the sake of the righteous
is
closely related to him, as
make
or in order to
Lot was saved
for the sake of
who
Abraham;
the punishment more severe later, as in the case
of Pharaoh.
That there
is
another world after this one in which
man
is
rewarded
and punished can be proved from reason, from Scripture and from It is
tradition.^'*
we know
not likely from what
of
God's wisdom and
goodness that the measure of happiness intended for the soul it
gets in this world.
For every good here
No
even predominating. world even honor.
if
one
really content
is
There must be a reason for
many
mixed with
evil,
is
what
the latter
and at peace
in this
he has reached the top of the ladder of prosperity and this,
intuitional longing for the other world
are
is
which
which
things from which the soul
is
is
is
that the soul has an
destined for
it.
There
bidden to abstain, such as
and abstention from which
theft, adultery,
and so
causes
Surely there must be reward awaiting the soul for this
it
pain.
suffering.
on,
which
it desires,
Often the soul suffers hatred, persecution and even death
for pursuing justice as she is
bidden to do.
Surely she will be rewarded.
Even when a person is punished with death for a crime committed in this world, the same death is inflicted for one crime as for ten crimes. Hence there must be another world where all inequalities are adjusted. It
Else
God
is
also evident that the
why
men
of the Bible
beheved
in a hereafter.
should Isaac have consented to be sacrificed, or
have expected
it?
The same
and Azariah, who preferred
to be
why
should
applies to Hananiah, Mishael,
thrown into the
fiery furnace rather
down in worship before the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar; and to Daniel who was thrown into the den of lions for disobeying the order of the king and praying to God. They would not have than
done
fall
this
if
they did not believe in another world, where they would
be rewarded for their sufferings in
this one.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
44
Tradition and the Rabbinical literature are future world.
We
the Fathers (ch. 4)
other world. (p. 1 7a)
ing,
filled
with reference to a
need mention only one or two.
In the Ethics of
we read
that this world
the vestibule to the
is like
Another statement in the Talmudic
reads that "in the world to
come
there
nor giving in marriage, nor buying and
is
Berakot
treatise
no eating and drink-
selling,
but the righteous
with their crowns on their heads and enjoy the splendor of the
sit
Shekinah."
With regard of
to the condition of the soul after death
reward and punishment in the next world, there
Those who hold that the soul
opinions.
accident of the body believe
We
have already refuted
it is
is
a variety of it is
an
destroyed with the death of the body. Others, like the Platonists,
their opinion.
the Dualists and the Pantheists,
body the
is
corporeal or that
who
believe in the pre-existence
of the soul either as a separate entity or as a part of
after the death of the
and the nature
God, hold that
soul returns to its original condition.
Our belief as stated above (p. 37 ) is opposed to this. But there are some calling themselves Jews who believe in metempsychosis, that the soul migrates from one person to another and even from man to beast, and that in this way it is punished for its sins and purged. They see a confirmation of their view in the fact that some persons exhibit qualities which are characteristic of lower animals. But this is absurd. The soul and the body form a natural unit, the one being adapted to the other. A human body cannot unite with the soul of an animal, nor an animal body with a human soul. They try to account by their theory for the suffering of their
own
person.
of children
is
little
children,
who
could not have sinned in
But we have already explained that the
subsequent reward, and they must admit that the soul in the
body and giving
it
commandments
is
first
placing of the
not in the nature of
compensation for any past merit, but with a view to
Why
suffering
not in the nature of punishment, but with a view to
later reward.
not then explain the suffering of children in the same way?
^^
As the body and the soul form a natural unit during life and a man's is the combined effort of the two constituent parts of his being,
conduct it
stands to reason that future reward and punishment should be im-
posed upon body and soul in combination. resurrection of the body, which
is
Hence the doctrine
alluded to in the Bible and
of the
made
into
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI a
dogma by
religious
Many objections The
answered.
the Rabbis, has support also in the reason.^^
have been advanced against
their
way
but they can be easily
is
The
a logical contradiction.
making up a given body during
that the elements
is
it,
strongest objection might seem to be that which at-
tempts to show that resurrection
ment
45
body
after the death of the person into the
find
of another, to
Hence
which they are assimilated and of which they form a part. is
argu-
life
it
common to Every human body
impossible to resurrect two bodies out of the material
both.
But
this
has
own
matter, which never enters into the composition of
its
argument
When
other body.
element returns to
untrue to
is
the person dies
its
fact.
any
and the body decomposes, each
place in nature, where
it is
kept until the resur-
rection.
But
there
is
another event which will happen to Israel before the
time of the resurrection.
Prophets
we
Reason
Messiah.'^'^
In accordance with the promises of the
also supports this beUef, for
Messiah the son of David
ites
settle there
come,
will
all
upon
vouchsafed to
young and
it,
and the
We of
is
(Paradise)
Israel-
old,
will
be
rebuilt, the light
prophecy
will
master and servant. i. e.,
until this
be
This
world
will
the place of reward and punishment.
describe the future habitation
Eden
for wrongdoing,
limit to both.
Jerusalem from the
spirit of
blessed period will last until the end of time,
give place to the next, which
by the and
exile
righteous,
When all the beheving
The Temple
then will come the resurrection.
is
the nations to the land of Palestine,
of the Shekinah will rest all Israel,
must be a
will deliver
with his people.
have been gathered from
God
punishment
since he has placed us in exile partly as a
partly for the purpose of trying us, there
enemy and
from
believe that Israel will be delivered
and status
of the soul as
and Gehenna.''^ The former expression
is
Garden
intended
to suggest happiness, there being nothing pleasanter in the world than
a garden.
The term Gehenna
is
associated in the Bible with Tofteh,
which was a place of impurity not far from the Temple. however,
God
heat in such a
will create
way
a substance which
will
combine
In reahty, light
and
that the righteous will enjoy the hght only, while
the wicked will be tortured
by the
heat.
All this Saadia infers
from
Biblical passages.
There
will
be no eating and drinking in the next world, and hence no
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
46
need
of a
heaven and an earth Uke ours, but there
time, since creatures cannot do without cession of
day and
be place and
will
There
it.
will
be no suc-
night, for these are of use only for our present life
and occupations, but
will
There
be unnecessary there.
will,
however,
be a special period for worship.
Reward and punishment in the next world will both be eternal. God should promise eternal reward and punishment so as to inspire mankind with the highest possible degree of hope and fear, that they may have no excuse for not heeding the commandments so forcibly impressed upon them. Having made the promise, It stands to reason that
his justice
prompts him to
fulfil it,
and those who
suffer
have them-
selves to blame.
We
have now completed
There are many cially in the
details
in outline Saadia's
system of Judaism.
which we necessarily had to leave out, espe-
more dogmatic part
of his work, that dealing with specific
Jewish doctrines, which he constructs on the basis of Rabbinical literature
and BibHcal
allusions interpreted so as to
Many
the statements of the Rabbis.
and eschatological assumed importance his
surroundings.
I
mean
the
of
in his
Mohammedan
and the Karaite discussions which were
The most important part and
mind by reason schools
and
system philosophically
his
of
that
is
His discus-
God.
of free will are less thorough,
of his doctrines of resurrection, future
of
sects,
closely modelled after them.
which deals with creation and the attributes sions of the soul
harmonize with
questions specifically theological
and the
details
reward and punishment, the
redemption of Israel and the Messiah are almost purely dogmatic.
For a
A
scientific ethic there is
man's conduct
though
in
is
a general
no room at
prescribed for
way
him
to the
the
the reason sees the right
the so-called rational group of laws.
added a chapter
all in
body
in the divine
Still
as
an
of his
work.
commandments,
and the wrong
of
after thought Saadia
"Emunot ve-Deot" in which he attempts to human conduct. Noting the various
give a psychological basis for
tendencies of individuals and sects in his environment to extremes in
human
behavior,
some
to asceticism,
some
to self-indulgence, be
it
the lust of love or of power, he lays emphasis on the inadequacy of
any one pursuit
for the
ommends a harmonious
demands
of
blending of
man's complex nature, and
all
things for which
men
rec-
strive.^^
SAADIA BEN JOSEPH AL-FAYYUMI
God
alone, he says,
reason of
its
a real unity, everything else
is
and
in nature
by the very
is
being a creature essentially not one and simple, but
composite and complex. things,
47
So
also aversion for
man has a love and desire for many many things. And as in other objects
takes a combination of several elements to constitute a
it
given thing, so in
man
and
he can reach perfection of character and morals.
dislikes that
It cannot
be that
God
it is
by a proper systematization
man
intended
to pursue one object all his
others, for in that case he
to the exclusion of
all
only one desire in
man
You
instead of many.
of stones alone neither can
of his likes
you develop a
life
would have implanted cannot build a house
by one
perfect character
pursuit and one interest.
Pursuit of one thing
is
Hkely to result in harm, for example, over-
indulgence in eating brings on disease. in regulating one's conduct. likes
and
and
desire, reason
The
Of the three
dislikes.
Wisdom
principle here
it is
accordingly.
must be the master
control of one's
of the other two.
likely to benefit or injure
it
him, and pursue or avoid
is
of the soul into the three faculties of reason, spirit
we have
it
of his
not a moral man.
The
reader will recognize Plato in the last statement.
tonic, as
any matter
If
with his reason to see
on the other hand, he allows the lower parts
If,
soul to rule his reason, he
The
is
faculties of the soul, reason, spirit
occurs to a person's imagination, he must try
whether
therefore needed
is
and
division
desire
is
Pla-
already seen, and the attempt to base an ethic on the
proper relation between the powers of the soul also goes back to Plato.
But Saadia
When
tries to
show that the Bible too favors
Ecclesiastes tells us (i, 14),
are done under the sun; and, behold,
wind," he does not mean that there for
vanity and a striving after
all is is
nothing worth striving after,
he would then be condemning the objects of God's creation.
meaning
is
that
every other.
it is
He
itseK.
A
then proceeds to
to cheer
name
my
flesh
three prominent objects of
and worldly gain
proper combination of
delicately hinted in the
how
His
vain to pursue any one thing to the exclusion of
pursuit, wisdom, pleasure
by
this conception.
"I have seen aU the works that
same book
all is
(2, 3),
—
all is
to be
vain
when taken
recommended
"I searched
in
with wine, mine heart yet guiding
wisdom, and how to lay hold on
folly."
as
is
mine heart
me
with
CHAPTER IV JOSEPH AL-BASIR AND JESHUA BEN JUDAH
^
Joseph Al-Basir {nth century)
I.
Joseph ben Abraham, euphemistically surnamed on account of his bUndness, al-Basir (the
was a Karaite and
seer),
lived in Babylonia
His philosophical
or Persia in the beginning of the eleventh century.
work
is
closely modelled
Mu tazilites.
the
on the writings
Unlike Saadia,
methods and views, al-Basir
is
treats only of those questions
medan, avoiding,
who
of the
Arabian Mutakallimun,
two
much
so
parts.
finds
it
to
of the
an
issue as
of their
Kalam and
which are common to Jew and
for example, so important
Moham-
whether
Unity and Justice,
necessary to
tell
a serious matter with him; and he
is
us in several instances
why he
chose to treat a
and tem-
given topic under the one or the other heading.
In
perament he
and succinct
is
it is
—
God may be abrogated a question which Saadia. The division of his investigation into the
possible that the law of
meant
some
tacitly accepts
an avowed follower
a thoroughgoing rationalist.
Brief
spirit
to the
point of obscurity, he betrays neither partiality nor emotion, but fearlessly pushes the
argument
to its last conclusion
and reduces
it
to
lowest terms.
its
Saadia (above p. 28) puts revelation as a fourth source of truth parallel to sense,
one instance
(p.
judgment and
logical inference.
as tradition follows
it,
but
this is
is
(p. 28)
is
that while
not forbidden to speculate, he must not set the Bible aside
and adopt opinions as they occur matter in
to him.
He
this unsettled condition.
logical priority, to reason. tion.
sure he, in
only a passing observation, and
properly corrected by the view expressed elsewhere
a Jew
To be
35), speaks of the reason as preceding the Bible even
The prophet
definitely gives priority
Knowledge, he says, must precede revela-
as the messenger of
word, for the opponent
Al-Basir does not leave the
may have
the
God cannot be believed on his claim. Not only must the
same
JOSEPH AL-BASIR AND JESHUA BEN JUDAH
49
prophet authenticate his mission by the performance of a miracle
which cannot be explained by natural means, but we must know
who
besides that he
A
ceive us.
must
creator
To
sent
him has our good
at heart
and would not de-
knowledge of the existence, power and wisdom
of the
therefore precede our belief in the prophet's mission.
take these truths from the words of the prophet and then give
him credence because God
sent him would be reasoning in a circle. The minimum of knowledge therefore which is indispensable before we can make any appeal to the words of the prophet is rational proof of the existence, power and wisdom of God. Having this minimum the person who is not practiced in speculative investigation may rely for the rest of the creed, for example, the unity of God and his other attributes, upon the words of the Bible. For if we know independently
God
that
is
Omnipotent and Omniscient, and the prophet can sub-
stantiate his claim to be a divine messenger
by the performance
genuine miracles, his
and we are
cepting
reliability is established
that he has to say without proof; but the fundamental
all
thing to do
is
to establish the prophet's reUabihty,
independent source of evidence
Our problem which
therefore
is
is
We
is
in doing things
and
for this
an
the reason.
God,
of
we
this directly, for
to prove the existence of
powerful and wise creator through his creation.
power
is
power and wisdom
cannot do
Hence the only method
cannot see God.
This
necessary.
to prove the
imply his existence.
will
of
safe in ac-
We
must prove
a
his
which we cannot do, such as the ability to create necessary to show that our bodies
our bodies.
But
for this
and the same
will
apply to the other bodies of the world, and hence to
the world as a whole
tions
by
All bodies consist of
and
all
tion
—were created,
i. e.,
that there was a time
when
This leads us to an analysis of the constituents of
they were not. body.
it is
qualities.
atoms and
The primary
their "accidents," or condi-
accidents, which are presupposed
the rest, are the following four, combination, separation,
and
rest.
Without these no body can
of a combination
and separation
of
exist, for
atoms at
body
is
mo-
the result
rest or in motion.
But
combination and separation are the acts of a combiner and separater, as
we can infer from
the analogy of our
own
acts.
Our
acts
have
ourselves as their creators, hence the acts visible in the combinations
and separations
of
atoms to form bodies must also have
their creator.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
50
The attributes of the creator we infer from the nature of his work. So we call God "Powerful," meaning that he had the power to create the world. As creation denotes power, so the success and harmony wisdom; and
of the product argues
established are not disproved
which
this
power and wisdom thus
occasional production or event
not perfect, a monstrosity for example, or disease and suffer-
is
We say in reference
ing.
by an
in view, to inspire
God must have a
to these that
mankind with the
fear of God,
and
deeper object
in order to in-
crease their reward in the next world.
The
attribute of Life follows from the other two, for
life
denotes the
possession or capacity of power and knowledge.
Thus
al-Basir has the
His proof of the existence
God
is
essential attributes as Saadia.
also identical with one of the proofs
But he shows himself a more
of Saadia.
by
same three of
loyal follower of the
Kalam
frankly adopting the atomic theory, whereas Saadia opposes
it
(P- 25).
Other predicates of God are perception,
and
will, unity,
incorporeahty
eternity.
Perception
is
one of the most important expressions of
must not be confused with knowledge or wisdom.
The
Hfe,
but
latter
it
em-
braces the non-existent as well as the existent, the former the exist-
ent only.
God
It
in virtue of the former attribute that
is
as "hearing"
"WiUing"
is
we speak
of
and "seeing."
another attribute of God, and those are wrong
and
identify God's will with his knowledge,
who
define God's wiUing to
mean
that his works take place in accordance with his knowledge.
God's
will
free will.
must be a
To be
from God, and yet
body
is
special attribute since
the will of it
God it must
we
see in creation traces of
not reside in anything different
cannot inhere in
God
as the subject, for only
capable of being the subject of accidents.
therefore, is that
God
which he
a
creates,
will
splitting with a vengeance,
and
al-Basir
his other doctrines so in this also he
is is
will
a
will
seems a case of hair
not the author of
it.
As
in
a faithful follower of the
we shall see more of this method in his God despite the plurality of his attributes.
Mu'tazila, and
solution,
not residing in any subject.
This discussion of the nature of God's
the unity of
The only
exercises his voluntary activity through
discussion of
JOSEPH AL-BASIR AND JESHUA BEN JUDAH But we nity,
up the
shall first take
51
attributes of incorporeality
and
eter-
which can be dismissed in a few words.
God
eternal because the only other alternative
is
created.
But
so there
if
a creator, and
is
if
the latter
is
he must Hkewise have a creator, and so we are led to cannot be, the
being in
infinite regress
and he
From God's all
separation,
and the
plurality in
Two Gods
it.
we have shown
presupposes combination and
God we mean first that there is no own essence has no composition or
is
an absurdity,
and he whose
not,
no objection to say that
disagree, because the possibility
argument
it
a combiner and separater.
latter
what the other does It is
which
speak of the unity of
second God, and then that his
God.
infinity,
God.
is
created, since
is
is
an impossibility ac-
eternity follows his incorporeality, for
body
before that
When we
cases
that he
We must, therefore, have an eter-
cording to an axiom of the Kalam. nal creator somewhere,
all
is
again created,
Again,
valid.
if
is
for the
will
and
there were two
is
the real
wisdom they would never
in their there,
one might desire
predominates
this
makes the above
Gods they would have
to
be completely alike in their essential attributes, and as space cannot hold them apart, since they are not bodies, what
there to constitute
is
them two?
The
other problem, of God's simplicity,
the multipKcity of attributes
is
more
make God's
difficult.
essence
Does not
multiple and
The form which this question took was this. Shall we God is omnipotent through Power, omniscient through
composite? say that
Knowledge, and so on? or eternal.
If the
If so, this
Power, say,
power
in order to create
If the
Power
is
eternal,
an eternal would be powerful,
tion as this.
God
is
God must have had
hence was powerful not through Power.
and so on with the other
Power
attributes,
on Christianity and reminding one
principle of If
created, then
are created
we have more than one God, and Power" as Wise and Living, etc.; Wisdom would also
living, etc.,
The
is
etc.,
also be
trine closely bordering
gustine.
it,
Power, Knowledge,
is
a docof
neither created nor eternal,
it
follows that
omnipotent not through Power as an external cause or a
tinct entity,
Wisdom,
but through his own essence.
Life, are
Au-
monotheism could not allow such a concep-
The
dis-
attributes Power,
not anything distinguishable from each other and
MEDIJEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
52
from God's essence.
They
and are known along with
The same
are
modes
prompted us
considerations which
one and simple, make impossible the
much
This was a point
word.
is
is
impHed
when he
we do through
We
God's
Eternity,
incompatible with the idea and purpose of speech.
cate to God, but
as
as
Mohammedan schools, Christianity, where the Word or
This adds no new predi-
speaks with a word which he creates.
implies that
God
belief in the eternity of
identified with the second person in the Trinity.
Al-Basir says,
God
to conceive
discussed in the
and was evidently directed against Logos was
or conditions of God's essence,
it.
wills
in his
Power.
The
attribute omnipotent
he can make himseK understood by us
speech.
notice that Al-Basir
is
more elaborate
in his discussion of the
and like Al-Mukammas he makes use of the " omnipotent not with Power, omniscient not formulae of the Kalam,
attributes than Saadia,
Saadia does not follow the
with Wisdom."
just as emphatic in his endeavor to
Kalam
so closely, but
show that the three
attributes are only verbally three; conceptually
and
is
essential
really they are
one.
The
doctrine of the attributes brmgs to a close the section on unity,
and the second
division of the investigation
is
entitled Justice
and
Fairness. The main problems here are the nature of good and evil and the relation of God to them, the question of free will and other
subordinate topics, theological and eschatological.
With regard
One it
is
that nothing
is
Mohammedan
good or bad
as such; that the divine
stands above his
possible,
schools of Al-Basir's day.
in itself, our reason not recognizing
command
or prohibition
Hence, the representatives
good or bad.
who
two extreme positions are
to the first question
which were actually held by
commands and
makes the thing
of this opinion say,
prohibitions,
is
God,
not bound by
Good and bad hold for the subject, not for the author. The acts of God do not come within the classification, and hence it is Some, in possible that God may do what we regard as injustice. them.
their
endeavor to be consistent and to carry the argument to
its last
conclusion, did not even shrink from the redudio ad absurdum that it is
possible
meats and
God may
fail
to keep
lie; for,
said they,
my promise,
it is
if
I promise a
no worse than
if
I
boy sweetbeat him.
JOSEPH AL-BASIR AND JESHUA BEN JUDAH For
this school there is
other school
came under the
God with
identified the idea of
Whatever God does
the good, but that ing good
was impossible
it
a necessity of
is
good and
for
his nature,
was not only
him
to
duty to do
his
do anything
and our good and
Ethical values are absolute
evil.
good.
They maintained
the idea of the Good. it
is
Greek thought and
influence of
that from the nature of God's essence
his
of evil, because ethical dis-
do not apply to God's doings.
tinctions
The
no problem
53
and not
else.
Do-
evil are also
relative.
The first is own consequences which only very few of its advocates were bold enough to adopt. The possibility of God telling a falsehood, which is imphed in the purely human validity of good and evil, is subversive of all religion. God would then cease to be trustworthy, and there would be no reason for giving him obedience. Besides, if Neither of these radical views can be maintained.
refuted
by
its
revelation alone determines right
God
and wrong,
way around, good would be
the other
evil,
good and bad are determined by the
if
would follow that
it
if
chose to reverse his orders, our moral judgments would be turned
do not believe wrong, but
in revelation
this is manifestly
But the other
opinion, that
nature to do the good,
is
and
good.
evil
God
will of
Finally,
only, those
who
would be without an idea of right and not true.
God
compelled by the necessity of his
is
also erroneous.
In the
place
first
from God's omnipotence to say he cannot do wrong.
detracts
it
Besides,
if
he
is
compelled by an iimer necessity to do the good, he must always have
done
this,
and the world would have
wrong to say that
as
man.
for
For
this
the obhgatory. good.
If
it is
is
Any
the duty of
due to a confusion
and
its
to
from
of the
it
is
good and useful
good or generous with
either, it is indifferent.
omission does not
call forth
It is just
eternity.
do what
deed to which no blame attaches
no praise attaches to
ing of praise
existed
God
blame,
may
be called
If it is deservit is
a generous
A duty is an act the omission of which deserves blame. Now the truth in the question under discussion is midway between
act.
God is able to do good as well as evil, and is under The notions of right and wrong are absolute and not merely relative. God never does wrong because evil has no attractive power per se. Wrong is committed always as a means to an end, namely, to gain an advantage or avoid an injury. God is not de-
the two extremes.
no
necessity.
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
54
pendent upon anything; he needs no advantages and fears no
Hence
there
nothing to prompt him to do wrong.
is
other hand attracts us
by its inherent goodness, not
good were done only
If the
good
ternal to the
anything either good or
The good on
God
evil.
an
for
for the sake of deriving
God, who
itself,
the
ulterior end.
some
benefit ex-
would not do
self-sufficient,
is
injuries.
does the good always and not the
bad, because in his wisdom he sees the difference between them.
was a deed
to his creatures, but
life
God
of generosity in it
to
was not a duty.
This conception of the nature of good and the problem of
It
have created the world and given
on our hands
evil leaves
Why does a good God permit disease and suffering
evil.
to exist in the world?
In particular,
how
explain the suffering
and
death of innocent children and harmless animals?
The answer of Al-Basir
that infliction of pain
is
circumstances be a good instead of an
person
permitted to
is
pain on another in self-defence, or to
inflict
prevent the pain from becoming worse, is
amputated to save the hand.
mitted,
and
it
becomes a duty in case
finally it is
permitted to
ment
for offences
reward.
They
The
when a
example, pain
finger
not only per-
is
temporary pain
will result in
if it
The last two cases apply also
a
to God's
Disease and suffering are either punish-
committed, or are imposed with a view to later
In the case of children the
will
as, for
infliction of
of retribution, as in a court of justice;
inflict
greater advantage in the future.
treatment of his creatures.
In
evil.
may under certain human relations a
last explanation alone is applicable.
At the same time the
be rewarded in the next world.
parents are admonished to repentance and good conduct.
The most will
we
difficult
question of the section on justice
and foreknowledge.
Is
man
the person will act at a given
moment
in a
moment?
manner contrary
If so, how can who knows beforehand how
Is
man
free to decide at the
to God's knowledge?
defend freedom at the expense of God's omniscience. to act as
God foreknew he would act,
freedom
lost.
snake, it
we know
from a case
that
we
When we
ourselves did
If
divine knowledge
man
Al-Basir has no doubt
sciousness testifies to this.
that of free
master of his actions?
reconcile this with God's omniscience,
last
is
is
cut off
it
of our finger being cut off
for
If so,
man
is
is
we
bound
saved, man's
Our own conour finger bitten by a free.
a purpose, and distinguish
by order
of
an
official,
before
JOSEPH AL-BASIR AND JESHUA BEN JUDAH
whom we
55
One and the same act can we know that we are the one author and not two, and our acts. There is a much closer connection between an
have been accused or maligned.
have only authors of
agent and his act than between a knower and his knowledge, which
may be the common property of many, and no one doubts that a man's knowledge
is
own.
his
The dilemma above mentioned with
two horns,
its
denies God's knowledge, the other man's freedom, to be sure.
But we
pothetical.
We
are not
bound
do not know
to
answer
it
is
of
which one
puzzling enough,
since
of a real instance in
it is
purely hy-
which a man's
decision tended to be contrary to God's foreknowledge of its outcome.
Just as
we should
of injustice
refuse to answer the question whether
on the part
of
God would prove
an actual case
his ignorance or depend-
we know through irrefutable proofs that God is wise and without need; so here we say man has freedom though God ence, because
knows he
will act
thus and
unbeliever turned believer
and
so,
it
refuse to say whether in case the
would prove God's ignorance or change
in
his knowledge.
God's creation was a pure act of grace.
and communicated his
this
and his will, it is now by sending us his prophets. The
to us a knowledge of himself
duty to guide us
commandments and edge of reason.
But once having done
in the right path,
must never be contrary to the knowl-
prohibitions
We must
see in the
commandments means of guidance,
in the prohibitions a protection against destructive influences.
they had not this rational basis, we do not see
imposed them upon
know
through the prophets,
knew him and were
anced against each other.
God
his being,
it is
his
and having announced
duty to reward those who
obedient, eternally in the next world,
ish eternally the unbeliever.
the duty of
If
should have
us.
Having given us reason to his truth
why God
If
one has merits and
Jeshua ben Judah
or,
and
to pun-
they are bal-
If the sinner repents of his evil deeds, it is
to accept his repentance
2.
sins,
and remit
Jeshua hen Jiidah
as he
Faraj Furkan ibn Asad, was
is
known by
his
punishment.
^^
his Arabic
name,
Abu
al-
likewise a Karaite, a pupil of Joseph
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
56 Al-Basir,
and
flourished in Palestine in the second half of the eleventh
His point
century.
view
of
He
teacher, Al-Basir.
same as that
essentially the
is
of his
a follower of the Mu'tazilite Kalam and
also
is
He agrees
as strong a rationalist as his master.
with Al-Basir that
we
cannot get certain knowledge of the creation of the world and the existence of
God from
This information must come
the Bible,
nally from rational speculation.
It should then
origi-
be applied to the mir-
acles of the prophets so as to prove the authenticity of their mission
and the truth
He
announcements.
of their
adopts the atomic theory, though he
is
opposed to the view that
atoms are created ever anew by God from moment to moment, and that there
no natural and necessary sequence or continuity
is
phenomena
world or qualities of bodies,
of the
and custom induced
in us
philosophical discussions he tic
works he
being due to habit
As
creations.
a follower of the Kalam, so in his
is
indebted to the
is
all
by God's uninterrupted
Mohammedan
in the
in his
legalis-
schools of religious law.
LikeAl-Basir, Jeshua ben Judah regards as the corner stone of his
world was created,
religious philosophy the proof that the is
The world and its
Taking a given atom immaterial to
it,
bodies consist of atoms and their accidents.
a given moment.
definite place at
atom
argument we know that it is own essence is concerned, whether it As a fact, however, it does occupy a
for the sake of
so far as its
occupy one place or another.
as the
shows that the cause which kept
sive causes
This must be due to a cause.
in question in the course of time changes
and given way
it
differ-
In their simplest form they are somewhat as
ently formulated. follows.
that
i. e.,
His arguments are in essence the same, though
not eternal.
to a
new
cause,
it
its
And
place, this
in the former place has disappeared
and so
on.
In other words, the succes-
which determine the positions and motions
of the
atoms are
not permanent, hence not eternal but created. The necessary inference is
that the atoms or the bodies, which cannot exist without these
created causes (else they couJd not occupy one place rather than another),
must
also be created.
Another form has no cause.
of the
It exists
ent on anything
else.
to persist in the
argument
by
If
virtue of
now
for creation its
own
is
essence,
The
this.
and
is
eternal
not depend-
the atoms were eternal, they would have
same condition
all
the time; for any change would
JOSEPH AL-BASIR AND JESHUA BEN JUDAH imply a cause upon which the atom
Hence they are
If the things of the
them.
dependent, and this
But the atoms do constantly change
its eternity.
place.
is
This
this creative
agency
is
fatal to
is
their condition
and
created.
world are created, someone must have created
But
is clear.
57
'^
a
there
may
cause,"
be room for the supposition that
i. e.,
necessity produces other things from
an impersonal
to say that this conception of the Creator
compatible with our results so
A
far.
entity,
which by
Hence we must hasten
itself. is
impossible because in-
necessarily producing cause
cannot be without creating, hence an eternal cause implies an eternal effect
We
—which contradicts our idea of a created world proved above.
say, therefore, that the Creator
i. e.,
one acting with
God
is
and
will
create bodies
not a "cause " but an "agent,"
choice.
incorporeal because
have shown, are created.
is
body
Besides,
consists of atoms, if
and atoms, we
he were corporeal, he could not
any more than we can. He would furthermore be limited
to a definite place,
and the same arguments
cited
above to prove that
atoms are dependent on a cause would apply to him.
Finally
corporeal beings cannot exert an influence on objects except
God
ing in contact with them. in contact with
it.
Hence he
is
we
as
by com-
causes the seed to grow without being
not body, and the scriptural passages
apparently teaching the contrary must be explained otherwise.
Jeshua ben Judah likewise agrees with Al-Basir in regarding the nature of good and evil as absolute, not relative.
opposes those creators of
who make God's command and
good and
evil respectively, as
on the other hand he refuses
bound by necessity to do the good. between good and evil as our senses between
to agree with the view that
Our reason
God
Like his master he prohibition the sole
distinguishes
is
white and black.
Among
other arguments in favor of the absolute character of right
and wrong, which we have already found following.
If
and prohibits not for God, this
be
prophet
good and
evil
respectively, it
mean simply
and the
follows that
in Al-Basir, appears the
that which
God may do what we
think
is evil.
but If
we have no ground for believing in the good faith of the God might have sent him to deceive us and the alleged
so,
—
God commands
distinction holds only for us
basis of right
—
and wrong
is
removed.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
58
We conclude therefore that good and evil are absolute and are binding
upon God as
God can do
well.
evil as well as
good, but being
omnipotent he can accomplish his purpose just as easily by doing
good as by doing all evil
doing
self-sufficient,
It follows
world.
is
evil,
and hence surely
prefers to
the result of some need, but
hence he does not do
God
do good.
evil.
from the above that God had a purpose
For an act without a purpose
purpose cannot have been
above pleasure and pain. well-being of his creatures.
Besides,
has no needs, being
is
egoistic, since
in creating the
vain and hence bad.
God
The purpose must
is
This
without need, being
therefore have been the
CHAPTER V SOLOMON IBN GABIROL
With Gabirol the scene the east to the west.
of Jewish intellectual activity changes
The
centre of Jewish learning was in Babylonia.
made
all
succession of
Geonim
and Pumbadita, and particularly the
in the Talmudical schools of Sura
great fame of Saadia,
from
Prior to the middle of the tenth century the
the other Jewish communities of the
world look to Babylonia as the spiritual centre.
They
considered
it
a
privilege to contribute to the support of the great eastern academies
and appealed
to their spiritual heads in cases of
Some
matters.
countries under
of this glory
was
Mohammedan
reflected also
doubt in
religious
upon the neighboring
domination, Palestine, Egypt, and
Kairuan or northern Africa to the west of Egypt.
whom we
Thus
all
the men,
treated so far
Hved and
flourished in the east in one of the four countries mentioned.
Christian
Rabbanites as well as Karaites,
Europe was
intellectually
on a low
level,
and as
far as scientific studies
were concerned, the Jews under Christian rule were no better than their temporal rulers.
But a new era dawned power
of the
Umayyad
medan Spain learning.
for Jewish literature with the accession to
caliph
or Andalusia.
Abd al Rahman III, as head of MohamHe was a liberal man and a patron of
Hasdai ibn Shaprut, a cultured and high-minded Jew, was
his trusted adviser,
and
like his royal
patron he protected and en-
couraged Jewish learning, Talmudical as well as
scientific.
When
Moses ben Enoch, a learned emissary from the Babylonian Academy, was ransomed by the Jewish community head
of
Cordova and made the
city, the
beginning of the end of
Babylonian Jewish supremacy was at hand.
Moses ben Enoch the
of
a Talmudical school in that
Talmudist,
Menahem ben
Saruk, the grammarian and lexicographer,
— three under the distinguished —inaugurated the long of Spanish
and Dunash ben Labrat, the poet patronage of Hasdai ibn Shaprut
all
line
Jewish worthies, which continued almost five centuries, constituting 59
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
6o
the golden era of Jewish hterature and making of Spain the intellectual centre of
all
Jewry.
Solomon ibn Gabirol was not merely the Spain, he was the
Jewish philosopher in
first
Spanish philosopher, that
first
Ibn Badja, the
philosophical writer in Andalusia.
is,
he was the
first
first
Mohammedan
philosopher in Spain, was born at least a half century after Gabirol.
The
birth of Gabirol
is
though some have put
The
generally placed in 102 1 it
and
his death in 1058,
as late as 1070.
fate of Gabirol in the history of Jewish Hterature
was a peculiar
Highly celebrated as a synagogal poet in the Sephardic as well
one.
as Ashkenazic community, his
overshadowed by
fame as a great philosopher was early
his successors,
and
his chief work, the
"Fountain of
The Arabic original was lost and there was no Hebrew translation. The Tibbonides, Judah, Samuel and Moses, who translated everything worth while in Life,"
was
in the course of time quite forgotten.
Jewish philology, science and philosophy from Arabic into Hebrew, either did not
know
im-
of Gabirol's masterpiece or did not think it
portant enough to translate.
To
judge from the extant fragments of
the correspondence between Samuel ibn Tibbon and Maimonides,
would seem that both were no access access,
true; that
"Fons
to Gabirol's
that Samuel ibn
is
and that
Vitae,"
if
he had had such
Maimonides would have dissuaded him from translating
Maimonides actually
tells his
it
Tibbon had
it.
translator ^^ that the only books worth
studying are those of Aristotle and his true commentators, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Themistius, Averroes.
Alfarabi
and Avicenna are
also
important, but other writings, such as those of Empedocles, Pythagoras, is
Hermes, Porphyry, represent a pre-Aristotelian philosophy which
obsolete,
and are a waste
of time.
The books
"Elements" and on "Definitions," are no was only a physician and no philosopher.
"Microcosmus" the
man
that his
of
of Isaac Israeli
on the
better, seeing that Israeli
He
is
not familiar with the
Joseph ibn Zaddik, but infers from a knowledge of
work
is
Purity"; and hence, we particularly important.
based upon the writings of the "Brothers of
may
add, not strictly Aristotelian, and not
Not a word
is
here said about Gabirol,
apparently because Samuel ibn Tibbon had not inquired about him.
But from Maimonides's judgment concerning the works pedocles,"
we may
of
"Em-
legitimately infer that he would have been no more
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL favorable to Gabirol; for, as
we
6l
shall see, Gabirol's
system
is
also
based upon a point of view similar to that of the so-called "Empedo-
What
cles."
the Tibbonides left undone was, however, partially
accomplished about a half century later by the commentator and
critic
Shem Tob Falaquera (1225-1290). Apparently in agreement with Abraham ibn Daud that Gabirol's profuseness in his philosophic masterpiece made it possible to reduce it to a tenth part of its size, Falaquera did not find
"Mekor Hayim" selected parts,
teaching.
into
which in his estimation contained the
The absence
philosophical
necessary to translate the whole of the
it
Hebrew, giving us instead a translation of a complete
work meant
Hebrew
no one who did not know "Mekor Hayim," and this
practically excluded the majority of learned
But the
of the thirteenth century. to find
many
translation of Gabirol's
of course that
Arabic could have access to Gabirol's
seem
readers either, as
Jews after the
revanche, as the
diligently.
half
may be inferred from is
the fact that
known.
French would say, the Christian Scholastics
of the thirteenth century
all
first
selections of Falaquera did not
so far only one single manuscript of this translation
En
of
gist of Gabirol's
made
Gabirol their
own and
studied
him
His fundamental thesis of a universal matter underlying
existence outside of
God was made
a bone of contention between
the two dominant schools; the Dominicans, led
by Thomas Aquinas,
opposing this un-Aristotelian principle, the Franciscans with
Duns
Ego autem redeo ad
Scotus at their head, adopting
it
sententiam Avicembronis,"
a formula in Duns Scotus's discussion
is
as their own.
of the principle of matter.^^
The
translation of Gabirol's philosophy into
an
accessible language,
which was not considered desirable by Jews, was actually accomplished
by
Christians.
tion into Latin
About a century before Falaquera a complete was made
Toledo of Gabirol's "Fountain
in
transla-
of Life,"
title "Fons Vitas." This translation was made at the inRaymond, Archbishop of Toledo in the middle of the twelfth centmy, by Dominicus Gundissalinus, archdeacon of Segovia, with the
under the stance of
assistance of a converted Jewish physician, Ibn
Daud
(Avendehut,
Avendeath), whose name after conversion became Johannes Hispanus or Hispalensis. lation
Unlike the Hebrew epitome of Falaquera this trans-
was not neglected, as
is
clear
from the role Gabirol's philosophy
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
62
plays in the disputations of the schools, and from the fact that there are
still
extant four manuscripts of the complete translation, one of
an epitome
and there
thereof,
is
evidence that a
manuscript
fifth
As Ibn Sina was corrupted by Avicenna, and Ibn Roshd into Averroes, so
existed in 1375 in the Papal library .^^
the Latin writers into
Ibn Gabirol became
and the
Scholastics
in
turn, Avencebrol, Avicembron, Avicebron;
who
fought about his philosophy had no idea he
was a Jew and celebrated as a writer of religious hymns used in the synagogue. He was regarded now as a Mohammedan, now as a Christian.
This peculiar circumstance
will
help us to get an inkling of the rea-
son for the neglect of Gabirol's philosophy in the Jewish community. It is clear that
a work which,
like the
for its author to be regarded as a
"Fons
made
Vitae,"
Mohammedan
possible
it
or even a Christian,
cannot have had the Jewish imprint very deeply stamped upon face.
Nay
more, while the knowledge of
from the Arabic may have been as a
Mohammedan,
having been translated
sufficient in itself to
stamp the author
must have been additional
there
his Scholastic admirers to
its
make them
examination of the work lends some
its
indications for
An
regard him as a Christian.
semblance of truth to these con-
siderations.
Gabirol nowhere betrays his Jewishness in the
'
Fons
make any
does not
overt attempt to reconcile his philosophical views with
The
religious faith.
treatise is purely speculative as
nowhere existed to block one's way or Ibn Daud, the author
if
dogma Abraham
religious
direct one's search.
of the philosophical treatise
"Emunah Ramah"
(The Exalted Faith), and the predecessor of Maimonides, Gabirol very severely, and
him
in the conception of
of cogency
He
Vitae."
He
never quotes a BibHcal verse or a Talmudic dictmn.
and
criticises
that not merely because he disagrees with
matter and finds Gabirol's reasoning devoid
—many bad arguments, he —
logical force
the mind of Gabirol to be equivalent to one good one
says,
seem
in
^but principally
because Gabirol failed to take a Jewish attitude in his philosophizing,
and
Ibn
actually, as
Judaism (below, This
will easily
was as a
poet,
Daud
tells
us,
maintains views dangerous to
p. 198).
was
account for the fact that Gabirol, celebrated as he lost sight of generally as
a philosopher.
The matter
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL is
made
is
against him.
clearer
still if
It is
logical conciseness
we add
devoid of
and
that his style in the
all
brevity.
very wearisome and tedious.
63
Mekor Hayim"
merit whether of literary beauty or of It is diffuse to
One has
a degree and frequently
wade through pages upon
to
pages of bare syllogisms, one more flimsy than another.
was that
Finally, the point of view of Gabirol
was rapidly becoming
obsolete,
been made ready by Ibn Daud, gave
by
substituting for
We now
it
philosophy
this
its
death-blow
the philosophy of Aristotle.
why
understand
it is
that, with
work was
there, Gabirol's philosophical
among
of a philosophy that
and Maunonides, the ground having
few exceptions here and
in the course of time forgotten
name Avicebron as well as some of his known to the Scholastic writers. To be sure,
the Jews, though his
chief doctrines
were well
even students of Scholastic literature had no direct access to Gabirol's treatise as it still
was never printed and no one knew whether there were
any manuscripts
of
it
extant or not.
The only
sources of informa-
tion concerning Avicebron's philosophy were Aquinas's refutations,
and Duns
and other second-hand references
Scotus's defence,
writings of the Scholastics.
Who Avicebron
was no one knew.
in the It
was
not until 1819 that Amable Jourdain,^^ in tracing the history of the Latin translations of Aristotle, came to the conclusion that more must
be known about the philosophy of Avicebron's "Fons Vitae" In 1845 Solomon
intended to understand the Scholastics.
if
Munk
we dis-
covered in the national library at Paris the epitome of Falaquera
mentioned above, and comparing
it
with the views of Avicebron as
found in the discussions of the Scholastics, made the important covery that the mysterious Avicebron was neither a
dis-
Mohammedan
nor a Christian but a Jew, and none other than the famous poet
Solomon ibn Gabirol. lation,
Then began a
which was rewarded amply.
covered manuscript copies of the
Hebrew epitome
of Falaquera
nus are accessible in Gabirol.
Now
Shem Tob
print.^^
'
search for copies of a Latin trans-
Both Fons
Munk and
Vitss,"
Seyerlen dis-
and now both the
and the Latin translation of GundissaliSo much
for the interesting history of
a word as to his views.
ibn Falaquera, in the brief introduction which he ap-
pends to his epitome of the "Mekor Hayim" says, "It seems to
me
that Solomon ibn Gabirol follows in his book the views of the ancient
64
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
•
we
philosophers as
find
them
in a
cerning the 'Five Substances.'
^^
ciple that all spiritual substances
book composed by Empedocles conThis book
have a
spiritual matter; that the
comes from above and the matter receives matter
based upon the prin-
is
it
from below,
a substratum and bears the form upon
is
He
it."
form
that the
i. e.,
then adds
that Aristotle attributes a similar view to his predecessors, but that
view
this
is
own
inconsistent with Aristotle's
opinion what
material
is
in general
Without going into cles
book have been found
know
work
as the source of Gabirol's views
Empedo-
of
—expositions
Empedoclean views and fragments from Empedocles's
of these so-called
for us to
to generation
change from one state to another.
detail as to the nature of this
named by Falaquera
that
in
it
Arabian and Hebrew writers ^^
—
it is sufficient
has nothing to do with the real Empedocles,
the ancient Greek philosopher; that
it
was another
many
of the
and that
like
the "Theology of Aristotle,"
"Liber de Causis," mentioned in the Introduction
(p. xx), it
spur-
names
ious writings which circulated in the middle ages under famous of antiquity;
in his
composite and possessed of potentiality.
is
Hence only those things have matter which are subject and decay, and
For
thinking.
and the was Neo-
Platonic in character.
Thus Gabirol was a Neo-Platonist. This does not mean that he did not adopt itself
many important
Aristotelian conceptions.
Neo-Platonism
The
ideas of matter
could not have arisen without Aristotle.
categories,
and so
the fixed elements of philosophical thinking,
and no
and form, and potentiality and on,
had become
new system could do without them. the founder of Neo-Platonism,
Gabirol as a Neo-Platonist,
He
Neo-Platonic.
is
and the
actuality,
is
an
we mean
In
this sense Plotinus himself,
Aristotelian.
When we
speak of
that the essence of his system
not a dualist, but a monist.
God and matter
is
are
not opposed as two ultimate principles, as they are in Aristotle.
Matter ,
in Gabirol is ultimately identified
even beyond Plotinus.
lowest scale in the gradation of being as
Good
(cf.
existent,
In
with God.
this
he goes
For whereas in Plotinus matter occupies the it
flows from the
One
or the
Introduction, p. xxxviii), and becomes equivalent to the non-
and
substance for
is
the cause of evil, in Gabirol matter
all
is
the underlying
being from the highest to the lowest, with the one
exception of the Creator himself.^^ It emanates from the essence of the
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL
65
Hence the
Creator, forming the basis of all subsequent emanations.^" spiritual substances of the celestial world, or, to use
and more
precise term
where spatially In
form.^^
— the
—since
intelligible world,
matter
fact,
spirit is
a more technical
not located in heaven or any-
have matter underlying
their '
itself is intelligible
or spiritual, not corporeal.^^
Corporeahty and materiality are two different things.
There are
various gradations of matter, to be sure; for the prime matter as
emerges from the essence of the Creator pervades
all
highest to lowest, and the further
it
extends from
its origin
and the more corporeal
it
becomes
spiritual
world we have in the matters of ter,
its
it
existence from
the less
until in the sublunar
particular objects, corporeal mat-
matter affected with quantity and magnitude and figure and
i. e.,
color.^^
Like Plotinus, Gabirol conceives of the universe as a process
Kab-
of a gradually descending series of existences or worlds, as the balistic writers
term them; these cosmic existences radiating or flowing
The
out of the superabundant light and goodness of the Creator.
two extremes
graded universe are
of this
substances, Intelligence,
spiritual
microcosm, a universe in
little,
intermediate worlds, and hence stitution of the
God
at the one end,
and the
Man
Soul and Nature.^^
as a
partakes of both the corporeal and
may
serve as a model of the con-
macrocosm, or great universe.
His body
is
typical
of the corporeal world, which consists of the lowest matter, viz., that
which has no other form except that
and so
the forms of figure, color, as such
an agent.
them is
is
at rest
Hence
together.
We
and
its
its
and
local
or substance causing this
reasons and reflects.
man
has a
still
latter has to search
is
To
motion
call
act
needs
also grows,
This likewise must
vegetative soul.
like the animals.
the animal soul.
it
parts and hold
its
Man's body
kind as do plants.
and
of the extension.^'
not capable of action.
This we
non-corporeal cause.
also sense perception
Finally,
on top
agency Nature.
call this
nourished and propagates
have
is
of corporeality, or extension,
on, borne
needs an agency to compose
it
Man
The
Man
has
principle
also thinks
and
brought about by the rational
soul.
higher function than discursive thought.
The
This
and
is
to pass
from premise to conclusion, whereas
the apprehension of the intelligence takes place "without seeking,
without
effort,
'
Intermediate between these are the
corporeal world at the other.
Body
'
and without any other cause except
its
own
essence,
'
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
66 because
In other words,
of perfection."
it is full
tellectual intuition of
which Gabirol speaks here.
capable of this because
it
has in
it is
immediate
The
Intelligence is
in-
constituting its essence, all the
itself,
forms of existence, and knowledge means possession of the forms of the things known.
As man
typical of the universe,
is
follows that there are cosmic
it
existences corresponding to the principles or powers just
man, and the
in
relation of the latter to the former
Hence there
particular to the general.
is
is
enumerated that of the
a cosmic Intelligence, a
cosmic soul embracing the rational, the animal and the vegetative
Of these the more perfect
and a cosmic nature.
parts,
is
the cause of
we named them
the less perfect; hence the order in which
represents
the order of causation or of emanation from the prime source.
The '
lowest of these emanations
sion or magnitude,
and with
it
is
the matter which sustains exten-
This matter
the process ceases.
longer the source of an additional form of existence. qualities -
no
For
like the
prototype of
generosity and goodness the First Essence or God, every one of
the spiritual substances proceeding from of imparting its .
is
various
attributes which inhere in this corporeal matter are
and
caused by the spiritual substances above. all
The
him has the same tendency it. But
form or forms to the substance next below
the forms thus bestowed are no longer the same as they are in the essence of the bestowing substance, as
what
sort of
form
it will
receive.
An
it
depends upon the recipient
inferior receiving substance will
receive a superior form in an inferior way. in the substance above the one in question
and unitary manner,
will
be transformed
into something less spiritual, less unified, i.
visible
e.,
and
tangible.
Hence the
That is
the form which
is,
contained in a spiritual
in the substance
and more nearly
visible
and
below
it
corporeal,
tangible,
and
in
general the sensible qualities of particular things in the sublunar
world, are in reality descended from a line of spiritual ancestors in
the forms of the simple substances. Intelligence, Soul and Nature.
But
it is
their distance
from the prime source, which increases with
every transmission of influence, together with the cruder nature of the receiving substance, that sensible. light,
makes the
The matter may be made
which
is
invisible as long as
resulting forms corporeal clear
it is
if
we use
in air because
and
the analogy of it
penetrates
it,
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL but becomes visible when it
becomes
comes
it
in contact with a gross
It then remains
cannot penetrate.
67
visible to the senses.
We thus
see that the higher substance acts
tains all that
is
found
in the latter,
The lower substances
manner.
upon the lower and con-
though in a more perfect and simple flow from the higher
latter are not diminished in their essence
admitted and we need not now prove
the subject in the Introduction, where
The
totelian philosophy.
as
it,
and yet the
and power.^^
That ordinary material objects are composed is
body which
on the surface condensed, and
of
matter and form
we have already
wx gave an
discussed
outline of the Aris-
principle peculiar to Gabirol
is
that not
merely the material objects of the sublimar world, but that the
composed
gible or spiritual substances also are
Whenever two things have something which they
differ,
for
if
common anc^omething in common is the matter,
in
must be composite,
they have everything in common,
Hence a spiritual substance
one.
must have something by which
for it
from a corporeal substance, and something, has in
common
Intelligence
and
with
Soul,
In the same
it.
have
differences are
due to
they would have to
Hence matter
As the composed
differ in is
Intelligence
is
hence
if
their matters also differed,
form, but matter as such has no form.
the highest existence next to God, and
is
matter and form, these are respectively the universal
Hence the
as everything
common, and they
matter and form, and the
everywhere the same.
matter and universal form, embracing forms.^^
of
the intelligible substances; for their
their forms,
in itself
of
all
which
the intelligible substances,
their substantiality in
matter must be the same in
it differs
viz., substantiality,
way
Hence they are composed
differ in form.
things absolutely simple
they must have nothing in common,
i. e.,
common
they have anything in
Two
the form.
is
to each other,
and they are no longer two things but
it
intelli-
matter and form.®^
that which they have in
that in which they differ
must be prime
of
is
Intelligence in
contained in
the cause of everything
it
it.
subsequent matters and
all
knowing
And
as
it is
itself
knows everything,
prior to everything
has an immediate knowledge of
all
and
things
without effort or searching.
But what
is
the origin of universal matter
in constituting Intelligence,
and universal form which,
are the fundamental principles of
all
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
68 existence?
The answer
^^
they come from the First Essence, God.
is
Unity comes before duaHty or
Whatever
except in God.
which
not God,
is
Their union
duality.
is
is
no true unity
ipso facto, as a product
Matter and Form
with duality.
necessary and
is
we can keep them
that
from him
issues
afifected
and there
plurality,
real,
and
it is
is
this
only in thought
In reality they form a unit, their union
apart.
varying in perfection according as they are nearer or further away
from
Hence the union
their origin.
is
closest in Intelligence, the first
divine emanation, and least close in corporeal objects of the sublunar world, where plurality
is
the order of the day.
This process by which universal matter and form issue from
may of
be called
But we must conceive
creation.^"''
it
on the analogy
water flowing from a fountain in continued and uninterrupted suc-
The only
cession.
difference
place without motion
The union of as a
is
that the emanation from
and without
of universal
empty
filled out,
and universal form as the
God
itself
a tabula rasa,
receptacle, as a reflecting
impressed or reflected therein
Hence we may view God as the
the glass.
Matter has in
It serves merely as
existence.
mirror for form to be written,
as the mirror,
takes
form and universal matter must be thought
as a potential background, as an
or upon.
God
time.
stamping of the form upon the matter.
no actual or definable
spectator, universal matter
reflection of the spectator in
himself does not enter the glass, only his reflection
And
outlined therein. it
of
God
as matter
and form are
would follow that the universe
is
really the
is
whole world,
a reflection of God, though
God
remains in himself and does not enter the world with his essence.
We may also picture to ourselves this impression of form upon matter on the analogy
of speech.
the soul of the listener.
form upon matter. of
The
speaker's words impress ideas
The world
is
created
upon
Word or Will impresses by the Word or the Will ^"^
So God speaks and
his
God. In
all
these similes matter appears as something external to God,
upon which he impresses form.
But
this is
not strictly true, since
matter has no real existence without form, and has never so existed.
The
existence of matter
God, matter from or his
Word, or
and form
his essence,
his Will.
is
simultaneous, and both
form from
And
come from Wisdom,
his attribute, or his
yet in God,
who
is
a perfect unity,
es-
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL sence and attribute are one.
69
God, not God himself,
It is the Will of
that must be regarded as the spectator, whose outline in the mirror of matter in the above simile.
upon the chart
writes form It
is
of matter,
reflected
is
It is the Will of
God
that
and thereby produces a world.
God is said to be in everything. God as distinguished from God
in virtue of the Will that
But what
is
God
since in
this will of
there can be no duality of
is
not clear or satisfactory.
if
we
consider
difi"erent
it
The
apart from
he says,
will,
identical with
Exactly to describe
an approximation.
is
is
himself,
Gabirol's answer
its activity; considered as active
from the divine essence.
but the following
any kind?
it is
God it
is
impossible,
a divine power producing
It is
matter and form, binding them together, pervading them throughout their extent
above and below, as the soul pervades the body, and mov-
ing and ordering everything.
God
And
in this
sence as he
The
known only through
himself, or the First Essence, can be
Will as pervading everything,
soul
way is
i.
e.,
through his
known but not
too only his existence can be
in himself, because
God
above everything and
is
may know Intelligence because though
soul there
is
some
between them.
similarity
the
effects in the world.
the latter
But the
is
his es-
infinite.
above the
First Essence
has no similarity to Intelligence, therefore no intelHgence can know
it.
mystic knowledge by which man may come
in
There
is
a kind of
touch with the spiritual substances and
which
is
rise
even to universal matter,
"If you wish to form a picture of these
above Intelligence.
substances," the master says to the disciple in the *'you must raise your it
from
all
intellect to the last intelligible,
sordid sensibility, free
approach with the force ligible
substance that
are entirely divorced thereof.
Then you
it
possible for
it is
this
you
to
will
you
Vitse,"
of nature
and
last limit of intel-
comprehend, until you
from sensible substance and
lose all
knowledge
embrace, so to speak, the whole corporeal
world in your being, and will place
you have done
from the captivity
your intelligence to the
of
"Fons
you must purify
will
it
in
one corner of your
soul.
sensible in comparison with the greatness of the intelligible.
the spiritual substances will
Then
be before your eyes, comprehending
you and superior to you, and you
you were those substances.
When
understand the insignificance of the
will see
Sometimes
your own being as though
it will
seem
to
you that you
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
70
them by reason
are a part of
stance; and sometimes you
there
no
is
difference
your being with
of
The
their forms."
of your connection with corporeal sub-
will think
you are
them, and that
all of
between you and them, on account
and the attachment
their being,
of
union
of the
your form to
pupil assures the teacher that he has followed this
advice and seen the whole corporeal world floating in the spiritual substances as a small boat in the sea, or a bird in the
have raised yourself to the teacher,
"and illumined Pursue
wonders. is
its
shadow, you
and with
human
soul,
the
wonder
will see there the
this therefore diligently
the purpose of the existence of the
"When you
matter," replies
universal
first
air.
of
love, because this
and
in this
is
great
^°^
and extreme happiness." But Gabirol does not promise a knowledge
delight
of the
Most High even
through this royal road of ecstasy, unless we suppose that in the promise of seeing in universal
matter the wonder of
all
wonders there
be a covert allusion to a glimpse of the deepest secret of All knowledge
is
according to Gabirol embraced in the following
three topics, (i) Matter
and Form,
First Essence or God.
By
devoted to the
and
third,
first
any
rate
in the
it is
"Fons
the Active
Word
There little
is
or Will, (3) the
"Fons Vitae"
brief hints are given of the
is
second
a special work of his on the Will,
no trace
that
is
of
any such
treatise.
At
contained on the Divine Will
Vitse" that the Will forms an important element in
Gabirol 's philosophy.
an
Only
refers us to
from the
clear
(2)
far the larger part of the
subject.
and Gabirol
which he says he wrote.
This
is
the
more remarkable because
it is
not
upon which Gabirol's system a divine will scarcely has any place
essential element in Neo-Platonism,
based.
Nay, the doctrine
of
The cosmic
in the form of emanation taught by Plotinus.
And but
conceived there as necessary and impersonal. troduction of the Will in the " Fons Vitae"
understand Gabirol in the same way. is
the essence
all,
God.
of
is
may
that
God
is
at the
or emanations, at the
must have
felt
is
diflSculty in
in the world.
the cause of
God
and pervades
is
forced to
Neo-Platonism
above
all
his
powers
being and
all existence.
not merely this purely philosophical
is
for the in-
we should be
same time transcendent and, through
immanent
same time
The
process
difficulty,
Gabirol
but as
a Jew, Pantheism as well as impersonalism must have been objection-
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL
71
Hence he mitigates both by introducing the divine will as mediating between God and the world. This brings God in closer able to him.
and more personal touch with his creation. The cosmic process is not a necessary and impersonal flow or radiation but a voluntary
The
activity having a purpose.
solution
is
unsatisfactory, as all such
bound to be, because it introduces as many diflSculties The nature of this divine Will is ambiguous. If it is God's will, and God is the One in whom there can be no distinctions, we have only a new word, and nothing is solved. If on human analogy we are inclined to take the will seriously, we are endangering God's solutions are
as
solves.
it
This dilemma Gabirol does not succeed in removing.
unity.
system
still
fication of the Will of
and
God with
the
Wisdom and
from God, reminds us strongly
reason
of Christianity, the
why William
the
Word
of
God,
a sense a being distinct
his hypostatization of the latter as in
Logos
His
has a strong flavor of Pantheism, and moreover his identi-
of Philo's Logos,
which became the
second person in the Trinity.
This
is
the
of Auvergne, bishop of Paris in the thirteenth
And
century, regarded Avicebron as a Christian.
these
same reasons
were no doubt adequate to estrange Jewish readers, as Abraham ibn
Daud
expressly
tells
us about himself, though his terms are general
(see above, p. 62).
Gabirol in
1045.
because of
is
also the author of
Though this,
an
ethical
work which he composed
of little importance philosophically, or perhaps
the
"Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh" (Improvement
of
much better than its more important "Mekor Hayim." Not only did it have the privilege
the Qualities of the Soul) fared
companion, the
Hebrew
of a
translation at the hands of the father of translators,
Judah ibn Tibbon, but the
original Arabic itself is
was recently published with an English Wise
(1901).-^'^^
The Hebrew
being reprinted several times.
Middot ha-Nefesh"
is
translation also
This
is
it
had the good fortune
due to the fact that the
of
Tikkun
a popular work, dealing with morals, and does
not go into metaphysical questions.
which stamps
extant and by Stephen S.
still
translation
It is full of Biblical citations,
as Jewish; and there are also in
it
quotations from
Arabic writers serving to illustrate the argument and lending variety
and
interest to the style.
The
larger question of the
aim
of
human
Hfe
is
touched on in the
72
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
" Fons Vitae."
We
existence it
are told there that the ultimate
aim
is
The
belongs. -^^^
human
particular
soul
according to Gabirol a
is
part, though not in a physical sense, of the cosmic soul,
which
of the universal spiritual substances (see above, p. 66).
own
Its entrance into the
does not lose
The
senses
all
and the data
body obscures
its
in this world
is
and independent
means
them
for the soul through its
own
to recall the
all
This
This knowledge
things as they really are,
and particularly Practice signifies
as far as possible from things of sense,
to the soul and might injure
What more
it.
Man's
ethical treatise.
The higher power
and
practice.
are which are beneficial to the soul, and
nature.
them-
Man's duty therefore
the intelligible substances and the Prime Essence.
from Gabirol's
came.
in
to strive to attain this higher life for his soul.
has to do with knowing
away
it
in its spiritual existence,
return to the inteUigible world.
brought about by means of knowledge and
to keep
an end
its
of the
though
its spiritual vision,
of sense perception are not
higher knowledge which was
thereby win
eternal,
one
is
Hence
touch with the higher world from which
selves; they are only a
is
and
real existence is spiritual
body. it
man's
of
that the soul should unite with the upper world to which
is
which are foreign
particularly the things
what are
injurious,
soul has a higher
we
learn
and a lower
the reason or rational soul, the lower
the animal or vegetative soul; and man's business
is
is
to see that the
reason rules over the lower nature.
Gabirol does not give us any test by which
we can
tell
whether a
given act or feeling belongs to the lower or higher nature except to
say that the appetites are diseases of the body which must be cured; that they do not belong to the rational soul, and to satisfy
not the attainment of a good.
and
vice, or rather the virtues
five senses
Gabirol's
and the
and the four humors
to the four elements,
fire, air,
in
method
vices, is to relate
man, which
water, earth,
them
is
of treating virtue
them
to the
in turn correspond
and the four primitive
This division of the elements, the
quahties, hot, cold, moist, dry.
humors, the qualities and the senses was a commonplace of the physiological
and medical science
Israeli (see above, p. 3),
and Hippocrates. Gabirol
is
The
of the time.
and
it
We
have met
it
in Isaac
goes back to Aristotle and Galen
originality,
though a queer one to be
to bring the ethical qualities of
man
sure, of
into relation with all
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL The approximations
these.
are forced in every instance and often
Instead of attempting to give a psychological analysis
ludicrous.
of the qualities in question, he lays stress
one
of the five senses, as
The and
73
great world,
we
we
their physical basis in
shall see presently.
was created out
are told,
man, the microcosm,
similarly
on
of the four elements,
also consists of four natures corre-
sponding to the elements. Thus the four humors, upon the harmonious
combination of which the health of man's body depends,
phelgm, black earth,
he
gall,
Man
fire.
and red
will use his senses
who
physician
correspond respectively to
gall,
endowed besides with
is
viz.,
five senses.
air,
If
he
blood,
water, is
wise
properly and in the right measure, like a skilful
calculates carefully
what proportion
of each
drug
should be prescribed.
The sense of sight is the noblest of the senses, and is related to the body as the sun to the world. The philosophers have a wonderful saying concerning the eye that there are spiritual tints in the soul
which are
visible in the
movements
humility and meekness.
tiness,
due to the sense
of the eyelids
—
^pride
and haugh-
Accordingly the ethical qualities
of sight are pride, meekness,
modesty and impu-
dence, besides the subordinate qualities derived from these.
Pride
is
common
gall predominates.
fools
It
adopt
may
be useful when
things, inspiring
him
But generally
God. if it
Many
wise
until they are
it
warm disposition in whom the red men exhibit this quality out of place,
in a person of a
it
mastered by
keeps a
it,
and
it is
man away from
prevalent in youth. vice
to rise to nobility of character it is
and
useless
leads to
and unworthy
and the
many
service of
evils, especially
causes one to be self-opinionated, refusing to seek the advice of
anyone.
When
a
man
quahty gaining mastery over him,
sees this
he should consider the origin
and end
of existing things.
sees that all things are destined to pass
change to humility.
his pride will
Meekness because he fication.
honor.
is
who
It is
closer to virtue
possesses
it
than the quality mentioned before,
withholds his desire from seeking grati-
a quality manifested by the prophets and leads to
"The fruits of lowliness," a philosopher has said, "are love and Contentment is of a kind with meekness. The greatest are contentment and patience. He who esteems his rank but
tranquillity."
riches
away, and
When he
himself likewise,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
74 lightly enhances said,
man's estimation of
"Be humble without Arrogance
gant.
A
his dignity.
man
wise
and manly without being
cringing,
has
arro-
a wilderness and haughtiness a taking refuge
is
and altogether a going astray." Modesty is connected with humiHty but
therein,
sister of reason,
and
is
superior to
reason, as everybody knows,
it,
for it
is
a
the most important
is
which separates man from beast and brings him near to the You never see a modest person without sense, or a person of good sense who is not modest. A man must be modest not only before quality,
angels.
Modesty and
others but also to himself.
The impudent man wise and learned.
and
If
associate to break
when used Space
and
virtues
Gabirol's
is
disliked
one has
him
in defence of
will
faithfulness, it is said, are
and the one cannot be had truly without the
closely related,
by God and by man, even
this quality it is the
duty
other.
he be
if
of his friend
by reproving him. It is of value only the Torah and in behalf of God and the truth. of
it
not permit us to treat in detail of the other senses and the vices depending
method
upon them, but we
shall indicate briefly
of relating the ethical qualities to the physical
senses.
Thus the as
sense of hearing, which
is
next in importance to sight has
quahties hate, love, mercy and cruelty.
its
insight,
some
It takes
fine
he says, to see the connection of these qualities with the sense
of hearing,
but the intelligent and discerning reader wiU find this
hint sufficient.
I
hope he
do not bring together
all
will
not blame me, Gabirol continues,
the reasons
and the
if
I
scriptural passages to
my case on account of my vexatious experiences and disappointments. We find in the and thou Hear, O Israel Bible love associated with hearing:
prove
this, for
human
flesh is
weak, especially in
.
shalt love the
the phrase:
Lord thy God" (Deut.
"When Esau heard
hated Jacob" (Gen. (22, 26),
"And
27, 34-41).
we
Hate
Mercy
am
is
the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
.
.
.
.
and Esau
related to hearing in Exod.
merciful."
find in the case of
.
follows hearing in
the words of his father
I will hear for I
refuse to Hsten, as
6, 4).
Finally cruelty
Pharaoh (Ex.
9, 12),
is
to
"And
and he hearkened not unto
them." In a similar manner Gabirol proves that the sense of smell has four quahties, anger, favor, envy, wide-awakeness; the sense of taste,
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL
75
the four qualities, joy, sorrow, regret, calmness; while liberality, niggardliness, courage
and cowardice are related
to the sense of touch.
The relation of the ethical qualities to the senses, humors, elements and primitive physical qualities is exhibited in the following table, as
it
appears in the Arabic text of the "Aslah al-Ahlak," the original
title of
Gabirol's ethical work. Alike in Respect of Dryness
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
76
devoted to a poetical description of God's attributes and the wonders of the cosmic system, as conceived in the astronomical science of the
day.
A few
of the
hymn and
quotations will give us an idea of the style and character its relation
to the
"Fons
Vitse."
"Thine are the mysteries, which neither fancy nor imagination can
comprehend and the ;
is
eminence of
in the
of
life,
over which dissolution hath no power. Thine
the Throne exalted above
whose
light
Thine
its recess.
is
and the habitation concealed
we
live.
.
.
Thou
art One,
and
its
,
art One, the first of every number,
structure.
shadow
the existence, from the
sprung every existing thing; of which we said, under
protecting shadow shall
"Thou
height;
all
and the foundation
mystery of the Unity
in the
wise in heart are astonished; for they cannot define
Thou
it.
and thy Unity can neither be lessened nor augmented;
Thou
of all
the
all
art One,
for nothing
is
there wanting or superfluous.
is
estimated or numbered; for neither plurality, nor change, form, nor
name
physical attribute, nor thee.
.
.
expressive of thy quality, can reach
."
In the same great, mighty.
"Thou
art One, but not such a one as
way he treats God's Then he continues:
art light,
and the eyes
other attributes, existent, living,
of every
pure soul shall see thee; for
the clouds of iniquity alone hide thee from her sight.
most high, and the eye but
it
of the intellect desireth
can only see a part,
"Thou
art
God, who
and upholdest
all
it
.
Thou
by thy Unity. Thou
art
all
art
for thee;
cannot see the whole of thy greatness.
by thy Divinity supportest
creatures
.
.
and longeth
.
.
.
things formed;
God, and there
is
no distinction between thy godhead, unity, eternity or existence; for all is
one mystery; and although each of these attributes
is
variously
named, yet the whole point to one end.
"Thou
art wise,
and wisdom, which
is
the fountain of
life,
from thee; and compared with thy wisdom, the knowledge of kind
is folly.
Thou
ancient things; and
art wise;
and
floweth all
didst exist prior to all the
wisdom was reared by
thee.
Thou
manmost
art wise;
and
hast not learned aught from another, nor acquired thy wisdom from
anyone
else.
Thou
emanate a ready
art wise;
will,
and from thy wisdom thou didst cause to
an agent and
artist as it were, to
out of non-existence, as light proceeds from the eye.
draw existence
Thou drawest
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL
77/ i
from the source of
without a vessel, and producest everything
light
without a tool."
Then
follows a description
constitution of the sublunar
of the
and
world, the terrestrial sphere consisting of part earth, part water,
fire. Then Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the spheres of the fixed stars, and the outermost sphere embracing all and giving to the entire heaven the diurnal mo-
being surrounded by the successive spheres of air and follow in order the spheres of the
He
from east to west.
tion
"Who exalt
then continues:
can understand thy tremendous mysteries, when thou didst
above the ninth orb, the sphere of the
Intelligence; that is the
inner temple; for the tenth shall be holy to the Lord.
sphere which
is
exalted above
can reach; and there thy glory.
"O
.
is
This
the
is
and which no imagination
the highest,
the hiding-place, wherein
the canopy for
is
.
.
who can come
Lord!
all
near thy understanding, when thou didst
place on high above the sphere of the Intelligence the Throne of thy
where
glory,
is
the glorious dwelling of the hiding-place; there also
the mystery and the foundation (matter)
so far the intellect
;
is
may
reach and no further; for above this art thou greatly exalted upon thy
mighty throne, where no man
"Who
may come up
to thee.
.
.
.
can comprehend thy power, when thou didst create from the
From
splendor of thy glory a pure lustre?
the rock of rocks was
it
Thou also didst bestow soul. Thou didst form it
hewn, and dug from the hollow of the cave.
on
it
the spirit of wisdom, and didst call
hewn from as
fire
guard
the flames of intellectual
within
it.
it; it is
as
Thou fire in
didst send
it
the midst of
for from the fire of the soul the body
fire,
so that its spirit burneth
forth to the
it,
was
it
created,
and
from nothing, because the Lord descended thereto
Here we
"which
product of God's
is
light.
exalted above
And
it;
in fire."
above the heav-
all
the highest," hence the
yet the Throne of Glory
placed even above the sphere of the Intelligence.
He
is
said to be
speaks of
and the foundation (Yesod), beyond which the
cannot reach.
and
This clearly represents the cosmic Intelligence as a
creation of God,
the mystery
to serve
called into existence
see the Intelligence spoken of as standing
enly spheres.
first
body
and yet doth not consume
This
is
it
as
intellect
apparently a contradiction, but becomes clear
MEDIJEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
•
78
when we
what
learn
is
meant by the Throne
In the "Fons Vitse" Gabirol
tion."
from the
First Essence through the
therefore, as
it
tells
us that matter receives form
medium
bestows form upon matter,
And
hence, he says, matter
One.
The word "yesod"
as
is
it
and by "founda-
of Glory,
of the Will,
and
sits in it
which
rests
latter
upon
it.
were the stool (cathedra) of the
(foundation) which Gabirol applies in the
"Keter Malkut" (Royal Crown)
Throne
to the
of
Glory
the
is
same
that Falaquera uses for matter throughout in his epitome of the
"Mekor Hayim." Hence
it is
above
nothing
the Intelligence
we know from gence as
the
else
Throne
is
Glory which
knowledge of God, but that in reality
Finally there
is
is
And
really prior to Intelli-
was, as a creation, without form; and that with form IntelUgence.
of
than Gabirol's matter.
"Fons Vitse" that matter
in the
it exists
is
clear that the
also a reference in the
poem
as emanating from God's wisdom, and like an ''agent
it
never
constitutes the
it
and
to the will
artist
draw-
ing existence out of non-existence as light proceeds from the eye."
The
process of creation
is
thus compared with the radiation of hght in
the sentence just quoted, and likewise in the following:
from the source
of light without a
vessel,
"Thou drawest
and producest everything
without a tool."
We
do not know whether Gabirol wrote any commentaries on the
—none are extant, nor are there any references
Bible
to such
works
but from his exegetical attempts in his ethical work discussed above
by Abraham ibn Ezra of Gabirol's exwe gather that like Philo of Alexandria before him and Maimonides and a host of philosophical commentators after him, he used the allegorical method to reconcile his philosophical views with the Bible, and read the former into the (p.
71
ff.)
and from
citations
planations of certain passages in Scripture,
latter.
^"^^
Thus we
are told that
Eden
represents the presence of God, the
garden planted in Eden stands for the angehc beings to another interpretation, for the world of sense.
flows out of of
God
Eden
is
By
or,
according
the river which
meant prime matter which issues from the essence The four divisions of the
according to the " Fons Vitae."
river are the four elements;
Hebrew name
indicates, the
tative or appetitive soul.
Adam animal
The
is
the rational soul, Eve, as the
soul,
and the serpent
serpent entices
Adam
is
the vege-
to eat of the
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL forbidden
79
This means that when the lower soul succeeds in
tree.
controUing the reason, the result
out of the Garden,
i.
is evil
and
and man
sin,
is
driven
excluded from his angeUc purity and be-
e., is
comes a corporeal being. It is clear from all this that Gabirol's omission of all reference to Jewish dogma in the " Fons Vitse" was purely methodological. Phi-
losophy, and religion or theology should be kept apart in a purely
Apologetics or harmonization has
philosophical work. it is
its rights,
a different department of study, and should be treated by
but
itself,
or in connection with exegesis of the Bible.
While
it
philosophy Ezra, are
true that Gabirol's influence on subsequent Jewish
is
slight
is
Abraham
met with
Vitae"
is
ibn
—at most we find Daud and Joseph
in the
it
Moses and Abraham ibn
in
ibn Zaddik
—traces of
mysticism of the Kabbala.
his ideas
Fons
Gabirol's
a peculiar combination of logical formalism with mystic
obscurity, or profundity, according to one's point of view.
did not appeal to pure rationahsts like Ibn the former seemed unconvincing, as
it
Daud
The
latter
or Maimonides,
was employed
and
in a lost cause.
For Neo-Platonism was giving way to Aristotelianism, which was adopted by Maimonides and made the authoritative and standard philosophy.
responsible for
attracted
was
It
its
different with the
Kabbala.
Those who were
spread in the thirteenth century must have been
by the seemingly
esoteric character of a philosophy
sees the invisible in the visible, the spiritual in the corporeal, reflection of the
details also
unknowable God
in everything.
which
and the
There are certain
which are common to both, such as the analogies
of irradi-
ation of light or flowing of water used to represent the process of creation, the position of the Will, the existence of
and
so on, though
some
of these ideas are
systems, and the Kabbala as Gabirol.
may have had
matter in spiritual beings,
common
to all Neo-Platonic
access to the
same sources
CHAPTER
VI
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA All that
is
known
Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda office of "Dayyan," or judge
of the life of
that he lived in Spain
and had the
Not even
the Jewish community.
is
of
the exact time in which he lived
make
is
yet determined, though the most reliable recent investigations
it
probable that he lived after Gabirol and was indebted to the latter
for
some
of his views in philosophy as well as in Ethics. ^''^
traditional data are concerned
we have
So far as
equally reliable, or rather
Bahya as an older contemporary of Gabirol (eleventh century), or of Abraham ibn Ezra (10881167). Neither of these two data being vouched for by any but their respective authors, who lived a long time after Bahya, we are left to equally unreliable statements for regarding
such indirect evidence as
may be gathered from the content of Bahya's And here the recent in-
ethical work, the " Duties of the Hearts."
this subject
and the
editor of the Arabic text of Bahya's masterpiece (191 2), force
upon us
vestigations of
Yahuda, the
the conclusion that that
many
latest authority
Bahya wrote
on
after Gabirol.
Yahuda has shown
passages in the "Duties of the Hearts" are practically
and expression with similar ideas found in a Arab philosopher Gazali (1059-1111). This leaves very doubt that Bahya borrowed from Gazali and hence could not
identical in content
work Httle
of the
have written before the twelfth century.
To be
sure, there are
arguments on the other
give chronological priority to
Bahya over
going into the details of this minute and
be said generally that sion between the
many
two
side,
difficult discussion, it
of the similarities in thought
ethical
works
of Gabirol
rest
may
and expres-
and Bahya rather
point in favor of the view here adopted, namely, that
from Gabirol, while the
which would
Gabirol, ^'^'^ but without
prove nothing for either
Bahya borrowed side.
In so far
as a reader of the "Duties of the Hearts" recognizes here and there
an idea met with
in Gabirol's
"Fons 80
Vitae," there
can scarcely be
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA any doubt that the
latter is the
more
8i
Gabirol did
original of the two.
not borrow his philosophy or any part thereof from Bahya. its
Neo-Platonic character the
Fons Vitae"
of Gabirol
is
Despite the most
The
independent and original of Jewish mediaeval productions.
Hearts" owes what originality
"Duties
of the
which
the chief aim of the work, and not at
is
philosophical chapter.
and unity
existence of
Bahya, moves
al Basir
touch of
As we
it
has to
all to
its ethics,
the introductory
shall see later, the entire chapter
on the
God, which introduces the ethical teachings
of
Al Mukammas, Joseph
in the familiar lines of Saadia,
and the other Jewish Mutakallimun, There is besides a Neo-Platonism in Bahya, which may be due to Gabirol
as well as to Arabic sources. That Bahya did not borrow more from the " Fons Vitae" than he did is due no doubt to the difference in tem-
Bahya
perament between the two men. he
is
with the
spirit of piety
not a mystic.
is
and warmth
flected in his style,
which helped to make
lar moral-religious
book
of heart
his
in Jewish Hterature
pantheism or metaphysical mysticism in
Filled as
—an attitude
— there
is
his nature.
no trace
high
flights in the
Bahya's modest and tence, unity
"Fons Vitae" have
little
in
of
His ideas are
sane and rational, and their expression clear and transparent. rol's
re-
work the most popu-
Gabi-
common
with
brief outline of the familiar doctrines of the exis-
and attributes
of
God,
for
which he claims no originahty,
and which serve merely as the background for his contribution to religious ethics. That Bahya should have taken a few leading notions from the
and mode
Fons
Vitae," such as did not antagonize his
of thinking, is quite possible,
and we
temperament
shall best explain
such
resemblances in this manner.
As Abraham ibn Ezra in 1156 makes mention of Bahya and his we are safe in concluding that the Duties of the Hearts" was written between iioo and 1156. As the title of the work indicates, Bahya saw the great significance of a distinction made by Mohammedan theologians and familiar in views, ^"^^
'
their ascetic hterature,
known
as " visible
intention, attitude
of the hearts."
^"^
between outward ceremonial or observance,
wisdom" and "duties and
feeling, called
The prophet
of the limbs,"
and inward
hidden wisdom" and "duties
Isaiah complains that the people are
diligent in bringing sacrifices, celebrating the festivals
and
offering
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
82
prayer while their hands are such conduct
is
full of
wash themselves, to make themselves
informs them that
put away the
clean, to
from before God's eyes; to cease to do
of their deeds
do
He
blood.
an abomination to the Lord, and admonishes them to
well, to seek for justice, to relieve the oppressed, to
the fatherless, to plead for the tion
widow
(Isa.
do
This
1,11-17).
evil
evil; to learn to
justice to
a distinc-
is
between duties to God and duties to one's fellow man, between
religious
ceremony and
distinction
ethical practice.
Saadia makes a further
—also found in Arabic theology before him—between those
commandments and
prohibitions in the Bible which the reason itself
approves as right or condemns as wrong
—and those which to the reason seem
— the rational commandments
indifferent,
and which revelation
alone characterizes as obligatory, permitted or forbidden called " traditional commandments."
Bahya's division Ethical practice quite as
much
so-
identical with neither the one nor the other.
is
may
— the
be purely external and a matter of the limbs,
as sacrifice
and ceremonial
On
ritual.
one
may
it is
with him of subordinate importance, and
the other hand,
moved with the spirit of true piety, love of commandments in the performance of a sohis loyalty to God and fastening of a "mezuzah" the called "traditional commandment," like Bahya finds room for Saadia's classification but to the door-post. profoundly
feel
Among
"duties of the limbs."
is
apphcable only to the
these alone are there
some which the
reason unaided by revelation would not have prescribed. The "duties of the heart " are all rational. Like all precepts they are both positive
and negative. in
a creator
Examples
who made
of positive duties of the heart are, belief
the world out of nothing; belief in his unity
and incomparability; the duty in him, to
to serve
submit to him, to fear him,
open and secret actions, to long for his
him with
all
for his favor
our heart, to trust
he
to feel that
and
is
watching our
direct our actions
name's sake; to love those who love him so as to be near unto
him, and to hate those
who
hate him.
Negative precepts of
this class
are the opposites of those mentioned, and others besides, such as that
we should not desire '
covet, or bear a grudge, or think of forbidden things, or
them or consent
duties of the heart
is
to
do them.
The common
characteristic of all
that they are not visible to others.
God
alone can
judge whether a person's feeling and >notives are pure or the reverse.
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA That these
incumbent upon us
duties are
83 clear
is
from every point
Like Saadia Bahya finds the sources of knowledge, particu-
of view.
larly of the
knowledge of God's law and rehgion, in sense, reason, Leaving out the senses which are not
written law and tradition.
this particular case, the obligatory character of the
competent in
duties of the heart
is
vouched for by the other three, reason, law,
tradition.
From
reason
we know
that
man
is
composed
One is worship God in a
that both are due to God's goodness.
Hence we visible
are obhged to
worship and
by the
and body, and other
is
not.
visible organs.
and so
on, which are
The hidden worship
includes the
duties of the heart, for example, to think of God's unity, to believe in
him and
his
Law, to accept
his worship, etc., all of
which are ac-
complished by the thought of the mind, without the assistance of the visible limbs.
Besides, the duties of the limbs, the obligation of which
no one
doubts, are incomplete without the will of the heart to do them.
Hence
it
follows that there
is
a duty upon our souls to worship
God
to the extent of our powers.
The Bible is just as emphatic in teaching these duties as the reason. The love of God and the fear of God are constantly inculcated; and in the sphere of negative precepts we have such prohibitions as, "Thou shalt not covet" (Exod. 20, 17); "Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge" (Lev. 19, 18); "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart" (ib. 17); "You shalt not go astray after your own heart" (Num. 15, 39); "Thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from thy needy brother" (Deut. Rabbinical literature
is
15, 7),
and many
others.
just as full of such precepts as the Bible,
more emphatic
in their inculcation. Witness such sayings as the following: " Heaven regards the intention
and
is if
possible even
"The heart and the eye are two procurers of sin" (Jer. Berak. i), and many others, particularly in the treatise Abot. The great importance of these duties is also made manifest by the (Sanh. io6b):
fact that the
more
punishment
•
two-fold manner; with,
Visible worship represents the duties
invisible.
of the limbs, such as prayer, fasting, charity,
carried out
of soul
visible, the
in the Bible for unintentional
lenient than for intentional, proving that for
misdeeds
is
punishment the
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
84
mind must share with the body in the performance of the deed. The same is true of reward, that none is received for performing a good deed if it is not done "in the name of heaven." They are even more important than the duties of the Umbs, for unUke the latter the obhgation of the duties of the heart is always in force,
and
is
independent of periods or circumstances.
and not
too, is infinite,
hundred and
And
Their number,
limited, as are the duties of the limbs, to six
thirteen.
Bahya complains, despite the great importance of these men who observed them even in the generations preceding ours, not to speak of our own days when even the external ceremonies are neglected, much more so the class of precepts under discussion. The majority of students of the Torah are actuated by yet,
duties, very
desire for
few are the
fame and honor, and devote
legalistic discussion in
Rabbinic
their time to the intricacies of
literature,
and matters
which are of no account in the improvement of the lect
soul;
unessential,
but they neg-
such important subjects of study as the unity of God, which
ought to understand and distinguish from other
We
receive parrot fashion from tradition.
(Deut.
"Know
4, 39),
that the Eternal
beneath: there
is
is
the
none
therefore this day,
God
unities,
Only he
is
commanded
reflect in
in the heavens above,
else."
and not merely
are expressly
and
we
thy heart,
and upon the earth
exempt from studying these
matters whose powers are not adequate to grasp them, such as women, children
and simpletons.
Moreover Bahya writers, to treat religious duties.
is
the
first,
he
tells us,
systematically and ex
When
I looked,
the early writers after the
among
the post-Talmudical
professo this branch of our
he says, into the works composed by
Talmud on
the
commandments,
that their writings can be classified under three heads. tion of the
Torah and the Prophets,
like the
I
found
First, exposi-
grammatical and
lexi-
cographical treatises of Ibn Janah, or the exegetical works of Saadia.
Second, brief compilations of precepts, like the works of Hefez ben
Yazliah and the responsa of some geonim.
Third, works of a
philosophico-apologetic character, like those of Saadia, Al
Mukammas
present in an
acceptable
and
others,
manner the
whose purpose doctrines
of
it
the
was
to
Torah,
to
prove them by logical
demonstration, and to refute the criticisms and erroneous views of
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA unbelievers.
wisdom."
But
have not seen any book dealing with the "hidden
I
^^0
Here we see
clearly the purpose of
zation of Jewish of religion
85
dogma
that he
and philosophy.
is
Bahya.
It is not the rationah-
interested in, nor the reconciliation
within which he seeks to accomplish.
and consistency
Sincerity
our words and our thoughts, so far as the service of is
the fundamental requirement
To
heart.
from
It is the purification of rehgion itseh
and
God
in
concerned,
is
essential value of the duties of the
be sure this cannot be attained without intelligence.
The knowledge
of
God and
of his unity is a prerequisite for a proper
understanding and an adequate appreciation of our rehgious duties.
Philosophy therefore becomes a necessity in the interest of a purer,
and
truer religion, without reference to the dangers threatening
it
from without.
Having found, he continues the Hearts," that
in the introduction to the
command
this
them and
to learn them, being led
in
I then
a book for
from one topic to another
which
I
my own
my
my
and
it.
But
duty to do what
on account
it
of
my limitations,
my
nation to effort; for
But
the difficulty
limited knowledge of Arabic, the language in it
because the majority of our people are best
I thought better of I could
even
if it
it
and
was not
realized that
if
it
perfect; that I
not yield to the argument springing from a love of ease and
was
must
disincli-
everyone were to abstain from doing a small
good because he cannot do as much as he would ever be done at
in
it all
benefit as well as for the benefit of others.
intended writing
familiar with
until the
determined to write the subject down systematically
I hesitated about writing of the subject
tradition,
branch of our religious duties, I tried to think about
subject became so large that I feared I could not contain
memory.
"Duties of
and
the three sources, reason, Bible
all
nothing would
like,
all.
Having decided
to
compose the work, he continues,
I divided the
subject into ten fundamental principles, and devoted a section of the
book to each omitting the
manner
section
principle.
I endeavored to write in a plain
difficult expressions, technical
of the dialecticians.
I
had
deahng with the existence and
of the subject required the
to
make an
unity of
employment
and easy
style,
terms and demonstrations in exception in the
first
God, where the sublety
of logical
and mathematical
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
86
For the
proofs.
made
rest I
use of comparisons or similes, adduced
support from the Bible and tradition, and also quoted the sages of other nations. ^^^
We
have already seen in the introduction that Bahya was indebted
and
for his ideas to the ascetic
Yahuda, who
is
Sufic literature of the Arabs,
and
the authority in this matter of Bahya's sources, has
shown recently that among the quotations of the wise men of other nations in Bahya's work are such as are attributed by the Arabs to Jesus and the
Mohammed and
gospels, to
his
companions, to the early
Mohammedan
caliphs, in particular the caliph Ali, to
ascetics
and
In selecting the ten general and inclusive principles, Bahya lays
down or as
as the it is
first
and most fundamental the doctrine works
called in the
of the
true imity, being neither substance nor accident,
we cannot know God ception of section
is
him and
as he
in himself,
of his existence
therefore devoted to
from
As God
is
a
and our thought
cannot grasp anything except substance or accident, is
of the deity,
Kalam, the Unity.
it
follows that
and that we can get a con-
The second Then
his creatures only.
an examination
of creation.
follow in order sections treating of the service of God, trust in God,
God
action for the sake of
alone, submission to
God, repentance,
self-
examination, separation from the pleasures of the world, love of God.
In his discussion of the vmity of God, Bahya follows the same
method
as Saadia,
and the Kalam
generally,
e.,
i.
he
first
proves that
the world must have been created; hence there must be a creator,
and
this is followed
ular arguments, too, are for
though differently expressed addition in unities,
Bahya
which
ecessors,
is
The particthe most part the same, as we shall see, and in a different order. The important
by a demonstration
his distinction
is
of
God's unity.
between God's unity and other
not fovmd so strictly formulated in any of his pred-
and goes back
to Pseudo-Pythagorean sources in Arabian
literature of Neo-Platonic origin.
In order to prove that there of nothing
we assume
Second, principles are
finite
before which there
no
i. e.,
came
is
is
a creator who created the world out
three principles.
to be in time,
First,
nothing can
make
itself.
in number, hence there must be a
other.
Third, every composite
and did not
exist
from
eternity.
is
first
"new,"
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA Making use
of these principles,
ceed as follows: The world
and man form a
stars
sort of
and animals are composed
The elements and is
which
be proved
will
composite in
is
as accidental.
It
according to the
the primitive "hyle,"
is is
the root of
first principle,
made
number
composite, and
is
make
itself, it
As,
must
accordance with the second
as, in
of causes cannot
form
their
origin in time.
its
a thing cannot
But
and
forms, essential as well
all
clear therefore that the world
is
have been made by some one.
first
Plants
of the four elements, fire, air, water, earth.
hence, according to the third principle, had
first
pro-
Sky, earth,
house which the latter manages.
Their matter
accident.
reach a
we
later,
all its parts.
again are composed of matter and form, or substance
the primitive form, which
principle, the
87
be
infinite,
cause of the world before which there
is
we must
no
other,
finally
and
this
the world out of nothing.
Before criticising this proof, from which Bahya infers more than legitimate,
The
we must prove
proof of the
identical in
first
principle that a thing cannot
Bahya with the second
have made
itself
Before
are impossible.
after it existed there first
proposition
The
before
is
it
it
It
is
existed or after
existed
it
is
ning,
but
where
any
is
else.
it
to
existed.
make.
em-
upon the same
But both itself;
Hence the
of causes can-
principle as the fourth
The
limit in the direction of the past,
eternal a parte ante, cannot
must
itself.
number
proof in Saadia for the creation of the world.
Whatever has no
that the thing
proved that a thing cannot make
also based
itself is
was not there to make
was no longer anything
proof of the second proposition that the
not be infinite
make
of the three demonstrations
ployed by Saadia for the same purpose. either
is
the three original assumptions.
principle
i. e.,
is this.
had no begin-
have any stopping point any-
In other words, we as the spectators could not point to
definite spot or link in this eternally infinite chain, because the
chain must have traversed infinite time to reach us, but the infinite
can never be traversed.
and do
Since, however, as a matter of fact
we can
direct our attention to parts of the changing world, this
that the world
must have had a beginning.
A second proof of as follows:
If
the remainder
shows
the
same
we imagine an is less
principle
is
not found in Saadia.
actual infinite
than before.
Now
if
and take away a
this
remainder
It is
part,
is still
in-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
88
we have one infinite larger than another, which is impossible. we say the remainder is finite, then by adding to it the finite part
finite,
If
which was taken away, the result must be
we assumed
to h5^othesis, for
it infinite
finite;
but
this is contrary
Hence
at the start.
But we can separate
that the infinite cannot have a part.
follows
it
in
thought
men from the beginning those that lived Noah and that of Moses. This will be a finite number and a part of all the men in the world. Hence, as the infinite can have no part, this shows that the whole number of men is finite, out of
all
the generations of
between the time
of
and hence that the world had a beginning. This proof
is
not in Saadia, but we learn from Maimonides ("Guide
of the Perplexed,"
I, ch.
75) that
it
was one
Mutakallimun to prove the absurdity
used by the
of the proofs
of the behef in the eternity of
the world.
The
third principle
is
that the composite
new."
is
This
is
proved
simply by pointing out that the elements forming the composite are prior to
nothing
by nature, and hence the
it is
prior to the eternal.
latter
cannot be eternal, for
This principle also
is
found in Saadia
as the second of the four proofs in favor of creation. ^^^
We what?
have now Clearly
justified
we have only proved
have existed as such from posed of
its
our assumptions and hence have proved that this composite world cannot
eternity; but that
it
must have been com-
elements at some point in time past, and that hence there
must be a cause
or agency which did the composing.
But there
nothing in the principles or in the demonstration based
is
upon them
which gives us a right to go back of the composite world and say of the elements, the simple elements at the basis of
all
composition,
matter and form, that they too must have come to be hence were created out of nothing.
It
is
in time,
viz.,
and
only the composite that
argues an act of composition and elements preceding in time and
The simple needs not having made itself does not arise.
nature the object composed of them.
hence the question of
its
to be It
by
made,
was not
made at all, we may say, it just existed from eternity. The only way to solve this diflficulty from Bahya's premises is by saying that if we suppose matter (or matter and form as separate entities) to
have existed from
eternity,
we
are liable to the difl&culty
involved in the idea of anything having traversed infinite time and
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA reached us; though lend of
itself to
it
89
doubtful whether unformed matter would
is
the experiment of abstracting a part as in generations
men.
Be
may,
this as it
proved creation ex
interesting to
it is
Bahya
rived as far as
in his
nihilo,
know
that Saadia having ar-
argument was not yet
and added
special
he
satisfied that
arguments for
this pur-
pose.
Before proceeding to prove the unity of God, Bahya takes occasion to dismiss briefly a notion which scarcely deserves consideration in
That the world could have come by accident, he
his eyes.
too absurd to speak
of, in
and wisdom which we
see in nature.
accident forming
into a written book.^^^
is
As
by
well imagine ink spilled
Saadia also discusses
view as the ninth of the twelve theories of creation treated by
this
him, and refutes is
itself
says,
view of the evidence of harmony and plan
it
more elaborately than Bahya, whose one argument
the last of Saadia's eight.
In the treatment of creation Saadia
is
decidedly richer and more
comprehensive in discussion, review and argumentation. to be expected since such problems are the
"Emunot none the
less
fundamental, in the "Hobot ha-Lebabot," and Bahya
had been adequately treated by
that the subject
felt
distinguished predecessor.
It
the
is
more
that in the treatment of the unity of offers
prime purpose of the
ve-Deot," whereas they are only preparatory, though
must have
and
This was
his
surprising therefore to find
God Bahya
is
more
a greater variety of arguments for unity as such.
elaborate,
Moreover,
as has already been said before, he takes greater care than anyone before
any
him
to
guard against the identification of God's unity with
of the unities, theoretical or actual, in our experience.
no doubt that
this
emphasis
may have come common sources.
which their
We
see,
to
Bahya begins
is
Bahya from
so on, imtil
his discussion of the unity of
when we reach
nimiber of individuals
number
of genera
the top there
is infinite,
is less
is
Gabirol, the rest probably from
God, that the
causes are fewer than their effects, the causes of the causes
and
There
due to Neo-Platonic influence, some of
the
number
is
only one.
of species
still
fewer,
Thus, the
is finite;
the
than the number of species, until we get to
the highest genera, which according to Aristotle are ten (the ten!
MEDIJEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
90 categories).
Again, the causes of the individuals under the categories
The
are five, motion and the four elements.
causes of the elements
The cause of these must therefore be will of God as immediately preceding matter and form sounds like a reminiscence of the "Fons
are two, matter
and form.
(The
one, the will of God.
universal Vitffi".)
God's unity is
is
moreover seen
in the unity of plan
Everything
evident in the world.
dependent upon everything
is
and wisdom that
related to, connected with
showing that there
else,
is
and
a unitary
principle at the basis. If
anyone maintains that there
upon him.
that there
a God who made
of less
than one; but
more than one God, the burden
Our observation
of proof lies is
is
of the
world has shown us
hence one, since we cannot conceive
it;
why more
than one, unless there are special
reasons to prove it?
Euclid defines unity as that in virtue of which
we
a thing one.
call
This means to signify that unity precedes the unitary thing by nature, just as heat precedes the hot object.
Plurality
the
is
sum
hence plurahty cannot be prior to unity, from which
Hence whatever precedes
it;
plurality
and even
we
if it
This argument
ism
is
strictly
all
precede them
Neo-Platonic and
of Plato, the notion that
of ones,
proceeds.
minds we know that unity
occurs to anyone that there
one creator, unity must after '
find in our
it
all. is
is
more than
Hence God
is
one.
based upon the ideal-
whatever reality or attributes particular
things in our world of sense possess they
owe
to the real
and eternal
types of these realities and attributes in a higher and intelligible (using the term in contradistinction to sensible) world in which they participate.
In so far as
this conception is applied to the essences
of things, it leads to the hypostatization of the class concepts or
universals. real
him. If
Not
He
is
we apply
quality.
whom we perceive is the man as the mind conceives
the particular individual
man, but the typical man, the
ideal
not a concept but a real existent in the intelligible world. it
also to qualities of things,
Heat becomes
really distinct
we
hypostatize the abstract
from the hot object, existence
from the existent thing, goodness from the good person, unity from the one object. it
And
a thing
is
existent
participates in Existence, Unity
and one and good, because
and Goodness.
These are
real
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA and not
entities, intelligible
91
and they give
sensible,
to our world
what
reality it possesses.
Plotinus improved upon Plato, and instead of leaving these Ideas
and ultimate
as distinct
and gathered up
all
entities,
he adopted the suggestion of Philo
these intelligible existences in the lap of the uni-
versal Reason, as his ideas or thoughts. in Philo the Logos,
whose mode
This universal Reason
is
ambiguous, and
is
of existence is
still
In Plotinus
rather to be understood as the divine mind. first
and
stage in the unfoldment of the Godhead,
In Christianity
though not a person.
postasis,
In
in the Trinity, incarnated in Jesus.
Jewish Neo-Platonists,
it
it is
Israeli,
is
know what
his ideas
a distinct hy-
the second person
Nous
occupies the same place as the
no universal Reason spoken
deep, there
may have
the
Gabirol and the other
In Bahya, whose taint of Neo-Platonism
Plotinus.
is
it is
of.
is
in
not even skin
But we do not
really
been on the subject, as he does not
develop them in this direction.
To
proceed to if
we Thus
return to Bahya's arguments in favor of the unity of God,
there
is
show that duahsm would lead
more than one
or they are not.
If
creator, they are either of the
they are, then the
and we have unity once more.
creator,
ent, they are distinct,
which
eternal,
is
to absurd conclusions.
hence Hmited,
common If their
finite,
same substance
substance
is
the real
substances are differ-
composite, and hence not
absurd.
Besides, plurahty
an attribute
is
But the
category of quantity.
of substance,
creator
is
and belongs to the
neither substance nor acci-
But
dent (attribute), hence plurahty cannot pertain to him.
cannot be described as multiple, he If the creator is
more than one,
it
must be
if
he
one.
follows that either each one of
them
could create the world alone, or he could not except with the help of the other.
we adopt the first alternative, there is no need of more If we adopt the second, it follows that the creator
If
than one creator. is
limited in his power, hence, as above, composite,
which
is
impossible.
Besides,
possible that a dispute creation.
But
all this
always the same.
he appUes in
might
if
there were
arise
and not
more than one
eternal,'
creator, it
is
between them in reference to the
time no such thing has happened, nature being
Hence God
is
one.
this connection the
Aristotle also agrees with us, for
Homeric expression, "It
is
not good
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
92
many
to have
be one "
rulers, let the ruler
Metaphysics, XII, ch.
1076a
10, p.
(Iliad, II,
204; Arist.,
4).^^^
So far as Bahya proves the unity of God he does not go beyond
some
Saadia,
two
whose arguments are reproduced by him, and one or
of
But
a Neo-Platonic character added besides.
of
advance
in the analysis
which
of
unique.
is
We
apply the term one to a In
ual.
a decided
is
and that the unity
there are various kinds of imity in our experience,
God
there
which Bahya shows that
follows, in
all of
a genus, a species, or an individ-
class,
these the multiplicity of parts
is visible.
The genus
ani-
man embraces a great many individual men; and the individual man consists of many parts and organs and faculties. Things of this sort are one in a sense and many in
mal contains many animals; the
species
a sense.
We also apply the term one to an object in which the multiplicity of parts
is
Take
not as readily visible as in the previous case.
for
example
a body of water which
is
homogeneous throughout and one part
This too
is
in reality
like another.
form, substance and accident. it is
It
of parts,
But
both the above cases the unity
is
all this
which
is
in reality
Another application basis of
division,
we
fore
It
is
call
It is
a thing or a
many.
of the
term one
mmiber, the numerical one.
actual.
Hence
not essential but accidental.
is
when we
This
is
designate
by
it
the
a true one, essential as
But
distinguished from the accidental referred to above.
and not
union and
implies plurality.
because of a certain appearance or similarity that class one,
is
matter and
in virtue of this composition that
is
and decay, composition and
subject to genesis
separation, motion and change. in
composed
it is
mental
a symbol of a beginning which has no other be-
it.
Finally there
is
the real and actual one.
This
is
something that does
not change or multiply; that cannot be described by any material attribute, that
move and
is
is
not subject to generation and decay; that does not
not similar to anything.
cause of multiplicity. is
subject to change,
different before
and
It has
It
is
one in
all
respects
and the
no beginning or end, for that which has
and change
is
opposed to unity, the thing being
after the change.
one does not resemble anything,
for
For the same reason the
resemblance
is
an accident
real
in the
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA
93
resembling thing, and to be possessed of accidents
Hence the it,
true one resembles nothing.
We
in
means not
It
^^^
have now shown that there
other hand last of
no accident
is
a purely negative term in this appHcation.
for it is
multiple.
to be multiple.
is
Its oneness
we have analyzed
which
a creator
is
the most real and the purest.
is
that this pure one
is
and on the
one,
now
It remains
identical with the one creator.
is
to
show
This can be proved
The world being everywhere composite contains
way.
in the following
who
the various meanings of the term one, the
the one as well as the
many
—unity
of composition,
plurahty of the
parts composed.
As unity
do not run on to
infinity (see above, p. 87), the causes of the world's
is
prior
by nature to plurality, and causes
unity and multiplicity cannot be again unity and multiphcity of the
same kind be unity
and
Hence
forever.
which there
in
as multiphcity cannot be the
first, it
—the absolute and true unity before which there no manner
is
must
no other,
is
But God is the one we have shown, hence God and this true
cause of the universe, as
of multiplicity.
imity are the same.
We
can show
this also in
attribute in one thing
Thus heat its
is
is
an
in hot water.
heat without ceasing to be
its
essential element;
and
It
is
from
it is
fire
The same
things receive their heat. imity.
It
accidental in
all
is
For water
different with
fire.
an accidental
is
some other
essential element in
an accidental attribute
heat and remain water as before.
not lose
Whatever
another way.
fire.
Hence heat
that hot water and
all
creatures.
is essential,
possess.
and which
But God
is
is
there
They
and
must be something
the cause of whatsoever imity
all
an
other hot
are called one because
But they
division
and
in
which unity
all
other things
the cause of the universe, hence he
and absolute imity, and
is
thing apphes to the attribute of
are really multiple since they are liable to change
Hence
lose
Fire can-
in fire
they combine a nmnber of elements in one group or concept.
motion, and so on.
thing.
may
is
this true
change and accident and multiplicity are
foreign to him.^^'^
This unity of to
him
God is not in any way derogated from by
of attributes.
"active."
For the
latter are of
the ascription
two kinds, "essential" and
We call the first essential because they are permanent attri-
butes of God, which he had before creation and will continue to have
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
94
when the world has ceased to be. These
We
Existing, One, Eternal.
Now They i. e.,
They
attributes are three in number,
have already proved every one
them.
of
these attributes do not imply change in the essence of God.
are to be understood in the sense of denying their opposites,
that he
is
not multiple, non-existent or newly come into being.
also imply each other as can easily be shown,
We
the three implies the other two.
they are really one in idea, and
thought
fully,
we
if
we
every one of
i. e.,
must understand
therefore that
could find one term to express the
But the
should not use three.
three do not imply
multiplicity in God.
The "active" them
to
him because
of the necessity
of his existence so that
We
are permitted to apply
which compels us to get to know
we may worship him.
use them very frequently. First, those
God by
are those attributes which are ascribed to
reason of his actions or effects on us.
We may
The
Biblical writers
divide these into
two kinds:
which ascribe to God a corporeal form, such as (Gen.
"And God created man in his image," and others of
same
the
i,
27),
character.
Second, those attributes which refer to corporeal movements and
These have been so interpreted by our ancient sages as to
actions.
remove the corporeality from God by substituting the "Glory for
God
as the subject of the
(Gen. 28, 13)
Aramaic
movement
"And behold the Lord stood above it,"
translator,
"and behold
the glory of
is
God" Thus,
rendered by the
God was
present
above
Emunot
Saadia deals with this matter at length in his
it."
of
or act in question.
ve-
Deot," in his commentary on Genesis, and on the book "Yezirah."
So there
is
no need
of going into detail here.
necessity compels us to speak of
may be made
to
the prophets
had spoken
know
of
God
God's existence. in metaphysical
can follow such profound matters. of
God in
more
this simpler
are
all
agreed that
This they could not do
if
terms, for not everyone
But having come
to the knowledge
though imperfect way, we can then advance to a
perfect knowledge of him.
reader will lose nothing for
We
in corporeal terms so that all
The
intelligent
and philosophical
by the anthropomorphic form
of the Bible,
he can remove the husk and penetrate to the kernel. But the simple
reader would miss a very great deal indeed in the language of philosophy, as he
would remain without a knowledge
of
if
the Bible were written
would not imderstand
God.
it
and
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA Despite
95
predominant anthropomorphism, however, the Bible
its
does give us hints of God's spirituality so that the thoughtful reader
may
have food
also
For example, such expressions
for his thought.
"Take ye
as (Deut. 4, 15),
good heed unto yourselves;
therefore
for
ye saw no manner of form on the day that the Lord spake unto you
Horeb out
of the
midst of the
fire,"
and many others are meant
The same
spur on the discriminating reader to further thought. applies to all those passages in which the
word God
before the
in
to
word "name"
is
as the object of praise to indicate that
inserted
we do not
know God in his essence. An example of this is, "And they shall bless the name of thy glory" (Neh. 9, 5). For the same reason the name of God is joined in the Bible to heaven, earth, the Patriarchs, in such phrases as the God of the heavens, the God of Abraham, and so on, to show that we do not know God's essence but only his revelation in nature and in history. This is the reason why after saying to Moses, "I
am
God God
sent
unto you" (Ex.
your fathers, the God
of
Jacob sent
imderstand
and
me
of
me
God with
tradition.
3, 14),
of
he adds
(ib. 15), tell
Abraham, the God
unto you." their reason,
them, "the
of Isaac
and the
The meaning is, if they cannot let them know me from history
^^^
In Bahya's treatment of the divine attributes we already have in
main elements which Maimonides almost a century
brief the
made
classic,
attributes,
and the idea that the former
ing their opposites,
i.
e.,
The outcome
negative.
later
namely, the distinction between essential and active are to be imderstood as deny-
as being in their nature not positive but
therefore
are applicable to God, negative
is
that only two kinds of attributes
and those which are transferred or
projected from the effects of God's activity as they are visible in na-
Saadia had already
ture.
and
active attributes, but
laid
down
made
the distinction between essentia]
was quite
incidental with him,
more
Al
Mukammas
applicable to
said long before.
God than
speaks of negative attributes positive, as Philo
But the combination
literature before is
had already
of these two, negative
active, as the only kinds of divine attributes is
It
and not
at the basis of his discussion, but casually referred to in a
different connection.
as being
it
and
not found in Jewish
Bahya.
worth noting also that Bahya does not lay down the three
MEDIJEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
96
Wisdom and
attributes, Power,
the
manner
of the Christians, the
Bahya, as we have
Saadia.
Life as fundamental or essential in
Herein, too, he seems to anticipate Mai-
existence, imity, eternity.
monides who
Arab Mutakallimun, and the Jewish
seen, regards as God's essential attributes,
insists against the believers in essential attributes that
the attributes, living, omnipotent, omniscient, having a
more
than any other, but
essential
are no
will,
like the rest of the qualities as-
God have reference to his activity in nature. ^^^ have now gone through Bahya's philosophical chapter
cribed to
We
purpose
is
what he
and not
practical
theoretical
"acknowledgment
calls the
heart," not to speak of the
title
clear
is
book
of the
full
heart means, he
the existence other,
and then
to
make
It is not a
tion.^^"
of
that one must
full
and the nine
which constitute
first,
To acknowledge
tells us,
and unity
God with
the meaning of
of this section,
chapters in Bahya's work following upon the
and purpose.
itself,
his
his definition of
of the unity of
which we explained at the beginning
real essence
from
giving
That
us the metaphysical basis of his ethico-religious views.
its
God with know how to prove
the unity of first
God, to distinguish God's unity from every
his heart
matter of the
and
his
tongue unite in
intellect merely,
this
concep-
but of the heart as
The adequacy of the conception God as multiple, or by worshipis made null and void likewise and stars; it images, sun, moon ing by hypocrisy and pretence, as when one affects piety before others to gain their favor or acquire a reputation. The same disastrous result Here the is brought about by indulging the low physical appetites.
affecting one's practical conduct. is
destroyed not merely by thinking of
worship of the appetites
is
brought into competition and rivalry with
devotion to the one God.^"^
Our
object being to trace the philosophical conceptions in mediaeval
Jewish hterature, we cannot linger long
Bahya's masterpiece, which theoretic,
is
in the
and
homiletical
study of the rest of practical rather than
and must content ourselves with a very
brief
resume of
its
principal contents.
In studying the nature and attributes of clusion that while a knowledge of
proper .
mode
and are
is
God we reached
life,
the con-
absolutely necessary for a
we cannot form an idea of him such evidence as we can gather from
of
left to
him
as he
is
in himself,
the world of which
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA he
is
the author.
a whole and in
becomes our duty, therefore, to study nature, as
It
and minutely,
parts, conscientiously
its
God
reaUze clearly the goodness and wisdom of
For various reasons we are apt to neglect sight
and
97
study and miss the
this
Chief
benefits arising therefrom.
in order to
as exhibited therein.
among
in-
these hindering
circumstances are our excessive occupations with the pleasures of
and the accidents and misfortunes
this world,
which blind him to
his real good,
which mortal
to
heir,
is
and prevent him from seeing the
blessing in disguise lurking in these very misfortunes.
But
it is
clear that
man
and wisdom as exhibited
has a duty to study the divine goodness
lects
he places himself below the
it,
what use is his him above the beast.
in nature, else of
reason and intelligence, which raises
which
latter,
Talmud
Bible and
tions of which
it is
in urging us to
study the wonders of nature.
The
capable.
evidence of the personality of being without
acting
will,
by
God and
he neg-
realizes all the func-
are equally emphatic
phenomena and the laws they
variety of natural
faculty of If
exhibit give
the existence of his
A
will.
necessity of nature, acts with unswerv-
ing uniformity.
Heaven and
earth, plant
and animal,
and smaU,
creatures great
all
bear witness, in their structure and relations, in their functions and
mutual
Above
and
service
helpfulness, to the
all is this visible in
wisdom and goodness
man, the highest
of
God.
of earthly beings, the
microcosm, the rational creature, the discoverer and inventor of arts
and
sciences.
In the laws and statutes which were given to him for
and
the service of God,
in the customs of other nations
which take
man
in securing
the place of our divine law,
we
see God's kindness to
and reward in the enemy of man, because
his comfort in this world
Pride
is
preciating
the great
what he owes
that he deserves
gets,
all
such cases of benefit
be found on examination to be of a not in
all
Pride makes him feel
and bhnds him
and man, not excepting even the kindness
may
prevents him from ap-
to the truth.
^--
man who has done and service between man
the duty of gratitude to a fellow
us a favor, although
self
it
to God's goodness.
more than he
We all recognize
next.
of a father to his child, will
selfish nature.
cases be conscious, but
it is
The
benefit to
always there.
father's natxure to love his child as part of himself.
It
is
a
Moreover, these
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
98
human
and the person benefited stands
favors are not constant,
comparatively on the same level of existence and worth as his bene-
How much
factor.
greater then
the duty incumbent upon us to
is
appreciate God's favors which are not
and which are bestowed by the greatest
which are constant,
selfish,
of all beings
upon the smallest
of all in respect of physical strength.
The only way
which
in
man
show an appreciation thereof things which will bring is .
is
can repay
God
by submitting
him nearer
to God.
and him and doing those
for his kindness,
to
In order to realize this
it
necessary to abandon the bad qualities, which are in principle two,
love of pleasure this
and love
The means enabling one
of power.
to obtain
freedom are to abstain from too much eating, drinking,
and so on, and love
for the first,
and from too much
of glory for the second.
It
one must make up one's mind to lose a limb in order to save his
The problem
of free will
proper attitude toward difficulty is to act as
God
confidence in
We
if
it,
idling,
gossip, social intercourse,
may be
do
difficult to
like the invalid
who
is
this,
but
ready to
life.
perplexing indeed and interferes with the
is
God and his worship. The best way out of the we were free, and on the other hand to have
as the author of everything.
have seen that the reason bids us recognize our duty to God
At the same time we are not
return for his goodness to us. suggestions
and promptings
of the reason alone.
We
left to
in
the
have a positive
law prescribing our conduct and the manner and measure of expressing our gratitude to God.
man's nature.
home
He
in this lower
This
world and
which tend to strengthen this world.
Hence the
from the
of the
ills
is
made
a composite of
is
it
necessary
body and
by the constitution The former is
spirit.
endowed with powers and
is
of
at
qualities
at the expense of the spirit, a stranger in
necessity of a positive law to cure the spirit
body by forbidding
certain kinds of food, clothing,
sexual indulgence,
and so on, which strengthen the appetites, and
commanding such
actions as prayer, fasting, charity, benevolence,
which have the opposite tendency
The
positive law
is
of strengthening the reason.
necessary and useful besides because
it
prescribes
the middle way, discouraging equally the extremes of asceticism and of self-indulgence.
It regulates
and
defines conduct,
and makes
imiform for old and young, intelligent and unintelligent.
it
It insti-
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA tutes
new
God
also contains matters of
which
some
it
The law
to his people in various generations.
which the reason alone would not
does not understand the meaning.
The
commandments."
tional
and thanksgiving as history reveals new
occasions of worship
benefactions of
99
why
reason
dictate,
Such are the "tradi-
the law prescribes also
commandments"
of the principles of the "rational
and
because
is
at that time the people were so sunk in their animal desires that
minds were weakened, and there was need
their
classes tion.
both
of putting
commandments on the same level of positive prescripBut now the intelligent person observes them in accordance of
with their distinct origin, whereas the masses simply follow the law in both.
The admonition
The first of weak
is
own
way for the latter. women and those
reason and prepares the
absolutely necessary for the young, the
To
intellectual power.
the law prescribes
it,
spiritual advance,
and puts one
men
law serves as an introduction to the
of the positive
suggestions of our
chosen of God.
worship
but because reason
God
itself
not merely because
demands
it
in the grade of prophets
In this world their reward
is
denotes a
and pious
the joy they feel in
the sweetness of divine service; in the next world they attain to the spiritual light
One
which we cannot declare or imagine/^^
of the duties of the heart
Bible which
commands us
same conclusion are combined
to
is
as a result of our
all
Apart from the
to trust in God.
have trust
own
in
God, we can come to the
reflection.
For
power to protect and help
us,
and the knowledge
God
in
He
the conditions necessary to confidence.
alone
has the
He
of our needs.
is
kind and generous and has a love for us and an interest in our welfare, as
we have shown
in a previous discussion.
Trust in
God
is
of
advan-
tage religiously in giving a person peace of mind, independence and
freedom to devote himself to the service of God without being worried
by the
cares of the world.
into silver, of
it
and
He
silver into gold.
in fulfilling his duties to
ful for the
is
like the alchemist
If
God and man.
freedom from care which
against material worries.
He
who changes
lead
he has money he can make good use If
he has not, he
this gives
him.
He
is
is
grate-
secure
does not have to go to distant lands to
look for support, or to engage in hard and fatiguing labor, or to exploit
other people.
He
chooses the work that
is
in
consonance with his
.
^
MEDIJEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
lOO
mode
of
and gives him
life,
leisure
and strength
to
do
his
duty to God
and man.
The
suffering of the
good and the prosperity
parently contradicts our conclusion,
and
is
cases, hence no solution
may
There
discussed in the Bible. is
by way
of
this
punishment
for
is
no one explanation
world in order that he
may
may be rewarded
bad generation,
Or
contrast with his goodness.
show
to
man may He may
in the next.
way we may explain the Trust in God does not be careless of one's
life,
off their
wickedness
good
man may be
evil doers.
In a similar
finally the
punished for not rebuking his generation of
prosperity of the wicked. signify that one should neglect one's work,
health and well-being, or abandon one's effort
and dependents. No, one must do
to provide for one's family
things conscientiously, at the
would be
all effort
righteous
be an example of patience and goodness to other
people; especially in a
God
to cover all
several reasons
a sin he has committed.
suffer in this
of
But
The
anomaly.
His suffering
by
which ap-
a problem as old as the world,
given in the Bible.
be brought forward for
suffer
of the bad,
is
same time
feeling that
if
all
these
not for the help
In the matter of doing one's duty
in vain.
and observing the commandments, whether
of the limbs or the heart,
God can apply only to the last step in the process, namely, the He must trust that God will put out of the way all obstacles and hindrances which may prevent him from carrying out his resolutions. The choice and consent must come from a man's own will, which is free. The most he may do is to trust that God may remove temptations. trust in
realization in practice.
While
it is
true that good deeds are rewarded in this world as well
man must
as in the next, a
seem strange that there hereafter.
The
reasons
state of the soul
is
is
not trust in his deeds, but in God.
no reference
may be
in the Bible to
may
reward in the
Not knowing what
the following.
the
without the body, we could not understand the
nature of future reward, and the statement of
not have been a sufficient follow the
commandments.
tradition
of
specify
It
it
in the Bible
would
inducement for the people of that time to
Or
it is
possible that the people
reward after death, hence
it
knew by
was not necessary
to
it.
As knowledge
of nature
and
of
God
leads to trust in him, so igno-
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA ranee leads
manner
away from
It
it.
is
lOl
as with a child,
who
develops in his
of trusting in things; beginning with his mother's breast
rising gradually as
and
he grows older and knows more, until he embraces
other persons and attains to trust in God.^^'*
We unless
said before (p. 83) that the duties of the limbs are imperfect
accompanied by the intention
must be
men
sincere.
must not be his aim
It
A
of the heart.
man's motive
to gain the favor of his fellow-
The observance of the prescribed laws must be motived by the sole regard for God and his service. This we call the "unity of conduct." The meaning is that a man's act
and fame.
or to acquire honor
and intention must coincide
will.
In order to realize
aiming at the fulfilment of God's
in
one must have an adequate and
this properly
sincere conception of God's unity as
shown above; he must have an
appreciation of God's goodness as exhibited in nature; he must submit to God's service; he of
good and
evil;
must have
trust in
mankind, and must be indifferent to fear God,
and have respect and awe and
the affairs of this world; it
finally
control his desires
Humility and lowliness of conduct."
alone as the sole author
By
this
is
and
their praise
When
for him.
and This
of averting them.
do we mean that timidity and
inclinations.
^^^
injuries because of ignorance of the
not humility but weakness.
is
loss of
with which we are here concerned
shows
is
The
itself also in
such a person's conduct in
with resignation;
is
and modest behavior
The
truly
forgiveness; he does good to
judges them favorably; he
is
contented with
of the
body
true himiility
that which one feels constantly
generally, in prosperity as well as adversity.
and drink and the needs
Nor
countenance which one suffers
the presence of others, in soft speech, low voice,
and
in the act
he must always consult his reason,
before a superior in physical power or wealth.
practices patience
is
an important element conducive to " unity
methods
it
he
not meant that general helplessness in the
is
face of conditions, dangers
before God, though
flattering
and blame; he must
he must not be preoccupied with
of fulfiUing his spiritual obligations,
and make
God
and correspondingly he must abstain from
little in
humble man
mankind and
respect to food
generally; he endures misfortune
not spoiled by praise, nor irritated by blame,
but realizes how far he
is
from perfection
in the
ciates the truth of the criticism in the other.
one case, and appre-
He
is
not spoiled by
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
I02
prosperity and success, and always holds himself under strict account.
God knows
even
it,
fellowmen do not.
his
if
we have
Humility, as
described
it, is
not, however, incompatible
with a certain kind of pride; not that form of cal
which boasts
it
man
excellence, nor that arrogance which leads a
upon others and are
mental pride
and share
Humility treat of this
as from the
duty
Law
God
for his favor,
man
does not do
man
For
God.
warring with each other, and
change of his mental
tells
and
their benefits with others.
of the heart next.
that
in the service of
traditional
It
is
all
that
is
incumbent upon him
is
of opposite principles
subject to change on account of the
is
For
qualities.
this reason
he needs a law and
8, 21).
Therefore
God was
and opportunity to correct
True repentance means return
man
The
Bible also
is evil
from
his
gracious and gave
man
the
us that "the imagination of the heart of
ability
we must
from reason as well
clear
composed
improve
to strive to ^"^
custom to keep him from going astray.
youth" (Gen.
of pride
Legitimate
to true humility.
a necessary forerunner of repentance and
is
down
that which leads a person blessed with intellectual
is
gifts to feel grateful to
his talents
These forms
achievements.
belittle their
bad and diametrically opposed
of physi-
to look
his mistakes.
This
is
repentance.
to God's service after having suc-
The elements
ceeded in making the reason the master of the desires. in repentance are, (i) regret; (2) discontinuance of
the wrong
act; (3)
confession and request for pardon; (4) promise not to repeat the offence.
In respect to gravity of offence, sins classes: (i) Violation of is
a positive
not punished by "cutting
off
may
be divided into three
commandment
in the Bible
from the community."
which
For example,
dwelling in booths, wearing fringes, and shaking the palm branch. (2)
Violation of a negative
Violation of a negative
commandment not
conmiandment the penalty
at the hands of the court,
and being "cut
example, profanation of the divine the
first class
a penitent
second class he
is
is
for
which
is
(3)
death
by divine agency;
or false oath.
who never
for
In cases of
sinned.
In the
even superior, because the latter has not the same
prophylactic against pride. to the one
name
as good as one
off"
so punished.
who never
In the third class the penitent
sinned.
is inferior
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA Another
classification of offences is in
whom
the subject against
a
human
being,
sin in the
the offence
and the crime
is social;
to
may
be
it
must make
is
sufficient for forgive-
When
but not in the former.
ness in the latter class,
one robs another
restoration or secure the
offended party before his repentance can be accepted.
son cannot be found, or offender, or
if
robbed, or evil
God
repentance,
he died, or
how much,
he has done.
will
is
him
help
it
may
Still if
to
pardon
And
if
of the
the per-
alive but refuses to forgive his
money which he
the sinner lost the
know whom he atone for the
if
This
may be God, and we have
Penitence
proper sense of the term.
or insults him, he
two divisions according committed.
is
or
103
if
he does not
be impossible for him to
he
make
took, or
is
really sincere in his
reparation to the person
wronged. ^^^ Self-examination
is
conducive to repentance.
By
taking stock of one's spiritual condition so as to
In order to do
has as well the duties one owes.
a
man must
reflect
on the unity
on the obedience which
all
of
God, on
his
this
know
for his future
that
life is
to help
life,
short,
A man
is
meant
this conscientiously
wisdom and goodness,
nature pays to the laws imposed upon
disregard of which would result in the annihilation of
cluding himself.
term
the merits one
it,
all things, in-
should review his past conduct, and provide
as one provides for a long journey, bearing in
and that he
is
him except the goodness and grace
cultivate the habit of being alone
mind
a stranger in this world with no one of his
maker.
and not seek the society
He
should
of idlers, for
that leads to gossip and slander, to sin and wrong, to vanity and neglect of God.
and the
This does not apply to the company of the pious
learned, which should be sought.
helpful to his friends, evils
and complaints
and he
will get
of life are
He
should be honest and
along well in this world.
All the
due to the fact that people are not
considerate of one another, and everyone grabs for himself
all
that
One should examine anew the ideas be sure that he understands them in the
he can, more than he needs. one has from childhood to light of his riper intellect.
He
should also study again the books
and the prayers which he learned as a child, for he would them now in a different light. He must try to make his soul control body, strengthening it with intellectual and spiritual food for the
of the Bible
see his
world to come.
These
efforts
and
reflections
and many others
of
a
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
I04
similar kind tend to perfect the soul
and prepare
it
to attain to the
highest degree of purity, where the evil desire can have no power over her.
128
In self-examination temperance or abstemiousness plays an important role.
Let us examine
ness in the special sense in which
we use
here
it
we
general temperance or moderation which
we do not mean
practice to keep our
good order, or such as physicians prescribe
in
By abstemious-
concept more closely.
this
for the healthy
that
body
and the
sick,
bidding them abstain from certain articles of food, drink, and so
on.
We mean
rather a
mean
to
more
stringent abstemiousness, which
abstention from
all
nor
race.
be
life.
required to practice this special form of temperance,
is
desirable that he should, for
is it
himian
may
define this
corporeal satisfactions except such as are
indispensable for the maintenance of
Not everyone
We may
from the world, or asceticism.
called separation
At the same time
it
would lead to extinction
of the
proper that there shall be a few
it is
select individuals, ascetic in their habits of
life,
and completely sep-
arated from the world, to serve as an example for the generality of
mankind,
in order that
temperance of the more general kind shall be
the habit of the many.
The purify
God
object of it
and make
in creating
man was
the angels.
it like
It
to try the soul in order to is
tried
by being put
in
an
earthy body, which grows and becomes larger by means of food.
Hence God put
into the soul the desire for food,
sexual union to perpetuate the species;
and the
desire for
and he made the reward for
the satisfaction of these desires the pleasure which they give.
He
also appointed the "evil inclination" to incite to all these bodily
pleasures.
Now
if
reason, the result
stemiousness.
And
general temperance
But
this "evil
is
excess
incUnation" gets the upper hand of the
and
by
extremists
who
Hence the need
of general ab-
their example.
in the asceticism of the
one should not go.
ruin.
the ascetic class serve the purpose of reinforcing
few there
is
also a limit
Here too the middle way
leave the world entirely
in the desert, subsisting
is
beyond which
the best.
and hve the
life
on grass and herbs, are farthest from the
middle way, and the Bible does not approve of their mode of
we
read in Isaiah (45, 18)
Those
of a recluse
"The God
that formed the earth
life,
as
and made
BAHYA IBN PAKUDA it;
it
he that hath estabUshed to
be inhabited."
it,
—not
in vain did
105
he create
it,
he formed
Those are much better who without leaving
for
the desert pass sohtary hves in their homes, not associating with other
and abstaining from
people,
who adopt
of all are those
superfluities of all kinds.
the mildest form of asceticism,
from the world inwardly while taking part in
it
ing in the ordinary occupations of mankind.
who
separate
outwardly, and assist-
These are commended
Witness the prayer of Jacob (Gen.
in the Bible.
But the best
28, 20), the fasting
Moses forty days and forty nights on the mount, the fasting of Elijah, the laws of the Nazirite, Jonadab ben Rechab, Elisha, prescrip-
of
tions of fasting
The and felt
on various occasions, and so
man
highest stage a
all
that preceded has this as
toward him for his own
tion,
and not
The which
soul
for
is
any
its
aim.
True
is
the love of God,
loA^e of
sake because of his greatness
God and
is
that
exalta-
ulterior purpose.
a simple
is like it,
on.^^^
can reach spiritually
spiritual substance
and departs from what
is
which
inclines to
that
material and corporeal.
But when God put the soul into the body, he implanted in it the desire to maintain it, and it was thus affected by the feelings and desires
which concern the health and growth of the body, thus becoming
estranged from the spiritual.
In order that the soul
shall attain to the true love of
must get the upper hand
God, the reason
of the desires, all the topics treated in the
preceding sections must be taken to heart and sincerely and conscientiously acted upon. it will
be
filled
Then
the eyes of the soul will be opened,
with the fear and the love of God.^^"
and
CHAPTER
VII
PSEUDO-BAHYA
It
had been known
for
script treatise in Arabic
page
to
soul,
which was attributed on the
title
In 1896 Isaac Broyde published a Hebrew translation
Bahya.
work under the
of this
a number of years that there was a manu-
on the
Soul").^^^
The
The Arabic
title is
title
"Torot ha-Nefesh," ("Reflections on the
was edited by Goldziher in 1907.^^^ "Ma'ani al-Nafs," and should be translated "Con-
original Arabic
cepts of the soul," or "Attributes of the soul."
There seems title
little
doubt now that despite the ascription on the
of the manuscript, the treatise is not
page
that anything written by
a work of Bahya.
an au" Duties of the Hearts" was the most popular thor as Bahya, whose
It
is
book
very unlikely
in the middle ages, should
as to have
left
have been so thoroughly forgotten
no trace in Jewish
anonymous author
so distinguished
Bahya
literature.
as well as the
refer, in the introductions to their respective
to their sources or to their
own
previous writings.
But
works,
there
is
no
reference either in the "Duties of the Hearts" to the "Attributes of
the Soul," or in the latter to the former.
against
Bahya
A
as the author of our treatise
still
is
stronger argument
that derived from the
content of the work, which moves in a different circle of ideas from
Our anonymous author
the "Duties of the Hearts."
Neo-Platonist.
He believes in
is
an outspoken
the doctrine of emanation, and arranges
the created universe, spiritual and material, in a descending series of
The Mutakallimun he opposes as who disagree with the philoso-
such emanations, ten in number.
being followers of the " Naturahsts, " phers as well as the Bible. lower of the (p. 86),
trace
Kalam
Bahya, on the other hand,
in his chapter
and the Neo-Platonic
of
Hearts."
a graded
series
is
a
strict fol-
on the "Unity," as we have seen
influence
is
very sUght.
There
is
no
of emanations in the "Duties of the
1^3
The sources
of the "Attributes of the 106
Soul" are no doubt the various
PSEUDO-BAHYA among which we spoke
107
Neo-Platonic writings current
the Arabs in the tenth
eleventh centuries, of
in the Introduction
and
in the chapter
on Gabirol
(p.
63
and
(p. xx)
Gabirol himself can scarcely
f.).
have had much influence on our author, as the distinctive doctrine of the
"Fons
Vitae"
is
The
absent in our treatise.
remember
reader will
that matter and form, according to Gabirol, are at the basis not merely of the corporeal world, but that they constitute the essence of the spiritual world as well, the very first emanation, the Universal In-
telhgence, being
As we
composed
of universal
matter and universal form.
view of the "Attributes of the Soul."
shall see this is not the
Matter here occupies the position which
it
encyclopaedia of the Brethren of Purity.
has in Plotinus and in the
It
is
the fourth in order of
emanations, and the composition of matter and form begins with the celestial sphere,
cedes matter
is
which
is
Everything that pre-
the fifth in order.
At
absolutely simple.
same time
the
that he was familiar with Gabirol's doctrine of the least
two passages
we have
the series, vegetative soul,
—omitted
power
Soul"
in the "Attributes of the
seems clear
it
For
will.
(chs. 11
and
spheral impression,
in at
13)
[psychic
in ch. 13], universal soul, intellect, will.
The "Categories"
of Aristotle
tributes of the Soul."
It
is
is
also clearly evident in the
"At-
the ultimate source of the definition of
accident as that which resides in substance without being a part of
but yet in such a way that without substance
number
of the species of
motion as
it
cannot
six ^^® points in the
exist. ^^^
same
This, however, does not prove that the author read the
He might have
derived these notions, as well as the
from the writings
categories,
guished from a corporeal in
capacity of receiving
The same
is
distin-
is
its qualities
accidents without limits. ^^^ This probably goes back to the
where a similar contrast between the senses and the reason
doctrine of the
Aristotle.
derivation
The is
mean
in
conduct
is
^^^
comes from the
doctrine of the four virtues
Platonic, ^^^
and so
is
latter.
ethics of
and the manner
of their
the doctrine of reminiscence, viz.,
that the soul recalls the knowledge
Ibn Sina
or
De Anima
used as an argument for the "separate" character of the
The
The
direction.
of the ten
of the Brethren of Purity.
its
it,
Categories." list
thing appHes to the statement that a spiritual substance
of Aristotle
^^^
it
had
in its previous life.^^"
one of the latest authors mentioned in our work; hence
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
io8
it
much before 1037, the date of Ibn The terminus ad quern cannot be determined. indicates, the anonymous treatise is concerned primarily
could not have been written
Sina's death.
As the
title
with the nature of the
Whatever other
soul.
topics are found therein
A
are introduced for the bearing they have on the central problem.
study of the soul means psychology as well as
ethics, for
a complete
determination of the nature of the soul necessarily must throw light not only upon the origin and activity of the soul, but also upon
its
purpose and destiny.
The first is
error,
we
are told, that
the doctrine of the
among
the Arabs and the Karaites
that the soul
is
an "accident" poreal quality
"Mahad"
Those
latter.
God
will
and
its
is
that as the soul
of the
Mu tazilites
its origin),
a cordis-
who beUeve
body together with its But the resur-
it
is
is
and the true philoso-
that of the Bible
a spiritual substance independent of the
existed before the
body and
The
will
continue to exist after
existence of a spiritual substance
proved from the presence of such qualities as knowledge and
norance. ties of
ig-
These are opposed to each other, and cannot be the quali-
body as
the same time.
such, for
body cannot contain two opposite forms at
Moreover, the substance, whatever
it
be,
the attributes of knowledge and ignorance, can receive
hmit.
in
hold that at the time of
reward and punish them.
the dissolution of the latter.
The more knowledge a person
acquiring more. is
is
upon the body and
existence
its qualities.
that the soul
body; that
is
the soul,
Mu tazilites
the Jews are in agreement,
will bring the parts of the
and
true opinion, which is
the
a distinct problem, and has nothing to do with the nature
of the soul
phers,
dependent for
(return of the soul to
the resurrection
The
among
Their view
of the body. it is
accident, the soul, is
whom
with
not an independent and self-subsistent entity, but only
appears with the
rection
we must remove concerning
''naturalists,"
No
has, the
which bears
them without
more capable he
corporeal substance behaves in this way.
is
of
There
always a limit to a body's power of receiving a given accident.
We
legitimately conclude, therefore, that the substance which bears the attributes of knowledge
To understand
and ignorance
is
the position of the soul
we must have an
not corporeal but spiritual. ^^^
and
its
relation to the body,
idea of the structure and origin of the universe.
PSEUDO-BAHYA The
upper as well as lower,
entire world,
The simple
simple and composite.
109 divided into two parts,
is
essences,
which are pure and bright,
are nearer to their Creator than the less simple substances which
come
There are ten such creations with varying simplicity,
after.
following each other in order according to the arrangement dictated
As numbers
by God's wisdom.
are simple
up
and then they
to ten,
begin to be compound, so in the universe the ten simple substances are followed
by composite.
The first of these simple creations, which is nearest to God, is called Hebrew "Shekinah." The Torah and the Prophets call it "Name" (Exod. 23, 21), also "Kabod," Glory (Is. 59, 19). God gave his name
in
and
to the nearest
interpreter
(Prov.
which
of the
the Greeks, Universal Soul, for
natural power
It also
is
an angel, being the
and constituting the
These three are simple essences
They tion
and the
originally,
out of
will,
it.
and the laws
world and
it;
the
its
motion.
in the highest sense of the word.
of his
wisdom
This
the Matter of the world.
is
its
same as the darkness take to suppose that
is
From
formed and created it
In being formed some of
matter moves.
come the bodies its
in the
For
second verse of the
of the light of the sun.
This
is
This
thing elemental at the basis of corporeal things.
is
the cause of
In receiving forms, however,
its
all
it
darkness,
i. e.,
the blemishes
its
and
acquires motion;
its
and
the
a mis-
it is
first
is
chapter
accidental dark-
whereas in the creation story the word darkness
as matter, which on account of
non-existence
It is called "hyle, "
of the first chapter in Genesis.
by darkness
meant the absence
motionlessness,
The
to all the worlds.
but only a power of receiving whatever
diminished, and
ness,
is
an essence which has no activity or Ufe or motion
is
which possess accidents.
is
near to
the powers of the
first of
of this
is
Nature
latter.
are obedient to their Creator, and transmit in order his emana-
fourth creation
is
life
is
moves the spheres through a moves the body. The soul
it
as the individual soul
third creation.
creation
"
of Israel " (Ezek. 8, 9);
God
partakes of Nature on the side adjoining the
universal soul,
"Wisdom
calls it
partakes of the Intelligence or Intellect on the side which it
and
first light,
The second
the Greeks, Active Intellect.
8, 22);
the
is
Solomon
and servant nearest to him.
by the Prophets, "the Glory
called
by
of his creations,
first
is
some-
signifies
what
is
known
imperfection and
evils in the world.
darkness
is
some-
no
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
what diminished, and it
appears to the eye through the forms which
it
receives.
The
Here too we have the
in its revolutions.
and form; and the beginning
of matter
Sphere's motion; and place.
bodies of the stars, which are
They
set.
Sphere, where for the
fifth creation is the celestial
have motion
first
first
of time as the
measure
and luminous because they are near the
are bright
four of the ten creations are the four elements,
is
earth
the end of
is
By
God from
of anything, or in time or place.
the
first
The
three only.
matter and form, and into the fifth
and
the term creation grees, until
This
end.
and
is
why
creation
is
follows thereafter
meant that which
emanation alone, and not out
and
The
place.
first ten,
fourth, too, enters
bara"
(created),
Still,
though in varying de-
the element earth, creation proper
in the first verse in Genesis, is
last
water, earth.
It applies in the strictest sense to
applicable to the
earth, the term used
are
namely the Sphere, already comes from
in time
when we reach is
his
the
first
The
subsequent creations and formations.
all
is
fifth,
What
creation."
"formation" and "composition."
results through the will of
fire, air,
we
of the
The sixth creation is represented by moved by the spheres in which they
simple bodies, which were produced before time and place.
The element
time
composition
is
at
an
which speaks of heaven
and not any
of the other
terms, such as "yazar," '"asah," "kanah," "paal," and so on, which
denote formation.
From
earth and the other elements were formed
als, like rocks,
and
finally
is
all
kinds of miner-
Then plants and animals,
man.
Man who He
mountains, stones, and
so on.
was formed
last bears traces of all that
preceded him.
formed of the four elements, of the motions of the spheres, of
the mixtures of the stars and their rays, of Nature, of the Universal Soul, the
mother
of the will of
of
God.
creations, Intellect
The
soul of
of the Intellect, the father of all,
all,
But the order and
Soul, appear
and
man is reversed. The in man last.
in
man, embracing reason and
intellect, is
finally
first
two
thus seen to be
a divine emanation, being related to the universal soul and Intellect.
On
its
way from God
to
man
it
one leaves an impression upon so to speak.
The
passes through her,
all
spheres,
and every
and covers her with a wrapper,
brightness of the star determines the ornament or
PSEUDO-BAHYA "wrapper" which the
who
soul gets
from
This
it.
is
determines the measure of influence and
to the soul until she reaches the
The
iii
known
to the Creator,
the accidents attaching
body destined
by
for her
sphere in question; and hence the various temperaments
which
in persons,
bottom the soul because she
is
differences are
is
determine their character the
same
In the
and unchangeable
in essence
due to the spheral impressions.
rest of his
Thus we
its
men,
in all
All individual
These impressions,
freedom of
will.^^-
now and
then in the manner of
are told that the soul consists of three powers,
or three souls, the vegetative, the animal
and the
presence in the motions of the body.
we have already shown from
We
rational.
learn
from the nourishment, growth
of the existence of the vegetative soul
and reproduction evidenced by the individual.
soul
For at
psychology and ethics the anonymous author
follows Platonic theories, modified Aristotle.
we observe
and conduct.
an emanation from the Unchangeable.
however, do not take away from the soul
its
his will.
longer the stay in a given sphere the stronger the influence of the
The
The animal
shows
soul
existence of the rational
and
the attributes of knowledge
ignorance.
vegetative soul comes from certain spheral influences, them-
The
due to the universal
selves
It
is
the
first of
soul,
the three to
and ultimately to the
make
already found in the embryo,
to
will of
appearance in the body.
its
which
it
gives the
in its
own
liver,
where the growth of the embryo begins.
place like the motion of a plant or tree.
power
of
Its seat
God. It is
motion
is
in the
Its function ceases
about the twentieth year, when the growth of the body reaches
its
limit.
The animal soul springs from the heart. Its functioning appears after birth when the child begins to crawl, and continues until the person loses the power of locomotion in old age. The rational soul resides in the middle of the brain. She knows all things before joining the body, but her knowledge
is
obscured on account of the material
coverings which she receives on her source.
The
way down from
her divine
^^^
virtue of the vegetative soul
is
temperance; of the animal soul,
When
these are harmoniously
courage; of the rational soul,
wisdom.
combined
and the two lower
in the individual,
souls are controlled
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
112
by the
higher, there results the fourth virtue, which
which gives
is justice,
and
possessor the privilege of being a teacher and a leader
its
In Moses
of his people.
these qualities were exemplified,
all
and
Isaiah (ii, 1-4) in describing the quahties of the Messianic King also
"The
enumerates these four cardinal virtues.
and understanding
spirit
wisdom
of
" represents wisdom, " the spirit of coimsel
strength" stands for courage; "the
and
knowledge and fear of
spirit of
the Lord " denotes temperance; and justice
represented in the
is
"and he will judge the poor with righteousness." ^^^ Virtue is a mean between the two extremes of excess and defect, each of which is a vice. Thus an excess of wisdom becomes shrewdness and cunning and deceit; while a defect means ignorance. The
phrase,
true
wisdom
consists in the middle
Similarly courage
is
way between
the two extremes.
a mean between foolhardiness and rashness on
Temperance
the side of excess, and cowardice on the side of defect.
is
a mean between excessive indulgence of the appetites on one side and
on the
utter insensibility
The mean of the means of
other.
the harmonious combination of
wisdom and the two other
rational soul has
justice
is
the result of If the
the last three.
souls are obedient to
it
through modesty and courage, their substance changes into the substance of the rational soul,
their
i. e.,
bad
qualities are transformed into
Then
the four virtues just mentioned.
the two lower souls unite
with the rational soul and enjoy eternal happiness with other hand,
if
the rational soul follows the senses,
into their folly, its virtues into their vices,
The immortality
of the soul
is
and
it
its
On
it.
the
wisdom changes
perishes with them.^'*^
proved as follows.
Things composed
of elements return back to their elements, hence the soul also returns to its ties,
own
become
clearer
body than
The
origin.
The
soul
is
independent of the body, for
thought and knowledge, are not bodily
before,
fact that
show that the acting as
perform
it
its
and more certain
when
the
after the soul
qualities, is
quali-
separated from the
body obscured its vision like a curtain. is affected when his body is ill does not
a person's mind soul
is
dependent
in its nature
upon the body; but that
does in the body by means of corporeal organs, functions properly
Since death
its
hence they
is
when
a decree of God,
it is
changing the relations of body and
it
cannot
these organs are injured. clear that
soul.
But
if
he has a purpose in the soul comes to
an
PSEUDO-BAHYA
1 13
end, this change would be a vain piece of work of which he cannot
be guilty.
Hence
order that
we may
angels.
her
follows that the destruction of the exist
is
in
similar form, similar to the
of the soul's
coming into
this
world
purify the two lower souls; also that she
own world
left it
body
in another
^^^
The purpose
may
it
may
turn to her
comparison with
in
this one,
is
in order that she
may know
and
the value of
having
in grieving for
observe God's commandments, and thus achieve her re-
own
world.
In the matter of returning to their own world after separation from the body, souls are graded according to the measure of their knowledge
and the value
These two conditions,
of their conduct.
ethical
spiritual or intellectual, are requisite of fulfilment before the soul
regain
its original
home. The soul on leaving
white garment soaked in water.
dry the garment, and
But
if
this
water
If the
world
can
a clean,
clean, it is easy to
is
becomes even cleaner than
it
is like
and
it
was
before.
make
the garment
which instead of elevating the two lower
souls, vege-
the water
is
dirty,
no amount
of dr3ang will
clean.
Those tative
souls
and animal, were misled by them,
Between the two extremes
of perfection
will perish
with the
and wickedness there are
intermediate stages, and the souls are treated accordingly. of the
proud
will rise in the air
find a resting place. will rise to the
and
latter.
flying hither
and
Those
thither will not
Those which have knowledge, but no good deeds,
sphere of the ether, but will be prevented from rising
higher by the weight of their evil deeds, and the pure angels will rain
down upon them arrows of fire, thus causing them to return below in shame and disgrace. The souls of the dishonest will be driven from place to place without finding any rest.
punished in various ways.
no knowledge recall the
will
Those
be placed in the
knowledge they had
souls
Other bad souls
be
which have good deeds but
terrestrial paradise until their souls
in their original state,
then return to the Garden of Eden
will
among
and they
the angels. ^^^
will
CHAPTER
VIII
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA Abraham bar Hiyya, the
the Prince, as he
half of the twelfth century.
first
some time
in southern France,
His greatest merit
long.
lies
is called,
also
lived in Spain in
seems to have stayed
though we do not know when or how not in his philosophical achievement
we may judge from the only work of a philosophical character has come down to us, is not very great. He is best known as a
which, that
if
and the calendar; though
writer on mathematics, astronomy
most important
his
He
propounded, as in the fact that first,
there, too,
much in the original ideas he he was among the first, if not the
service lay not so
to introduce the scientific thought current in the Orient
and
in
Moorish Spain into Christian Europe, and especially among the Jews of
France and Germany, who devoted
binical literature,
and
to
whom
all their
energies to the
Rab-
the Arabic works of their Spanish
brethren were a sealed book.
So we find Abraham bar Hiyya, or Abraham Savasorda
(a corrup-
tion of the Arabic title Sahib al-Shorta), associated with Plato of Tivoli in the translation into Latin of Arabic scientific works. self
And he him-
wrote a number of books on mathematics and astronomy in He-
brew at the request of his friends in France who could not read Arabic. Abraham bar Hiyya is the first of the writers we have treated so far who composed a scientific work in the Hebrew language. All the others, with the exception of Abraham ibn Ezra, wrote in Arabic, as they continued to do until and including Maimonides.
The only one is
It
of his extant
the small treatise is
works which
philosophical in content of the Soul.^'*^
a popular work, written with a practical purpose, ethical and
homiletic in tone and style.
The
idea of repentance plays
tant role in the book, and what therein
and
is
"Hegyon ha-Nefesh," Meditation
is
an impor-
theoretical philosophy finds place
introduced merely as a background and basis for the ethical
religious considerations
which
follow.
"4
It
may
be called a minia-
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA As
ture "Duties of the Hearts."
115
in all homiletical compositions in
Jewish hterature, exegesis of Bibhcal passages takes of the discussions, in mediaeval
and
up a good deal
movement
for the history of the philosophic
Judaism the methods
and
of reading metaphysical
ethical
ideas into the Bible are quite as important as these ideas themselves.
The
Abraham bar Hiyya may
general philosophical standpoint of
be characterized as an uncertain Neo-Platonism, or a combination of
Thus They
fundamental Aristotehan ideas with a Neo-Platonic coloring. matter and form are the fundamental principles of the world.
wisdom
existed potentially apart in the
of
bined and thus realized in actuahty.^^^
God before they were comTime being a measure of
motion, came into being together with the motion which followed upon this combination. is
Hence
who believes Abraham bar Hiyya
as well as of time.
form as it
neither the world nor time
And
Neo-Platonic.
and the
and
among
the Arabs, the series of emanating
wanting in the "Hegyon ha-Nefesh."
Form
^^^
is
combine with matter, embraces angels, seraphim, related to the upper world.
^^^
is
on,
too exalted to
souls,
With the exception
and so
the highest thing
he knows outside of God; and the purest form, which
in the
This
yet the most distinctive doctrine of Plotinus
later Neo-Platonists
seraphim, souls, this
inferior to
plants. ^^^
hypostases. Intellect, Universal Soul, Nature, Matter, is
motion
also speaks of the purest
the heavens, minerals
rise to
This
eternal.
and as looking at and illuminating the form
light
and thus giving
is all
is
in the eternity of
Platonic, not Aristotehan,
of the
and
all
forms
names
angel,
good Aristotehan doctrine, who also beheves
is
movers of the spheres and the active
intellect in
man
as being
pure forms.
To
proceed
now
teaching, he thinks
that
man who is
to give it is
a brief account of Abraham bar Hiyya's
the duty of rational
so insignificant
and endowed with the power gain this
man
was given control
of
to
know how
it is
of the other animals,
wisdom and knowledge.
In order to
knowledge we must investigate the origins and principles
of existing things, so that
as they are.
we may
This the wise
men
arrive at
an understanding
of other nations
have
of things
realized,
though
they were not privileged to receive a divine Torah, and have busied themselves with philosophical investigations. to us the
same method
in the
Our Bible recommends
words of Deuteronomy
(4, 39),
"Know
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
ii6
and
therefore this day,
thy heart, that the Lord
reflect in
the heavens above, and upon the earth beneath: there
This means that
heaven above and the earth beneath, you
made
it
The book
beside him. (19, 26)
wisdom, and that he
in his
"And from my
from the structure
flesh I shall
and
We
in
else."
of things in
there
This
behold God."
body and the form
God
once see that is
Job teaches the same thing, when
of
of the
will at
the only one
is
understand the wisdom of the Creator. fore to study the
is
you understand thoroughly the order
if
is
none
God
no one it
says
signifies that
members we can
of its
need not hesitate there-
works of the ancients and the wise men of other
We have
nations in order to learn from them the nature of existence. the permission and recommendation of Scripture.
^^^
man we see that he is the last of him additional composition over and
Starting from a consideration of
we
created things because
above that found
find in
in other creatures.
Man
is
a
^^
rational animal."
"Animal" means a body that grows and moves and at last is "Rational"
power
refers to the
from another, and discriminating between good and differs
Descending
from other animals.
find that the plant also grows
move. their
differ
dies like the animal, but
They
it
we
does not
earth,
change
in that the latter never
means
length, breadth
to something capable of being measured. is
also
composed
of
until God's will joins
what has no
two elements, which are
them
and depth attached
This definition shows that theoretically distinct
These are "hyle" (matter)
together.
likeness or form, but has the capacity of receiving
—and form, which hyle with any form.
form comes to
Matter alone
it
exist
form
weak
to sustain
it.
is
itself,
unless
not perceptible
One needs
the other.
without form; form cannot be seen without matter.
superior to matter, because
but can exist by
too
is
Form, on the other hand,
clothes matter, which bears
to sense unless
—
defined as that which has power to clothe the
is
its aid.
Matter cannot is
change
Proceeding further in our analysis, we find that body,
the simplest thing so far,
Form
man
are the simplest of the things on the earth.
from the heavenly bodies
their forms.
body
this
forms and shapes, but unlike plants they have no power of grow-
ing or increasing.
They
and
In
evil.
in the scale of existence
and other inanimate bodies on the
Stones, metals
dissolved.
inferring one thing
of knowledge, of
itself
it
needs the latter only to be seen
though not seen; whereas matter cannot
exist
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA These two, matter and form, were hidden
without form.
until the time
where they existed potentially
and reahze them in Matter
is
further divided into two kinds.
forming the substance of first
came
in
God,
to produce
them
actu.
which enters into the composition
divided at
117
into
There
of the heavens,
terrestrial bodies.
is
pure matter,
and impure matter,
Similarly form
may
be
two kinds; closed and sealed form, too pure and
holy to be combined with matter; and open and penetrable form, which to unite with matter.
is fit
The
pure, self-subsistent form gazes at
and
illuminates the penetrable form,
with
all
the forms of which the latter
Now when God
and helps capable.
is
determined to realize matter and form in
caused the pure form to be clothed with
can touch.
This gave
rise to angels,
forms of the upper world.
them
to clothe matter
it
Not
all
in the mind, because they
men
its
actu,
he
splendor, which no hyle
seraphim, souls, and
all
other
can see these forms or conceive
do not unite with anything which the
eye can perceive, and the majority of people cannot understand what
Only those who
they cannot perceive with their corporeal senses.
are given to profound scientific investigations can understand the
essence of these forms.
The
light of this
and by the word
of
pure form then emanated upon the second form,
God
the latter united with the pure matter firmly
and permanently, so that there united.
This union gave
fixed stars)
is
never a change as long as they are
rise to the
which never change
with the impure matter, and
bodies of the heavens (spheres
their forms.
this
gave
rise to all
sublunar world, which change their forms.
ments, and
Then
and
the form united
the bodies in the
These are the four
ele-
^^^ the products of their composition, including plants.
So far we have bodies which do not change their places. Then a light
emanated from the
self-subsisting
form by the order
of
God, the
splendor of which spread upon the heaven, moving from point to point,
and caused the material form
etrable form) to change its place.
(i. e.,
the inferior, so-called pen-
This produced the stars which
change their position but not their forms (planets).
From
this light
extending over the heaven emanated another splendor which reached
body with changing form, giving rise to the three species of living beings, aquatic, aerial and terrestial animals, corresponding to the the
Ii8
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
three elements,
water,
air,
earth;
as
there
no animal
is
life
in
fire.
We
have so
far therefore three kinds of forms,
the forms of the spiritual world.
all
firmly
Form which
(3)
Form which
These are the forms
and inseparably.
stars.
(2)
unites with
The pure
(i)
subsistent form which never combines with matter.
of the
self-
This embraces
body
unites with
heavens and the
body temporarily.
Such are the
The forms of the second and third The form of class number one classes cannot exist without bodies. make the scheme complete, there ought cannot exist with body. To
forms of the bodies on the earth.
form which can
to be a fourth kind of
then returns to
its original
there
with as well as without
and continues
state
Reason demands that the
is
exist
In other words, a form which unites with body for a time and
body.
to exist without body.
classification should
be complete, hence
must be such a form, and the only one worthy
We
the soul of man.
of this condition
thus have a proof of the immortaHty of the
soul.^^^
sages, and we Thus matter and form
These are the ideas of the ancient are
drawn
from the Torah.
second verse of Genesis,
and
void (Heb.
signifies
"Water
"And the "Tohu
Bohu)."
shall find that
they
are indicated in the
earth was without form (Heb. Tohu) " Bohu" (inn =Ninu) is matter;
"
that through which matter gains existence, hence form. " (Heb.
Mayim)
is
also a general
word
for
any
of the various
forms, whereas "light" (Heb. Or) stands for the pure subsistent form.
By "firmament"
(Heb. Rakia')
is
which unites with the pure matter
"Let there be a firmanent
maimer. (Gen.
I,
meant the second kind
in a
6)
in the
indicates that the "firmament"
is
signifies that the
and the
"And
let it
midst of the waters'^
all
and water "
self-subsistent
the {ib.)
form
form above mentioned, namely, that which unites
with body and gives minerals and plants.
from which
divide between water
"firmament" stands between the
third kind of
form
embraced by the bright
light of the first day, that is the universal form,
other forms come.
of
permanent and unchangeable
rise to
substances changing their forms, hke
The "luminaries
the second light mentioned above.
" (Heb. Meorot) correspond to
We shall find also that the order of
creation as given in Genesis coincides with the account given above in
the
name
of the ancient sages.
^^^
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA It
would seem as
emanating from
Nature
the self-subsisting form
if
meant
are
it
119
and the two
lights
to represent the Intellect, Soul
of the Neo-Platonic trinity respectively,
and
and that Abraham
bar Hiyya purposely changed the names and partly their functions
make
in order to
the philosophical account agree with the story of
creation in Genesis.
With regard
to the intellectual
and
ethical condition of the soul
and
from
rea-
destiny, the speculative thinkers of other nations, arguing
its
son alone and having no divine revelation to guide or confirm their speculations, are agreed that the only
way
which the
in
which
soul,
belongs to a higher world, can be freed from this world of body and
change
is
through
intellectual excellence
The
they classify souls into four kinds. health, sickness,
life,
death.
sickness denotes ignorance.
conduct; death
is neglect
Health Life
and
Accordingly
right conduct.
they say,
soul,
signifies
may have
wisdom or knowledge;
means the fear of God and right evil practice. Every person com-
God and
of
bines in himself one of the two intellectual qualities with one of the
two
may
Thus we have four
ethical quahties.
classes of persons.
And his destiny after death is determined by the Thus when a man who is wise and pious
and wicked.
which he belongs.
by reason
this world, his soul
and
own form
exists in its
the upper world until it will
unite for ever.
the soul will enable
become completely can do
is
to rise
wisdom separates from the body
Owing
to its piety
man
is
it will rise
wise and wicked, the
to exist without body; but
free
from the creatures of
above the sublunar world
of
continually, If the
man it
it
of
of its
cannot
and the best
change to the world
and preventing
is
it
from
rising to the
it
like
a
upper
fire
burning
light.
ignorant and pious, his soul will be saved from body in
may
exist
by
itself,
but his ignorance
will
soul from leaving the atmosphere of the lower world. soul will
wisdom
on account
this world,
the light of the sun, the heat of which will seem to
order that
to
where the forms do not change, and move about beneath
of the planets
it
class to
departs
reaches the pure, eternal form, with which
it
If the it
of its
as before.
wickedness and indulgence in the desires of this world,
it
A man
be wise and pious, wise and wicked, ignorant and pious, ignorant
prevent his
Hence the
have to be united with body a second, and a third time,
necessary, until
it finally
acquires knowledge
and wisdom, which
if
will
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
I20 enable
to rise above the lower world, its degree
it
upon the measure
ing
of intellect
and virtue
The
from the body.
of the last separation
and
station depend-
possesses at the time
it
man who
soul of the
is
both ignorant and wicked cannot be saved from the body entirely,
and
dies like a beast.
These are the views but they cannot
the source of
is
cannot
is
and
Law,
origin of rectitude, they
man must know and
us in concrete fashion just what a
tell
adopt,
privileged to receive the sacred
wisdom and the
all
may
which we
the content of the terms wisdom
Not having been
right conduct.
which
of speculative thinkers
us what
tell
what he must do
in order to raise his soul to the highest degree possible
for
And
it
to attain.
wisdom and ity
is
if
they were to
the Bible,
tell
we should not
right conduct,
and we must
test the
us what they understand listen to
by
Our author-
them.
views of the philosophers by the
teaching of the Bible. If
we do
this
we
find authority in Scripture also for belief in the
Thus
immortality of the soul.
if
we study
used of the various creations in the
"Let there be
.
.
the phrase
.
.
is
by the name
command ," the name of the may be simply, "And
and the execution was
," followed
.
of the
is
carefully the expressions
expressed
of the thing to
expressed
created object being repeated; or
.
the corresponding
"And
it
was so," without naming the
see that
not used, nor
is
there was."
This variation in expression
Upon a
must be understood.
be created;
by the words, "And
In other cases the expression "Let there be"
object.
we notice by the phrase,
chapter of Genesis,
some cases the divine command
that in
there
first
not accidental.
is
It
careful examination
where the expression "Let there be"
is
is
deliberate
we cannot
fail
sponding expression, object and followed its
by
its
3).
If in addition
we have
name,
it
means that the object
so."
is
in
This
Hence,
will
Thus, corre-
same
continue
"And
there
In the creation of the firmament and the luminaries
the expression,
at the end
was
{ib.).
we have the
there was," in connection with the
everlasting existence in the next world also.
was light"
it
"And
i,
to
used, the object so
created exists in this world permanently and without change.
"Let there be light" (Gen.
and
"Let there be"; the corresponding expression
each case not,
"And
there
was
signifies that in this world, as
.
.
.
," but,
long as
"And
it lasts,
the
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA
121
firmament and luminaries are permanent and without change; but they
will
have no continuance
the sublunar world
we do not
but such expressions
as,
In the creation of
in the next world.
"Let there be," at
find the phrase,
"Let the waters be gathered together"
"Let the earth produce grass"
{ib. 11),
these things change their forms
and so
on.
all,
{ib. 9),
This means that
and have no permanent existence
in
The phrase, "And it was so," recording the realization divine command, signifies that they do not exist at all in the
this world.
of the
next world.
The
case
is
different in
no permanence
man became
he
will
(lit.
do not
"Let
find the expression,
introducing his formation; hence he has find the expression, "
But we do
in this world.
the
We
man.
command
there be," in the
was) a Hving soul "
have permanent existence
{ib. 2, 7),
And
which means that
The
in the next world.
article
man in the verse just quoted indicates that not every man lives forever in the next world, but only the good. What manner of man he must be in order to have this privilege, /. e., of what nation before the word
he must be a member, we the speculative investigate
it.
This phase of the question
shall see later.
understand, hence they did not
thinkers cannot
Reason alone cannot decide
guidance of the Torah, which
we
Consulting the Torah on this problem, tinguished above other animals in the (i) All
respects,
needs the
this question; it
divine.
is
manner
notice that
man
is dis-
of his creation in three
other living beings were created
by means
of
some-
The water or the earth was ordered to produce them. made directly by God. (2) There are three expressions alone was Man used for the creation of living things, "create" (Heb. bara), "form" (Heb. yazar), and "make" (Heb. 'asah). The water animals have thing
else.
only the
first {ib. i, 21),
as being the lowest in the scale of animal
life.
Land animals have the second and the third, "formed" and "made" Man, who is superior to all the others, has all the {ib. I, 25; 2, 19). three expressions
the other animals
As man
is
{ib.
26, 27; 2, 7).
is
Man
was given dominion over
distinguished above the other animals, so
distinguished above other men.
one that
(3)
{ib. i, 28).
called
by
my name,
I ha-ve formed him; yea, I
In Isaiah
and
whom
I
have made him."
(43, 7)
have
The
we
is
one nation
read:
created for
"Every
my glory;
three terms, created,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
122
formed, made, signify that the reference
by
called
But
name.
his
if
by God's name
is Israel,
by thy name; thou
Israelites are
There
is
as
we read
"Thus
{ih. i),
said the
art mine,"
and
in
many
thee, I
Lord have
other passages
Law.
^^'^
no system
in the sequel select
of ethics in
some
of his
out the ethical kernel from
Man
from
for this is their belief in the unity of
their reception of the
repentance.
learn
God and At the same time others who are not not excluded from reaching the same degree through
The reason
besides.
man; and we
to
O Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed
that created thee, called thee
is
men were created for his glory who are called we inquire in the Bible we find that the nation
this verse that those
its
Abraham bar Hiyya, and we
homiletical
and
exegetical husk.
alone, he tells us, of all animal creation receives reward
punishment.
The
other animals have neither merit nor guilt.
sure, their fortune in life
shall
remarks bearing on ethics and pick
and
To be
depends upon the manner in which they
respond to their environment, but this
is
way
not in the
of
reward and
punishment, but a natural consequence of their natural constitution.
With man
man
it is
different,
and
this is
because of the responsible position
occupies, having been given the privilege
The
and the
ability to con-
animal creation. ^^^
trol all
psychological basis of virtue in
in origin, as
it is
cardinal virtues
in
Abraham bar Hiyya
is
Platonic
Pseudo-Bahya, though we do not find the four
and the derivation
of justice
from a harmonious
combination of the other three as in the Republic of Plato, to which
Pseudo-Bahya
Man
is
ultimately indebted.
has three powers, we are
One
is
that
by which he
told,
which some
call three souls.
by which he grows and multiplies like the plants of the field. The second is that by which he moves from place to place. These two powers he has in common with the animal. The third is the power
distinguishes between good
and falsehood, between a thing and acquires
wisdom and knowledge.
him from the other animals. powers, the
hand the beast,
and
man
is
its
This
is
evil,
and by which he
opposite,
If this soul prevails
over the lower two
called meritorious and perfect.
called wicked
and an
between truth
the soul which distinguishes
latter prevail over the soul, the is
and
evil doer.
man
is
God
If
on the other
accounted
like
a
gives merit to the
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA animal soul for the sake of the rational soul to the latter;
and on the other hand imputes
and punishes her
the former
is
obedient
guilt to the rational soul
for the guilt of the animal soul because she did not
succeed in overcoming the
latter.
^^^
who
question of the relative superiority of the naturally good
The feels
if
123
no temptation to do wrong, and the temperamental person who
has to sustain a constant struggle with his passions and desires in order to overcome them
is
decided by
Abraham bar Hiyya in favor of
former on the ground that the latter
whereas the former according to for the
whom
two types
of
is.
And he
is
quotes the Rabbis of the Talmud,
the reward in the future world
He who must overcome
men.
the
never free from evil thought,
he can subject his lower nature to his reason
not the same
is
temptation before
rewarded
is
in the next
world in a manner bearing resemblance to the goods and pleasures
and described as precious stones and
of this world,
laden with good things to eat. naturally perfect
who
is
bears no earthly traces.
On
tables of gold
the other hand, the reward of the
is purely spiritual, and These men are represented as " sitting under
free
from temptation
the Throne of Glory with their crowns on their heads and delighting in the splendor of the Shekinah,"
His theodicy
offers
^^^
nothing remarkable.
He
cites
and opposes a
solution frequently given in the middle ages of the problem of evil.
This
How
is
based on the assumption that
God cannot be
analysis or classification or definition of
parently
Why
it is
physical evil which
do some people
suffer
what
offered, is
he
tells us, is
who do
that evil
is
is
There
meant by
not seem to deserve
One
no
is
Ap-
evil.
Abraham bar Hiyya has
aspect of the problem which interests him.
It
the cause of evil.
then explain the presence of evil in the world?
in mind. it?
is
the
solution that
is
not anything positive or substantial.
something negative, absence of the good, as blindness
is
absence
of vision; deafness, absence of hearing; nakedness, absence of clothing.
Hence
it
has no cause.
God produces
good, and determines them this
to stay
a
the positive forms which are
definite length of time.
When
time comes to an end, the forms disappear and their negatives
take their place automatically without the necessity of any cause.
Abraham bar Hiyya
is
opposed to
this solution of the
though he gives us no philosophic reason for
it.
problem,
His arguments are
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
124
God
the cause of evil as well as good, and this is the mean(Heb. Mishpat) that occurs so often in "judgment" ing of the word The same idea is the Bible in connection with God's attributes.
Biblical.
is
expressed in Jeremiah
(9,
23)
am
"I
and righteousness
kindness, judgment
the Lord which exercise loving in the earth."
on the part
of
God.
It
was not a
to do kindness to his creatures p)ower.
necessity.
and
to
Loving kindness
was an act
refers to the creation of the world, which
of pure grace
His purpose was purely
show them
his
wisdom and
Righteousness refers to the kindness of God, his charity
so to speak, which every one needs
mitted to the next world.
when he
dies
For the majority of
and wishes
to be ad-
men have more
guilt
Judgment denotes the good and evil distributed in the world according to the law of justice. Thus he rewards the righteous in the next world, and makes them suffer sometimes in this world in than merit.
order to try them and to double their ultimate reward.
He
punishes
the wicked in this world for their evil deeds, and sometimes he gives
them wealth and prosperity that they may have no claim or defence Thus evil in this world is not always the result
in the next world. of
misconduct which
the case of Job. is
it
punishes;
it
may
Abraham bar Hiyya's
be
inflicted as
solution
no reason why God should not be the author
everything
is
done
in accordance with the
law
is
a
trial,
as in
therefore that there
of physical evil, since
of justice.
^^^
CHAPTER IX JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK
Little in
is
known
of the life of
He lived
Joseph ben Jacob ibn Zaddik.
Cordova; he was appointed Dayyan, or Judge of the Jewish commu-
nity of that city in 1138; and he died in 1149.
mudic scholar by
Abraham tion
ibn
from
wise. ^^^
his
Daud and
his pen,
His fame
Harizi, though
is
praised as a Tal-
we have no Talmudic composi-
and but few poems, whether
rests
on
his philosophical work,
liturgical or other-
and it
is this
phase of
Katon " or " Micro-
" 01am
which we are interested here.
his career in
He
countryman Moses ibn Ezra, and as a poet by
Hebrew name of the philosophical treatise which he wrote in Arabic, but which we no longer possess in the original, being indebted for our knowledge of it to a Hebrew translation of unknown authorship. ^^^ Maimonides knew Joseph ibn Zaddik favorably, but cosm"
is
the
In a letter to Samuel
he was not familiar with the "Microcosm."
Ibn Tibbon, the translator of his "Guide of the Perplexed," Maimonides
tells
"01am Katon"
us that though he has not seen the
Ibn Zaddik, he knows that Brothers of Purity
{cf.
its
tendency
above, p. 60).^^^
of thought is Neo-Platonic,
is
the
This
same as that
signifies
that
its
of
of the
trend
which combines Aristotehan physics with
Platonic and Plotinian metaphysics, ethics and psychology.
An
examination of the book
itself
confirms Maimonides's judgment.
In accordance with the trend of the times there
Zaddik an increase of Aristotelian a decided decrease,
if
It
is
noticeable in Ibn
though of a turbid kind;
not a complete abandonment, of the ideas of the
Kalam, and a strong saturation of view.
influence,
was the fashion to
of Neo-Platonic doctrine
set the
Kalam over
and point
against the philoso-
phers to the disadvantage of the former, as being deficient in logical
knowledge and prejudiced by theological prepossessions. attested
by the
attitude towards the
Mutakallimun
of
This
Judah Halevi,
Maimonides, Averroes. And Ibn Zaddik forms no exception to the
The circumstance
that
it
was most
likely
125
is
rule.
from Karaite writings, which
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
126
found their way into Spain, that Ibn Zaddik gained
a Rabbanite, in their favor. of
knowledge
his
was not exactly calculated to prepossess him,
of Kalamistic ideas,
And
we
thus while
see
him
manner
in the
Saadia and Bahya follow the good old method, credited by Mai-
monides to the Mutakallimun, of the world's creation,
of starting his metaphysics with proofs
and basing the existence
of
God, his unity,
incorporeahty and other attributes on the creation of the world as a foundation, he turns into an uncompromising opponent of these
despised apologetes
when he comes
attributes, of the divine will,
and
much
to discuss the nature of God's
And
of the nature of evil.
in all
these cases the target of his attack seems to be their Karaite representative Joseph al-Basir,
He
laid
whose acquaintance we made before
(p.
48
ff.).
under contribution his predecessors and contemporaries,
Saadia, Bahya, Pseudo-Bahya, Gabirol;
and
sympathies clearly
his
lay with the general point of view represented
by the
Mohammedan
an
sources; though he
was enough
of
and
last,
his
eclectic to refuse
to follow Gabirol, or the Brethren of Purity
and the other Neo-Platonic
writings, in all the details of their doctrine;
and there
attempt on
his part to tone
down
is
evidence of an
the extremes of Neo-Platonic
tendency and create a kind of level in which Aristotehanism and
Thus he beheves with Gabirol
Platonism meet by compromising. that
all
things corporeal as well as spiritual are
and form; things
^^^
but when
it
may be, he tells us that we may speak of
of the species
composed
comes to defining what the matter
—a doctrine which
is
of
matter
of spiritual
the genus as the matter
not so Neo-Platonic after
all.
For
we do not have to go beyond Aristotle to hear that in the definition of
an
object,
which represents
essence, the genus
is
its intelligible
Of the universal and prime matter underlying of
God, of which Gabirol says that
(opposed to sensible)
the difference hke the form.
like the matter,
all
created things outside
the immediate emanation of
it is
God's essence and constitutes with universal form the Universal Intelligence,
Ibn Zaddik knows nothing.
Nor do we
find
any out-
spoken scheme of emanation, such as we see in Plotinus or with a slight modification in the cyclopoedia of the it is
Brethren of Purity, or as
presupposed in the "Fons Vitae" of Gabirol.
refer to the doctrine of the divine Will,
role in the philosophy of Gabirol
Ibn Zaddik does
which plays such an important
and
of the
Pseudo-Empedoclean
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK writings,
127
here, too, the negative side of
length, while the positive side
Ibn Zaddik's doctrine is
is
developed at
He
barely aUuded to in a hint.
pains to show the absurdity of the view that the divine will
mentary entity created from time into being of the things
comes
it is
of our world
their
reticent, refers us to the writings of
a mo-
coming
—a view held by the
spokesman
but when
al-Basir,
Empedocles, and intimates that
involved in mystery, and
is
too plainly
and openly.
not safe to talk about
it is
it
Evidently Ibn Zaddik was not ready to go
the length of Gabirol's emanationism
The Aristotelian
is
possible the
identical with
the matter
all
make
takes
own view of the nature of the divine will, God or not, he suddenly becomes
to explaining his
and whether
to time to
and processes
Mutakallimun as represented by it
But
which are supposed to have been Gabirol's source. ^^^
ideas, of
and Neo-Platonic mysticism.
which there are
many in
the "Microcosm,"
are probably not derived from a study of Aristotle's works, but from
secondary sources.
This we
he uses or interprets them.
may safely infer from the way An Aristotelian definition is
technical proposition in which every definition in turn to
be understood.
word counts, and
in
which
a highly
requires a
In the Aristotelian context the
reader sees the methodical derivation of the concept; and the several technical terms
examples.
making up the
definition are
made
the original Greek.
Now
it is
is
by
illustrative
obscure even in
conceive an Arabic translation of an Aris-
totelian definition taken out of its context,
that
clear
Aside from the context the proposition
and you do not wonder
misunderstood; particularly when the interpreter's point of
viev\^ is
taken from a school of thought at variance with that of Aris-
totle.
This
is
exactly
what happens
to
Ibn Zaddik.
He
quotes ap-
provingly Aristotle's definition of the soul, and proceeds to interpret
manner not intended by the author
of the "
De
it
in a
If
he had read the context he could not have misunderstood the def-
inition as
Anima."^®'
he did.
Unlike his predecessors, Ibn Zaddik did not confine himself to a 1 special topic in philosophy or to the metaphysical aspects of Judaism.
Isaac Israeli and Gabirol discuss special questions in Physics and Meta-
physics without bringing them into relation with Judaism or the text of the Bible.
Saadia takes cognizance of philosophical doctrine solely
with a view to establishing and rationalizing Jewish dogma, and only
MEDI/EVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
128 in so far as
it
may
Bahya and Abraham bar Hiyya
thus be utilized.
confine their philosophical outlook within
Jewish ethics as their primary concern.
which lends to
of BibHcal interpretation,
and
still
narrower
All of the latter
limits,
having
make a feature
work the Jewish stamp
their
and
to their style the element of homeliness
To
variety.
this
they owe in a measure their popularity, which, however, cannot be
Abraham bar Hiyya, whose "Hegyon ha-Nefesh" was not The " Microcosm " of Ibn Zaddik is the first compendium of science, philosophy and theology in Jewish hterature. And yet it is a small book; for Ibn Zaddik does said for
printed until the second half of last century.
not enter into lengthy discussions, nor does he adorn his style with rhetorical flourishes or copious quotations
from Bible and Talmud.
The "01am Katon" is clearly meant for beginners, who require a summary and compendious view of so much of physics, psychology, metaphysics and ethics as in the world,
he
may
and
will give
them an idea
his duties, theoretical
fulfil his destiny for
and
of the position of
practical, in this
which he was created.
It
is
life,
man that
very possible
that Ibn Zaddik modelled his work on the Encyclopaedia of the Breth-
ren of Purity, leaving out jectional -
all
and abridging the
that he regarded as imessential or ob-
rest.
Accordingly, the ''Microcosm"
first
part treats of what
the sciences Physics,
poreal world and
its
is
i. e.,
is
divided into four parts.
called in the Aristotelian classification of
and constitution
the principles
processes.
anthropology and psychology.
and other
attributes of God,
based upon the doctrine of the creation of the world. of the
Kalam, and
and Joseph al-Basir. Mutakallimun in the
"Bab
al
to the
"Bab
is
Adl"
This bears the
indebted to the writings of Saadia, Bahya
It covers the topics usually treated
division of their works,
The
Tauhid," treatise on Unity, al
of the cor-
The second treats of man, including The third is devoted to a discussion
of the existence, unity, incorporeality
stamp
of the
The
Kalam,
i. e.,
known by
the
by the
name
of
fourth part corresponds
the second division of Kala-
mistic works devoted to theodicy, or vindication of God's justice in his dealings with of
an
mankind.
ethical nature, like
ship, the nature of
The book was
Hence
it
includes theological questions
freedom of the
reasons for divine wor-
will,
reward and punishment, and so on.
written,
Ibn Zaddik
tells us, in
answer to the question
JOSEPH IBN Z ADD IK of a pupil concerning the
meaning
men
these
and yet every man
say,
a very
is
They
persons engaged in
its
are not of this world
of intelligence should seek them.
made more
difficult subject,
so
by
number
of
generation
is
the small
Particularly in our
study.
perfection" and
of such terms as
"permanent good, " used by philosophers. This
129
own
this true, that the value of knowledge and investigation
People are Jews in
nized.
Two
and men only
only,
outward ap-
in
in this regard.
fundamental requisites are necessary for the knowledge of our
They
subject.
For
wiU.
name
Former ages were much superior
pearance.
not recog-
is
this
purpose we must understand
But these
phers.
and performance
are the knowledge of God,
in turn require a
tlie
works
knowledge
of the preliminary
sciences of arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy,
takes a long time and beginner.
I
is
likely to
have therefore made
my
all.
Man
is
called
self
he
how a man
will com.e to
"Microcosm," a world
because he has in him represented
This
logic.
especially the
purpose to show
can know himself, for from a knowledge of edge of
and
weary the student,
it
of his
of the philoso-
a knowl-
miniature,
in
the elements of the universe.
all
His body resembles the corporeal world; his rational soul the spiritual
Hence the importance
world.
of
knowing himself, and hence the
defi-
nition of philosophy as a man's knowledge of himself.
Philosophy
the science of sciences and the end thereof, because the Creator. ^^
the path to a
it is
is
knowledge of
Here we
make a
see at the outset
Ibn Zaddik's Neo-Platonic tendency to
short cut to knowledge through the study of
man
instead of
And
the painful and laborious mastery of the prehminary sciences.
was that the Neo-Platonists added little nature, concentrating their attention upon the
so
it
to Aristotle's study of intelligible or spiritual
world.
The
first
thing
we must do then
similar to the corporeal world.
structure of the latter.
give
two ways
to
show that the human body
will require
But before examining the
we must say a word about things in
is
This
objects of
the process of knowing.
—through sense and through
him the accidents
an analysis
knowledge,
Man
intellect.
is
of the
perceives
His senses
of things, the sheU or husk, so to speak.
He
perceives color through sight, sound through hearing, odor through smell,
and so
on.
It takes reason to penetrate to the essence of
an
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
I30 object.
Take
as
The
an example a book.
and through the
color,
sense of sight perceives its
This
color its form.
the power of imagination or representation. it
then apprehended by
is
The
latter in turn
hands
over to the cogitative power of the rational soul, from the reflection
of which results the spiritual reality of the object, which
thing, whereas the senses
same thing
is
stated
know
only
its
by the philosopher
knowl-
husk and
This
intellect only.
body
is
We may
is
because the soul
is fine
and can reach the surface
gross,
also classify
its
The senses, can be known by the
and penetrating, while
only.
knowledge from another point
necessary (or immediate), and demonstrated (or mediate).
knowledge
is
that which no sane
man
This
accidents.
in another form.
he says, know only the particular, the universal
the
is its
So we see that the reason knows the essence and reality of a
edge.
of
view as
Necessary
Such knowledge
can deny.
may
be of the senses, as the sight of the sun or the sound of thunder;
or
may
it
parts.
be of the reason, such as that the whole
We may
without the help of other knowledge, (2)
greater than its
is
then enumerate four kinds of things
The
(i)
known
directly
percepts of the senses.
Truths generally admitted by reason of their self-evidence.
Traditional truths,
i.
e.,
truths
man, or by a community worthy or axioms.
(3)
handed down by a rehable and wise of credence.
(4) First principles
These four can be easily reduced to two; for traditional
truths ultimately go back to the testimony of the senses; while principles or axioms are included in self-evident propositions.
first
We
thus have two kinds of necessary or immediate knowledge, the data of sense,
and
self-evident propositions.
to the former, because
man
The
latter
kind
animals; whereas rational propositions are peculiar to
Demonstrated knowledge is
derived from
it
We may now world.
Matter
is
natural as well as
is
by means
is
superior
shares sense knowledge with the lower
built
him
alone.
upon necessary knowledge, and
of logical inference.
^^^
proceed to discuss the principles of the corporeal the foundation and principle of a thing. artificial,
are composed of matter
All things,
and form.
Wood
common matter of chair and bed. Their forms are different. So the common matter of the four elements is the prime matter en-
is
the
dowed with the form filling
place.
of corporeality,
i.
e.,
with the capacity of
This form of corporeality makes the prime matter
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK Matter
corporeal substance.
13
form
relative to form,
is
relative to
is
matter.
have matter and form.
Spiritual things also
things like ring or bracelet, the matter ring or bracelet, the efficient cause final
cause or purpose
compare genus
is
In corporeal
form
gold, the
is
artificial
the form of
is
the art of the goldsmith, the
is
may
In spiritual things we
the adornment.
to matter, species to form, specific difference to
effi-
cient cause, the individual to the final cause.
Everything
Matter
exists
by
either
exists
by
form
itself,
ter is potentially substance; after it
In reahty there
substance.
we can remove Substance
accidents; for opposition
its
Matter receiving form
simple and spiritual, for
the five senses.
in thought
that which bears opposite and chang-
but through
its substantiality,
is
becomes actual
it
substance can be the opposite of another substance
resides in quality.
substance
assumes a form
else.
Mat-
matter.
else, in
and leave the matter.
the form
No
something
no matter without form, but
may be described as
ing qualities.
through
is
something
{per se) or in
itself
exists in
When
it
the philosophers say that
all
body
and that the individual
is
distinction to accident,
meaning that the individual
and needs not another have something to
Absolute
substance.
is
cannot be perceived through is
substance,
a substance, they use substance in contraexists
by
itself,
which must
for its existence, unlike accidents,
exist in.
This absolute substance, which
is
simple and spiritual, seems to be
decem
praedica-
menta," the substance which supports the ten categories.
Gabirol
identical with Gabirol's "substantia quae
means by
sustinet
that which remains of a corporeal substance
it
away from
it
everything that qualifies
it
as being here or there, of a
particular nature or size, in a given relation,
The all
which
is
under them. in
To be
would move downward would move upward
roll
Hke the waves
not
move
at
all.
sure, the
body
so on.
of the sphere
matter and form and
of a fifth nature, different
it
and
expression corporeal world includes the celestial spheres
from the other bodies
it
when we take
like earth
like air
of the sea.
and
and water.
fire.
Nor
Not being any one
is it
It
is
It It
is
is
not wet, for
dry, for
it
and
different
It consists
qualities.
from the four elements.
is
not cold, or
not warm, or it
would then
would condense and
of these qualities,
which constitute
MEDimVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
132
our four elements, the sphere the simple
is
The sphere
object
from the earth, which
place, as it
it
For
neither Hght nor heavy.
An
is
heavy when out
Thus a stone
in its natural place.
where
and we cannot regard the elements
world as prior and superior to the spheres.
is
relative terms.
to rest
not a composite of them either; for
prior to the composite,
of the sublunar
when
is
heavy when
is
natural place, but
is its
belongs.
The
moves constantly
sphere
in
a
light
is
never out of
is
Hence
circle.
and heavy are
light
of its natural place, light
when
away comes
it
place or in
its
it is
it is
its
neither light nor
heavy.
Ibn Zaddik's definition of
light
and heavy as being
dependent on the relation of the object to
and would lead him
to say that fire
of their natural place, which
is
and
outside
its
natural place
air are also
and
relative, is
pecuhar,
heavy when out
and above earth and water.
of,
But this does not seem in consonance with the Aristotelian use of these terms. is
to
move
According to Aristotle an object
to the centre of the world;
the centre to the circumference.
and
fire
air are light.
to which
it
The
it is
heavy
is
light
if it
tendency
if its
moves away from
Hence earth and water are heavy,
natural place of a
body or element
has a tendency to move, or in which
it
is
that
has a tendency to
when left to itself. Hence a body will always move place when away from it and under no restriction; and rest,
to its natural its
heaviness
or lightness does not change with its position.
To
continue, the sphere
moves
in a circle, the
motions, having neither beginning nor end.
It
is
most perfect
more
of all
perfect than
and the knowledge of God is not hidden from it as it is hidden from us. Whatever moves in a circle must move around a body at rest; for if it moves around another moving body, this second
all
bodies,
body must have another body around which it moves, and this third body another, and so on ad infinitum, which is impossible. Hence the sphere moves around a body at rest. This is the earth.
The
four elements of the sublunar world are,
In their
fire, air,
purity these elements have neither color nor
nor any other sensible property.
water, earth.
taste,
nor odor
For the elements are simple bodies,
whereas the sensible qualities are the result of the composition of the elements.
and
all
If air
had
color,
we should
see
it
as
we
see all colored things;
other things would appear to us in the color of
air,
as
is
the
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK case
when we look through a
133
The same argument
colored glass.
ap-
plies to water.
The elements change
We see water changing under
into each other.
the effect of heat into vapor, and the vapor condenses again under
Air
the influence of cold and changes back to water, namely, rain.
changes into it
fire
when
flint strikes iron.
has something to take hold
and water change
Fire cannot exist here unless
of;
otherwise
changes into
it
Earth
air.
into each other very slowly, because earth
hard
is
to change.
The of its
basis of the four elements
is
a substance
assuming the form of corporeality, Filling place,
tions.
motion
is
it
completed,
moves; moving, necessarily
it
filling
place as a result
extension in three direc-
i. e.,
When
becomes warm.
it
comes to
rest
and becomes
its
cold.
Heat and cold are the active powers, wet and dry are the passive
The mixture
quahties, wet being associated with heat, dry with cold. of these qualities
The
When
a seed
and sunshine and
lated to the thing fed.
is
put in the ground
These form
air.
Our bodies
lunar world is
is
and
that of genesis
the dissolution of another.
its
it
of the four
cannot grow without
food,
and food
is
assimi-
are composed of the four elements,
because they are nourished by plants.
thing
composed
three natures, mineral, plant, animal are
elements. water,
with the corporeal basis results in the four elements.
The
general process of the sub-
dissolution.
The
The
genesis of one
dissolution of the egg
genesis of the chicken; the dissolution of the chicken
is
is
the
the genesis
of the four elements; for in the living being the elements are potential,
and they become actual when the animal
dies.
This continuous
process of genesis and dissolution proves that this world nent, for the basis of its processes
The human body corresponds to
in its nature
it
decay
to them.
It has in
it
It
is
composed
is
and
ited
is like
it
similar
of the elements
animal in having motion and sensation. like other animals.
has resemblances to
body as a whole resembles great
all
He
and
and returns
the nature of minerals, plants and animals.
power and the appetitive
because
is
subject to genesis
has the power of growth, sustenance and reproduction
Man
not perma-
change.^*'"
to the corporeal world,
Man's body
and matter.
like other objects.
is
is
It
like plants.
has the spir-
His body
is
perfect
kinds of plants and animals.
trees, his hair is like grass
and
His
shrubs.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
134
Animals have various
qualities according to the relation of the
Thus the
soul to the body.
Mankind
fox shrewdness, and so on.
In the same
way
They
the bee, and so on.
combines
and
arts
all
all
The human body has
distinguished alone
is
among animals by
of other animals
—
position
is
that he
is
soul, plants
is
impure the flame is
oil is
air,
pure, is
is
its
not
superior to that is
akin to
quadrupeds on land.
Another reason for man's erect
three.
Hence
his head,
^'^^
a plant soul to account for the fact that
and
For
dies like them.
And
can do the same.
if
man
he can grow without
this too is granted,
then also.
man
if
animal
soul,
is
the
when
no reason why mountains and stones should not grow
Again,
The
see
a plant originating in heaven.
like other plants
a plant there
body
Thus we oil is
This
erect position.
has three souls, a plant soul, an animal soul and a rational
He must have
soul.
grows
all
the root, faces heaven.
is
Man
its
proportionate, and his
water, birds in
fish in
alone can inhabit
which
when
is
that the latter live in that element which
is
their constitution
Man
line;
It
and animals, and at the same
Another thing proving that man's nature
straight.
alone
kinds of food.
purer and finer than other bodies. flame rises in a straight
Man
three dimensions like inanimate bodies.
due to the fact that man's nature
seat
these qualities.
all of
on various foods.
also subsist
also similar to the bodies of plants
time is
includes
various animals have various instincts resembling
such as the weaving of the spider, the building of the bird and
arts,
is
animal
has strength, the lamb meekness, the
lion
can grow without a plant
and know without a
soul,
he can
rational soul,
faculty of the vegetative soul in the liver.
if
Its subordinate
is
which
live is
without an
absurd.
the appetitive power, whose
powers are those of nutrition and
man feels the need of food and other natural desires. He has this in common with the lower animals. It is the first power that appears in man while he is still in his mother's womb. growth.
First
Through
it
comes the power which forms the combined seed of the male
and the female In doing begins
its
into a
human
being in
its
proper form and nature.
this it requires the assistance of the
activity as soon as the first
until the period of
youth
is
member
completed.
"growing" power, which is
formed, and continues
This power in turn needs the
assistance of the nourishing power, which accompanies the other
two
JOSEPH IBM ZADDIK from the beginning
end
of their activity to the
All this constitutes the plant soul,
and
of the person's
life.
must not be supposed that
it
these powers are separated from one another,
place and another in another place.
135
and that one
They are
in
is
one
powers
all spiritual
derived from the universal powers in the upper world.
When
the form of the being
This soul
appearance.
which
is
is
complete, the animal soul makes
is
carried in the spirit of the animal or
found in the pure blood of the
its
man,
There are two mem-
arteries.
branes in every artery, making two passages, one for blood and the
The
other for the spirit or wind.
and two
it is
seat of the animal soul
borne in the pure red blood.
receptacles; in one
spirit, in
is
This
is
why we
is
in the heart,
see in the heart
Hence
the other, blood.
death we find congealed blood in the one, while the other
Death happens on account
"mixture"
of the defective
This means that the four humors of which the body namely, blood, yellow and black
gall
and phlegm,
An
composed,
lose the proper
by
them
pre-
animal does not die unless the mixture of the heart
injured, or the heart
is
after
empty.
of the heart. is
proportionality in their composition, and one or other of
dominates.
is
is
wounded
seriously.
Death
For the brain
disease or injury of the brain.
is
is
also caused
the origin of the
nerves which control the voluntary activities by means of contraction
and expansion.
come
out;
does not contract, the
If the chest
warm
air
does not
does not expand, the cold air does not come in; and
if it
the air does not
and the animal and motion.
come
dies.
if
in or out, the heart loses its proportionality,
The
This motion
functions of the animal soul are sensation
may
be active as well as passive.
active motions are those of the arteries,
The
and the expansion and con-
traction of the chest which results in respiration.
The passive motions
give rise to the emotions of anger, fear, shame, joy, sorrow.
Anger
is
the motion of the spirit within the
together with the blood and the humors.
Fear
also.
is
body toward the
This
become
motion inward, and forthwith again outward. the
Joy
same way as
is
outside,
found in animals
the entrance of the soul within, leaving the surface of
the body, and causing the extremities to
gradual.
is
This
is
fear,
why
motion outward.
except that fear
is
may
kill too,
Shame is
is
a
caused in
sudden, while sorrow
is
when the body is weak. when it is very great, and
fear sometimes kills
Joy
cold.
Sorrow
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
136 the person
is
weak and without
ure, except that pleasure
Pain
person
Heat
exposed to
is
is
restores
sudden.
when we
is felt
it,
him out
the sun takes is
When
a
of his natural state.
produced by the thing which
Similarly a person walking in the
and a drink
snow and cold
air
pain by reason of the cold taking him out of his natural state.
Heat then gives him pleasure by applies to hunger
and
effect
fire.
The disappearance
smoke does not require the
Death means simply the separation
human
after the death of the body, that the soul of the ox
tinues likewise, for the for the sake of life is
two
man it,
which
is
is
life,
Moreover,
For
if
the
the rational soul
its life
upon the former, and hence would It remains then that the rational
man.
the rest of the senses, as death
The purpose
sake.
absurd.
soul gives existence to the animal soul in
Sleep
own
exists for his
were the ultimate source of
too would be dependent for
be inferior to
and the ass con-
Animals were created
souls are different.
man, whereas man
not the de-
soul remains
ultimately derived from his rational soul.
animal soul of
is
their entire cessation.
of sleep is to give the brain rest so that the "spirit"
of the soul should not be dissolved
injured suddenly
and the
The
and cause death.
tween contraction and expansion, hence
Waking
is
mixture " of the body
heart rests continually beit
needs no special rest at
the activity of the senses and the exercise of their
functions to satisfy the desires of the body. in the
of the
cessation of
of the soul,
It does not follow because the
struction thereof.
night.
no pleasure,
is
does not necessarily involve the disappearance of the cause,
as the disappearance of the
man's
thing
and waking, and other things
Without pain there
the effect of the animal soul.
is
The same
varies in accordance with the antecedent pain.
and the pleasure Life
restoring him.
thirst, sleeping
which give us pleasure and pain.
waking state are in the
The motions
of the soul
interest of the needs of the body.
ing sleep the soul looks out for free
are restored
to his natural state; in this case a cold spring
of cold water.
the
is
are taken out of our natural
Pleasure
then painful, and pleasure
him
of the nature of pleas-
is
Take, for example, the heat of the sun.
to the natural.
feels
we have when we
that feeling
is
and put into an unnatural.
state
Joy
control.
gradual, while joy
is
itself,
from the business of the body.
Dur-
for its better world, being then
If it is
pure and bright, and the
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK body
is
free
from the remnant
137
and the thought
of food,
not de-
is
—
by sorrow and grief then the soul is aroused in its desire ^^^ for the future, and beholds wonderful things. No one can deny that man has a rational soul because speech is an pressed
man
attribute which
corporeal thing, for
and would have over,
it
has above
if it
were
it
and form and other
color
The
other animals.
all
would require something
is
not a
like
body,
soul
would have to occupy place
More-
qualities like body.
else to give it life like
In other
body.
words, the soul would require another soul, and that soul another soul,
and so on ad
infinitum,
which
is
Hence the
impossible.
soul is
not a corporeal thing.
Nor can we say itself
body, as water
The
soul
is
quality which
permanence. it
that the soul
is
fills
a
in giving
makes If
This
its
But
man
an injury
find anything in
On the
a
and has no
of the body,
is inflicted
sure, like the color of the
we know
the color
will
which reason
reason,
is
an accident
in other things color
not apply to the reason. is
a removable accident.
you remove man,
for reason is
that as a result of an injury a
no argument against
us, for this
on the brain, which
This accounts for the
bane to drink
else,
is
statutes.
from the fact that
The moment you remove essential to man. The fact lose his reason
accident
an accident
is
an accident and may be removed. This
is
would
sometimes rational and some-
is
in that case
its inseparability,
For we do not
it
in another
absurd, for in that case there could be no purpose
him commandments and
Ethiopian's skin.
is
An
appearance in something
then the rational soul
is
were,
jar.
There are inseparable accidents to be
despite
if it
empty place
the
fiU
a substance and not an accident.
has no permanence, and
times not.
For
in the body.
be body; since only body can
fact, too, that
men
the reason's instrument.
is
in
man may
happens only when
good health
if
given hen-
lose their reason, because the drink affects the brain.
other hand,
we
see that those afiflicted with a certain disease of
the intestines, which causes their death, are more rational and brighter at the time of death than ever before, showing that the soul cannot
an accident depending upon the "mixture"
To
regard the soul as an accident, while the body
would make the soul
inferior to the
body.
be
of the body.
This
is
is
a substance,
absurd.
For we
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
138
have the body in common with the beasts; whereas the reason that
ment
we
it is
in virtue of
commandments, and reward and punish-
are given
in the world to come.
a corporeal thing nor an accident of body,
If the soul is neither it
must be a
is
that of Aristotle,
who
says
it is
natural organic body, which has definition tells.
accident.
the best definition of the soul
a substance giving perfection
life potentially.
Every phrase
perfect, bringing
to the next world,
a
is
an
which
signifies that the soul is that
him
to
in this
"Substance" excludes the view that the soul
"Giving perfection"
makes man
And
spiritual substance.
and being the
purpose not merely of his creation and the composition of his body,
but of the creation dicates that the
of
body
matter as is
well.
"Natural organic body"
an organon, or instrument
the soul, the latter using the body to carry out rational soul
is
like
a king; the animal soul
its
in-
in the function of
own purposes. The
is like
an
ojB&cial
before
the king, rebuking the appetitive soul.
In the discussion of the
last
of the uncritical attitude of
paragraph we have a good example
Ibn Zaddik toward the various schools
of philosophical thought, particularly those represented Aristotle.
This attitude
is
by Plato and
typical of the middle ages, which appealed
to authority in philosophy as
weU
as in theology, and hence developed
a harmonistic attitude in the presence of conflicting authorities.
by
knowledge
their defective
Greek philosophers, by the translations from
culating in the
an
difficulties
alien tongue,
name
of
Aided
of the complete systems of the ancient
and
obscurities incident to
and by the spurious writings
cir-
an ancient Greek philosopher, the precise
demarcation of schools and tendencies became more and more confused,
and
it
was possible to prove that Plato and
entire agreement.
(unconsciously, to
Aristotle were in
Thus Ibn Zaddik has no scruple in combining be sure) Platonic and Neo-Platonic psychology
with the Aristotelian definition representing quite a different point of view.
The one
is
anthropological duaUsm, regarding the soul as
a distinct entity which comes to the body from without. is
a biological monism, in which the soul
essence of
its
an actually
functioning, which
living body.
We
is
The other
the reahty of the body, the
makes the
potentially living
body
cannot enter here into a criticism of
the elements of the Aristotelian definition of the soul as rendered and
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK interpreted
by Ibn Zaddik, but
pletely the meaning
take
from the "
it
will
of Aristotle,
De Anima"
139
merely say that
misses com-
it
and shows that Ibn Zaddik did not
of Aristotle,
but found
it
without
its
context in some Arabic work.
To
return from our digression, the three souls, Ibn Zaddik
are spiritual powers; every one of them
The
benefit to the body.
and the others get
it
a substance by
is
rational soul gets the
from the rational
soul.
name
The
hence when the soul the rational soul
between them is
superior,
is
and
perfected
is
becomes
it
common
its
matter.
This
intellect.
is
The only difference The world of Intellect
called potential intellect.
is
one of degree and excellence. matter
no ignorance, because
soul primarily,
Intellect is called soul
because the rational soul and the Intellect have a
And why
tells us,
itself of
it
is
the pure hght, Intellect in which there
is
comes from God without any intermediate
agency.
Here we
see just a touch of the Neo-Platonic doctrine of emanation,
of which the Universal Intellect
toned
is
the
down and not continued down
first.
But
it is
considerably
the series as in Plotinus or the
Brethren of Purity.
The are,
accidents of the soul are spiritual like the soul
itself.
They
knowledge, kindness, goodness, justice, and other similar qualevil, and so on, are not the opposites of and were not created with the soul like the They are merely the absence of the positive qualities men-
Ignorance, wrong,
ities.
those mentioned above, others.
tioned before, as darkness
any
defect, nor did
is
the absence of hght.
he desire
it.
Evil
is
God
capacity of a given thing to receive a particular good.
were capable of receiving goods equally,
and the Creator and
his creatures
did not create
simply the result of the
all
things
in-
If all things
would be one
thing,
This was
would be likewise one.
not God's purpose.
There
is
a tacit opposition to the Mutakallimun in Ibn Zaddik's
arguments against the view that the soul
is
an accident, as well as
in his statement in the preceding paragraph that the
and
evil generally are
bad quaUties
not opposites of the good quahties and good
respectively, but that they are merely privations, absences,
not created by God.
we have
This
seen (p. 108
f.),
is
a Neo-Platonic doctrine.
and Abraham bar Hiyya
and hence
Pseudo-Bahya, (p.
123
f.)
adopt
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
I40
the Kalamistic view in the latter point, and solve the problem of evil differently.
The
function of the rational soul
makes premises and
rules,
is
The
knowledge.
unknown and comprehends
investigates the
it.
rational soul
It derives general
Man
one thing from another.
infers
alone
in virtue of the rational soul that
we have
been given commandments and prohibitions, and become
liable to
has this privilege.
It
is
Brute animals have no commandments,
reward and punishment.
The
because they have no reason.
and man makes
it
inally in the soul, there
condition in
which
is
The
all
former in
would be no difference between the in this one;
individual souls,
common, shows
that there
the particular souls exist.
many
into
were actual orig-
and the purpose
learn in order to choose the right
many
existence of
which
soul
If the reason
soul's
of
man,
way and win
would have no meaning.
character in of
may
soul has reason only potentially,
study.
own world and
its
that he
salvation,
by
actual
individual
souls
is
is
all of
This division of the universal not really a division of the
which remains one and
its essence,
which have the soul
a universal soul by virtue
indivisible.
It
is
the
bodies which receive the influence of the universal soul, as vessels
sun receive
in the
istence of justice
however,
mean
its light
and
evil,
The
Hence the
This does not,
to say that the reception of these qualities
Man
ent of a man's choice. praise
according to their purity. righteousness and wrong.
free to choose,
is
is
ex-
independ-
and hence he deserves
and blame, reward and punishment. rational soul
is
destined for the spiritual world, which
and perfect world, made by God agency.
It
is
directly without
is
a pure
an intermediate
not subject to change or defect or need.
God
alone
created this spiritual world to show his goodness and power, and not
because he needed cause.
The world
it.
by God; but perfect than
it
wiU continue to
it is.
It
is
is
not like God, though
God
is its
having been made out of nothing
exist forever, for it
simple and spiritual.
heavenly spheres and their
Man
is
It is not eternal a parte ante,
cannot be more
This applies also to the
stars.
obhged to reason and
investigate, as all nations
ing to the measure of their capacities.
has not the requisite faculty.
But
if
do accord-
No animal reasons because it man should neglect to exercise
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK
141
the power given him, he would lose the benefit coming therefrom and
There would then be no difference
the purpose of his existence.
between him and the beast.
The mal
requisite for study
first
Then with
desires.
man acquires soul he
for nothing
or which at privilege
know
some time
which
It
exist,
who
is
the only real existent,
When
will cease to exist.
he
a
man
exist,
neglects this
name man,
forfeits the
station of the beast, for the latter never falls
and the cause
of
Jeremiah says
(31,
know me, from the least of them even unto Amos (5, 6) bids us "Seek for the Lord and you
shall all
greatest."
Hosea
strive to
likewise
know
(6, 3)
the Lord."
first loss
a
man
recommends that
the
it is
The prophets
himian perfection.
are full of recommendations in this regard.
The
his rational
very important to study the knowledge of God, for
highest knowledge
live."
From
animal nature.
its
"They
body as a model,
which at one time did not
his of using his reason,
is
deaden the ani-
to
his
of the existence of a spiritual world.
the Creator,
can be said truly to
and descends below the
is
is
and
the knowledge of the corporeal world.
comes to the knowledge
Finally he will learn to
below
and investigation
the reason as a guide
"We may
feel
2^;^),
their shall
it,
and
^^^
suffers
who
does not study and investigate
is
that he does not understand the real existence of God, and imagines
he
is
as
is
Some think God is light. But this is as him body. For light is an accident in a shining body,
worshipping a body.
bad as
to regard
proved by the fact that the
later it receives the
are not the worst
air receives the light of the sun,
shadow and becomes dark.
by any means,
solely with the business
discuss at
they are wise
and the pleasures
all.
men and
We
and
yet these people
for there are others
trouble to concentrate their minds on God,
we do not
And
who do not
and occupy
their thoughts
of this world.
These people
are arguing against those
students of the Kalam.
who imagine
In fact they are
ig-
know what logic is and how it is to be used. own views of the nature and existence of God,
norant persons, and do not Before giving our
we must
refute the objectionable doctrines of these people.
al-Basir in a
work
of his called
banites that in believing that true worshippers of God.
"Mansuri"
God
But he
casts
it
up
Joseph
to the
Rab-
descends and ascends they are not forgets that his
own
doctrines are
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
142
no
Anyone who believes that God created with a newly by means of a newly created rejection has served God or known him. Just as objectionable is their
better.
created will and rejects
never truly
view that God
living
is
but not with
The MutakaUimun
residing in a subject, powerful
life
We shall take up each of these in
but not with power, and so on.
refuse to believe that God's will
And
fear of having a second eternal beside God.
whenever God he
rejects
wills,
he creates a
is
so they say that
will for the purpose,
and whenever
anything he creates a " rejection " with which the objection-
able thing
is
But
rejected.
this leads
them
to a worse predicament
than the one from which they wish to escape, as we shall
God cannot in creating,
—^how
turn.
eternal, for
see.
If
create anything without having a will as the instrument
and
must
for this reason
create this will, infinitum, which
help of another
and a is
create a will for the purpose
another
third will to create the second,
absurd.
will,
without any will?
first
He must have had
did he create this will?
why
If
he created the
will to
and so on ad
first will
without the
not create the things he wanted outright
making God
Besides, in
will at
a given time after
a state of not willing, they introduce change in God.
As
God
for the other dictum, that
is
"living but not with life,"
"powerful but not with power," "knowing but not with knowledge,"
and so on; what do they mean by "living" to indicate that he
is
so as to prevent a comparison of
not say also,
"He is body,
this circumlocution?
If
they say
not dead, and add "but not with
but not
him with other
living things,
like other bodies "?
life,"
why
If the objection
to calling him body is that body is composite, and what is composite must have been composed by someone and is not eternal, the same
objection applies to "living."
and "possessed If
mean him? You
they reply, we
peculiar to
own
sophisms,
For "living" implies "breathing"
of sensation," hence also life
peculiar to him,
composite and created.
we say why not
also
body
see these people entangle themselves in their
because they do not
know what demonstration
means. ^^^
Having disposed
of the errors of the
MutakaUimun, we must now
own method of investigation into the nature of God. To know a thing, we investigate its four causes material, formal, efi&cient and final. What has no cause but is the cause of all things, present our
—
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK cannot be known in
through
We
this
know
cannot therefore
Still it is
not altogether unknowable
cannot be known, but
it
may
be known
or rather effects, which suggest attributes.
activities,
its
way.
Its essence
for this reason.
143
concerning
God what he
is,
nor how he
these can apply only to a created thing having a cause.
ask concerning him, whether he
and
is;
this
is,
For
nor on account of what, nor of what kind, nor where, nor when.
But we can
can best be known from
his deeds.
We
observe the things of the world and find that they are
posed of substance and accident, as we saw before are correlative,
and one cannot
But accident
precedes the other. so
substance.
is
exist
That accident
is
all
without the other.
com-
These
(p. 131).
Hence neither
"new" (/. e., not eternal), hence new is proved from the fact that
is
motion and motion succeeds rest, hence accidents concome and go and are newly created. if substance and accident are both new there must be some-
rest succeeds
stantly
Now
thing that brought them into being unless they bring themselves
But the
into being. exist
when
there;
if it
God
is
latter is impossible, for the
brings itself into being, or not.
does not
Hence
thing.
there
This
existence.
of the
it
is
is
already
and nothing cannot do any-
exist, it is nothing,
must be a being that brought the world
into
God.
one, for the cause of the
many
agent must either
If it exists it is
many must be
the one.
the many, then the cause of the second
If the cause
many
is
a third
God number without being included in number, and it embraces number on all sides. It is the foundation of number; for if you remove unity, you remove number; but the removal of number does not remove unity. The one surrounds number on all sides; for the beginning of number is the one, and it is also the middle of number and the end thereof. For nmnber is nothing but an aggregate of ones. Besides, number many, and so on ad infinitum; hence we must stop with the is
to the world as unity
is
composed
of odds
is
to
number.
Unity
and evens, and one
is
one.
the basis of
is
the cause of odd as well
as even. If there
respects,
In the
were two eternal beings, they would either coincide in
and they would be one and not two.
latter case, the
world
is
either the
work
Or they would of
all
differ.
both or of one only.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
144
they are not omnipotent, and hence not eternal.
If of both,
only, then the other does not count, since he is
one
is
only one.
By
God
saying
is
one we do not mean that he comes under the
category of quantity, for quantity stance, of
If of
not eternal, and there
and
God
all
substance
is
God's unity
God
and
is
to be like another,
and quality
is self-sufficient
anything at
all, it
made him an purpose, as
would be
For
if
if
was always If
God in
he were, he would be
quahty that a thing
is
For
need of anything.
first of all
But
who
the one
if
he needed
created
him and
God
eternal.
this is absurd, since
But
things to assist us.
is
We
It is different with us.
it.
do not create
existing.
created the world for his
own
benefit, then either
need of the world, or the need arose at the time it
If the
things,
would have existed with
is
cold, or
himself
motion after
"new" and
be to ascribe inability to is
create at
absurd.
The God's
with his
not
then he
To
is like
created
say the need was
until the time
he did would
world before he did,
unable at any given time, cannot
he does not need anything, and
by reason
of his goodness
and generosity
else.
question of God's will will
is
It remains then that
all.
it
of creating the
For one who
that he created the world
and nothing
God
rest,
not eternal.
always there, and yet he did not create
which
is
need arose in him at the time of creation, as heat
a body after
and
he
of creat-
him from eternity, but we have already proved that the world arises in
some
this, too, is
he were dependent upon the world for anything,
he was always in need of the world,
eternal.
said
an accident contained in a substance.
in
we only modify matter already
Again,
is
all respects.
if
that he needs the world, which he created for
he could not create
ing.
is
we sometimes make
impossible.
For
in virtue of
and not
existent thing.
We might suppose
things;
For numerical unity
alone separate and one in
it is
in a sub-
that the essence
is
capable of multiphcation and divi-
is
not like any of his creatures.
is
possessed of quality, since
God
an accident residing
What we mean
true unity, not numerical unity.
is
also in a sense multiplicity, sion.
is
"new."
is
will,
eternal
is difficult.
The problem
is this.
If
and unchanging, and he created the world
the world
is
eternal.
If
we
say, as
we must, that he we introduce a
created the world after a condition of non-creation,
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK
145
change in God, a something newly created in him, namely, the to create, which did not exist before.
view
This
that since God's creating activity
is
and
is infinite
My
a dilemma.
his essence,
is
we cannot say he
eternal,
is
and
will
own
his essence
created after a condition of
non-creation, or that he willed after a condition of non-willing, or
And
that he was formerly not able.
world
is
The
time.
It
eternal.
Hence
it
is
that time itself was created with
no time, and no before and
is
does not follow because the world
creation
its
God
that the
the measure of motion of the celestial sphere,
is
there are no spheres there
if
we do not mean
yet
definite length of time before our
solution of the problem
the world; for time
and
was created a
There
did not create.
is
no
is
after.
not eternal that before
when
before
the world
is
not.
We of
objected to the view of the Mutakallimun
God
creating a will on the ground that
and not newly There
creation in God.
God.
and
if it is
same as God
My
answer
the
matter, which explain
it.
it is
The
in
God.
But
of the wise
is
men
eternals,
he changes when he creates.
God
there
in is
any
sense,
and there
a subtle mystery in
not proper to reveal, and this
interested reader
and other works
from God we have two
in all respects,
not different from
no changing attribute
therefore that God's
the difficulty of the precise relation
If it is different
is, it is
is
who speak
will directly
created, for the latter view introduces
is still
of the will to
(p. 142),
he can create a
Our opinion
he can create the world instead. will is eternal
if
referred to the
is
is
this
not the place to
book
of
Empedocles
treating of this subject
above,
{cf.
p. 64).
God
created the world out of nothing, and not out of a pre-existent
matter.
For
if
no more reason that
it
the matter of the world for supposing that
formed a world out
The world
is
perfect.
is
this
would argue
in
God
eternal like God, there
is
it
than
its
crea-
out of
God.
For we have repeatedly shown that
due entirely to God's goodness.
tion
ness.
of
is
God formed a world
If
then
it
were not perfect,
either ignorance or niggardliness or
weak-
^''^
Most of the ancients avoided giving God attributes for fear of makhim the bearer of quaUties, which would introduce plurality and
ing
composition in his essence.
The proper
view, however,
is this.
As
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
146
God's essence different
from him;
his
from
different
is
from
all
knowledge and
The way man
all
other essences, so are his attributes
His attributes are not
other attributes.
and
his truth
his
power are
arrives at the divine attributes
this.
is
examined his works and learned from them God's
different
his essence.
Men
existence.
have
They
then reflected on this existent and found that he was not weak; so
They found his works perfect, and they called They perceived that he was self-sufficient, without need anything, and hence without any motives for doing wrong. Hence
they called him strong.
him of
wise.
they called him righteous. this
And
so
they did in order that people
his ways.
But we must not
on with the other
may
learn
attributes.
All
from him and imitate
forget that all these expressions of God's
No
we do not say he has life, it means he is dead. What we mean is that we cannot apply the term hving to God literally, in the sense in which we apply When the Bible does speak of God as alive it to other living things. and living, the meaning is that he exists forever. The philosopher attributes are figurative.
is
right
when he says
butes to
God than
that
one must suppose that
it is
positive.
more proper
if
to apply negative attri-
^''^
Taking a glance at Ibn Zaddik's theology just discussed
we
sential outlines,
aspects of Kalamistic thought, as he found
Karaite, his
Kalam.
own method and
them
doctrine are not far
in al-Basir, the
removed from the
His proof of the creation of the world from
character (substance and accident)
which Maimonides
in its es-
notice that while he opposes vigorously certain
cites as
is
the
its
same as one
We
a Kalamistic proof.
composite of Saadia,
have already
spoken of the fact that the method of basing one's theology upon the creation of the world
monides himself
Bahya and Ibn offers little if
eral
tells
is
one that
us.
Zaddil^.
And
is
distinctive of the
this
method
is
Kalam, as Mai-
common
to Saadia,
In his discussion of the attributes Ibn Zaddik
anything that
is
new.
His attitude
is
that in the
and positive sense no attribute can be applied to God.
We
lit-
can
God negatively without running the risk of misunderstanding. But the moment we say anything positive we do become thus liable to comparing God with other things; and such circumlocutions as speak of
the Kalamistic "Living without life," and so on, do not help matters, for they are contradictory,
and take away with one hand what they
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK The
give with the other.
Biblical expressions
tively; and the most important point to
known
essence cannot be
the divine attributes
nature to his
much of
own
at
by
is
essence.
better expressed,
all.
and Bahya
must be taken
remember
The manner
in
is
which we arrive at
we have already found is
figura-
that God's
them from God's
transferring All this
147
also without
effects in
in
Bahya
doubt the source
Ibn Zaddik's discussion of God's unity.
We
must now review
phi^)sophy as
it
Ibn Zaddik's
briefly the practical part of
found in the fourth part
is
of the
"Microcosm."
In the manner of Bahya he points out the importance of divine service
and obedience to his
to the
commandments
God, vie\\dng man's duties
of
maker as an expression of gratitude, which everyone owes to Like Bahya he compares God's benefactions with
his benefactor.
those of one
former, and
man
to another to
show the
infinite superiority of the
the greater duty which follows therefrom.
The commandments which God gave us like the act of our creation own good, that we may enjoy true happiness in the world to come. As it would not be proper to reward a person for what he has not done, God gave man commandments. The righteous as well as the wicked are free to determine their own conduct, hence reward
are for our
and punishment are
just.
Like Saadia and Bahya before him, Ibn Zaddik makes use of the distinction (or rather takes
it
for granted)
between rational and
tradi-
commandments; pointing out that the latter also have a cause and explanation in the mind of God even though we may not know it. In some cases we can see the explanation ourselves. Take for instance tional
the observance of the Sabbath.
Its rational signification is two-fold.
It teaches us that the world was created, and hence has a Creator
whom we
worship.
the future world.
And
in the second place the
As one has nothing
unless he has prepared food the
day
to eat
Sabbath symbolizes
on the Sabbath day
before, so the
enjoyment
of the
future world depends upon spiritual preparation in this world.
In his conduct a
man must
and mercy and kindness.
imitate God's actions
Without the knowledge
of
by domg good God a person's
good deeds are of no account and no better than the work of idolaters. In fact it is not possible to do good deeds without a knowledge of God, for he
is
the source of
all
good, and there
is
no true good without him.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
148
When a fool is
seen with good qualities such as mercy and benevolence,
they are due to the weakness of his animal Similarly
nature. of the
weakness of his appetitive
Thus we
see that
soul, the spirited part of his
from pleasures,
this fool abstains
if
because
it is
soul.
knowledge comes
first
in importance; for knowl-
edge leads to practice, and practice brings reward in the world to
As the purpose of man's creation is that he may enjoy the wisdom or knowledge is the first requisite to this great end.
come.
future hfe,
The
four principal quahties constituting goodness or virtue are
knowledge
(i)
hope;
of
God's attributes;
(4) humility.
All other
righteousness or justice; (3)
(2)
good
qualities are derived
Jeremiah names some of them when he says
who
exercise kindness, justice
filled his
The
from
am
these.
the Lord
and righteousness on the earth;
for in
Similarly Zephaniah
(2, 3)
these things I dehght, saith the Lord,"
bids us, "Seek ye the Lord,
"I
(9, 23),
all
ye meek of the earth,
who have
ful-
ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness."
wisdom
four qualities of
or knowledge, righteousness, hope
and
humihty are without doubt modified descendants of the four Platonic virtues,
wisdom, courage, temperance and
in their original ical origin in
form and in
Pseudo-Bahya
Reward and punishment
(c/.
above
fact of the prosperity of the wicked
punishment
this
we saw
if it
In
before (p. 136).
disease.
still
find
and psycholog-
in).
this
and the
that pleasure in this world
is
which we
Ibn Zaddik thinks, are
way he
accounts for the
sufferings of the righteous.
world cannot be the place of
a temporary respite from as
p.
of the real kind,
not in this world but in the next.
Another proof that
justice,
their Platonic derivation
is
final
reward and
not a real good, but only
Pain and pleasure are correlative,
In fact pleasure
is
not a good at
all;
for
were, then the greater the pleasure, the greater the good, which
is
not true.
at
all.
The
evil
Reward
a corporeal pleasure
in the next world is not
which happens to the righteous in
this
world
is
often a
natural occurrence without reference to reward and punishment, and
may
be compared to the natural pleasures which
sense of sight and the other senses,
reward and punishment. the good
man
Sometimes, too, this
to forgive his sins.
men
derive from the
and which have nothing
to
do with
evil is inflicted
upon
Real reward and punishment are
JOSEPH IBN ZADDIK in the future
punishment
life,
is
and as that hfe
the reward as well as the
is spiritual,
timeless.
that animals and
The Mutakallimun think
rewarded in the next world for
which are
149
inflicted
Basir's Mansuri.
upon them
But
ill
little
children are also
treatment, suffering and death
So we find in Joseph
in this world.
this is absurd.
If the killing of
animals
is
al
a
God would not have commanded us to do it, any more than he ordered us to kill human beings in order that he may reward them Moreover, we should then deserve punishment for kUUng later. wrong,
animals
that
if
is
God commanded Besides,
if
wrong, and there would follow the absurdity that
we deserve punishment.
us to do that for which
the animals deserve reward
and punishment, they should
have been given commandments and laws
like ourselves.
If
this
was not done because animals are not rational, reward and punishment are equally out of place for the same reason.
When
the soul leaves the
body
in the pursuit of knowledge, she in the upper world.
This
is
Hght emanating from God
But
soul.
if
will
if
she exercised her reason
continue her existence forever
her happiness, her reward and her para-
namely, to cleave to her
dise,
in death,
own
world, and to shine with the true
This
directly.
is
the end of the
human
she did not exercise her reason and did not pursue right
conduct, she will not be able to return to the spiritual world, for she will
have
lost
her
own
desiring this world
spirituality.
and
its
She
pleasures.
will
Her
forever with the sphere in the world of
return to her world.
When the
Thus
who
never die again.
wicked
and homeless.
died for the sanctification of the name,
and
will
be no eating and drinking, but they
will
the martyrs, will be brought back to
live like
without being able to
she will be forever in pain,
Messiah comes, the pious men of our nation, the Prophets,
the Patriarchs and those i. e.,
fire,
be similar to the body, fate will be to revolve
There
will
life
in the body,
Moses on the mountain basking in the divine light. The be joined to their bodies and burned with fire.^^^
will also
CHAPTER X JUDAH HALEVI In Judah Halevi the poet got the better of the that
Not
rationalist.
Judah Halevi was not famihar with philosophical thinking and
did not absorb the current philosophical terminology as well as the
knowledge
He shows
Quite the contrary.
ideas contained therein.
While he attacks
versed in Neo-Platonism.
a better
than his predecessors, and
of Aristotelian ideas
all
is
well
those views of philoso-
phers which are inconsistent to his mind with the religion of Judaism,
he speaks in other respects the philosophic language, and even makes concessions to the philosophers.
he
If the
demand
reason should really
it,
us, one might adopt the doctrine of the eternity of matter
tells
without doing any harm to the essence of Judaism. ^^^
As
for the
claims of reason to rule our beUefs, he similarly admits that that
which in
is
proved in the same absolute manner as the propositions
really
mathematics and
need cause one no
logic
difficulty as there is
all
this opinion
nothing in the Bible which
opposes the unequivocal demands of the reason. ^^^ ently oppose
But
cannot be controverted.
He
cannot consist-
philosophy and science, for he maintains that the
sciences were originally in the hands of the Jews,
and that
it
was
from them that the Chaldeans borrowed them and handed them over to the Persians, who in turn transferred them to Greece and
Rome,
their origin being forgotten. ^^*^
At the same time he insists means for the solution
that philosophy and reason are not adequate of all problems,
and that the actual
of the Aristotelians of his strative value.
Then
day are
in
solutions as found in the writings
many
cases devoid of
aU demon-
there are certain matters in theory as well as
which do not at all come within the domain of reason, and the philosophers are bound to be wrong because they apply the in practice
wrong method.
Revelation alone can
aspects of God's nature
and
and as
in these philosophy
must
make
us wise as to certain
to certain details in fail
150
human
because as philosophy
conduct; it
has no
JUDAH EALEVl With
revelation.
151
due respect therefore to the philosophers, who
all
are the most reliable guides in matters not conflicting with revelation,
we must
leave
them
if
we wish
to learn the truth concerning those
matters in which they are incompetent to judge.
This characterization of Judah Halevi's attitude
But before proceeding
quate.
greater concreteness,
we know
it
brief
is
and inade-
with more detail and
be well to sketch very briefly the httle
it will
of his life.^^^
bom
Judah Halevi was This
century.
Toledo in the
last quarter of the eleventh
the emperor Alphonso VI, king of Leon, Castile,
At
and Navarre.
in culture
in
about the time when the city was taken from the
is
Mohammedans by Galicia
to elaborate
and language
same time Toledo remained Arabic
the
for a long while after this,
and even exerted
The Jews were by Mohammedan emir and Christian
a great influence upon the civiHzation of Christendom. equally well treated in Toledo
The youth
king.
of Halevi
by Jewish persecutions. centre,
made
It
where he studied the Talmud with the famous
no manner like
inferior to Gabirol.
many
others of his
government
strict religionists,
to the study of
day by practicing the its
the Almoravid dynasty.
of
Mohammedan
faith were not in favor,
religion
and law; and
were
scientific learning
and the Jews who, unlike the
Christians,
to take their part,
and comparative freedom with
their
had
to
buy
hard earned wealth.
He was
admitted in
but his personal good fortune could not reconcile him
to the sufferings of his brethren, his dissatisfaction. religious;
rulers
men devoted of another
Here Halevi spent some time as a physician.
and
The
Men
in their domains.
had no powerful emperor anywhere
circles,
art of medicine.
decline through the
imphcit followers of the "fukaha," the
and philosophy were proscribed
their Hves
of the first order in
His living he made not from his verses,
Later in Ufe he visited Cordova, already in illiberal
and
and Baruh
A poet by nature, he began to write Hebrew
became famous as a poet
verses early, and soon
court
Alfasi,
friends with Joseph ibn Migash, Ahasi's successor,
Albalia, the philosopher.
but
was therefore not embittered or saddened seems that he was sent to Lucena, a Jewish
He
and
his letters give expression to
wrote a variety of poems on subjects secular
but what made him famous above
nationahsm, and those of his poems
will
all else
was
his strong
hve longest which give ex-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
152
pression to his intense love for his people and the land which was once
That
own.
their
proved late in
life
it
was not mere sentiment with Judah Halevi he
when he decided
to leave his
birthplace and go to Palestine to end his
was
It
after 1140 that
he
left
life
many
on the
and
friends
soil of his
ancestors.
Unfavorable winds
Spain for the East.
From
drove him out of course to Egypt, and he landed at Alexandria.
went
there he
Everywhere he was received with great honor,
We
keep him from his pious resolve.
we
trace of
him
to
find
his
fame preceding
Tyre and Damascus, but beyond the
is lost.
We
friends.
But no dissuasion could him later in Damietta; last city all
know not whether he reached Jerusalem or
Legend picks up the thread where history drops
not.
of
him
follow
and
to Cairo at the invitation of his admirers
him, and he was urged to remain in Egypt.
his
Judah Halevi meeting
his
it,
and
tells
death at the gates of the holy city as
An Arab horseman, him through with his spear. Halevi's life and character, brief and inadequate
with tears he was singing his famous ode to Zion. the story goes, pierced
This sketch of as
it is, will
prepare us to understand better his attitude to philosophy
His was not a
and
to Judaism.
not
satisfied until the
Reason
is
good enough
critical intellect
matter in dispute in
nature exhausts their significance. of
It
These cannot be known adequately
God.
They
is
method
God and known and understood
not enough.
are living entities to be acquainted
Hence quite a
with, to be devoted to, to love.
proach
of their
not so with the truths of
the Jewish religion are not simply facts to be
laws of science.
is
logical form.
and the knowledge
is
by the reason alone, and mere knowledge like the
whose curiosity
proved in
mathematics and physics where the objects
of our investigation are accessible to us
Judaism and the nature
is
different
way
of ap-
And
not everyone has access to this way.
The
of acquaintance is
open only to those who by birth and
tradi-
is
necessary.
who had a personal knowlPalestine where God revealed him-
tion belong to the family of the prophets,
edge of God, and to the land of self.
^^^
We
see here the nationalist speaking, the lover of his people
their land
and language and
institutions.
and of
David Kaufmann has
shown that Judah Halevi's anti-philosophical attitude has much in common with that of the great Arab writer Al Gazali, from whom
JUDAH HALEVI there
no doubt that he borrowed
is
a philosopher, then
153
his inspiration. ^^^
Gazali began as
method
lost confidence in the logical
of proof,
pointed to the contradictions of the philosophers, to their disagree-
ments among themselves, and went over to the
and mystics
Mohammedan
of the
there
no doubt that skepticism
is
of re-
Kaufmann has shown, and
semblances between Gazali and Halevi as
human
Sufis, the pietists
There are a number
faith.
in respect of the
powers of the
reason on the one hand, and a deep religious sense on the other
are responsible for the point of view of Gazali as well as Halevi. there
is this
But
additional motive in Halevi that he was defending a per-
secuted race and a despised faith against not merely the philosophers
but against the more powerful and more fortunate professors of other
He
religions.
is
the loyal son of his race and his religion, and he will
show that they are above
all criticism,
Maimonides,
truest there are,
Judaism against the attacks the
Jew
him.
in
It
him who had
It
is still
it
necessary to defend
But
of philosophy.
in his case it
method was one
internal
who must be made
of reconciliation
truer to say that with
much
as to the other.
cile their differences, to
who
agauist the attacks of foreign foes.
He
will
have to say
in
and professors
it
was
He was
attached
his privilege to recon-
fights for his hearth
He
maintain his own.
Thus Halevi begins I
And
Judah
the great gain, as he thought, of both,
Halevi takes the stand of one
adversary.
and harmoniza-
Maimonides both Judaism and
philosophy were his friends, neither was an enemy. to one quite as
his
was
to be defended against the philosopher in
was no external enemy but an
harmless, and the tion.
that they are the best and the
found
too,
will
and home
not yield an inch to the
The enemy cannot approach.
famous work "Kusari": "
I
was asked what
answer to the arguments of philosophers, unbeUevers
of other religions against our
own."
Instead of working
out his ideas systematically, he wanted to give his subject dramatic
by
interest
clothing
it
in dialogue form.
And he was
fortunate in
finding a historical event which suited his purpose admirably.
Some
three or four centuries before his time, the king of the Chazars,
a people of Turkish origin living courtiers
and many
in the Caucasus, together
of his subjects
embraced Judaism.
with his
Hasdai ibn
Shaprut, the Jewish minister and patron of learning of Cordova, in the tenth century corresponded with the then king of the Chazars,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
154
and received an account
of the circumstances of the conversion.
was that the king wishing
brief it
to
know which was
In
the true reUgion
invited representatives of the three dominant creeds, Judaism, Chris-
and Mohammedanism, and questioned them concerning the
tianity
Seeing that the Christian as well as
tenets of their respective faiths.
Mohammedan
the
appealed in their arguments to the truth of the
Hebrew
Bible, the king concluded that
Judaism must be the true
religion,
which he accordingly adopted.
This story gave Halevi the
background and framework for
own
his composition.
He works
out his
Rabbi and the
ideas in the form of a dialogue between the Jewish
king of the Chazars, in which the former explains to the king the
and answers the
essentials of the Jewish religion,
and
criticisms, taking occasion to discuss
and
philosophical
and
scientific, all
religious,
tending to show the truth of Judaism
superiority to other religions, to philosophy,
its
king's questions
a variety of topics,
Kalam, and also
to Karaism.
The
story
Halevi
is,
tells us, in
"Your
to him, tice."
the introduction to his book, that
had repeated dreams
the king of the Chazars
in
which an angel said
intentions are acceptable to God, but not your prac-
His endeavors to be faithful to his
religion,
and
to take part in
the services and perform the sacrifices in the temple in person only led
He
to the repetition of the dream.
about his
and the
belief,
favor nor hatred, for he intention argue defect
But God
satisfies.
is
therefore consulted a philosopher
latter said to him,
is
above
all desire
and want, which the free
from want.
"In God
there
and purpose.
is
neither
Purpose and
fulfilment of the intention
Hence there
is
no purpose or
intention in his nature. '
God
does not
know
the particular or individual, for the individual
constantly changes, whereas God's knowledge never changes.
God
does not
know
not hear his prayer.
the individual
When
man
Hence
and, needless to say, he does
the philosophers say
God
created man,
God is made man with purpose and
they use the word created metaphorically, in the sense that the cause of
all
causes, but not that he
intention.
The world and abihty
is
eternal,
of a person
and so
is
the existence of man.
The
character
depend upon the causes antecedent to him.
If these are of the right sort,
we have a person who has
the potentiali-
JUDAH HALEFI To
a philosopher.
ties of
by
study,
and
realize
155
them he must develop
his character through
moral
his intellect
Then he
discipline.
will
receive the influence of the 'Active Intellect,' with which he becomes identified so that his limbs
wholly
and
faculties
"This union with the active Intellect
he becomes
and are
sciences in order to
one does
know
This
is
the meaning of the
thing
is
to study the
the truth, and to practice the ethical virtues.
matters not what religion he professes, or whether
this, it
he professes any
man; and
the highest goal of
is
The important
expression 'favor of God.'
He
religion at all.
to discipline himself in humility,
can make his
and
own
religion in order
to govern his relations to society
and country.
Or he can choose one
Purity of heart
is
Then
is right,
one of the angels, and joins the ranks of Hermes,
like
^sculapius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.
If
do only what
in the service of the active Intellect.
the important thing,
of the philosophical religions.
and knowledge
of the sciences.
the desired result will come, namely, union with the active
intellect,
which
dreams and
may also result
in the
power of prophecy through true
visions."
The king was not
satisfied
with the statement of the philosopher,
which seemed to him inadequate because he
felt
that he himself
had
the necessary purity of heart, and yet he was told that his practice
was not tianity
something
satisfactory, proving that there is
such apart from intention.
and Islam, who
religious practice,
kill
and not
of the philosophers
were
The king then
one another,
is
is
Moreover,
those
who
did.
ask the Christians and the Mohammedans.
I need not inquire of the Jews, for their low condition
who
explained to
other things.
descent of
all
in all that
is
Scriptures,
was given
him the
We beheve in
the view
be prophecy among them,
is sufficient
So he sent for a Christian
proof that the truth cannot be with them. sage,
if
in
found among those who did not study
among
said, I will
due to the difference
in purity of heart.
true, there should
whereas in reality prophecy the sciences rather than
in practice as
Besides, the great conflict between Chris-
essentials of his belief, saying
among
the creation of the world in six days, in the
men from Adam,
in revelation
and Providence,
found in the law of Moses and in the other
in short,
Israelitish
which cannot be doubted because of the publicity which to the events recorded therein.
He
also quoted the
words
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
156
come
of the gospel, I did not of Israel
and
Moses
of
any
to destroy
their teacher; I
came
commandments
of the
to confirm them.
The king was not convinced by the Christian belief, and called a Mohammedan doctor, who in describing the specific tenets of Mohammedanism also mentioned the fact that in the Koran are quoted the Pentateuch and
Moses and the other
and the wonderful
leaders,
These, he said, cannot be denied; for they are well
things they did.
known. Seeing that both Christian and of
Moses as
true,
determined to
call
Mohammedan
referred to the law
and as evidence that God spoke to man, the king also, and hear what he had to say.
a Jewish sage
The Jewish "Haber, " as Judah Halevi calls him, began his discourse by saying, We Jews believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who took the children of Israel out of Egypt, supported them in the wilderness, gave them the land of Canaan, and so on. The king was disappointed and said, I had determined not to consult the
Jews
in this
matter at
the world did not leave said,
all,
because their abject condition in
them any good
and governs
it;
You
quality.
he told the Jew, that you believe in him
who
should have
created the world
who made man and provides for him. Every religionist
defends his belief in this way.
The Jew
replied,
established
The
religion to
which you
refer is
a rational
religion,
by speculation and argument, which are full of doubt, is no agreement among philosophers, because
and about which there not
all
the arguments are
vahd or even
This pleased the
plausible.
king, and he expressed a wish to continue the discourse.
The Rabbi
by
reference to
then said. The proper that which
is
more
this actual experience.
to
way
to define one's religion
The God
Moses and delivered the
God gave Israel who accept the Law
of
Jews have Abraham, Isaac and Jacob spoke
Israelites
known.
the Torah.
Israel
will
to Israel.
There
is
is
certain, namely, actual experience.
out of Egypt.
To
be
This
sure, all others
is
well
not of
be rewarded, but they caimot be equal
a peculiar relation between
God and
Israel in
As the plant is distinguished plant, and man from the irthe animal from mineral, the from the which the other peoples do not share.
rational animal, so
other men.
He
is
the prophetic individual distinguished above
constitutes a higher species.
It
is
through him that
JUDAH HA LEVI
157
the masses became aware of God's existence and care for them.
was he who
them things unknown
It
who gave them an account of the world's creation and its history. We count now fortyThis was handed down from five hundred years from the creation. Adam through Seth and Enos to Noah, to Shem and Eber, to Abratold
ham, Isaac and Jacob,
to Moses,
four hundred years after
and
Abraham
Moses came only
finally to us.
world which was
in a
edge of heavenly and earthly things.
have given them a
to them;
It
is
full of
knowl-
impossible that he should
account of the division of languages and
false
the relations of nations without being found out and exposed.
The
philosophers,
it is
true,
oppose us by maintaining that the world
But the philosophers are Greeks, descended from Japheth, who did not inherit either wisdom or Torah. Divine wisdom is found is
eternal.
The Greeks had philosophy among them only during the short time of their power. They borrowed it from the Persians, who had it in turn from the Chaldeans. But neither before nor after did they have any philosophers among them. only in the family of Shem.
having any inherited tradition concerning the origin
Aristotle, not
of the world, endeavored to reason
it all
out of his
was
just as hard to believe in as creation.
and
reliable tradition, his
him
to be the stronger.
liable traditions
arguments
Had
on the other
in favor of creation,
which
is
own head.
Eternity
But as he had no
in favor of eternity
seemed to
he lived among a people who had
more plausible than
eternity.
Adam
side are as
good as those on the
Noah and Moses, which
to
very
is
is
But
The arguments
difficult.
And
other.
Real
nothing in the
is
Bible which opposes what the reason unequivocally demands.
the matter of eternity or creation
re-
he would have found arguments
side,
demonstration cannot be controverted; and there
on one
true
tradition
from
better than argument, lends
additional weight to the doctrine of creation.
Torah were obliged to hold that there
is
its
If the believer in the
a primitive eternal matter
from which the world was made, and that there were many worlds before this one, there would be no great harm, as long as he believes
that this world
We
see
now
of course his
on such
is
of recent origin
and
Adam was
the
first
the standpoint of Judah Halevi, for the
spokesman.
difficult
matters as
man.^^*
"Haber"
is
Philosophy and independent reasoning
God and
creation are after
all
more
or
»
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
IS8
those
made the bases of religion except for The Jews fortunately have a surer They have a genuine and indisputable
work, and cannot be
less guess
who have
foundation
nothing better.
own.
their
all
History
tradition.
not speculation, which
subjective,
is
True history and tradition
Jews goes back ultimately to
from the very source a higher
man
is
species, as
of all truth.
much
edge direct from God.
hand knowledge
first
The prophets
of Israel constitute
man as
superior to the ordinary
to the lower animal,
of truth;
and can be employed with equal
plausibihty in favor of opposite doctrines. in the case of the
and the source
the only true science
is
and these prophets received
the ordinary their
knowl-
In principle Judah Halevi agrees with the
other Jewish philosophers that true reason cannot be controverted.
He
differs
principle.
with them in the concrete application of this abstract
He
has not the same respect as Maimonides for the actual
achievements of the unaided
human
reason,
respect for the traditional beliefs of Judaism
and an
infinitely greater
and the
Biblical expres-
Hence he does not
sions taken in their obvious meaning.
the
feel
same neccessity as Maimonides to twist the meaning of passages to make them agree with philosophical theories.
Scriptural
According to this view Judah Halevi does not find
necessary
it
with the philosophers and the Mutakallimun painfully to prove the
The
existence of God.
existence of the Jewish people
of their wonderful history are
any that
logic or
metaphysics can muster.
philosophical view of is
God
is
and the
facts
more eloquent demonstrations than
But more than
The
this.
inadequate in more ways than one.
inaccurate in content and incorrect in motive.
In the
first
It
place,
they lay a great deal of stress on nature as the principle by which objects move.
they say this
If is
a stone naturally moves to the centre of the world,
due to a cause called nature.
attribute intelligence sociate of It
is
God.
This
and creative power is
by virtue
ception of higher forms.
Nature.
mere
of
to
entity as an as-
God alone. stars exert
The
and
cold,
which these
And
there
But we must regard
effects of
new
is
and the sun and moon, and the
certain influences, producing heat
things material,
to this
the tendency
real Intelligence is
misleading.
true that the elements,
And
is
and various other
latter are
no harm
effects in
prepared for the re-
in caUing these agencies
these as devoid of intelligence,
God's wisdom and purpose. ^^^
and as
JUDAH HALEVI The philosopher
We
This reduces
Jews believe God has
I ask the philosopher tinually,
God on the ground that this would God to an impersonal force. The word we use does not matter.
denies will in
argue defect and want.
159
what
will.
that
is it
makes the heavens revolve con-
and the outer sphere carry everything
the earth standing immovable in the centre?
in uniform motion,
Call
it
what you
please,
to produce the sounds of the ten
made the air shape itself commandments which were heard,
and that caused the characters
form on the Tables
will or
command;
it is
the same thing that
to
of Stone.
^^®
The motive of the philosopher is also different from that of the beThe philosopher seeks knowledge only. He desires to know God as he desires to know the exact position and form of the earth. Ignorance in respect to God is no more harmful in his mind than liever.
His main object
ignorance respecting a fact in nature. true knowledge in order to
become
like
to
is
have
unto the Active Intellect and
it. As long as he is a philosopher it makes no him what he believes in other respects and whether he
to be identified with difference to
observes the practices of religion or not.^^^
The
true belief in
God
is
and
spiritual insight.
and unbelievers in
two
What God
is
by prophetic
Rational proofs are misleading, and the heretics
also use rational proofs
and
philosophers,
fire.
The most
—those
for
example who believe
eternal.
It
subtle proofs are those used
and they maintain that God
and pays no attention and
of rational proofs, but
original causes, in the eternity of the world, or in the divinity
of the sun
is
and aim.
different in scope
must be understood not by means
is
to our prayers
different with us,
prohibitions,
and
felt his
and
is
by the
not concerned about
sacrifices; that the
who heard
his words, his
reward and his punishment.
us,
world
commands
We
have
a proper name
of
he made to
and we have a conviction that he created the world.
us,
God, Jhvh, representative of the communications
was Adam, who knew God through actual communication and the creation of Eve from one of his ribs. Cain and Abel came
The
first
Noah and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and so on to Moses and the Prophets, who came after him. All these called him Jhvh by reason of their insight. The people who received the teaching
next, then
of the Prophets, in
whom
they beheved, also called him Jhvh, because
he was in communication with men; and the select among them saw
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
i6o
him through an intermediate agency, called variously, Form, Image, Cloud, Fire, Kingdom, Shekinah, Glory, Rainbow, and so on, proving that he spoke to them.^^^
As the
sun's light penetrates different objects in varying degrees,
for example,
ruby and crystal receive the sun's
light in the highest
degree clear air and water come next, then bright stones and polished ;
surfaces,
and
last of all
minds varying
Some
like wood and earth, which we may conceive of different
opaque substances
the hght does not penetrate at in the degree to
all;
so
which they attain a knowledge
knowledge of Jhvh, which
of the sun's light in
crystal.
man
denies; whereas
because prophecy
is
at-
be compared to the reception
These are the prophets
The conception involved
land of Israel. intelligent
ruby and
may
God.
"Elohim," while others
arrive only as far as the knowledge of
tain to a
of
in the
many deny
in the
name "Elohim" no
the conception of Jhvh,
an unusual occurrence even among individuals,
not to speak of a nation. That is why Pharaoh said (Exod. 5, 2), "I know not Jhvh." He knew "Elohim," but not Jhvh, that is a God who reveals himself to man. "Elohim" may be arrived at by reasoning; for the reason tells us that the
various classes of
men
world has a ruler; though the
differ as to details, the
being that of the philosophers.
be arrived at by reason.
most plausible view
But the conception
of
Jhvh cannot by which
It requires that prophetic vision
member of a new species, akin to angels. Then the doubts he formerly had about " Elohim " fall away, and he laughs at the arguments which led him to the conception of God and of unity. Now he becomes a devotee, who loves the object of his devotion, and is ready to give his life in his love for him, because of the great happiness he feels in being near to him, and the misery of being
a person almost becomes a
away from him. worship of all
God
This
is
different
from the philosopher, who
only good ethics and truth, because he
other existing things; and in unbelief nothing
choosing the untrue.
Here there
is
is
sees in the
greater than
more than the fault
of
^^^
clearly a touch of religious poetry
which reveals to us Halevi's in understanding his lack of
and mysticism,
and we have no dif&culty sympathy with what seemed to him the real attitude,
shallow rationalism of the contemporaneous Aristotelian,
who
fan-
cied in his conceit that with a few logical formulae he could penetrate
JUDAH HA LEVI the mysteries of the divine,
when
l6l
in reality he
was barely enabled
skim the surface; into the sanctuary he could never
Though, as we have just
seen, Halevi has a conception of
personal being, acting with purpose and will and, as
more
he
still
is
God
shall see
and the
very far from thinking of him anthropo-
none in removing from God any positive quality
him
as a
In his discussion of the divine attributes he yields to
morphically.
to
we
God
clearly later, standing in close personal relation to Israel
land of Palestine,
to
enter.
The
in the Bible.
various
in Scripture, except the
names
of those ascribed
or appellatives applied to
tetragrammaton, he divides, according
their signification, into three classes, actional, relative, negative.
to
Such expressions as "making high," "making low," " making poor," almighty, strong, jealous, revengeful, gracious, merciful, and so on,
do not denote, he says, feeling or emotion
him because
to
on the analogy
own
of our
remove the misery all
God.
in
of a
acts.
As a human being
fellowman because he
instances of divine removal of misery from
feehng in God, and
God
speech.
They
of his visible acts or effects in the world,
call
him
merciful.
But
are ascribed
which we judge is
prompted
feels pity,
mankind
this is only
we
to him.
We
meaning that
call therefore the attribute merciful it is
ascribe
to a similar
a figure of
does remove misery, but the feeling of pity
actional,
to
is
and others
foreign like it
God's acts which suggest to us these ap-
pellations.
Another
class of attributes
found in the Bible embraces such ex-
pressions as blessed, exalted, holy, praised, called relative, because they are derived
God.
God
is
blessed because
men
and
so on.
These are
from the attitude of
bless him,
man
and so with the
to
rest.
They do not denote any essential quality in God. And hence their number does not necessitate plurality in God. Finally we have such terms as
living, one, first, last,
and
God's positive essence, for in reality living or dead.
so on.
so in order to exclude its negative, dead.
Living means not dead;
means not having any cause antecedent to means never ceasing to be. Hence we call these attributes
one means not many; last
said to be either
we understand it denotes sensation and motion, God. If we do apply to God the term living, we do
Life as
which are not in
him;
These too do not denote
God cannot be
negative. ^^^
first
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
l62
We
see that
Zaddik
Judah Halevi
difference in the
This
at one with
is
Bahya and Joseph ibn The sHght
in his understanding of the divine attributes.
God
mode
of classification is not essential.
chose Israel and gave them the ten
order to convince them that the
religion
is
is
commandments in God and not
originated from
For they might have had a doubt
from Moses. that speech
Law
in their minds, seeing
a material thing, and believe that the origin of a law or
in the
mind
of a
be believed in as divine. to purify themselves
human
For
being, which afterwards
comes to
God commanded the people the third day, when they all
this reason
and be ready
for
heard the word of God, and were convinced that prophecy
what the philosophers say
it
is
—a
is
not
natural result of man's reason
identifying itself with the Active Intellect through the help of the
imagination, which presents true visions in a
dream
—but a
real
com-
Not only did they hear the word of God, but they saw the writing of God on the Tables of Stone. This does not mean that we believe in the corporeality of God; Heaven forbid, we do not even think of the soul of man as corporeal. But we cannot deny the things recorded, which are well known. Just as God created heaven and earth, not by means of material tools as a man does, but by his will, so he might have willed that the air munication from God.
should convey articulate sounds to the ear of Moses, and that letters should be formed on the Tables of Stone to convey to the people the ideas which he in a
still
This
wanted them to know.
more wonderful way than
may seem
like
I
They might have happened
have been able to conceive.
an unwarranted magnifying
of the virtues of
But in reality it is true that the chain of individuals from Adam to Moses and thereafter was a remarkable one of godly men. Adam was surely a godlike man since he was made by the hand of God and was not dependent on the inherited constitution of his parour people.
ents,
and on the food and climate he enjoyed
He was made is
in the years of his growth.
perfect as in the time of mature youth
at his best, and
when a person
was endowed with the best possible soul for man.
Abel was his successor in excellence, also a godly man, and so down the line through Seth and Noah, and so on.
were unworthy and they were excluded. in every generation
who
But
There were many who there
was always one
inherited the distinguished qualities of the
JUDAH HALEFI Adam
And even when,
line.
was unworthy
in himself,
birth to a worthy son,
Among Noah's
sons,
163
as in the case of Terah, the individual
he was important as being destined to give
who would carry on the tradition, like Abraham. Shem was the select one, and he occupied the
temperate regions of Palestine, whereas Japheth went north and
went south
—regions
Ham
not so favorable to the development of wis-
dom. ^^^
The laws were that there
no doubt about any
all their details
it
daism.
This
out for
itself.
is
not a matter which philosophical reasoning can think
As
in the natural generation of plant
complexity of elements and conditions of the balance in the
wrong
is
direction produces disease
left to speculation.
Moses addressed himself have been better to
call all
to his
You
say It
people only.
better also perhaps that all animals should be rational.
forgotten
who
what
I said
about the
or not,
select
it
would
would be
You have
few that worthily succeeded
as the heart of the family to the exclusion of the other members,
are as the peel, until in the sons of Jacob
and from them qualities
Israel
is
all
twelve were worthy,
These remarkable men had divine
descended.
which made them a different species from ordinary men. They
were aiming at the degree it
it
all
All were given to Moses.
to the true religion.
own
mankind
and death, so
and the laws are
we understand
absolutely essential to the whole, whether
and none could be
and animal the
so great that a slight tilting
in the spiritual creation of Israel the ceremonies
Adam
so
This was absolutely neces-
of them.
had there been any detail left out, a doubt might arise rewhich would destroy the whole spiritual structure of Ju-
sary, for
specting
is
given directly to Moses with
all
by reason
of the prophet,
of their purity, holiness
and many
and proximity
of
them reached
to the Prophets.
For a prophet has a great influence on the one who associates with him.
He
converts the latter
by awakening
desire to attain that high degree
reward in the world to come, when the soul
and enjoys the heavenly reward due him for
who by
his
light.
in
him
which brings
We
is
spirituality
and a
visible greatness
and
separated from the senses
do not exclude anyone from the
good works, but we give preference to those
and we measure their reward in the next world Our religion consists not merely in saying certain
are near to God,
this standard.
words, but in
difiicult practices
and a hne
of
conduct which bring us
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
l64 near to God,
Outsiders too
may attain
to the grade of wise
and pious
men, but they cannot become equal to us and be prophets. ^^^
Not only as a
gift,
Israel a select nation to
is
but Palestine
munion with God, as a things
and
alone prophecy
this land.
be best for planting certain
a particular character and tem-
it
did
is
the second
love their fatherland
Temple did not
and did not
It is
hand
among
return
all
the nations.
more hable it
when
the decree of Cyrus
The
heart
becomes aware sooner
the nations.
is
more
sensitive
It feels both
to disease than the other organs,
Their responsibility
and they are sooner punished.
is
more
and on
dangerous to
of agencies
health and endeavors to reject them or ward them
nations
last
so.^^^
than the rest of the body in disease as in health. intensely.
to be a guide
because the Babylonian exiles did not sufficiently
permitted them to do Israel is the heart
was intended
Palestine
The reason
whole world.
longer than
among
given
who prophesied outside of Palestine did so with Palestine. Abraham was not worthy of the divine cove-
nant until he was in
the other
is
All those
reference to
for the
may
certain spot
for producing people of
perament.
whom
the most suitable place in the world for com-
is
So Israel
off.
its is
greater than that of other
"Only you have
I loved out
Amos (3, 2), " therefore will I On the other hand, God does not
of all the families of the earth," says visit
upon you
all
your
iniquities."
allow our sins to accumulate as he does with the other nations until
they deserve destruction.
"He
by causing them to pass away by the other organs, so Israel
in
pardons the iniquities of his people
As
due order."
suffers
the heart
is
affected
on account of their assimilation
to the other nations. Israel suffers while the other nations are in peace.
As the elements are
for the sake of the minerals, the minerals for the
sake of the plants, the plants for the sake of the animals, the animals for the sake of
man, so
is
man
Israel the
world
will
and Israel for the With the purification of
for the sake of Israel,
sake of the Prophets and the pious men.
be improved and brought nearer to God.^^^
Associated with Israel and Palestine as a third privilege and distinction
is
God spoke
the to
Hebrew language. This is the original language which Adam. The etymologies of Biblical names prove it.
It v/as richer formerly, of time
like the
and has become impoverished
people using
it.
Nevertheless
it still
in the course
shows evidence
JUDAH HALEVI of superiority to other languages in
the proper expression in reading,
system of accents which shows
its
and
165
wonderful system of vowel
in its
changes producing euphony in expression and variation in meaning. ^^^
The
highest type of
man, we have
seen,
sake Israel and the whole of humanity
is
the Prophet, for whose
He
exists.
is
the highest type
because he alone has an immediate knowledge of Jhvh as distinguished
from "Elohim," the concept
and power, which
of universal cause
Jhvh signifies, as we have seen, the personal God who performs miracles and reveals himself to manthe philosopher also
is
able to attain.
We
kind through the prophet.
know
wish to
how Judah
therefore
Halevi conceives of the essence and process of prophetic inspiration.
We
are already aware that he
is
opposed to the philosophers who
gard the power of prophecy as a natural gift possessed
To
pure intellect and perfect power of imagination. lians, as
we
intellect is
so term
have occasion to see more clearly
shall
of the
one universal
intellect,
which
business
is
Intellect
sublunar world in essence.
In fact
upon the things
reflection of it in the alive,
somewhat
rates,
and the
human
man
tellect is
some
it
soul
is
as a drop of water
through
its
is
less in
may
hold the
the cause of
individualizations,
the Active Intellect;
and purify
The
from the ordinary
not in kind.
the Aristimeless
individualized
and
one
all
it is
real
until
moon.
it
is
evapo-
So
it is
conceptual knowledge
and into dies.
moon
it
every
Some men
human
in-
share more,
in everyone's power, within
his participation in the influence of the
Active Intellect by study and rigorous ethical discipline. differs
(in
held there so long as the person
reabsorbed when the individual
limits, to increase
content the entire
and hence has a
happenings.
its
its
its
and decay.
bestows the forms
reflection is reabsorbed in the
the Active Intellect which in
embraces as
of this world,
the world and
all
and
It is called the Active Intellect,
As pure thought the Active
knowledge of
we may
if
—not God, but an
to govern the sublunar world of generation
totelian sense)
human
the
some nine or ten degrees
intellectual substance wholly immaterial,
removed from the Godhead.
is
of
these Aristote-
later,
nothing more than an individualized reflection,
it,
re-
by the man
man and
The prophet
the philosopher in degree only,
His knowledge comes from the influence of the Active
Intellect as does the
knowledge of the philosopher.
The
difference
is
that in the prophet's case the imagination plays an important role
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
1 66
and presents concrete
and
visions instead of universal propositions,
the identification with the Active Intellect
is
much
closer.
its essentials, we shall see, ibn Daud, Maimonides and Gersonides, Abraham by was adopted naturally would not appeal to Judah Halevi. Prophecy is the prerogative of Israel and of Palestine. The philosophers have nothing to do with it. A mere philosopher has no more chance of entering the king-
This conception of prophecy, which in
dom
prophecy than a camel of passing through the eye of a needle.*
of
Have
And
the philosophers ever produced prophets?
explanation
is
abound
correct, their ranks should
yet,
in them.
if
their
Prophecy
The
a supernatural power, and the influence comes from God.
is
prophet
is
a higher species of mortal.
eye, a hidden sense,
He
but they are none the
less real, for
What all
illusion
No
one
else sees those forms,
the whole species of prophetic
by appealing is
there,
test holds of the prophetic visions.
tell
a
to the testimony of others.
appears to a single individual only
persons agree that the object
same
internal
In ordinary perception we
persons testify to their existence.
from an
endowed with an
which sees certain immaterial objects, as the
external sense sees the physical objects.
real object
is
may
be an
we conclude
illusion.
If
The them. Then
it is real.
All prophets see
the intellect of the prophet interprets the vision, as our intellect interprets the data of our senses.
The
latter give us
not the essence of
the sensible object, but the superficial accidents, such as color, shape,
and so
on.
It
is
the
work
of the reason to refer these qualities to the
essence of the object, as king, sun.
He
The same
holds true of the prophet.
sees a figure in the form of a king or a judge in the act of giving is served and Or he sees the form in the act of carrying baggage or girded work; and he infers that he is dealing with a being that is meant
orders;
and he knows that he has before him a being that
obeyed. for
What these visions really were it is not in all cases know with certainty. There is no doubt that the Prophets
for a servant.
possible to
actually
form
of
senger.
saw the hosts
of heaven, the spirits of the spheres, in the
man. The word angel
What
certainty.
means meswe cannot tell with
in the Bible (Heb. Mal'ak)
these messengers or angels were
They may have been
specially created
mentary bodies, or they belonged to the eternal *Tliis simile represents Halevi's thought.
He
from the
angels,
fine ele-
who may be
does not use this expression.
JUDAH HALEVI whom
the same as the spiritual beings of
We
may
it
Similarly
it.
"The Glory of Jhvh," may denote a fine body following
God and formed every time
the will of
iot
the philosophers speak.
can neither reject their view nor definitely accept
the expression,
or
167
it
has to appear to a prophet,
denote aU the angels and spiritual beings. Throne and Char-
and Firmament, and Ofannim and Galgalim, and other
eternal
beings constituting, so to speak, the suite of God.
Even such phrases as, "They saw the God of Israel" (Exod. 24, 10), "He saw the form of Jhvh" (Num. 12, 8), the Rabbinic expression "Maase Merkaba" (work of the divine chariot, cf. above, p. xvi), and the later discussions concerning the "Measure of the divine stature" (Shi ur Komah), must not be rejected. These visual images representative of
God
are calculated to inspire fear in the
human soul,
which the bare conception of the One, Omnipotent, and so on, cannot produce. "^
As Judah Halevi
away
is
unwilling to yield to the philosophers
and explain
the supernaturaHsm of prophecy, maintaining rather on the
contrary that the supernatural character of the prophetic vision
an evidence
of the superior nature of Israel as well as of their land
their language, so
he
insists
is
and
on the inherent value of the ceremonial
To
Bahya and The important laws of the Bible are those known as the rational commandments. The other class, the so-called traditional commandments, would also turn out to be rational if we knew the reason why they were commanded. law, including sacrifices.
Maimonides, the
And
in default of exact
of the heart,
knowledge
Bahya lays
to suggest reasons.
ments
Saadia, and especially to
test of value is rationality.
i. e.,
it is
the business of the philosopher
the greatest stress upon the
upon the purity
of
command-
motive and intention, upon
those laws which concern feeling and belief rather than outward practice.
Judah Halevi's attitude
is
If the only thing of
different.
importance in rehgion were intention and motive and moral sense,
why told
should Christianity and Islam fight to the death, shedding un-
human
blood in defence of their
and practice are concerned there monial practice of the Chazars
is
is
religion.
no
As
difference
far as ethical theory
between them.
And
the only thing that separates them.
was
told repeatedly in his
dreams that
were good but not his practice, his religious practice.
Cere-
the king
his intentions
To
be sure the
1
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
68
ethical
law
as such.
is
important in any
association
is
religion,
and
it is
it is
not peculiar to religion
Religion has
Micah says
(6,
There
is
peculiar practices,
its
not sufficient for an Israelite to observe the rational
alone.
command-
When the Prophets inveigh against sacrifices; when 8), "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and
what doth the Lord require
of thee,
but to do
justly,
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God," they
monies alone are not ite if
without which no
life,
even that of a robber band.
possible, not
honesty even among thieves.
ments
but
a necessary condition of social
It is
sufficient;
but surely a
man
mean
is
and
to love
that the cere-
not fully an Israel-
he neglects the ceremonial laws and observes only the rational
We may not understand the value of the
commandments. meaning
laws, the
understand except
why
when
in
food and drink for
a certain proportion, though the reason needs not
sacrifices
God has arranged
itself.
certain conditions shall a
matter of
itself to a body manner and the ele-
the rational soul does not attach
the parts are arranged in a certain
ments are mixed
ceremonial
But neither do we
of the institution of sacrifices.
body
God has
it so,
that only under
So in the
receive the light of reason.
ordained that only when the details of
the sacrificial and other ceremonies are minutely observed shall the
nation enjoy his presence and care. of certain observances
is
In some cases the signfficance
Thus the various and the divine
clearer than in others.
festivals are also symbolic of certain truths of history
government
of the world.
The Sabbath
leads to the belief in the
exodus from Egypt and the creation of the world; and hence inculcates belief in God.^^^
In his views of ethics Judah Halevi being opposed to
all
manner
not demand excess in any direction.
be given
its
due.
is
more human than Bahya,
of asceticism.
Our law commends
The
law, he says, does
Every power and faculty must fear, love
and joy as means
worshipping God; so that fasting on a fast day does not bring a nearer to
provided is
God than all is
not one
who
eating
and drinking and
rejoicing
done with a view to honoring God. separates himself from the world.
he loves the world and a long the world to come. or Elijah, and to be
life
A Jewish On
man
feast day,
devotee
the contrary,
because thereby he wins a share in
Still his desire is fit
on a
of
to attain the degree of
for the association of angels.
A man
Enoch
hke
this
JUDAH HA LEVI
169
more at home when alone than in company of other people; the higher beings are his company, and he misses them when
feels
for
Philosophers also enjoy sohtude in order to
people are around him. clarify their thoughts,
and they are eager
problems with them. In our days
their
tion of these rare
men.
meet
In former times when
the Holy Land, and the nation was
who
to
disciples to discuss
it is difficult
to reach the posi-
the Shekinah rested in
for prophecy, there
fit
were people
separated themselves from their neighbors and studied the law
company of men like them. These were the Sons of the Prophets. Nowadays when there is neither prophecy nor wisdom, a person who attempted to do this, though he be a pious man, would come to grief; for he would find neither prophets nor philosophers to keep him company; nor enough to keep his mind in that high state of exaltation needed for communion with God. Prayer in purity
alone
is
on the
and holiness
not
soul.
sufficient,
in the
and soon becomes a habit without any influence
He would
soon find that the natural powers and desires
of the soul begin to assert themselves
and he
will regret his separation
from mankind, thus getting farther away from God instead
of
coming
is
to give
nearer to him.
The all
right practice of the pious
the parts of the
any
of
body
their
man
at the present
day
due and no more, without neglecting
them; and to bring the lower powers and desires under the
dominion of the higher; feeding the soul with things
body with things
material.
He must
spiritual as the
keep himself constantly under
guard and control, making special use of the times of prayer for
self-
examination, and striving to retain the influence of one prayer imtil the time comes for the next.
He must
also utiHze the Sabbaths
and
the festivals and the Great Fast to keep himseK in good spiritual trim.
In addition he must observe rational,
and those
God's goodness and
all
of the heart,
the
and
commandments,
reflect
on
their
traditional,
meaning and on
care.^^^
Judah Halevi has no doubt
of the
immortahty
of the soul
and
of
reward and punishment after death, though the Bible does not dwell
upon these matters with any degree
of emphasis.
Other
religions,
he admits, make greater promises of reward after death, whereas
Judaism
offers divine nearness
through miracles and prophecy.
stead of saying. If you do thus and so,
In-
I will put you in gardens after
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
I70
death and give you pleasures, our
you
will
be
to heaven,
Law
says, I will
you, protecting you in your land, which
God and
the holy land, not like the
is
other nations, which are governed by nature.
who can
be your
my people. Some of you will stand before me and will go up walking among the angels; and my angels will walk among
boast of such things during
are
life
world than those whose sole rehance
Surely, he exclaims,
more
on promises
is
we
certain of the future of the hereafter.
It would not be correct, the Rabbi says to the king of the Chazars,
who was tempted
death by our condition during
hammedans, glory spised,
The
life,
and not
in their founders,
in the present
to judge of our destiny after
which we are
in
For these very people,
other people.
well as their religion because
to despise the Jews as and pohtical weakness,
of their material
inferior to all
like the Christians
who were
persecuted and de-
power and luxury
of the great kings.
man who
Christians in particular worship the
and Mo-
"Whosoever
said,
smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
a man
.
.
.
take
away thy
coat, let
5, 39).
Accordingly our worth
we were
prosperous.
is
But
us so long in misery.
yoke
if
greater in the sight of
God than
if
It is true that not all of us accept our miserable
condition with becoming humihty.
for bearing the
And
him have thy cloak also " (Matth.
If
we
after all there
is
did,
God would not keep
reward awaiting our people
of the exile voluntarily,
when
it
would be an easy
matter for any one of us to become a brother to our oppressors by the saying of one word.
Our wise men, too, have said a great ferings awaiting us in the next world,
wise
on
men
The
of other rehgions.
this aspect of
our
belief;
deal about the pleasures
and
Bible,
but so much
that the spirit returns to God.
it is is
true, does
clear
not lay stress
from the Bible
also,
There are also allusions to the immor-
tality of the soul in the disappearance of Elijah,
in the belief of his second coming.
Balaam, " Let
and suf-
in this also they surpass the
who
did not die, and
This appears also from the prayer of
me die the death of the righteous, and may my last end be
like his" (Num. 23, 10), and from the calling of Samuel from the dead. The idea of paradise (Gan Eden) is taken from the Torah, and Gehenna is a Hebrew word, the name of a valley near Jerusalem, where fire al-
ways burned, consuming unclean bones, carcases, and so on. There is ^^* nothing new in the later religions which is not already found in ours.
JUDAH HALE VI An
171
important ethical problem which Judah Halevi discusses more
thoroughly than any of his predecessors
that of free
is
will,
which he
defends against fatalistic determinism, and endeavors to reconcile
We
with divine causality and foreknowledge. that this
(p. xxi)
And
Kalam.
A
fatalistic
there
is
no doubt that fatalism
is
opposed to Judaism.
says not merely that an event
is
determined by
proximate cause, he goes further and maintains that long in advance of any of
its
thus predetermined.
come upon
to
us,
in its clutches.
we
If
is
no way of preventing an event
may
is
carry us toward
and
His preparations to meet and avoid
fears prove that he beheves the thing
able to pains and precautions. his
hands
Against this form of belief
one except the obstinate and perverse
denies the possible or contingent. that which he hopes
If
he had not
this belief,
amen-
he would fold
in resignation, never taking the trouble to supply himself
with arms to meet his enemy, or with water to quench his sure,
and land us
of the contingent or possible as
Judah Halevi vindicates the reaUty
No
it
full of stories illustrating this behef,
as for example the story of (Edipus.
opposed to the necessary.
its
determined
take pains to avoid a misfortune fated
our very efforts Literature
it is
secondary causes by the will of God.
would follow then that there
It
Mu' tazilite
determinist denies the category of the contingent or
He
possible.
was
have already seen
one of the important theses of the
we may argue
To be
that whether one prepare himself or omit to do so,
the preparation or neglect
is itself
the same position as that
determined.
maintamed at the
admit that secondary causes do play a part whereas we denied
thirst.
it
at
first.
The
Accordingly Judah Halevi divides
classes,
divine, natural, accidental
this is
no longer
For we now
in determining the result,
will is
causes.
But
outset.
all
one of these secondary acts or events into four
and voluntary.
Strictly divine
events are the direct results of the divine will without any intermediate cause. is,
There
is
no way
physically; but
it
is
of preparing for or avoiding these; not, that
possible to prepare oneself mentally
morally, namely, through the secrets of the
Torah
to
and
him who knows
them.
Natural events are produced by secondary causes, which bring the objects of nature to their perfection. regularly
and uniformly, provided there
These produce is
their effects
no hindrance on the part
MEDmVAL JEWISH
172
of the other three causes.
An example
PHILOSOPHY of natural events
would be the
growth of a plant or animal under favorable conditions.
Accidental
events are also produced by secondary causes, but they happen chance, not regularly and not as a
by
Their causes
result of purpose.
are not intended for the purpose of bringing perfection to their chance
These too may be hindered by any one of the other three An example of a chance event might be death in war. The
effects.
causes.
secondary cause
is
the battle, but
its
purpose was not that
person might meet his death there, and not Finally, voluntary acts are those caused
these that concern us most.
man
get to the
first
free to choose either of the
We
we
It
is
its
caused by other higher causes
form a necessary chain
two
itself in
front of a given plan
To
alternatives.
is
say that a man's
as necessary as the beating of his pulse contradicts experience.
feel that
that
is
cause, but this does not
a given volition the soul finding
is
man.
Despite the continuous chain of causes antecedent to
of causation.
speech
die in war.
will of
have already intimated that the hu-
It is true that the will itself
we
men
given
a secondary cause and has a role in determining
will is itself
effect.
until
We
all
by the
this
we
praise
his deliberate
are masters of our speech
and our
silence.
The
fact
and blame and love and hate a person according to
conduct
is
We
another proof of freedom.
a natural or accidental cause.
We
do not blame a
do not blame
child or a person
when they cause damage, because they did not do the damage If those who deny freedom are deliberately and with intention. consistent, they must either refrain from being angry with a person who injures them deliberately, or they must say that anger and praise
asleep
and blame and love and hate are delusive powers put
in our souls in
Besides there would be no difference between the pious and the
vain.
disobedient, because both are doing that which they are
bound
But If
man
necessity
there are certain strong objections to the doctrine of freedom. is
absolutely free to do or forbear,
of his conduct are is
by
to do.
removed from God's
it
follows that the effects
control.
The answer to this They are
that they are not absolutely removed from his control.
still
related to
him by a chain
Another argument against God's knowledge.
If
of causes.
free will is that
man alone is
it is
irreconcilable with
the master of his choice,
God cannot
JUDAH HALEVI
I7S
know beforehand what he will choose. And if God does know, the man cannot but choose as God foreknew he would choose, and what becomes
This
freedom?
of his
knowledge
may
be answered by saying that the
of a thing is not the cause of its being.
We
do not deter-
we know it. Knowledge is simply evidence that the thing is. So man chooses by his own determination, and yet God knows beforehand which way he is going to choose, simply because he sees into the future as we remember the past.^"" mine a past event by the
fact that
Judah Halevi's discussion of the problem of freedom is fuller than any we have met so far in our investigation. But it is not satisfactory. Apart from
his fourfold classification of events
cism, there
is
which
is
open to
criti-
a weak spot in the very centre of his argument, which
have escaped him.
scarcely could
He
admits that the
will is caused,
by higher causes ending ultimately in the will of God, and yet maintains in the same breath that the will is not determined. As free the will is removed from God's control, and yet it is not completely removed, being related to him by a chain of causes. This is a plain contradiction, unless we are told how far it is determined and how far
it is
Surely the aspect in which
not.
not determined
is
removed from God's control and altogether uncaused.
lutely
Judah Halevi
is
was more
He
unwilling to grant this.
juxtaposition of two incompatibles.
We
it is
consistent,
abso-
But
just leaves us with the
We shall see
that Hasdai Crescas
and admitted determinism.
have now considered Judah Halevi's teachings, and have seen
that he has no
sympathy with the point
were called in his day philosophers, ings ascribed to Aristotle.
maintaining that
all
science
i. e.,
of
view of those people who
those
who adopted
the teach-
At the same time he was interested in really came originally from the Jews; and
in order to prove this he undertakes a brief interpretation of the
"Sefer Yezirah" (Book of Creation), an early mystic work of authorship and date, which Judah Halevi in critical
common
opinion of his day attributed to Abraham. ^^
unknown
with the un-
Not
to lay
himself open to the charge of inconsistency, he throws out the sug-^ gestion that the Sefer Yezirah represented lations before
God.
When
Abraham's own specu-
he had the privilege of a prophetic communication from
that
came he was ready to abandon and abide by the certainty
ahstic lucubrations
all his
former ration^^
of revealed truth.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
174
We may therefore legitimately infer that Judah Halevi's
idea
was that
the Jews were the originators of philosophy, but that they had long
discarded
it
in favor of
something much more valid and certain;
whereas the Greeks and their descendants, having nothing better,
caught
up and are now parading
it
and even
setting
it
up as superior
Natural science in so far as
own
their
discovery
to direct revelation.
had
it
as
it
to
do with more or
less verifiable
data could not be considered harmful, and so we find Judah Halevi taking pains to show that the sages of Rabbinical literature cultivated the sciences, astronomy in connection with the Jewish calendar;
anatomy, biology and physiology
and the examination
But
so great
of animal
authority and point out
its
ingly that he
deems
it
to escape
it.
And we
find accord-
necessary to devote a large part of the fifth
Kusari to the presentation of a bird's eye view of the cur-
To be
rent philosophy of the day.
sure,
he does not give
the stamp of his approval; he repeatedly attacks lays bare their weakness.
man
his efforts to shake
inadequacy and evident inferiority
was not able wholly
of the
"Terefa").^^
Judah Halevi, despite
to revelation,
book
of
was the fascination philosophy exerted upon the men
of his generation that even its
in relation to the laws of slaughter
meat (laws
its
At the same time he admits
has faith by nature and
is
all of it
foundations and that not every
proof against the erroneous arguments
of heretics, astrologers, philosophers
and
others.
The ordinary mortal
by them, and may even be misled for a time until he comes It is therefore well to know the principles of religion according to those who defend it by reason, and this involves a knowledge of science and theology. But we must not, he says, in the man-
is
affected
to see the truth.
ner of the Karaites, advance
One must
first
all
at once to the higher study of theology.
understand the fundamental principles of physics,
psychology, and so on, such as matter and form, the elements, nature, Soul, Intellect, Divine
Wisdom.
Then we can proceed
to the
more
properly theological matters, like the future world, Providence, and so on.
Accordingly Judah Halevi gives us in the sequel a brief account such as he has just outlined.
produce
it all
It will not be
as the result of his
worth our while to
re-
Judah Halevi does not give it own investigation and conviction, and secondly
here, as in the first place
JUDAH HA LEVI a good deal of
it is
not new; and
similar form before
We
others.
we have
175
already met
it
in
more or
less
Joseph ibn Zaddik, Abraham bar Hiyyah, and
in
must point
out, however, the
new features which we
did
not meet before, explain their origin and in particular indicate Judah Halevi's criticisms.
In general we
may
say that Judah Halevi has a better knowledge
of Aristotelian doctrines than
any
nition of the soul
as well as detail.
^°^
is
quoted by Isaac
(p. 138), Aristotle's
Israeli,
who understands
And
yet
Judah Halevi
would be decidedly mistaken to
S.
Landauer
^°^
we
infer
from
source with the certainty of eyewitnesses.
By
a fortunate
is
The
sketch which he gives
taken bodily not from Aristotle's
Judah Halevi
own
did not even take the trouble to present the subject in his
simply took his model and abridged
it,
by throwing out
follows his authority almost
words.
all
word
a typical and extremely instructive instance; and
careful
we must be
before
we
this
for word, not to
speak of reproducing the ideas in the original form and order.
certain author with
argu-
Apart from
mentative, illustrative and amplificatory material.
is
dis-
Judah Halevi's
but from a youthful work of Ibn Sina.
abridgment he
the
Judah
this that
are enabled to follow
of the Aristotelian psychology
De Anima,
is
correctly all the elements of the definition.
Halevi studied the Aristotelian works directly.
He
defi-
by Judah Halevi. Israeli does not discuss the definition in Saadia and Ibn Zaddik show clearly that they did not un-
first
covery of
to take
famous
Saadia, Joseph ibn Zaddik
derstand the precise meaning of the definition.
it
Thus
of his predecessors.
one example, which we used before
This
shows how
it
decide that a mediaeval writer read a
whose ideas he
is
familiar
and
whom
In the sketch of philosophical theory Judah Halevi
first
he quotes. speaks of
the hyle {vXrf) or formless matter, which according to the philosophers
was
The God moved
in the beginning of things contained within the lunar sphere.
"water"
in the second verse of Genesis
upon the face
of the
itive matter, as the
("Tohu")
water")
is
("and the
spirit of
supposed by them to denote
"darkness"
in the
this
prim-
same verse and the "chaos" form and compo-
in the first verse signify the absence of
sition in the
matter (the Aristotelian
the revolution of the outermost sphere,
which caused
all
o-reprjai^;).
known
God then
willed
as the diurnal sphere,
the other spheres to revolve with
it,
thereby produc-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
176
ing changes in the hyle in accordance with the motions of the sphere.
The
first
change was the heating of that which was next to the lunar
sphere and making
into pure
it
fire,
known among
the philosophers
as "natural fire," a pure, fine and light substance, without color or
This became the sphere of fire. The part that was away changed as a result of the same revolution into the sphere of air, then came the sphere of water, and finally the terrestrial globe in the centre, heavy and thick by reason of its distance from the place of motion. From these four elements come the physical objects by composition. The forms (in the Aristotelian sense) of things are imposed upon their matters by a divine power, the "Intellect, and Giver of Forms"; whereas the matters come from the hyle, and the
burning quality. further
accidental proximity of different parts to the revolving lunar sphere explains
To
why some
this
Judah Halevi sphere
is
parts
became
fire,
some
air,
and so
on.
mechanical explanation of the formation of the elements
As long
objects.
as the original motion of the diurnal
admittedly due not to chance but to the
will of
God, what
is
gained by referring the formation of the elements to their accidental
proximity to the moving sphere, and accounting for the production of mineral, plant tal
and animal
in the
same mechanical way by the acciden-
composition of the four elements in proportions varying according to
the different revolutions and positions of the heavenly bodies? if
number
the latter explanation were true, the
and animals should be of the
infinite like the various positions
heavenly bodies, whereas they are
jority of plants
tion as
is
and animals further
is
and formations
The the ma-
and constant.
finite
argument from the design and purpose that
Besides
of species of plants
clearly visible in
refutes such mechanical explana-
attempted by the philosophers.
Design
is
also visible in the
by which water should always be above whereas in reality we see a great part of the earth's
violation of the natural law
and around earth;
surface above water.
that animal
life
may
This
is
sustain
and
this is the significance of the
"To him
that stretched out the earth
entire theory of the four elements
and the alleged composition
words of the Psalmist (136, above the waters."
The
clearly a beneficent provision in order
itself,
of all things out of
world of
fire,
them
the upper
is
fire
6),
a pure assumption. as they call
it,
which
Take is
the idea of the
colorless, so as
not
JUDAH HALEVI to obstruct the color of the heavens
a
The only
fire?
fire
we know
is
and the
177
Whoever saw such
stars.
an extremely hot object
in the shape
And whoever
of coal, or as
a flame in the
saw a
aery body enter the matter of plant and animal so as to
fiery or
or as boiling water.
air,
warrant us in saying that the latter are composed of the four elements? True,
we know
that water and earth do enter the matter of plants,
and that they are
assisted
by the
and the heat
air
of the sun in causing
the plant to grow and develop, but we never see a fiery or aery body. Or whoever saw plants resolved into the four elements? If a part changes into earth, it is not real earth, but ashes; and the part changed to water tritious,
is
not real water, but a kind of moisture, poisonous or nu-
but not water
changes to real that
we have
fit
for drinking.
air fit for breathing,
to
Similarly no part of the plant
but to vapor or mist.
admit the warm and the
cold,
Granted
and the moist and the
dry as the primary quahties without which no body can
exist;
and
that the reason resolves the composite objects into these primary qualities,
and
posits substances as bearers of these qualities, which
water and earth
it calls fire, air,
ically only.
in the simple state extra
made
—
this is true conceptually
It cannot be that the
out of them.
How
primary qualities
animam, and then
all existing
it
theoret-
things were
can the philosophers maintain such a thing,
since they believe in the eternity of the world, that
as
and
really existed
it
always existed
does now?
These are the criticisms of their theory of the elements. to the
Torah God created the world There
plants already formed.
he desired,
it is,
According animals and
no need of assuming intermediate
by the
all difl&culties
vanish about the origin of bodies and their
And
association with souls.
just as
its
The moment we admit that the world was will of God in the manner in which
powers or compositions. created out of nothing
is
with
there
is
no reason why we should not
accept the firmament, and the waters above the heaven, and the
demons mentioned by the Rabbis, and the account
of the
days of the
Messiah and the resurrection and the world to come.^^ Another theory he
criticizes
is
that developed
by Alfarabi and
Avicenna, the chief Aristotehans of the Arabs before Averroes.
It
is
a combination of Aristotelianism with the Neo-Platonic doctrine of emanation,
though
it
was credited as a whole
to Aristotle in the
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
178
middle ages.
We have already seen in the Introduction
xxxiv) that
(p.
Aristotle conceived the world as a series of concentric spheres with
The
the earth in the centre.
and they carry
principal spheres are eight in number,
in order, beginning
with the external sphere,
Mars,
fixed stars, (2) Saturn, (3) Jupiter, (4)
(5)
Mercury,
the
(i)
(6)
Venus,
Moon. To account for the various motions of the sun and the planets additional spheres had to be introduced amounting in all to But the principal spheres remained those mentioned. Each fifty-six. (7)
Sun,
(8)
sphere or group of spheres with the star
carries is
it
corporeal mover, a spirit or Intelligence, and over
He
unmoved mover, God. stars,
sets in
moved by an
them
all is
motion the outer sphere There
and so the whole world moves.
is
larly that of the intelligible or spiritual
the
One
or the Good.
to Aristotle, Alfarabi
tion of Plotinus. Aristotle's that follow.
the other
and particu-
world issues or emanates from
last.
and Avicenna worked out a scheme which of Aristotle with the doctrine of
The theory
from a unitary cause nothing but a unitary
we
first
effect of the latter act is
can
first
Intelligence
and
it
is
is
a sphere
—that
its
cause.
This
The
Cause, and by
it
self-contemplation
the sphere of Saturn, which
is
moved by
of the fixed stars, of
The second
the mover. its
Intelligence
contemplation of the First creates the second sphere,
it.
reach the sphere of the moon, which
and the Active
the direct cause of the
contemplates
again produces a third Intelligence by its
is
the emanation of a second intelligence or
angel; the effect of the former
we
effect
angel as Judah Halevi calls him.
Intelligence contemplates itself
which the
He
see in its complexity.
IntelUgence only, or
spheres,
emana-
based upon a principle alleged to be
is
Hence, said Avicenna, God cannot have produced directly
the world
until
On
which Neo-Platonic writings and doctrines were attributed
combined the motion theory
first
existence
all
accoimt of the confusion which arose in the middle ages, as a
result of
all
of the fixed
Intellect is the first emanation, Soul the second,
Nature the third and Matter the
On
in-
first
nothing said in this of
the origin of these spheres and their intelligible movers.
hand, in the Neo-Platonic system of Plotinus
the
So the process continues is
the last of the celestial
Intellect, the last of the Intelligences,
having
in charge the sublunar world.
This fanciful and purely mythological scheme arouses the antago-
JUDAH HALEVI nism
of
Judah Halevi.
simply because
it
and there
is
People believe
it.
bears the
of fact this theory
pure conjecture, he says, and there
It is all
not an iota of proof in
is less
179
name
of
and think
it
a Greek philosopher.
As a matter
plausible than those of the "Sefer Yezirah";
no agreement even among the philosophers themselves
except for those
who
are the followers of the
same Greek authority,
Empedocles, or Pythagoras, or Aristotle, or Plato.
These agree not
because the proofs are convincing, but simply because they are
The
bers of a given sect or school. outlined are manifold.
In the
Cause has given out?
result in
mem-
objections to the theory just
why
place
first
emanations stop with the moon? First
is
convincing,
it is
Is
because the power of the
it
why
Besides
should the series of
should self-contemplation
a sphere and contemplation of the First Cause in an IntelH-
gence or angel?
when Aristotle contemplates he contemplates the First when and
It should follow that
himself he produces a sphere,
Granting the truth of the process,
an angel.
Cause he gives
rise to
one does not see
why the mover of Saturn should not produce two more
emanations, one by contemplating the Intelligence immediately above
and the other by contemplating the
it,
four emanations instead of
first
making
IntelHgence, thus
two.^"*^
In his outline of the philosophers' psychology, which as we have seen is
(p.
175)
is
borrowed verbally from Avicenna, what
the exposition of the inner senses
faculty.
We
must
and the account
therefore repooduce
it
new
is
to us
of the rational
here in outline together
with Judah Halevi's criticism.
The
three kinds of soul, vegetative, animal
We
already met before.
and
rational,
we have
have also referred to the fact that Judah
Halevi analyzes correctly the well-known Aristotelian definition of the soul.
We
must now give a
Judah Halevi took
it
brief
from Avicenna.
hearing, touching, smelling
and
account of the inner senses as
The
five external senses, seeing,
tasting, give us
touch sensations, odors and tastes.
merely colors, sounds,
These are combined into an ob-
by the common sense, known also as the forming power. Thus when we see honey we associate with its yellow color a sweet taste. This could not be done unless we had a power which combines in it
ject
all
the five senses.
For the sense
can color be apprehended by
of sight
cannot perceive
the gustatory sense.
There
is
taste,
nor
need there-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
i8o
common
fore of a
This
the
is
first
sense which comprehends
the five external senses.
all
This retains the forms of sensible
internal sense.
Then comes
objects just as the external senses present them.
the material of the the
common
sense
common always
is
It
sense.
may
Both
true.
be true or
is
merely forms;
latter function belongs to
Through
the third internal sense, the power of judgment.
mal
whereas
false,
of these give us
The
they do not exercise any judgment.
the
This composes and divides
composing power or power of imagination.
enabled to decide that a given object
an
this
ani-
to be sought or avoided.
is
may
It also serves to rectify the errors of reproduction that
be found
Love, injury, beUef, denial,
in the preceding faculty of imagination.
belong likewise to the judging faculty together with such judgments as that the wolf ternal senses
is
is
an enemy, the
The
child a friend.
last of the in-
that of factual memory, the power which retains the
judgments made by the faculty preceding. In addition to these sensory powers the animal possesses motor
These are two, the power of desire, which moves the animal to seek the agreeable; and the power of anger, which causes it to reject
faculties.
or avoid the disagreeable.
corporeal organs
The
mentioned before are found also This
tional soul.
tabula rasa, is
is
at
an empty
first
slate,
actual but
is
But
a blank paper.
it is like
man
in animals) is the ra-
Actually
simply a potentiality.
it is
matter which in
it
As matter
real object.
nothing
When
it
has these ideas
then identical with the ideas
it
has,
it is
i. e.,
any
receives sensible forms,
so the material intellect acquires intelligible forms, ideas, concepts.
a
called hylic
itself is
potentially everything, being capable of receiving
form and becoming any
is
has the power
it
Hence
the power) of acquiring general ideas.
or material intellect, because
is
upon the
of the latter.
highest power of the soul and the exclusive possession of
(the faculties
(or
All these powers are dependent
and disappear with the destruction
an
i.
e.,
thoughts,
actual intellect.
It
thinker and thought are
the same, and hence the statement that the actual intellect is "intelligent" and " intelligible " at the same time. As matter is the principle of generation
to be
And soul
it is is
and destruction the rational
an immaterial substance, the ideas
it
is
acquires which
soul,
which
is
thus shown
indestructible, hence immortal.
make
concerned with pure knowledge
it so.
When
the rational
it is called the speculative or
JUDAH HALEVI When
theoretical intellect.
powers,
The
function
its
rational soul,
body and needs
the
it
This
knowledge.
its
called the practical intellect.
is
the speculative intellect,
e.,
i.
engaged in controlling the animal
is
it
conduct, and
is
l8i
not, though
uses
it
at
it
is
separable from
to acquire
first
some
of
proved by the fact that whereas the corporeal
is
powers, like the senses, are weakened by strong stimuli, the reason
strengthened by hard subjects of thought.
The
but strengthens the mind.
is
Old age weakens the body,
activities of the
body are
finite; of
the mind, infinite.
We
must
also
show that while the
rational soul
makes use
of the
data of sense perception, which are corporeal, as the occasions for the formation of
general ideas,
its
not wholly dependent upon
it is
them, and the sense data alone are inadequate to give the soul Empirical knowledge
intellectual truths.
tion can be
more general and more
from which
it is
derived.
sarily finite, empirical
As
all
knowledge
is
inductive,
certain than the particular facts
experience, however rich, is
its
and no induc-
is
neces-
But
never universally certain.
the soul does possess universally certain knowledge, as for example the truths of mathematics and logic; hence the origin of these truths can
not be empirical.
We
How
does the soul come to have such knowledge?
must assume that there
is
a divine emanation cleaving to the
soul,
which stands to
It
to the illumination of this intellectual substance
is
it
in the relation of light to the sense of sight.
and not
to the
data of sense perception that the soul owes the universal certainty of its knowledge.
long as the soul Intellect fect
more
is
is
This divine substance
is
the Active
impossible.
But
as the soul becomes
through the acquisition of knowledge,
and
to the Active Intellect,
death.
Thus the immortality
this
its
perfection Hes in
of the soul
its
it
more and more cleaves
per-
more and
union becomes complete after
based upon the conviction that the soul
and that
As
Intellect.
united with the body, perfect union with the Active
is is
proved by reason.
It
is
an immaterial substance
acquisition of intellectual ideas. ^^
Judah Halevi cannot help admitting the fascination such speculation exercises
upon the mind
against being misled
of the student.
by the fame
and supposing that because
of such
in logic
But he must warn him
names as Plato and
Aristotle,
and mathematics the philosophers
give us real proofs, they are equally trustworthy in metaphysical
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
l82
If the soul
speculation.
is,
as they say, an intellectual substance
not limited in place and for this reason not subject to genesis and decay, there
no way
is
from another, since
to distinguish one soul
matter which constitutes individual existence.
How
then can
it is
my
soul be distinguished from yours, or from the Active Intellect and
The souls of know the
the other Intelligences, or from the First Cause itself?
Plato and Aristotle should become one so that the one should
how
God and how is it they forget? Then as to their ideas about immortality. not intuit their ideas at once like
sary
phenomenon due
is it
that philosophers do
the Active Intellect, and
immortality
is
a neces-
to the intellectual nature of the soul
and de-
If
pendent upon the degree of intellectual knowledge
much knowledge must a man have is sufficient,
necessary,
and
is
possesses, If
how
any amount
immortal, for everybody knows
and mathematics, such as that things
the same thing are equal
both be and not be, and so on. is
it
to be immortal?
then €very rational soul
at least the axioms of logic
equal to
through divine
If the soul gets its ideas
secret thoughts of the other.
illumination from the Active Intellect,
to each other, that a thing
If
cannot
a knowledge of the ten categories
of the other universal principles
which embrace
existence conceptually, though not practically, this knowledge can
be gotten in a day, and angel in a day.
If
it is
knowledge and no one is
man
can become an
on the other hand one must know everything not
merely conceptually but in
because this
not likely that a
is
detail,
immortal
no one can ever acquire universal
The
philosophers
may
be excused
the best they can do with the help of pure reason.
may commend them
for their
mode of life in accordance with
We
the moral
law and in freedom from the world, since they were not bound to accept our traditions.
But
it is
different with us.
Why
should we
seek peculiar proofs and explanations for the immortality of the soul,
we have promises to that effect whether the soul be corporeal spiritual? If we depend upon logical proof, our life will pass away
since
or
^°^ without our coming to any conclusion.
Judah Halevi takes
issue also with the
we know, were Mohammedan
Mutakallimun.
These, as
theologians who, unlike the philoso-
phers, were not indifferent to religion.
On
the contrary their sole
motive in philosophizing was to prove the dogmas of their
faith.
JUDAH HALEFI They had no
183
interest in pure speculation as such.
Judah Halevi
Owing Kalam and
has no more sympathy with them than with the philosophers. to the fact that the Karaites were implicit followers of the
for other reasons,
no doubt, more objective, he thinks
than he does of the philosophers. of their
methods
is
The only
possible use, he tells us,
To
MutakaUim may
the superficial observer
seem to be superior to the prophet, because
he argues, whereas the latter afi&rms without proving. however, this belief
is
which the
it
so.
it,
by reason If
Only he who has nothing
must have recourse
to
many
Kalam, which may
difficulties
and
natural belief, teaches
one has a spark of the true
prophet by his personaUty
belief in his nature, the
slight hint.
of the
The prophet, who has
introduces.
not by means of dialectic discussion.
a
In reahty,
The aim of the MutakaUim is to acquire the prophet has by nature. But his Kalam may injure his not
belief instead of confirming
doubts
them
to afford exercise in dialectics so as to be able to
answer the arguments of unbelievers. the
less of
will benefit
him by
of true behef in his nature
him or comment by a benefit
injure.
brief sketch Judah Halevi follows up this general Kalam, but we need not enter into this matter as there is Httle there that we do not already know, and there is no
of the system of the
detailed criticism
on the part
The Rabbi concludes by
of
Judah Halevi. ^^°
his discourse with the king of the
Chazars
declaring his intention to leave the land in order to go to Jerusalem.
Although the
and
visible
Shekinah
spiritual presence
deed; and Palestine
is
is
is
no longer in Palestine, the
with every born
Israelite of
the fittest land for this
conducive to purity of heart and mind.^^^
invisible
pure heart and
communion, being
CHAPTER XI MOSES AND ABRAHAM IBN EZRA Moses ihn Ezra
I.
Among Ezras,
must be included the two Ibn They were contemporary and came
the Jewish Neo-Platonists
Moses and Abraham.
Moses, the older of the two, was born at Granada about
from Spain.
1070 and died after 1138.
was born at Toledo
Abraham, who
in 1092
famous as a philosopher.
and died
travelled all over the world,
Neither
in 1167.
is
particularly
Moses's celebrity rests on his poetic pro-
ductions, secular as well as religious, which are highly praised
Abraham
Harizi, above even those of Halevi.
is
best
grammarian and BibHcal commentator, particularly the his versatility is remarkable.
grammar and
Besides
on mathematics, astronomy and astrology, on
and was a poet
of
All that treatise is
though
exegesis he wrote
religious philosophy,
no mean order; though, as Zunz
says,^^^ "flashes
accessible in print of
is
by
these
of Spices). ^^^
forte.
what caught
He
dabbled in
his fancy
celebrated
we may judge
like
more than a
and unknowableness position of
man
of
as
"Arugat
work
that philosophy was not
any poet
Pythagoras,
Hermes (whom he
reasoned out argument.
consist of little
it
title
of the rest of the
of that age did,
but
was more the mysteriously sounding phrases
authorities
Plato, Aristotle,
is
If
Hebrew fragments, we should say
Ibn Ezra's
strictly
Moses Ibn Ezra's philosophical
a Hebrew translation of extracts under the
ha-Bosem " (Bed
It
latter,
by
as a
thought spring from his words, but not pictures of the imagination."
of
of
known
Empedocles, Socrates, with Enoch), than a
identifies
Accordingly the Hebrew selections
string of quotations
God, on the meaning
in the universe,
of historical interest to us to
on the transcendence
of philosophy,
on motion, on nature and on
know
that
Moses ibn Ezra,
on the
intellect.
so
famous
as a poet, was interested in philosophy, and that the views which
appealed to him were those of Ibn Gabirol, whose "Fountain of Life" 184
MOSES AND ABRAHAM IBN EZRA
185
he knew, and from which he quotes a celebrated mystical passage.
A
few details
Man
is
will suffice to
make
this clear.
a microcosm, a world in miniature, and there
above or below, the counterpart of which is
no sphere, or
star, or
is
not found in man.
There
animal, or plant, or mineral, or power, or
nature, but something similar, mutatis mutandis,
The
nothing
is
found in man.
is
ten categories, which according to the philosophers embrace
existence, are also found, all of them, in
Man
The
man.
Man
man's creation points to a wise Creator.
all
perfection of
comes
after multi-
plicity,
God
and
both the spiritual cannot come in direct contact with the
in
before multiplicity.
is
is
like the great imiverse,
corporeal, but needs intermediating powers to bring the extremes to-
In man soul and spirit stand between intellect and body. Hence a man must know himseK before he can know the universe,
gether.
else
he
is like
this
is
oras,
feeds other people while he
must
himself
is
know herself, and know one's own soul.
first
can strip his soul of his corporeal senses and worldly
rise to the
ascetic
who
the Creator, the soul
one of the definitions of philosophy, to
He who and
a person
To know
hungry.
sphere will find there his reward.
and mystical expressions are quoted from
and
Aristotle
modern philosophers." The
''one of the
than Ibn Gabirol, and the passage quoted
is
desires,
Other similarly (!),
last is
Pythag-
none other
the same as that cited
above, p. 69.
Unity precedes the unitary object as heat comes before the hot object.
Unity alone
two, and
is
all
self-subsistent.
is
other unities, hence
it
its
very
it
As our eye cannot
else.
brilliance, so
is
God's unity
cannot be described, because
being the cause of everything reason of
Numerical unity
the very root and essence of number.
prior to is
above
has no cause,
see the sun
our intellect cannot comprehend
by
God
The finite and Hence no names can
because of the extreme perfection of his existence. imperfect cannot
know
the infinite
and
apply to God except metaphorically.
we mean
that he
is
which he possesses.
from imto
me me
knowledge Socrates
itself, (!)
so that I should raise
perfect.
When we
say that
not that knowledge
God knows, an attribute
"Thou
art not far
voice to thee, nor art
Thou near
said in his prayers,
my
is
that I should content myself with a low whisper and the
meditation of the heart; nor art
Thou on any
side of
me
so that I
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
l86
may
turn toward Thee; for nearness and distance have measure,
but there
no measure between
is
me and
Thou
Thee.
art united with
me and embracest me more closely than my intellect and soul." He who knows most of the secret of the Creator, knows least; and he who knows
knows most.
least,
know
senses cannot
to them, so the intellect cannot
cause he
above the sphere
is
As the limbs
body and the
of the
the intelligible ideas because the latter are superior
know
the essence of the Creator be-
Although the
of the intellect.
is spiritual, it
cannot comprehend the Creator because he
all intellectual
powers, and
is infinite.
What
is infinite
intellect is
above
has no division
or multiplication, or part or whole.
The
Gentiles
make
use of the anthropomorphic expressions in the
Bible to annoy us, charging us with believing in a corporeal God.
Would reply.
But
we had
that
But
it is still
by a crushing
strength to silence their impudence
tyranny prevents us from raising our voice.
alas! their
more aggravating
to hear
men of our own people,
heretics,
same charge against the Bible and Talmud, when they
repeating the
ought to know better, since the expressions in question are metaSaadia has
phorical.
The Active
made
this sufficiently clear.
Intellect is the first of God's creations.
emanating from the Will.
It
is
It
stance, bearing in itself the forms of all existing things. intellect is
known
a power
is
a simple, pure and transparent sub-
The
as the passive intellect.
substance giving perfection to a natural body, etc. the intellect, and the animal soul
is
The human
rational soul It
is
is
a pure
inferior to
inferior to the rational.
The
body represents the soldiers and the arms. As the horseman must take care of his arms that he may not be put soul
is
the horseman, the
to death, so the soul perish.
And
must take care
body
and
right.
is
upon the powers
Similarly
The above
and
if
And
If the
food of
one neglects moderation in food, he
selections,
etc.,
bound
which are representative of the accessible
Moses ibn Ezra's philosophical
they say, "
is
spiritually.
recurring phrases have been omitted as *
of the body.
in proper proportion, the activity of the soul is proper
to suffer morally
portion of
body that she may not
the senses must be taken into account, for the powers of
the soul are dependent the
of the
treatise,
"And
show that the work
is
except that such
the philosopher said,"
nothing but a compilation
MOSES AND ABRAHAM IBN EZRA of sayings
on various philosophical
187
without any attempt on
topics,
the author's part to think out the subject or any part thereof, for himself.
Abraham ibn Ezra
2.
Abraham Ibn Ezra and his importance unlike that of Rashi,
did not write any special work on philosophy,
lies is
commentary, which
chiefly in his Biblical
based upon a
scientific
and
philological founda-
Ibn Ezra was thoroughly familiar with Arabic and well versed
tion.
in the philological, scientific
Arabs and Jews
and philosophical studies cultivated by For reasons not known to us
in his native land.
poverty was very likely one of them
wandered as
far as
and London
south,
literary activity,
Rome
—he
native Spain and in the
Everywhere he was busy with
in the north.
and as he wrote
left his
Egypt and Morocco
in the east,
in
Hebrew
his
purpose must have
been, as the result certainly proved to be, the enlightenment of the
non-Arabic speaking Jews of England, France and Italy, by bringing before
them
in a language that they
knew
the
grammar of Hayyuj, and the Arabs, the
the mathematics and astronony of the Greeks
philosophy of Neo-Platonism, and the spirit generally, as enlightened
Arab
and
scientific
Spain had developed
rationalistic
it
in
Jew and
alike.
We are interested here more particularly in Ibn Ezra's philosophical views. in a
These are scattered through
his Biblical
commentaries and
few other small works devoted to an investigation of the laws of
the Pentateuch and the meaning of the
Ibn Ezra favors
tlie
philological
names
For though
of God.^^*
method as the best way
to arrive at
the true meaning of Scripture, and decries allegory as well as Midrash
when pushed
too far,
and though
his
commentary
is
for the
most
part based upon the philological method of interpretation, he was too
much a
child of his age to be able to refrain
from finding
in the Bible
views akin to those he learned from Gabirol, the Brethren of Purity
and what other philosophical Uterature influenced by.
cumbed
And
so he, too, the
to the aUegorical
Without denying the
of the
Arabs he read and was
grammarian and
philologist, suc-
and symbolical method he condemned.
historical reality of the
Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of
Life,
Garden
of
Eden, the
he also sees in these expres-
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
l88
sions symbols of cosmological, psychological
the fashion of Philo he sees in
Eden a
and
ethical ideas.
In
representation of the higher
world of the divinity, in the Garden the intermediate world of the spheres and Intelligences, in the river issuing from the Garden the
substance of the sublunar world, in the four heads into which the river
He
divides the four elements,
and
meanings as the
and so we have the
''secrets,"
And
of the rivers, of the coats.
secret of the
in the
speaks of these s3anbolic secret of the Garden,
same way he speaks
Cherubim, of the ark and the Tabernacle.
and cosmological
also symbolize metaphysical liever in astrology,
and
Holy Writ.
in the Bible in connection
tion of the Tabernacle,
of the
These objects
He was
truths.
laid this pseudo-science also
tion in the interpretation of
found
so on.
a be-
under contribu-
Here the various numbers
with ritual prescriptions, the construc-
and so on, were
of great service to
Ibn Ezra
Like Philo and the Neo-Pythagoreans he
in his symbolizations.
analyzes the virtues and significances of the different numbers,
thus finds a s)anbol in every
number found
in the Bible.
and
Writing as
he did for the Jews of central Europe, who were not trained in secular
and philosophy, Ibn Ezra was not prepared
science
sibilities of his
readers
by
to shock the sen-
his novel and, to them, heretical views;
and
hence he expressed himself in cryptic phrases and allusions, which often
make
his
meaning
difficult if
not impossible to decipher.
This,
taken together with the fact that his views are not laid down any-
where systematically and in connected fashion, but are thrown out briefly, often enigmatically, in
Biblical verses
connection with the explanation of
and phrases, accounts
concerning the precise doctrines of
Of
his predecessors
closest relation to
"Fountain
but he names
and shows
Like Gabirol he says that
all
among
critics
Ezra.
the Jewish philosophers Ibn Ezra shows
Solomon ibn Gabirol.
of Life,"
writer of poems,
among
for the difference
Abraham Ibn
its
He
familiarity with
except
does not quote the
author as a great thinker and
God
Gabirol's doctrines.
consists of substance (matter)
the sublunar things, subject to generation
and
decay, but the higher incorporeal things, also, are in essence two,
i. e.,
and form.
Not only
God alone is And Ibn Ezra also has some
are composed of two elements, subject and predicate.
One; he
is
subject only and not predicate.
allusion to the divine Will as taught
by Gabirol.
MOSES AND ABRAHAM IBN EZRA
i8g
In giving a connected sketch of Ibn Ezra's philosophical ideas, the
most one can do
is
to collect all the sayings bearing
upon our subject
which are found scattered through Ibn Ezra's writings, and
classify
them and combine them into a connected whole. This has been done before by Nahman Krochmal ^^^ and by David Rosin,^^® and we shall follow the latter in our exposition here.
God
God
of him.
Unity
is
He
the One.
is
things.
alone is
is
the symbol of
the foundation of
exists
At
by
the
gives forms to all things,
the real existent,
God
also
is
and form.
He
is
and the object
alone
is
he would not be one. universe.
God
not
itself
is
all
number.
all
one, because he alone
the creator of
therefore incorporeal.
of his
is
aU number, because
It
after.
number
is
is
not com-
God has
neither
all things, i. e., of all
likeness
posed of matter and form, as everything likeness nor form, for he
himself
is
and needs not the numbers that come
virtue of itself
of the unit.
and
an existent by virtue
because in mmiber also the unit
number, and yet
all
same time the unit
made up
God
all else is
else
is.
In God the subject knowing
knowledge are one and the same thing.
Else
In knowing himself, therefore, he knows the
as the cause
and creator
of all things
must know
all
things, the universal as well as the particular, the world soul as well
as the various species, and even every single creature, but he
knows
the particular in a general way.
For God knows only what
nent, whereas the particular
constantly changing, hence he does
not
know
is
is
perma-
the particular as such, but only as involved in the general
and permanent.
As God is incorporeal he is not subject to corporeal accidents or human feelings. Hence the many expressions in the Bible which ascribe such accidents and feelings to God must be understood as metaphors. It is a psychological necessity for man wishing to communicate his ideas to other men to speak in human terms, whether he speak of beings and things inferior or superior to him. The result is that the metaphor he
finds
object to which
superhuman as "the
to the
mouth
it
necessary to employ either raises or lowers the
it refers.
human.
of the
It elevates the
This
is
sub-human and lowers the
the explanation of such phrases
earth" the "hand of the Jordan," the " head of
the dust of the world," and so on, in which the figure personification.
And
the fundamental explanation
is
is
that of
the same in
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
igo such phrases as
"The Lord
repented,"
Lord remembered," "He that dwelleth
"The Lord in
rested,"
on, where the process
is
common
convey some idea to the reader.
to both
to
is
the reverse of personification.
The Hebrew word "bara,"
"The
heaven laughs," and so
The motive
ordinarily translated "created," which
implies to most people the idea of creatio ex nihilo, Ibn Ezra renders,
by drawing or in his wonted say more and preferring
in accordance with its etymology, to limit, to define, incising
a
line or
Having
boundary.
said this,
mysterious manner, stops short, refusing to
Ibn Ezra,
by adding the tantalizing phrase, "The intelHe means apparently to indicate that an eternal matter was endowed with form. In fact he seems to favor the idea of eternal creation and maintenance of the universe, the relation of which to God is as the relation of speech to the speaker, which exists only so long as the speaker speaks. The moment he ceases to mystify the reader
ligent will understand."
speaking the sounds cease to
The two the manner
of the Neo-Platonists
endows with forms, are not implies that matter
is
it
its
But
emanates.
and
of
from God after
an eternal matter which God
really quite consistent, for the latter
independent of God, whereas according to the
former everything owes
whom
exist.
ideas of eternal emanation of the world
existence
and continuance
it is difficult
conic sayings of Ibn Ezra to extract a consistent
The world consists of three parts, The highest world consists of the
God, from
to
from the fragmentary and
la-
and certain system.
three worlds Ibn Ezra calls them.
separate Intelligences or angels,
including the world-soul of which the
human
soul
is
a part.
The
intermediate world consists of the spheres, planets and fixed stars. Finally the lower world contains the four elements
and the product
of their various mixtures, minerals, plants, animals,
These
man.
three worlds, Ibn Ezra appears to intimate in his oracular manner, are
symboHzed by the three
divisions of the Tabernacle, the holy of
holies typif3dng the world of spirits, the holy pointing to the spheres,
while the outer court represents the sublunar world.
The
highest world, the world of Intelligences and angels,
though too, are
it
too
is
dependent upon God
composed
of
for its existence.
eternal,
is
The
matter and form, and their function
is
angels,
to
move
the bodies of the intermediate world, the spheres and their stars.
MOSES AND ABRAHAM IBN EZRA
191
Through the instrumentality of the heavenly bodies, the angels form the lower world. This amounts to saying that the corporeal world is
the last stage in the descending series of emanations from the One,
and
The
preceded by the heavenly bodies and the Intelligences.
is
angels are also the immediate agents in prophetic inspiration.
Not
all
mention of angels
in the Bible, however,
with a separate Intelligence or a spheral soul
There are instances
by Ibn Ezra).
called angel
must be
identified
(for the latter too is
of the expression
angel which refer to a momentary, special creation of a light or air
This explains a number of the-
for the special benefit of the people.
ophanies in the Bible, such as the burning bush, "the glory of the
Lord," the cloud in the wilderness, and so on.
The
intermediate world of spheres
is
also eternal
and
consists of
nine spheres, that of the Intelligences making up the perfect
The
ten.
seven planets, the sphere of the fixed
without
number
nine spheres are arranged as follows, the spheres of the
stars,
stars,
and the diurnal sphere
which gives the motion from east to west to the whole
heaven.
The lower
world, the sublunar and corporeal world of generation
and decay, was created in there was time before this and change.
This, however, does not
time.
mean
creation, for time exists only with
that
motion
Creation here signifies the formation of the chaotic
As God cannot come in contact with the material and changeknow it as such), it follows that this lower world was not made directly by him, but by the angels, hence the word "Elohim" is used in the first chapter of Genesis, which means primarily the angels, and secondarily God as acting matter.
able (we have already seen that he cannot
through the angels.
In
this lower
soul he
angels
may
{i. e.,
world
man
attain eternal
is
By means
the noblest creature.
life
as
an individual
the Intelligences), whereas
all
like
of his
God and
world are permanent in species only but not as individuals. is
the meaning of the expression in Genesis, "Let us
God and
is,
microcosm, a universe in
for like the great universe
little,
body animated by a soul. As the noblest part of man is
This
make man
our image," in the image, that
of
the
other creatures of the lower
the angels.
Man
is
in
a
he consists
of a
his soul, it
becomes
his
duty to know
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
192
He must know whether it when it is separated from
it.
die
is
substance or accident, whether
the body,
brought into union with the body.
must
and
for
it
will
it
was
this
one
what purpose
In order to learn
all
study the preparatory branches, grammar, logic, mathe-
first
matics and physics.
In the study of psychology we learn that
man
has three souls, vegetative, animal and rational, and the latter alone is
having existed before
It is a part of the world soul,
immortal.
it
came into the body, and under favorable conditions will return again The condition to the world soul when separated from the body. which must be soul
by the
fulfilled
soul before
the acquisition of wisdom, for this
is
can return to the world
it
is
the purpose for which
it
was put into the body, namely, in order that it may learn the work of its master and observe his commandments. There are many sciences, but they are related to each other, all leading
highest science, the knowledge of
must advance gradually
God and
in studying the
the spheres this
and heavenly bodies, the causes come to know God.
will gradually
he
work
of
God from
human body,
edge of minerals, plants, animals, the
to the
is
the form of the soul,
The reward it is
Hebrew not
terly.
but
is
person
knowledge of
and from
The commandments
to gain eternal
and hence the
A
the knowl-
soul does not
of the soul is re-absorption in the
of
To understand life.
For wisdom
die like
a body.
world soul of which
a part, and the punishment of the unworthy soul that neglected
to acquire
is
commandments
to the one
of eclipses, etc.,
the Bible are also of importance for this purpose. the secret of the
up
his goodness.
is
destruction.
What Ibn Ezra means by
the
word "abad" (ordinarily rendered to perish, to be destroyed) It
clear.
is
hard to see how a pre-existing soul can perish ut-
Rosin suggests that Ibn Ezra
it is
We
knowledge
not
is
alluding to transmigration,
^^^
clear.
have seen that Ibn Ezra holds that the events
world and the destinies of
men
are governed
by
of the sublunar
the positions
and
motions of the heavenly bodies, which in turn are determined by the Intelligences or angels.
The heavenly
bodies, he tells us, follow neces-
sary laws imposed upon them, and are not responsible for any good
mankind from them, since the effects are not and they cannot change them if they would. Ac-
or evil which results to of their intention,
cordingly
it is
foolish to
pray to the heavenly bodies
in order to
appease
MOS£S AND ABRAHAM IBN EZRA
193
them and prevent evil, as some of the heathen are accustomed to do. The motions of the heavenly bodies are determined and invariable, and no prayer will change them. This, however, does not mean to say that no one can escape the evil which is destined for him in the stars. Ordinarily, it is true, God does not know the particular individual as such. He knows him only as imphed in the whole, and his destiny is determined accordingly. But there are exceptions when a person by developing his soul and intellect, as we saw above, succeeds in his lifetime in separating his soul
and brings
from the corporeal and particular,
into contact with the spiritual
it
and
In that
universal.
case he attracts to himself the special providence of God, which enables
him
by his
to evade the evil threatened
star,
How
ing the star's natural course or ordinary effects.
Ibn Ezra
by an example. ^^^
way chang-
without in any
this is done,
Suppose, he says, that
it is
fated according to the stars that a given city shall be flooded
by a
river
and
illustrates
its
A prophet
inhabitants drowned.
comes and warns them,
urging them to repent of their evil ways before their fate
They obey him,
is
sealed.
God with all their heart and leave the city to offer prayer to God. The river rises in their absence, as often happens, and floods the city. The wolf is satisfied and the lamb is whole. The decree of the stars is not interfered with, and the good man is delivered from evil. In this way Ibn Ezra endeavors to reconcile return to
natural law (or astrological fatahsm) with the ethical purpose of divine providence.
And he also vindicates free will and responsibility. The man has power, he says, to counteract in part the
rational soul of
indications of the stars, though
punishment of the wicked
it
cannot annul them entirely.
The
that they are left entirely to the fates
is
determined for them by their constellations.
The and
we have
highest good of man,
his work.
a study
There are two ways
of nature, the
work
of
and, in a sense, a better his revelation in the
above Psalm
The law
{v. 7),
of the
his
way
Law.
of
Lord
God.
This
is
One
is
of
knowing God.
described in the
But
there
This
is
is
God
through
declare the glory of
handiwork."
As we
"The law of
knowledge
seen, is the
knowing God.
"The Heavens
part of the nineteenth Psalm,
and the firmament showeth
of
first
God;
a second
derived from
are told in the second part of the
the Lord
restores the soul,
is
perfect, restoring the soul."
Ibn Ezra
says,
by removing
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
194
doubt from
For the
it.
man
importance for the
of
method
first
wisdom and
and not everything can be proved by is
necessary for the simple minded.
20, 2) is
for real
knowing God, with
of
reason,
is
am
for all persons;
fit
Law
Revelation in the
reason.
"I
not
all its
God"
the Lord thy
(Exod.
a hint to the philosopher, who need not depend on hearsay,
knowledge
is
But as not everyone
proved knowledge.
is
in
a position to have such knowledge, the Bible adds, "which brought thee out of the land of Egypt."
minded as
This
all
can understand, the simple
The Law has
well as the philosopher.
also a practical
purpose, to strengthen the rational soul so as to prevent the body from gaining the upper hand.
God's messenger, through
He
prophet.
and
whom
his will
made known, is the communion with God, getting. Moses was the is
seeks retirement so as to get in
receives such influence as he
greatest of the prophets.
is
capable of
He was
The
tion came.
revelation of
God
God
able to communicate with
whenever he chose, whereas the others had to wait to
until the inspira-
Moses was without an
mediary, and without visions and likenesses.
inter-
Moses' saw the things
presented to him in their true form.
The laws may be divided into i. Innate God in the mind of every
laws planted by are
many
such in the Torah.
belong to this
the
Law was
which
is
all,
2.
Hidden
We must not
not given. is
All the laws of the
against reason,
laws,
i. e.,
e.,
suppose for a
Heaven
is
hidden meaning and
unreasonable,
is
moment
forbid!
We
we must assume
not to be taken in
its
all
before ever
laws, the reason of
whether we understand the reason or not.
law that apparently
i.
There
Ten Commandments Hence all
them, and Abraham observed them
given on Sinai.
any law which them
in
rational being.
with the exception of the Sabbath.
class,
mankind beheve
or rational laws,
that there
If
that
if
we
it
Uteral sense.
duty, then, to look for this hidden meaning, and
is
must observe find
a
has some It is our
we cannot
find
we must admit that we do not understand it. The laws may also be classified as i. Commandments of the heart, 2. Commandments of the tongue, and 3. Commandments of action. An example of commandments of the heart is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart," and so on. To the commandments of the tongue belong the reading it,
MOSES AND ABRAHAM IBN EZRA
195
of the Shema, grace after meals, the priestly benediction,
The
laws of the third class are so
mentioning them.
The
The laws
numerous that there
of the heart are the
is
and so
on.
no need
most important
of
of all.
reader will recognize in this two-fold classification Saadia's divi-
sion of the laws into rational
and
cludes Ibn Ezra's second
and
and Bahya's
traditional,
and duties
of duties of the heart
classification
This second class
of the limbs.
and
third classes, tongue
action.
in-
^^^
The problem of evil Ibn Ezra solves by saying that from God comes good only. The world as a whole is good; evil is due to the defect of the object receiving higher influence.
To
small part of evil the whole world, which
been created,
The
highest good of
not
good, should not have
man
is
made
As the
to develop his reason.
to return to the land of their birth
their family, so the rational soul is
is
is foolish.
and the captive long which
argue that because of the
of clay.
This
is
it
traveller
and be with
eager to rise to the upper world
can do only
if it
the uncleanness of corporeal desire which drags
from
purifies itself
it
down, and takes
own nature and origin, with the help of Wisdom Then she will know the truth, which will remain indelibly impressed upon her when she separates from the body, where she was put for her own good. The suffering she under-
know
pains to
its
whose eyes are undimmed.
went here
for a time will give place to everlasting rest
man's work
is
vain, for
and
tion of accidents.
can
The only
joy.
All
can neither create nor annihilate a sub-
All his corporeal activity consists in combination
stance.
man
man
thing of value
rise to this stage until
is
and separa-
the fear of God.
But no
he has ascended the ladder of wisdom,
and has acquired understanding.^^"
More
concretely the
way
to purify the soul
from the body
uniting the rational and spirited soul, as Plato has petitive,
A
well.
is
by
it,
against the ap-
and giving the reason the mastery over the
spirited soul as
moderate degree
of asceticism is to
be recommended as
favoring the emancipation of the soul from the tyranny of the body.
This
is
the meaning of the institution of the Nazirite; and the offering
he must bring after the expiration of his period of returning to a
life
of indulgence.
Too much praying and
is
to atone for the sin
But one should not go
fasting results in stupefaction.
It
to extremes. is
a mistake
to develop one side of one's nature at the expense of another.
Every
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
196
one of the three souls (the rational, the spirited and the appetitive)
must be given its due. But the most important life
and happiness,
is
be attained at once.
activity of
man, which leads
the knowledge of God. It
to eternal
This knowledge cannot
must be preceded by a study
of one's
own
soul and of the natural sciences.
Through a knowledge
of oneself
and nature, one arrives
a knowledge of God.
The
originally
a tabula rasa,
finally at is
These ideas are
theoretical speculation acquires.
rational soul,
and there
solutely immaterial,
soul of which
it is
is
a part.
identified with the
results the acquired Intellect, which, as ab-
immortal and becomes one with the world
During
life
complete union with the spiritual
Even Moses could only
world
is
God.
But when one has during
impossible.
life
see the "rear part" of
kept as far as possible away from
the sensuous and corporeal, then at the time of death, is
soul,
gradually perfected by the ideas which
when
the soul
separated from the body, he will be completely absorbed in the
world soul and possess the knowledge of God.
CHAPTER
XII
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD
What was
We
poison to Judah Halevi
is
meat
to
Abraham Ibn Daud.
must, he says, investigate the principles of the Jewish rehgion
and seek
harmonize them with true philosophy.
to
do these things properly a preHminary study
Nowadays
all this is
neglected and the result
mental principles, for a
superficial
and
And
in order to
of science is necessary.
confusion in funda-
is
Uteral reading of the Bible
leads to contradictory views, not to speak of anthropomorphic con-
God which cannot be
ceptions of
that the study of philosophy
happens
is
in our time that a person
This
who takes up
is
ben Abuya, known by the name
concerning Rabbi
cannot be that
for
many
of Aher.
and
God and
If
we
in their age
God had
in
all.^^^
decidedly a different point of view from that of
see, is
Judah Halevi. The
And
the divine attributes, to the
he preferred our ignorance he would not have called
our attention to these matters at This, as
sci-
so on, are a direct stimulus to such investi-
Surely mental confusion cannot be the purpose
for us.
ment.
Nevertheless
Witness what was said
statements in the Bible, such as those relating to freedom
creation of the world,
mind
day think frequently
Yohanan ben Zakkai, Samuel and the Synhedrin.^^^ God meant us to abstain from philosophical study,
of the will, to the nature of
gation.
it
the study of philosophy
ence was diligently studied in Rabbinic times.
It
of our
because
In ancient times also this happened in the person
neglects religion. of Elisha
Many
the truth.
injurious.
difference
between them
and environment, but
is
not due to a difference
solely to personal taste
Toledo was the birthplace of Ibn
Daud
as
it
and tempera-
was
of Halevi.
the period in which they lived was practically the same.
Judah
Halevi's birth took place in the last quarter of the eleventh century,
whereas Ibn
Daud
is
supposed to have been born about
ence of some twenty-five or thirty years.
The
1 1 lo,
Judah Halevi presents to us as the typical representative 197
a
philosopher
differ-
whom
of his time
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
198
the same
type of philosophy that
in the pages of the
And it is "Emunah
Ramah "
(Exalted Faith), Ibn Baud's philosophical work.^-^
Whereas,
is
an Aristotelian
of the
t3^e of Alfarabi and Avicenna.
we meet
however, Judah Halevi was a poet by the grace of God, glowing with love for his people, their religion, their language
Ibn Baud
land,
cold
and
leaves
upon us the impression
He
analytical.
from one point
no graces
exhibits
and emotion.
tion or depths of enthusiasm
of style, eloquence of dic-
He
passes systematically
wholly in the Peripatetic philosophy of the day.
historical
their historic
few words and technical, and moves
to the next, uses
year in which the
and
of a precise thinker,
In 1161, the same
Emunah Ramah was composed,
he also wrote a
work, "Sefer Hakabala" (Book of Tradition), which we
have; and in 1180, regarded by some as the year of his death^ he published an astronomical work, which of his interests
which were
scientific
This gives an index
is lost.
and philosophic.
Mysticism,
whether of the poetic or the philosophic kind, was far from his nature;
and
this
too
may
account for the intense opposition he shows to
On more
Solomon Ibn Gabirol.
than one occasion he gives vent to
his impatience with that poetic philosopher,
princi-
Choosing to devote a whole book to one purely
pally for two faults.
metaphysical topic, in
not related to Judaism, Gabirol, we are
itself
by Ibn Daud, gave expression
told
and he blames him
And
to the Jewish rehgion.
sophically incompetent
and
to doctrines extremely dangerous
apart from his heterodoxy, he
his
method
is
abominable.
is
philo-
His style
is
^^^ profuse to the point of weariness, and his logic carries no conviction.
While Abraham Ibn Daud birol
and
tacitly in
is
thus expressly unsympathetic to Ga-
disagreement with Halevi (he does not mention
him), he shows the closest relation to Maimonides, whose forerunner he is.
We feel
tempted to say that
been no Maimonides.
And
if
not for Ibn
Daud
there would have
yet the irony of history has willed that
the fame of being the greatest Jewish philosopher shall be ides's
most, should be of
Maimon-
own, while his nearest predecessor, to whose influence he owed
Ibn Daud's
all
The Arabic
but completely forgotten.
treatise is lost,
and the Hebrew
original
translations (there are
two) lay buried in manuscript in the European hbraries until one of
them was pubUshed by Simson Weil
Abraham Ibn Daud
is
the
first
in 1852.^-^
Jewish philosopher
who shows an
ABRAHAM IBM BAUD
199
intimate knowledge of the works of Aristotle and makes a deliberate effort to
sure,
harmonize the Aristotelian system with Judaism.
To be
he too owes his Aristotelian knowledge to the Arabian exponents
of the Stagirite, Alfarabi
But
of Aristotle himself.
and Avicenna, rather than
tual conditions of his time,
neglect of the sources.
repeat the effort of Ibn
The development
to the works
was rooted
in the intellec-
and must not be charged
to his personal
this peculiarity
And Maimonides does nothing more than Daud in a more brilliant and masterly fashion.
of the three religious philosophies in the
middle
ages, Jewish, Christian and Mohammedan, followed a similar line of progression. In all of them it was not so much a development from
within, the unfolding of
germ
what was impHcit and potential
of the three respective religions, as
which then combined, as an integral
and the
final
elements.
outcome was a resultant
We know
by
this
in the original
a stimulus from without,
factor,
of the
with the original mass,
two
originally disparate
time what these two elements were in
each case, Hellenic speculation, and Semitic religion in the shape of
The second factor was in every case complete when the process of fusion began. Not so the first. What I mean is that not all of the writings of Greek antiquity were known to sacred and revealed documents.
Mohammedan at the beginning of their philosoAnd the progress in their philosophical development
Jew, Christian and phizing career.
kept equal step with the successive accretion of Greek philosophical literature, in particular Aristotle's physical, psychological
and meta-
physical treatises, and their gradual purgation of Neo-Platonic adhesions.
The Syrian seem never
Christians,
to
who were
the
first
to adopt Greek teachings,
have gone beyond the mathematical and medical works
of the Greeks
and the
logic of Aristotle.
The Arabs began where The Mutakal-
their Syrian teachers ended,
and went beyond them.
limim were indebted to the
Stoics, ^-^ the
Platonists;
and
it
Pure Brethren to the Neo-
was only gradually that
master not merely in
logic,
in physics, metaphysics
Averroes represent so
became the
sole
which he always had been, but also
and psychology.
many
Aristotle
Alfarabi, Avicenna
and
steps in the Aristotelization of Arabic
philosophy. Christian mediaeval thought, which was really a continuation of
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
200
the Patristic period, likewise began with Eriugena in the ninth cen-
tury under Platonic and Neo-Platonic influences.
was known, and that too only
logic alone
progress
was due
in this case it
Of Aristotle the
Here
in small part.
also
though
to the increase of Aristotelian knowledge;
was not gradual as with the Arabs before them, but
In the latter part of the twelfth and the early part of the
sudden.
thirteenth century, through the Crusades, through the Moorish civi-
through the Saracens in
lization in Spain,
Sicily,
through the Jews
as translators and mediators, Aristotle invaded Christian Europe
Albertus Magnus,
and transformed Christian philosophy. Aquinas,
Duns
Thomas
Occam
are the results of this trans-
thing holds true of the Jews.
Their philosophizing career
Scotus,
WiUiam
of
formation.
The same
stands chronologically between that of their Arab teachers and their
And
Christian disciples. It
was
the hne of their development was similar.
parallel to that of the Arabs.
Mukammas,
came Kalam
First
the Karaites Al Basir and Jeshua ben Judah.
in Saadia,
Then Neo-
Platonism and Kalam combined, or pure Neo-Platonism, in Bahya, Gabirol, Ibn Zaddik
and the two Ibn Ezras, Abraham and Moses.
In Judah Halevi, so far as philosophy
is
Neo-Platonism is
in full
is
reduced to the vanishing point, and Aristotelianism
view and in possession of the
only philosopher
we have NeoDaud and Maimonides,
represented,
Platonism and Aristotelianism. Finally in Ibn
who
After Maimonides the
field.
deviates from the prescribed path and endeavors
to uproot Aristotehan authority in
Judaism
is
All the rest
Crescas.
stand by Aristotle and his major domo, Maimonides.
This
may seem
like
a purely formal and external mode of char-
acterizing the development of philosophical thought.
But the char-
acter of mediaeval philosophy
Their ideal of
is
responsible for this.
truth as well as goodness was in the past.
have been discovered or revealed
Knowledge was thought to
in the past,^-^
and the task
of the
philosopher was to acquire what was already there and to harmonize contradictory authorities.
came
of the past literature that
to them, the greater the transformation in their
The above and
Thus the more
digression will
his relation to
finished
— the
make
Maimonides.
own
philosophy.
clear to us the position of
Ibn
Daud
Ibn Daud began what Maimonides
last stage in the Aristotelization of
Jewish thought.
Why
ABRAHAM IBN DAUD then that so
is it
201
was known about him, and that
little
be found partly
in the nature of the
work
itself
his
important
The answer
was neglected and practically forgotten?
treatise
and partly
is
to
in historical
circumstances.
The greatest and most abiding interest in intellectual Jewry was all
the Bible
and the Talmud.
adversity or through success.
and
intelligent application at
Great
at another. try
The devotion paid
and sacred books may have been
classics
after
This interest never flagged through to these Jewish
fruitful in original research
one time and place and relatively barren
men devoted
to their study
abounded
in
one coun-
The nature of the study by historical con-
and were relatively few in another.
applied to these books was affected variously
and economic; and the cultivation or neglect
ditions, political
of
the sciences and philosophy was reflected in the style of Biblical
and Talmudical tries,
But at
interpretation.
times and in
all
all
coun-
under conditions of comparative freedom as well as in the
midst of persecution, the sacred heritage of Israel was studied
and
its
precepts observed and practiced.
sure and permanent.
All other study
greater or less proximity to this
In
this field alone
paramount
freedom and of great philosophic and
fame was
was honored according
to the
In times
interest.
scientific interest like that of
of
the
golden era in Spain, philosophical studies almost acquired independent
But
waned and waxed with external conditions, and at last disappeared entirely. If Ibn Daud had made himself famous by a Biblical commentary or a halakic value.
work, or
if
in popular
his philosophic treatise
and attractive
or Halevi's
from it
its
this independence, never quite absolute,
Cusari,"
conciseness
Abraham
ibn
was written
problem of
As
it is, it
suffers
Add
to this that
of the Perplexed" of
Maimonides,
years after the
"Emunah Ramah," and
the
completely explained.
is
Daud
tells
us in the introduction to his book that
in response to the question of a friend concerning the
free will.
termined by God,
why
better.
and technical terminology.
many
neglect of the latter
distinction of being written
Bahya's "Duties of the Hearts,"
might have fared
was superseded by the "Guide
published not
it
it
had the
style, like
The dilemma
why
is this.
does he punish,
does he send prophets?
If
man
why
is free,
If
human
action
is
de-
does he admonish, and
then there
is
something
MEDIJEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
202
world over which
in the
more
by the
diflScult
and passages may be This inconsistency that not
God has no
The problem
control.
to be explained, however,
is
by the circumstance
—
is
a proof of
Now
this.
Many
seem opposed to
statements in the Bible are in fact intended for the
common people, and are and without
their very
the passages which require
exegetic manipulation are in general those which reason.
made
cited in favor of either of the theories in question.
Biblical phrases are to be taken literally
all
contradiction
is
fact that Biblical statements are inconsistent,
expressed with a view to their comprehension,
In the present instance
reference to philosophic truth.
much
the objections to determinism are
than those to freedom. In order to realize
greater
this,
and more
however,
to investigate the principles of the Jewish religion
it is
serious
necessary
and seek
to har-
This in turn cannot be done
monize them with true philosophy.
without a preliminary study of science.
A
question like that of de-
terminism and freedom cannot be decided without a knowledge of
But
and the consequences flowing from them.
the divine attributes
we must have a knowledge of the principles of Accordingly Abraham Ibn Daud devotes
to understand these
physics and metaphysics. ^^^ the entire
first
part of the
"Emunah Ramah"
to general physics
and
metaphysics in the Aristotelian conception of these terms.
Concerning the kind of persons for says, I advise everyone in philosophical
and
who
is
man
—
this
book or any other
I advise such of
who
who can
I
from
this
It is
work, the
my
conduct.
On
book, for they
know
the beginner in speculation
man who
to see the rational necessity of beliefs
has not yet been able
and practices which he knows
tradition.
That the
principles of the Jewish religion are based
osophic foundations fore
is
are learned in the principles of religion and
can teach them here.
benefit
and
entirely
a similar nature. His ignorance
are also famiUar with philosophy need not
more than
is
a person to refrain
bUss, for after all the purpose of philosophy
the other hand, those
from
who is not interested
cannot grasp them; and
unconcerned about his ignorance
is his
he wrote his book, he
ethical questions like that of determinism
freedom on the ground that
from opening
whom
perfectly innocent,
and do them;
is
shown
for this
is
in
Deuteronomy
4,
6:
upon
"Keep
phil-
there-
your wisdom and your understanding
ABRAHAM IBN DAUD
203
in the sight of the peoples, which shall hear all these statutes,
surely this great nation
and
a wise and understanding people."
is
say,
This
cannot refer to the ceremonial precepts, the so-called "traditional"
commandments; for
for there
Nor can
of a non-Jew.
is
nothing in them to excite the admiration
refer to the political
it
and moral
regulations,
one need not profess the Jewish or any other religion in order to
practice them; they are a matter of reason pure
mean
verse quoted can only
The
and simple.
that the other nations will be seized
with admiration and wonder when they find that the fundamental principles of the Jewish religion,
without
effort,
which we received by tradition and
are identical with those philosophical principles at
which they arrived after a great deal of labor extending over thousands of years.
^^^
Ibn Daud
not consistent in his idea of the highest aim of man.
is
We have just heard him say that the purpose of philosophy is conduct. This
true to the spirit of Judaism which, despite all the efforts of
is
the Jewish philosophers to the contrary,
is
not a speculative theology
which works stand above
But as
but a practical
religion, in
an
Ibn Daud could not consistently stand by the above
Aristotelian,
standpoint as the last word in this question.
him elsewhere
faith.
Accordingly
we
find
in true Aristotehan fashion give priority to theoretical
knowledge.
man among
Judging from the position of
the other creatures of the
sublunar world, we come to the conclusion, he distinguishes is
the
The
aim
him above
of all the rest;
and they are means and preparations of activity.
wisdom from the angels
receive
direct its attention (practical reason).
of
sciences the highest
God.
The body
Some spend and some as
it
of
(theoretical
The aim
and the aim
man
is
of
man
is
of all the rest
his animal,
wisdom, is
life.
it
But
science.
which leads him to God.
of its
ills.
The
latter is
it,
not a bad occupation,
saves the body from disease and death, and so helps
the higher
it.
the knowledge
time in feeding the animal, some in clothing
all their
in curing
for
may face upward and knowledge). Or it may It
downwards and judge the other corporeal powers But it must not devote itself unduly or without
system to any one occupation.
Of the
that that which
his surroundings, namely, his rational soul,
two forms
rational soul has
tells us,
it
to attain
to think of the study of medicine as the
aim
of
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
204 life
and devote
all
one's time to
it is
spend their time in matters even
Some
doing injury to one's soul. less significant
than
this,
viz,
in
studying grammar and language; others again in mathematics and in
The
solving curious problems which are never likely to happen.
only valuable part here
Some
is
that which has relation to astronomy.
by an Arabian
If
who was promised freedom
he made the pilgrimage to Mecca and celebrated
if
he made the journey and was prevented from reaching
the holy city, he would get freedom only; but
The
the trip he would get nothing.
the purpose are thus:
making the preparations
about in the place of destination. tion for the journey
is
One
ills
in law; or in the
of
and
finally
wandering
small element in the prepara-
Medi-
twisting the threads for the water bottle.
and law as means
improve the
he did not undertake
for the journey, getting
station,
of gaining a livelihood
life,
and a reputation
They
sent the stage of preparing for the journey. to
if
three steps in the realization of
on the road and passing from station to
cine
an ex-
is
who compares man's
philosopher,^^"
condition in the world to that of a slave
and royalty besides there.
This
are exclusively occupied in "twisting threads."
pression used
repre-
are both intended
man
whether in the relations of
man
to
as
treatment of the internal humors as in medicine.
Medicine seems more important, for on the assumption of mankind being just, there would be no need of law, whereas the need for medicine
To spend
would remain.
one's whole
life in legal
casuistry
and the
working out of hypothetical cases on the pretext of sharpening one's wits, is like being
engaged in twisting threads continually
is
necessary, but a great deal
if
the religious
man would
is
first
a waste of time. learn
how
It
—a
little
would be best
to prove the existence of
God, the meaning of prophecy, the nature of reward and punishment
and the future world, and how believer.
cussions,
Then
if
he has time
to defend these matters before left,
he
may
devote
it
an un-
to legalistic dis-
and there would be no harm.
Self-examination, in order to purify oneseK from vices great small, represents the second stage of getting on the road
from station to
and celebrating attains this
is
The
station.
there,
is
to
final stage, arriving in
have a perfect knowledge
of
and
and
travelling
the holy city
God.
He who
the best of wise men, having the best of knowledge,
which deals with the noblest subject.
The
reader must not expect
ABRAHAM IBN DAUD to find
it all
in this book.
ject for himself,
he
205
If
he reads this and does not study the sub-
a
man who
is like
spent his time in reading about
The knowledge
medicine and cannot cure the simplest ailment.
of
God is when she is prepared by means of moral perfection and scientific study. The prophet puts all three functions of the soul on the same level, and gives preference to knowledge of God. "Thus saith the Lord," a form that
says Jeremiah
(9,
bestowed from on high upon the rational soul
is
22),
"Let not the wise man glory
in his
wisdom
mighty man glory
might
[spirited
[rational soul], neither let the
not the rich
soul], let
him that me.
.
in order that
We
he understandeth, and knoweth
Jeremiah also recommends
—"That I am his deeds man may
in his
glory in his riches [nutritive soul]: but let
glorieth glory in this, that
."
.
man
knowing God through
{ib.)
the Lord which exercise loving-kindness"
imitate him.^^^
have now a general idea of Ibn Baud's attitude and point
view; and in passing to the details of his system to rehearse all the particulars of his thought, to all mediaeval writers
much
on Jewish philosophy.
selves to those matters in
which Ibn
Baud
it will
of
We
of
not be necessary it
being
common
shall confine our-
contributed something new,
not contained in the writings of his predecessors. Following the Aristotelian system, he begins by describing substance
and accident and gives a
list
and characterization
of the ten categories.
This he follows up by showing that the classification of the ten categories hes at the basis of the 139th Psalm.
that
it
must be an extraordinary mode
things in such unusual places.
nomenon
It needs not our saying
of exegesis that can find such
But the very strangeness
of the phe-
bears witness to the remarkable influence exerted
by the
Aristotehan philosophy upon the thinking of the Spanish Jews at that time.232
From tal
the categories he passes to a discussion of the most fundamen-
concepts in the Aristotehan philosophy, matter and form.
here his method of proving the existence of matter
and new.
It
is
is
free
And
Aristotehan
based upon the discussion in Aristotle's Physics,
though not necessarily derived from there he says,
is
from
all
form.
directly.
Primary matter,
There must be such, for in the change
of one thing to another, of water to air for example,
form of water that receives the form of
air; for
it
cannot be the
the form of water dis-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
2o6
appears, whereas that which receives the
Reason therefore leads us
to
This
that are subject to change.
could not
itself
have come
we supposed of
This
to be.
it
an eternal matter, the
it,
last
it
led Aristotle to the concept
becoming
It is
we should
would not be the prime matter
argument
basis of
not subject to any such process. of
and
all
change and becoming,
all
to be through a similar process, or
require another matter prior to
there.
of all things
primary matter, free from
is
This matter being at the basis of
form.
new form must be
assume a common substrate
for all else besides, itself
an ultimate,
to ask for the origin
which would signify to misunderstand the meaning of
All
origin.
things of the sublunar world originate in matter, hence matter itself is
the unoriginated, the eternal.
Ibn Daud as a Jew could not accept this solution, and so he cut the knot by saying that while it is true that matter cannot originate in the
way
to be,
God
it
which the composite objects of the sublunar world come
in
does not yet follow that
alone
relative ultimate; relative, that
objects of our world; but cause.
God
created
Prime matter, next stage
is
the
in the abstract,
absolutely ultimate and eternal.
to
it
is,
it is itself
endowment
i. e.,
to the composite
and changeable
God
as the universal
an
effect of
of this formless
with extension.
This
is
It
division but a logical.
is
is
it
in
the following significant statement
Daud
expressed
it
so clearly
that the above analysis of natural objects
It does not
mean
and
and then there
so on,
is
not a physical
when
that there was a time
prime matter actually existed as such before
it
the specific forms of
not new; we have already met with
Nor
into matter, universal body, the elements,
extension until
The
matter with corporeality
Then come
altogether new, though no one before Ibn
corporeality,
a
then their compounds through mineral, plant
man.
definitely.
is
outright.
Gabirol and Ibn Zaddik.
and so
Matter
is.
therefore, represents the first stage in creation.
the four elements,
and animal
it is
the ultimate and eternal; nothing else
is
existed actually
it
received the form of
an absolute body
received the four elements.
of
No, nothing has
pure
exist-
ence in actu which has not individuality, including not only form,
but also accidents. of priority of
is
The above
logical not real.
analysis
is
theoretical,
and the order
In reality only the complete compound
matter and form (the individual)
exists.
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD Allusion to matter and form
"Arise and go
iff.))
(18,
went down
.
.
to the potter's house
topic analyzed
he wrought
by Ibn Daud
Daud
importance to Ibn
of especial
.
.
Jeremiah .
Then
his
is
I
work
Behold as the clay in the potter's hand ... "
.
The next important is
in the Bible in
to the potter's house, and, behold,
on the wheels This
down
found
also
is
207
"^^
that of motion.
because upon
it
he bases
a new proof of the existence of God, not heretofore found in the works of
any
of his predecessors.
from
It is taken
Aristotle's Physics, prob-
then adopted by Mai-
ably from Avicenna's treatises on the subject,
is
monides, and through his example no doubt
made
is
use of
by Thomas
Aquinas, the great Christian Scholastic of the thirteenth century,
who
gives
most prominent place
the
it
"Summa
in his
Contra Gen-
tiles."
Ibn Daud does not give Aristotle's general definition of motion as the " actualization of the potential qua potential " {cf. above, p. xxxii), but
his other
applied
first
remarks concerning
change which
is
Sudden change the
movement
to
it.
Motion, he says,
is
then transferred to any
fire
and
the four elements have
different
air
upward
the cause of their motions.
which are
is
As
not called motion.
is
moving downward, is
and
gradual, such as quantitative or qualitative change.
same matter and yet possess
which
imply
it
in place,
motions
—
it
must
It
all
—earth and water
cannot be the matter therefore be the forms,
different in different things.
Nothing can move
itseff.
While
determines the kind of motion
it
it is
true that the form of a thing
shall have, it
that motion, which can be caused only
without.
The
this view,
but
may seem
case of animal motions it is
not really
so.
tinct principles in the animal;
The
and
cannot in
by an
soul
it is
itself
efi&cient
like
produce
cause from
a refutation of
and the body are two
the soul that
dis-
moves the body.
The reason why a thing cannot move itself is because the thing which is moved is potential with reference to that which the motion is intended to
realize,
whereas the thing causing the motion
respect to the relation in question. it
If
then a thing
is
would be actual and potential at the same time and
itself,
in the
The Bible, too, hints at the every motion must have a mover by the recurring questions
relation,
that
actual with
moved
which
is
a contradiction.
same idea
con-
cerning the origin of prophetic visions, of the existence of the earth,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
2o8
and so
in Job (38, 36, 37): "Who hath "Who can number the clouds by "Who hath estabhshed all the ends
Such are the expressions
on.
put wisdom in the inward parts?"
wisdom?"
In Proverbs
and
of the earth?"
The question For
directions
up the
is
also equal to ab
one
infinite,
infinite is shorter
The only
impossible.
we add
to
no
infinite line.
to ab
face
Besides
and
We
solid
which
infinite,
then that ed
If
is finite.
also finite.
Hence there
no
infinite sur-
we can prove
directly the impossibility of infinite sur-
by
the
same methods we employed
In other words, it is
infinite
number
a contradiction in terms. infinite
in line.
infinite series of objects is also
as an actuality
A
all
We have
middle.
an im-
is
nvunber of things
means having no known number.
something that has beginning, middle and end.
means being
is
also
= cd, will be finite,
the sum, ce -\-ed is
is
could in that case draw in them infinite
means a known number;
is
= cd, which
we
possible because
series is
is
equal to ab,
is
than cd and yet
infinite line, there is
can prove similarly that an
impossibility.
A
than another
no
ed
if
If it is shorter
cd.
ce,
=ce, and pull
follows that ed
it
by hypothesis, ab
If there is
face or infinite solid, for lines.
Now
c.
alternative left
the finite part
it
and cd being equal is
with
the
in
infinite
cd a finite length
by hypothesis,
a part of
is
be
a
1
Take away from
impossible, for ed
then
c
line ed so that e coincides
and cd was
importance for proving
We proceed as follows: An infinite line is an imthe Hnes
let
d.
h,
passages besides. ^^^
of infinity is another topic of
the existence of God. possibility.
(30, 4):
many
in
Infinite
thus proved that an actual infinite
impossible, whether as extension or number.
And
the Bible also
alludes to the finiteness of the universe in the words of Isaiah (40, 12):
"Who
hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
intimating that the universe
We must prove next For
let
power.
the line ae a
that no finite l
c
2
has an
infinite
power, ad a
still
this is absurd, for there
e
body can have an
be a
ab, be, cd, de, etc.
power, ab has an
greater, ae a
still
infinite
infinite
having an
finite line
,
.
,"
If
every one
greater,
and so
on.
cannot be anything greater than the
of finites is finite, the line ae also
has a
power. infinite
power, ac a greater
It follows then that each of the parts has a finite power;
sum
.
capable of being measured.
Divide into the several parts
of the parts infinite
is
finite
power.
But
infinite.
and as the All these
ABRAHAM IBN DAUD principles
we must keep
As the concepts of
in mind, for
we
and incorporeality
later the existence
shall
209
by means
of
them prove
of God.^^^
of physics are essential for proving the existence
God, so are the principles of psychology
that there are intermediate beings between
These are called
substances of the world.
importance in showing
of
God and
the corporeal
The
in the Bible angels.
philosophers call them secondary causes.
Daud
Accordingly Ibn
There
sion of the soul.
as soul exists.
It
follows his physical doctrines with a discus-
nothing
is
new
in his proof that such a thing
identical with the deduction of Joseph
is
Stone and tree and horse and
{supra, p. 134).
man
are
all
Ibn Zaddik bodies and
yet the last three have powers and functions which the stone has not,
Horse and
growth and reproduction.
nutrition,
viz.,
man have
in
addition to the three powers above mentioned, which they have in
common
with
tree, the
powers of sensation and motion and imagina-
which plants have not.
tion,
Finally
man
is
distinguished above
all
the rest of animal creation in possessing the faculty of intelligence,
and the knowledge
of art
functions cannot be
body or the
and
corporeal objects should have
must this
therefore attribute
we
As an
call soul.
defined, not being it in
way
to
them, as they are
of
Like
many
also finds
it
potentially"
of his predecessors
who
{cf.
[first]
treated of the soul, Ibn
if
not
make
Daud
itself
it
the product of the elemental mixture
body.
This would reduce the soul to a phe-
of the body, or in Aristotelian terminology,
the body,
and would deprive
not to speak of immortahty.
it
of all substantiality
Daud
an accident of
and independence,
How can that which is purely a resultant
combination of elements remain when
ingly Ibn
then gives
above, p. xxxv).
nomenon
of a
He
entelechy of a
necessary to guard against the materialistic theory of
the soul which would in the body,
life
We
genus and species; but we can describe
in its relation to the body.
the Aristotehan definition of the soul as "the
natural body having
all bodies.
an extra-corporeal principle; and
incorporeal thing the soul cannot be strictly
composed
a roundabout
result of body, for in that case all
all of
them
All these
of ethical discrimination.
its basis is
gone?
phenomenalistic theories, that of Hippocrates and Galen. theory in brief
Accord-
takes pains to refute the most important of these
is
that the functions which
we
Their
attribute to the soul
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
2IO
are in reality the results of the various combinations of the four ele-
mentary
The more harmonious and
qualities, hot, cold, moist, dry.
equable the proportion of their union, the higher
The
ing therefrom.
animal and plant
is
difference
between
that as long as the mixture
of theirs
by the observation
is
a disturbance in the mix-
animal becomes sick and cannot perform his
altogether
if
and between
perfect the activities above mentioned
is
proceed properly; whereas as soon as there ture, the
the function resultbeast,
then the difference in the proportionality of the
They prove this theory
elemental mixture.
is
man and
the disturbance
and a great many believe
is
it,
The
very great.
but
it is
idea
activities, or dies is
very plausible
mistaken as we shall prove.
His refutation of the "accident" or "mixture" theory of the
soul,
as well as the subsequent discussion of the various functions, sensuous
and
rational, of the tripartite soul, are
ment
of the
same
topic,
in our exposition of
and
refer only to
found
it
based upon Ibn Sina's treat-
and we have already reproduced some
We
Judah Halevi.
shall therefore
of it
be brief here
such aspects as are new in Ibn Daud, or such as
we
advisable to omit in our previous expositions.
His main argument against the materialistic or mechanistic theory of the soul is that while a
number
of
phenomena
body can be explained by reference elementary qualities, not
and general formation
all
may
to the
of the
form
growing animal
of the mixture in the
aspects can be thus explained.
Its
causes, but not so the design
and purpose evident
in the similarity, to
the smallest detail, of the individuals of a species, even
mixture
is
not identical.
There This
working with a purpose.
growth
be the result of material and mechanical
is
no doubt that there
is soul.
There
is
is
when
the
wisdom here
another argument
based upon the visible results of other mixtures which exhibit properties
that cannot be remotely compared with the functions
to the soul.
The animal and
we
attribute
the plant exhibit activities far beyond
anything present in the simple elements of the mixture.
There must
therefore be in animals and plants something additional to the elements of the mixture.
This extra thing resides in the composite of which
forms a part, for without
Hence as the
latter
is
it
the animal or plant
is
no longer what
substance, that which forms a part of
substance; for accident, as Aristotle says,
a thing but not as forming a part of
it.
is
it is
it
it is.
also
that which resides in
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD
211
We have now shown that the soul is substance and not accident. We must still make clear in which of the four senses of the Aristote-
The body
body.
it
what
It is also the efficient
attain its perfection through the body.
body
in the lower world
the soul,
it
science
is
and
bringing final
it
from
cause of the
As the most
human body, and
the
it is
human
soul, that it
may
perfect
for the sake of
follows that the existence of the sublunar world
is
for the
be purified and made perfect by
and moral conduct.
While we have proved that soul it, it is
it is,
we
common
the
exists for the sake of the soul, in order that the soul
may
sake of the
the theory of exclusion
substance in the sense in which
and makes
it,
potentiality to actuality.
is
The form appears upon
apply that term to "form." matter and "specifies"
By
be regarded.
lian substance the soul is to
Ibn Daud decides that the soul
is
not mixture nor anything like
nevertheless true that the kind of soul bestowed
body depends upon the
Thus we have the
of that body.
animal and
human
upon a given
state of the mixture in the elementary quahties
We
or rational.
three kinds of soul, vegetative,
need not follow Ibn
Daud
in his
detailed descriptions of the functions of the several kinds of soul, as
there
is little
that
is
new and
that
Ibn Zaddik and Judah Halevi.
we have not
already met in Joseph
Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
is
the
common
source for Halevi and Ibn Daud, and the description of the inner senses is
practically identical in the two, with the slight difference that
"common sense" the two functions which Daud between the common sense and the power of
Halevi attributes to the are divided in Ibn representation.
The
soul
is
not eternal.
It
was created and bestowed upon body.
When a body comes into being,
the character of
its
mixture determines
that a soul of a certain kind shall be connected with
The
it.
other
alternatives are (i) that the soul existed independently before the
body,
is
then connected with the body and dies with the death of the
latter; or (2) it
ternative
is
remains after the death of the body.
impossible; because
in order to die with
separate existence alternative
is
it
it,
was
its
if
union
free
the soul is
is
if
first al-
connected with the body
an injury to the
soul, for in its
from the defects of matter.
equally impossible; for
The
The second
the soul was able to exist with-
out the body before the appearance of the latter and after
its
extinc;
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
212
what use
tion, of
any
benefit, its
is its
Far from being of
connection with the body?
union with the body
harmful to the
is
soul, for it is
Divine wisdom never
obliged to share in the corporeal accidents.
does anything without a purpose.
The at the
truth
that the soul does not exist before the body.
is
same time
and
as,
It arises
in connection with body, realizing
and ac-
Seed and sperm have in them the possibility of
tualizing the latter.
But they need an agent
becoming plant and animal respectively.
what
to bring to actuality
in
is
them
angel or a sphere, or an angel using a sphere as
—an —be-
This agent
potentially.
instrument
its
stows forms upon bodies, which take the places of the previous forms
The sphere
the bodies had.
means
or star produces these forms (or souls)
which motions ultimately go back to the
of its motions,
by whose wisdom forms are connected with bodies
incorporeal mover,
in order to perfect the former
Now
the
human
by means
soul has the
of the latter.
most important power
animals, that of grasping intelligibles or universals. discriminate between good
The human
economic. theoretical
and
substances,
practical.
known
and "separate
and
soul
With the former
intelligences"
among
its
This
is
self
is it
is
power there
is
the object
we have proved
it
to
come
and God.
man
it is
of the reason.
These are not
is
neither itseK
That
it is
not
But we must show
independent of body in
Man
it-
that the lower souls too,
plants, are not corporeal.
and content
This
good quahties at
and thus helping
This we can prove in various ways.
versal propositions.
means
in the world of nature.
concerning the rational power that activity.
its
substances, the angels
that the rational power in
quite evident, for
and
this
All the other powers of the
a power residing in a corporeal subject.
those of animals
By
practical reason
to the behests of the practical reason.
communion with the simple
the highest
body
With the
subservient to the theoretical, putting
We must now show body nor
it
two powers,
understands the simple
the philosophers.
perfection.
the disposition of the speculative reason, into closer
also able to
as angels in the Bible and as "secondary causes"
must be obedient is
of all other
is
conduct, moral, poHtical and
evil in
attends to noble and worthy conduct.
in turn
It
soul, therefore, has, it seems,
the soul rises gradually to it
by
first
One
is
its
by considering
has general ideas or uni-
divisible.
An
idea cannot be
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD divided into two halves or into parts.
Now
ideas.
would be
reason
if
Reason
in action consists of
a power residing in a corporeal subject,
is
Take heat
divisible like the latter.
a corporeal power,
213
as
an example.
a power residing in a body.
i. e.,
the dimensions of the body, and as the latter
But
former.
this is evidently
and so
Hence the
on.
is
It extends through is
divided so
the
is
not true of general ideas, such as that
a thing cannot both be and not be, that the whole part,
it
Heat
rational
power
is
is
greater than
its
independent of body.
Ibn Daud gives several other proofs, taken from Aristotle and Avicenna, to show that reason
them the
We
all here.
"De Anima"
son performed
is
we cannot reproduce name one more which is found in
independent, but
however,
shall,
and is based on experience. If the reaby means of a corporeal organ like the the power of knowing would be weakened when of Aristotle
thinking
its
external senses,
confronted with a
difficult subject,
tated from exercising
its
and would thereby be incapaci-
powers as before.
This
is
the case with the
by a bright light and cannot see at all, or the But ear, which cannot hear at all when deafened by a loud noise. the case of knowledge is clearly different. The more difficult the subeye,
which
dazzled
is
more
ject the
is
And
therein.
the power of the reason developed in exercising
in old age,
the power of reason
Although
it is
were as
For
many
ble; for the
which
is
being
all
it
soul
did,
independent of the
it
was
either one soul for all
men.
The
men, or there
Nor
could the separate souls be different, for
souls they cannot differ in essence,
But neither can they
be either one or many,
i. e.,
they cannot be at
Nor must we suppose because
which
They cannot all
it
fledged in actual perfection in the person of the infant.
The
perfections of the
their
human
therefore
before body.
the reason exercises
functions without the use of a corporeal organ that
teaches otherwise.
is
differ in accidental quali-
simple substances have no accidents.
potential.
impossi-
iirst is
would then be wise and ignorant, good and bad,
impossible.
human
is
did not exist before the body any more than the
if it
common humanity. ties, for
strongest.
souls as there are individual
same
itself
the corporeal organs are v/eakened,
thus true that the rational soul
body, nevertheless lower souls.
is
when
its
thought
appears
full
Experience
soul are in the child
Later on by divine assistance he acquires the
first
principles
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
214
knowledge about which there
of
no dispute, such as that two things
is
equal to the same thing are equal to each other, that two contrary predicates cannot apply to the
same
and so
relation,
ciples of
known
as the hylic or potential
and the
third
senses,
is
make
person could not
intellect.
same time
in the
fundamental prin-
Then he
progresses
construct syllogisms
We
to the iinknown.
development of the reason.
intellect,
of these are the
make premises and
learns to
argue from the in the
Some
at the
mathematics, others of other sciences.
and
further
on.
same subject
and
have thus three stages
The first potential stage is known The second is known as the actual
the acquired
not for the body the
If
intellect.
For without body there are no
this progress.
and without senses he would not
see
how
the wine in the barrel
ferments and increases in volume, which suggests that quantity accident and body
is
substance.
between quality and substance
if
Nor would he
he did not observe a white garment
There
turning black, or a hot body becoming cold. of the
But
body with
this
the death of the
Some think pendent upon
senses to lead to a knowledge of the universals.
body does not cause the
that because the soul it
But
substance.
and cannot survive this inference is
is
is
not a corporeal power,
extinction of the soul.
the form of the
it,
not vaUd.
assume what we want to prove, and there
For
the
if
no need
and not
Plato teaches
problem
concern and trouble. it
human matter,
de-
soul
we
argument.
the question at
simply a matter
of the rational soul
The
did not appeal to him for
among them being
it is
decisive.
reader will see that the
Daud much
is
its
of the
it is
comparison with the other observed cases
of opinion
The
is
not as a matter of fact included, because
issue, its
body
as no other form survives its
included in the statement that no form survives
If it is
need therefore
is
knowledge once acquired, the soul needs not the body for
subsequent existence; and as the soul
its
is
its
is
learn the distinction
gave Ibn
pre-existence of the soul as
many
the statement in Genesis
reasons, not the least
(2, 7),
"And God
breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life," which seems to favor the idea of the soul originating with the body; though, to be sure, a harmless verse of this
kind would not have stood in his way, had he had reason to favor
the doctrine of pre-existence.
he dared not deny.
Immortality was also a dogma which
The arguments
against
it
seemed rather strong.
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD From
215
the doctrine of the soul's origin with the
composition of the
fitted to the material
body and
being
its
would seem to follow
latter,
The same
the soul's extinction with the death of the body.
result
was apparently demanded by the observation that the intellect develops as the body matures, and that without the senses and their
data there would be no intellect at
The
all.
fluctuation of intellectual
strength with the state of bodily health would seem to tend to the
same end, against the doctrine
Moreover, the Aristo-
of immortality.
form
telian definition of the soul as the entelechy or it
of the body,
necessarily that
it is
a form like other forms and disappears with the
dissolution of its substance. insists its
upon
To
avoid
all
the incorporeal character of the reason's activity,
independence of any corporeal organ, and
that
but
its
development
its
increasing
body, not
power
is
fully
all
not incompatible with
developed and perfected.
forms are alike; and
a form of body.
Ibn Baud's making.
He
i.
e.,
power admits
dependent on the data of sense perception,
is
insists that this is
body when
Daud
these pitfalls Ibn
in old age despite the gradual weakening of the body.
of
if
applies to the rational faculty as well as to the lower powers, implies
freedom from the
for its being a
form
of
not so certain that the rational
it is
Neither the
They
As
its
difficulties
nor the solution are
are as old as Aristotle,
and his
successors
grappled with them as best they could.
There
is still
The same
the question of the
manner
of the soul's survival.
Daud brings forward many souls before the
reasons which Ibn
bility of the existence of
against the possi-
body, apply with
If simple substances
equal cogency to their survival after death.
common essence cannot differ either in essence or in accident, human souls after the death of the body must exist as one soul,
having a the
and what becomes
of individual immortality,
Ibn Daud has not a word
to say about this,
which
and
religion promises?
it is
one of the weak
points religiously in his system as well as in that of Maimonides,
which the
critics
and opponents
of the latter did not fail to observe.
Before leaving the problem of the soul Ibn to showing that metempsychosis
is
impossible.
Daud The
devotes a word soul of
man
is
suited to the character of his elemental mixture, which constitutes
the individuality of his body.
own
peculiar soul.
A
Hence every
individual's
living person cannot therefore
body has its in him a
have
2i6
MEDIjEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
^
soul which formerly resided in a different
are identical in
But
all respects.
body
in that case
unless the two bodies
not transmigration
it is
but the re-appearance of the same person after he has ceased to be.
But
has never yet happened.
this
Finally Ibn
who
those
Daud
finds it necessary to defend the Bible against
criticize the
of the future
Jews on the ground that there
is
no mention
world and the existence of the soul after death in the
Bibhcal writings.
All the rewards
and punishments spoken
of in the
Bible, they say, refer to this world.
His answer
offers
nothing new.
Judah Halevi had already
account for
this
phenomenon,
tried to
besides insisting that altogether devoid of allusion to the future world
the Bible
Ibn Daud follows
not.
is
in Halevi's footsteps
{cf.
above,
2^^
p. 170).
Abraham Ibn Daud his treatise,
by a
closes the first, the purely scientific part of
discussion of the heavenly spheres
and
their motions.
In accordance with the view of Aristotle, which was shared by the majority of writers throughout the middle ages, he regards the spheres
with their stars as living beings, and their motions as voluntary, the result of will
and purpose, and not simply " natural,"
unconscious force within them called nature. to prove this to our own.
are
is
human
soul that
is
due to an
i. e.,
of his
arguments
derived from the superiority of the heavenly bodies
Their
size, their
brightness and their continued duration
evidence of corporeal superiority.
all
as the
One
body, which
is
And
it
stands to reason that
the highest in the sublunar world, has a
nobler than that of plant or animal, so the heavenly bodies
must be endowed with
much superior to the human intellect human body. The Bible alludes to this the nineteenth Psalm, "The heavens declare the glory of There is no speech nor language. ..." The last expression that they praise God with the intellect. There are other souls as
as their bodies are to the
truth in
God.
.
signifies
.
.
passages in the Bible besides, and particularly the Ezekiel,
which m.ake
it
with
intellect.
We
and
be sure, in the sense of taking nourishment
and growing and reproducing in the sense of
chapter of
clear that the heavenly bodies are living
intelligent beings; not, to
but
first
their
kind and making use of five senses,
performing voluntary motions and being endowed
^^^
have now concluded our preliminary discussion of the
scientific
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD And
principles lying at the basis of Judaism.
217
our next task
is
to study
the fundamental doctrines of Jewish theology which form the highest
God and
object of knowledge, dealing as they do with
and
The
his revelation.
first
thing to prove then
God, since we cannot define him.
For
is
his attributes
the existence of
means the designa-
definition
tion of the genus or class to which the thing defined belongs, whereas
God cannot be put in a class. As the essence of a thing is revealed by its definition, we cannot know God's essence and are limited to a knowledge
The
of his existence.
principles for this proof
a thing cannot move
itself,
we have already
and that an actual
They
given.
are that
infinite series is impossi-
The argument then proceeds as follows: Nothing can move itself, is moved by something other than itself. If this is also moving, it must be moved by a third, and so on ad infinitum. But an actual infinite series of things moving and being moved is impossible, and unless we ultimately arrive at a first link in this chain, all motion is impossible. Hence there must be a first to account for the motion we observe in the world. This first must not itself ble.
hence everything that moves
be subject to motion, for it
to
We
make
move, and
it
have thus proved,
immobile, a
We
first
it
it
would then have to have another before
would not be the
first
we supposed it to be. a primum movens
therefore, the existence of
unmoved mover.
must now show that
unmoved mover
this
is
incorporeal.
This we can prove by means of another principle of physics, made clear in the first part.
We
have an
But God
his
infinite
power
is
power.
showed there that a
not affected by time.
This proof, as we said before,
is infinite.
is
body cannot
Hence God cannot be body. is
Bahya we found a proof which bears a above, p. 87); but the difference
finite
For, being immovable,
new
in Jewish philosophy.
close resemblance to this
that
Bahya argues from
one
In {cf.
being, Ibn
Daud from motion. Bahya says if a thing is, some cause must have made it to be, for a thing cannot make itself. As we cannot proceed cd infinitum, there must be a of everything else.
cannot make
itself,
The how
first
which
is
the cause of the existence
objection here, of course,
did the
first
come
is
that
if
a thing
to be.
The Aristotelian proof of Ibn Daud knows nothing about the of being. As far as Aristotle's own view is concerned there
origin is
no
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
2i8
Both are eternal, and change. God is the eternal
temporal beginning either of being or of motion.
and
so
is
matter, the basis of
genesis
all
cause of the eternal motion of the world, and hence of the eternal genesis
and
world.
How
which constitutes the
dissolution,
and
to reconcile the idea of eternal time
with the doctrine that an actual infinite
when we
treat
Maimondes
is
of the sublunar
life
impossible
removes
phenomena
impossible in objection
not
is
But
merely
this
which
is
regarded
But another more
placed in God.
first
For Aristotle there
mover.
But
for
Ibn Daud
minus a proof that God
asserts that
As
infinity
serious it
does
For the argument from motion does not give us a creator
adequate. far
shall see
the adoption of an AristoteHan argument where
is
suit.
but a
For the
one step.
the difficulty
we
Ibn Daud does not adopt eternity
(p. 251).
motion even hypothetically, as Maimonides does.
of
motion
eternal
God
is
it is
no creator, and
is
his proof is
We
decidedly inadequate.
a creator ex
nihilo.
are so
Ibn Daud simply
created matter, but this argument does not prove
to the incorporeality of
God
from the eternity of motion.
If
Aristotle can prove
a
body (and there
finite
it.
adequately
it
is
no such
thing as an infinite body) cannot have an infinite power, God, whose
causing eternal motion argues infinite power,
Daud's attempt to prove God's
infinity
motion on the ground that time cannot is
decidedly less satisfactory.
On
is
not a body.
without the theory of affect
what
is
argument from motion
of matter,
and God as the mover rather than the Creator.
not helpful, as
was frank enough and bold enough to recognize
and
to
adopt
it.
We
shall see
immovable,
the whole then this adoption of
Aristotle's
is
Ibn
infinite
it
leads to eternity
this
Gersonides
consequence
Maimonides's attitude when we come
to treat of his philosophy.
Ibn Daud
may have
been aware of the inadequacy of his argument
from motion, and therefore he adds another, based upon the tion
—a distinction and an argument possible existent
is
due to Alfarabi and Avicenna.
its
A
a thing whose existence depends upon another,
and was preceded by non-existence.
upon
distinc-
between the "possible existent" and the "necessary existent"
cause; hence the
is
one whose existence
It
is
name
is
It
may
exist or not,
possible existent.
in itself
a necessary existent because
depending
A necessary existent
and not derived from elsewhere.
its
own
essence cannot be thought
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD
Now
without involving existence.
the question
thing as a necessary existent, or are
which
is
dependent for
so long as there
any
no
is
existence
its
first
there
We
link in the chain.
all
we have an
If all existents are possible,
is
must
219
tion a necessary existent,
thing
This proof
else.
is
which
is
existents merely possible?
upon the
plicity; for
therefore
assume a it.
first,
This
own
is
which
by
is
defini-
the cause of the existence of every-
God
as a Creator.
God we must
of
base this proof upon the idea of the
Such an existent cannot have in
has, its
if it
shall
and
it;
nothing to explain the existence of
compatible with
We
his unity.
necessary existent.
every link of
link preceding
Having shown the existence and incorporeality
now prove
Is there such a
infinite series,
not again dependent upon a cause prior to
itself
is,
any multi-
it
essence would not be able to keep the
elements together, and there would be need of an external agent to
do
But
this.
thing
else,
Nor
in this case the object
which
is it
is
possible there should be
necessary existent,
would be dependent upon some-
incompatible with the idea of a necessary existent.
we have
two necessary
just shown,
must be
existents; for the
of the
plicity,
and hence cannot have any attribute added
Now
there
if
to its essence.
a second, there must be something by which the
is
from the second, or they are
differs
utmost sim-
identical.
Either the
first
first
or the
second therefore would not be completely simple, and hence not a necessary existent.
We and
have thus shown that God
is
one both in the sense of simple
To have
in the sense of unique.
a clear insight into the nature
we must now show that nothing else outside of God is though we apply the term one to many things. No one
of his unity, really one, will
claim that a collective
one, for an individual
You might
is
man,
one; but neither
is
an individual really
for example, consists of
many
organs.
think that a homogeneous and continuous elementary
mass
like air or
that
is
water
corporeal
is
is
composed
aside corporeal objects entities like line
and
But
one.
of
and aim
surface,
this is
not true either, for everything
matter and form.
If
then
we
set
to find real unity in mathematical
which are not corporeal, we are met with
the difl&culty that line and surface are divisible, and hence potentially muitiple.
But
neither are the simple intellectual substances, like the
angels, true ones; for they are
composed
of their
own possible existence
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
220
and the necessary existence they acquire from another. The only may be a true one is that which is not corporeal
being therefore that
and not dependent upon another
for its existence.
Considering the question of unity from a different aspect, in
we
relation, namely, to the thing designated as one,
never forms the essence of anything called by that name; but
Thus
every case an accident. that he
is
if it
Hence
is
as
in
man
hand be many men, and on
same time be one
horse, one tree,
involves two things.
And
we
ex-
a negative concept.
It
his unity is his essence.
amine the matter carefully we
find that
it is
if
First, that
every other unity involves plurality
And
second that being unhke anything
some form or another.
else,
man
In God his unity cannot be an accident, since as simple
one stone.
he has no accidents.
in
were the essence of
one, there could not on the one
the other there could not also at the
its
find that unity
he cannot bear having other things associated with him to make
the result many, as
we can
and with B, C, and
D
in the case of
man.
he becomes many.
A, for example,
This
is
is
one;
not apphcable to
God.23«
The
we must
divine attributes form the next topic
Ibn Daud
offers little or
nothing that
is
Here
consider.
He
essentially new.
admits
neither essential nor accidental attributes, for either would bring
The only attributes When we speak of God as cause
pluraHty and composition in the nature of God.
he admits are negative and
we do
relative.
not place any special entity in his essence, but merely indicate
The
the dependence of things upon him. negative, such as that he
ent upon another, and attributes,
is
is
not depend-
so on; the only difficulty being that negative
though removing
information.
truest attributes are the
not body, that his existence
many
doubts, do not give us any positive
All the anthropomorphic attributes in the Bible
God with human him human limbs,
endow-
ing
functions like sleeping and waking, or ascribing
to
eyes, ears, hands, feet, etc.,
metaphorically.
For the Bible
itself
must be understood
warns us against corporealizing
God, "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no
manner (Deut.
of 4,
form on the day that the Lord spake unto you 15),
the meaning
is
happiness which
When
that good deeds bring is
in
Horeb"
the Bible speaks of God's anger and favor,
known
as paradise
man
near to
("Gan Eden
"),
God and
cause
and bad deeds
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD remove It
is
away from God and lead
far
when
in reality
and depart,
to approach
it is
he that
to be
man who by his deeds comes When we assign many attributes any multiplicity
man whose
and the mountains So here God
moving.
is
to the is
said
angry with and favor, when in reality
it is
a
to misfortune, called Gehenna.
like the apparent motion of the trees
traveller,
221
God or departs far from him. God we do not mean that there is
near to to
This cannot be.
in his nature.
It
like the case of
is
eyes are not properly co-ordinated.
He
sees double
when there is only one. So we too suffer from intellectual squinting, when we seem to see many attributes in the one God. The most common and most important attributes are the following eight: One, existent, true, eternal, living, knowing, wilHng, able.
Daud
can be easily shown (and Ibn
we
shall not follow
him
in his details) that all these are at
Unity means that there
negative.
Eternal means he
indivisible.
True means he
is
nothing
is
more
on
to say
this topic,
far, for
bottom
him and that he
is
never cease existing and that his existence does
will
closes his discussion of the attributes
been said so
like
not subject to change or motion.
not come from another, and so on with the
He
It
does proceed to show, though
but had better
rest.
by intimating that he has be content with what has
a more thorough discussion of these matters in a
book might do harm
to those
who do not understand and
the author's words incorrectly.
interpret
This reminds us of Maimonides's
adjuration of the reader to keep what he finds in the "Guide of the
Perplexed" to himself and not to spread
was a
delicate subject
intellectual digestion
We
and not meant
we made
Philosophy clearly
abroad.
for intellectual babes,
of
God and
his attributes;
to prove the existence
and nature
The next
of the superlunar
and sub-
lunar worlds, called angels in the Bible, and secondary causes
For
we have proved bodies.
We
this
step
of intermediate spiritual beings
between God and the corporeal objects
philosophers.
and
use of principles of physics, such as matter and
form, potentiality and actuality, motion and infinity. is
whose
might be seriously disturbed. ^^^
have now concluded our theory
in doing so
it
by the
purpose we shall have to apply the principles
concerning the soul and the motions of the heavenly
have proved above that the human soul
child intelligent potentially
and then becomes
is
at
first in
the
intelligent actually.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
222
This requires an agent, in proceeding
is
whom
the end to which the potential
As the
always actual.
rational soul
neither
is
is
body nor
a corporeal power, this actual agent cannot be either of these, hence it is
neither a sphere nor the soul of a sphere, but
substance called Active
We
C'Ruah Ha-Kodesh"). least
The prophets
Intellect.
it
must be a simple "Holy Spirit"
call it
thus have a proof of the existence of at
one such simple intellectual substance, or angel, the relation of
which to the human soul vision
is
is
as that of Kght to vision.
makes
potential, light
the potential soul actual
it
So the active
actual.
and gives
Without intellect
light
makes
the axioms, which are uni-
it first
and hence could not have originated by induction
versally certain,
from experience.
we can prove the
Similarly
existence of other simple substances
We
from the motions of the heavenly spheres.
have already shown
that the spheres are living beings and endowed with souls.
But
souls,
while causing motion in their bodies are at the same time themselves
This must be caused by unmoved movers,
in a sort of psychic motion.
or intellects,
who
cult matter
somewhat
A
ship
is
To make this diffiwe may instance made by the ship-
But
there
is
also
are also the causes of the souls.
and more
clearer
an analogy from famihar experience. builder,
who
is its
corporeal cause.
cause, likewise a ship,
The analogy
is
viz.,
plausible,
the ship in the
mind
imperfect, because the incorporeal ship in the
of the builder cannot produce
to that expending time
mind
an actual corporeal ship without the
builder employing material, such as wood, iron, etc.,
if
an incorporeal
of the shipbuilder.
and
and physical exertion on the
in addition
material.
But
he had the power to give the form of a ship to the material as soon
as the latter
was prepared
we should have an
lation,
for
it
without time and physical manipula-
instance of what
we want
to prove, namely,
the existence of simple immaterial substances causing forms to ema-
nate upon corporeal existences.
This
tellect in its relation to the soul of
is
the nature of the active in-
man, and
it is
in the
same way that
the philosophers conceive of the motions of the heavenly spheres.
God
is
the
first
unmoved mover.
stand next to him
move
;
and they,
The
too, are
angels or simple substances
always actual intelligences, and
moves the The heavenly bodies
the heavenly bodies as the object of love and desire
object loving
it
without
itself
being moved.
ABRAHAM IBN DAUD move like
223,
therefore because of a desire to perfect themselves, or to
become
unto their movers.
So far Ibn Daud agrees with the philosophers, because the doctrines
But when the
so far expounded are not incompatible with the Bible.
philosophers raise the question,
How
many
can the
originate from the
One, the manifold universe from the one God, and attempt to answer
by their theory of successive emanations, Ibn Daud calls a halt. The human mind is not really so all-competent as to be able to answer The doctrine of successive all questions of the most difficult nature. emanations is that elaborated by Alfarabi and Avicenna, which we have already seen quoted and criticized by Judah Halevi {cf. above, p. 178 f.). It is slightly more complicated in Ibn Daud, who speaks of it
Intelligence— an —whereas in Halevi's account there
the treble nature of the emanations after the intelligence,
first
a soul and a sphere
^^° were only two elements, the soul not being mentioned.
We and
have so
religion, so
religions other
practical
more
far dealt with the
much
of
it
than Jews.
and the more
as
may
It remains
specifically
is
accepted by nations and
now
to approach the
more
Jewish phases of religion; though
and those
in the purely ethical discussions
we have once more a
theoretical part of theology
be and
relating to Providence
subject of general application,
and not
exclusively
Jewish.
As the introduction
Daud
to this second part of the subject,
Abraham Ibn
devotes a few words to the theoretical defence of tradition, or
He
rather of mediate knowledge.
kinds of knowledge. sensible.
Sensible knowledge
ject or received
does so
by analyzing
Knowledge, he says, is
is
the various
either intelligible or
either directly perceived
by the sub-
by him from another who perceived it directly, and or not as the case may be. That is why some things
whom he believes believed
may
by some people are not believed by
think that this weakness
is
others.
The ignorant
inherent in matters received from
As a matter of fact such indirect knowledge is at the basis and makes it possible. If every man were to judge only by what he sees with his own eyes, society could never get along; others.
of civiHzation
there would be no
way
would not put credence
of obtaining justice in court, for the judge
in witnesses,
fight out their differences,
and the
parties
would have to
which would lead to bloodshed and the
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
224
disruption of social
The
life.
to a given matter of belief of the thing itself,
came down event,
If
a thing
rests
if
belief
one man,
of
a whole nation witnessed an
no longer doubtful, unless we suppose that the account
due to one
writer,
We
and the event never happened.
discuss these matters in the sequel.
Having
upon the testimony
But
not very strong.
is
it is
itself is
different attitude of different persons
due not necessarily to the uncertainty
but to the manner in which the object of the
to us.
warrant
its
is
shall
^^^
a general way the knowledge derived from the
justified in
testimony of others by showing that society could not exist without
depending upon such knowledge; though admitting at the same time that caution should be exercised and criticism in determining traditional testimony traditional
is
valid or not,
we now
what
take up one of these
phenomena which plays perhaps the most important role namely, the phenomenon of prophecy. Before
in Jewish theology,
discussing the traditional aspect of this institution in the history of rehgion
we must
consider
it
from
its
and
its
purpose
natural and psy-
chological aspect.
The
explanation of Ibn
Daud
—
it
was not
original with him, as
we
have already seen the non-religious philosopher in Halevi's Cusari giving utterance to the same idea, and in Jewish philosophy Israeli
touches on
it
— the explanation of Ibn Daud
is
grounded
The
ogy, the Aristotelian psychology of Avicenna.
prophecy, he says,
is
is
a state of the body in which
external as well as the internal senses, so sleeping in
is
it
many
uses the
a state of the body
which the soul suppresses the external senses by putting them to
sleep,
and
exercises its "natural"
powers only, such as the beating of
the heart pulse, respiration, and so on. at
degree of
first
found in true dreams, which happen to
Just as waking
people.
in his psychol-
work during
of imagination
sleep, or at least is
active
when
The
internal senses are also
some of them. In particular the power
the external senses are at
rest.
makes various combinations and separations and brings them
common
sense.
weak when not
are
visions
for
The
is
a dream, true or
false.
When
to the
the senses
one reason or another this power becomes active and,
controlled
and
result
It then
by the
reason, produces a great
many
erroneous
ideas, as in the delusions of the sick.
The Deity and
the angels and the Active Intellect have a knowledge
ABRAHAM IBN DAUD of the past, present i. e.,
and
225
and we already know that the
future,
Now
a natural thing in every person.
and general the soul
ideas, so it
may
gets from
it
The reason
adequately prepared.
is
just as
state, is
because the soul
In
the senses.
cannot receive
it
waking
its
then busy in acquiring knowledge through
sleep, too, it
of food or drink.
process
may
be prevented by the thick vapors
The imagination
by the constant presentation
common
sense.
trol of the reason,
But sometimes and then the
hidden things from the Active
also
sometimes hinders
power comes under the con-
rational soul
Intellect.
tion transforms these facts into images,
is
prepared to receive
In those cases the imagina-
which are true dreams.
prophecy, or at least the share of prophecy they
We
call
to
this
of its foolish combinations to
this
they concern an individual or a particular event, we do not
small.
if
in-
from the food consumed during the day, or by anxiety due
rising
want
is
science
it
receive a knowledge of hidden things
formation of hidden things from the Active Intellect in
the
soul,
the rational soul, receives influence from the Active Intellect as
may have
If
them
call is
very
them prophetic dreams when they concern important
matters and have reference to a whole nation or nations, and come
An
to pass in the distant future.
recorded in Daniel
example
of such a
dream
is
that
7, i.
Sometimes the information comes to the prophet without the aid of
an image, when the reason prevails over the imagination,
dream
of
Abraham
Sometimes,
like the
at the "covenant of the pieces" (Gen. 15,
also, the activity of the senses
i2ff.).
does not prevent the pro-
phet from seeing the hidden things of the future, and he receives prophetic inspirations while awake.
he
is
The prophet sometimes
faints as
overcome by the unusual phenomenon, at other times he succeeds
in enduring
it
without swooning.
from the Bible, and examples
All these cases can be illustrated
will readily
occur to the reader
who
is
famihar with the various instances and descriptions of prophetic visions
and
activities in Scripture.
The purpose of prophecy With this end in view God gives
him
is
to guide the people in the right way.
inspires a proper
man
superior powers to perform miracles.
capable of prophecy, only one
part the prophetic
who has a pure
gift is innate, at the
as a prophet and
Not every man soul.
is
For the most
same time study and good
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
226
associations help to develop this
"company
the
19, 20),
of prophets,"
and EUsha as the
power
him who has
in
Witness
it.
whose example inspired Saul
(i
Sam.
disciple of Elijah.
While we thus see Ibn Daud, unlike Halevi, adopting the philosophical explanation of prophecy, which tries to bring class of natural psychological
phenomena and
it
within the
relates it to dreams,
he could not help recognizing that one cannot ignore the supernatural character of Bibhcal prophecy without bemg untrue to the Bible.
He
accordingly adds to the above naturahstic explanation a
of conditions
which practically have the
out of the psychological theory.
If
Israehtes in the land of Palestine
and at the tune
Judah Halevi
independence had the privilege of the prophetic such a behef
is
of the
and thinkmg, which and
superficial
warp and woof is
cosmopoHtanism
most cases innate,
only
of their political
we
gift,
realize that
of Halevi's innermost sentiment
of the "philosophers" of his day.
of Peripateticism,
explaining that prophecy
Abraham Ibn Daud,
of the nature of true dreams,
is
may
and proper associations
bottom
insists that
radically opposed to the shallow rationahsm
But when the champion in
number
effect of taking the
after
and though
be cultivated by a pure soul through study
—repeats with Judah Halevi that the time and
the place are essential conditions leged in this respect, he
is
and that
giving up,
viously attempted to explain.
This
is
Israelites alone are privi-
seems to
it
us, all that
only one of the
he pre-
many indications
which point to the essential to
artificiality of all the mediaeval attempts harmonize a given system of philosophy with a supernaturalistic
standpoint, such as
Bible
is
to be saved
The next was that altered.
is
that of the Bible.
practical question
Ibn Daud
of the possibility of the
This he found
It is not in this
way
that the
needs saving. ^^^
if it
it
Law
felt called
upon to discuss
being repealed, abrogated or
necessary to do in order to defend the Jewish
standpoint against that of Christianity in particular.
How
answer
We
this question is of course
interested in his
manner
a foregone conclusion.
of argument.
He
he
adopts a classification of
long standing of the Bibhcal laws into rational and traditional. first,
he says, are accepted by
Even a band
of thieves,
who
all
will
are only
The
nations and can never be changed.
disregard
all
laws of right and wrong as
they relate to outsiders, must observe them in their
own midst
or they
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD cannot
These laws bring people of
exist.
different nationalities
and hence there can be no change
beliefs together,
can there be any alteration in that part of the
An
in content.
227
Law which is
and
Nor
in these.
historical
event of the past cannot be repealed.
It only remains therefore to see
whether abrogation
may
possibly
be compatible with the nature of the traditional or ceremonial laws.
Without arguing
change of a divine law
like the philosophers that
incompatible with the nature of God, which sages nevertheless have a it
method
demands
reconcile the
"And
of explaining such phrases as,
repented the Lord that he had
made man"
is
unchangeable, our
is
(Gen.
as to
6, 6), so
Now
of reason with those of tradition.
if
there were laws of the traditional kind stated in the Bible without
any indication
of time
and without the statement that they are
and afterwards other laws came
eternal,
we should say that the Lord has a certain purpose in his laws which we do not know, but which is revealed in the new law taking the place of the old. But as a to change them,
matter of fact the Bible states explicitly in are not to be changed,
"A
many
cases that the laws
statute for ever throughout your genera-
(Num. 10, 8, and passim). Arguments from phrases "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth,
tions"
have no
(Is. I, 14),
validity, for there is
fices are abolished.
The meaning
no indication here that
like,
etc." sacri-
of Isaiah is that sacrifices in con-
junction with wrong living are undesirable.
Our opponents
also argue that Biblical expressions to the effect
that the laws are eternal prove nothing, for
we know
of similar in-
stances in which promises have been withdrawn as in the priesthood of Eli's family
eternity
and the royalty
mentioned.
is
We
of the
house of David, where likewise
answer these by saying,
first,
that in
David's case the promise was withdrawn only temporarily, and return again, as the Prophets
tell us.
Besides the promise was
will
made
only conditionally, as was that
made
ment anywhere that the Law
given to Israel conditionally and that
it will
true,
its place,
view.
away from them. those who say that the laws
But
there
is
no
state-
ever be taken
The claim were
is
to Eli.
of
of the
Old Testament
New
Testament took
but that they were repealed and the
we meet by
We
pointing to a continuous tradition against their
have an uninterrupted tradition during two thousand
MEDIJEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
228
man Moses who
four hundred and seventy- two years that there was a
Law
gave a
accepted by his people and held without any break for
two thousand four hundred and seventy-two to prove he
Some
was a genuine prophet
them say that
of
forgotten and Ezra
it.
Babylon the old
law, the one
Law was
we have now.
This
all
they were led into exile in a quiet fashion, and there were great
among them
surely could not have forgotten the
made a law
as Ibn
Daud
The its
and
of evil
As a matter
knowledge.
and the
in him,
in order.
And
and
at one end the
it
said, it is
—the
from
Hence it
God's essence
is
the most perfect
his essence, his
is
the most perfect
defect.
too, that his perfection is not stationary
extends and conmiunicates
is its
is
matter that hinders
evil is the result of the potential.
the further a thing
and the greater
the perennial one
is
and as he knows
but that
it
purpose of the entire book,
removed from matter the more perfect
is
God knows,
knowledge.
we have
removed from potentiality the more perfect
is
freer it is is;
as
he had
It is the
we have already
For, as
All defect
thing there
Law
of fact the
if
us in his introduction.
tells
the farther a thing is
everywhere
consider
of freedom.
further a thing
knowledge.
Besides Ezra could never
throughout the world. ^^^
all details
The next problem we must problem
Law.
of all the people scattered
own.
of his
the same in
men
Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Daniel and others who
like
have had the consent
is
is
The law could not have been forgotten, for the people did go into captivity at one time. They were not all put to death;
absurd.
not
do not have
do not deny
since they
in the captivity in
made a new
We
years.
is
imperfection.
itself to all
from him the
We have
other things
less is its perfection
thus a graduated series,
most perfect being, at the other the
least perfect, viz.,
matter.
Now
it is
impossible from any point of view, either according to
reason or Bible or tradition, that evil or defect should
Not by ble.
reason, for
Now
if
two contradictories
good and
evil
composite just like man,
in the
come from God.
same subject are impossi-
both came from God, he would have to be
who can be
the cause of good
and
evil,
the
one coming from his rational power, the other from the spirited or appetitive.
not do
so,
But God which
is
is
simple and
absurd.
if
evil
comes from him, good can-
Besides, the majority of defects are pri-
ABRAHAM IBN DAUD
229
vational in character and not positive, like for example darkness,
poverty, ignorance, and so on, which are not things, but the negations of light, wealth, wisdom, respectively.
Being negative, not positive,
they are not made by any body.
One may argue
that
in the nature of
it is
understanding and perfection; and
The answer
evil.
is
man
For
evil
him
of
he does
it,
very small in com-
is
and defect are found only
common
which have a
of the elements,
that he should have
deprives
that the evil in the world
parison with the good.
composed
God
if
in things
matter, receiving
forms in accordance with the mixture of the elementary qualities in the matter.
Here an external cause sometimes prevents the form
from coming to the matter in
its
Now it
For
all
plants animals,
all
be no world, but only
we
actually have
animals men,
it
And
but the whole.
lectual type, there
Now
there are
To
acts of
men
angels;
would be plants,
and there would
all
if
series
in
view not the par-
men were
of a highly intel-
men whose temperament
is
labor.
such that they cannot
and wrong, and they follow
This shows that
man come
In order
make a graduated
to
when we have
Thus
it is
evil tendencies, for in that case the
The
to give things the highest
as a matter of fact the very defects in
counteract these bad qualities
and warnings.
seed, for example,
finds for its growth.
would be no agriculture or manual
distinguish between right tions.
it
of the highest angels.
was necessary
the material composites are a good ticular thing
all
God and a few
it.
which
in that case all minerals
that there shall be a world, as
soil
God was bound
does not follow that
perfection possible.
The
perfection.
depends upon the character of the
their inchna-
God gave his commandments
not impossible to oppose these
commandments would be
useless.
neither under the category of the necessary,
nor under that of the impossible, but under the category of the possible.
There are two senses in which we
may imderstand
A thing may be possible subjectively,
i. e.,
the term possible.
in relation to our ignorance,
it may be necessary and determined. Thus we in know whether the king of Babylon died to-day or not; we are concerned, it is possible that he is dead or that
though objectively Spain do not
and so he
is
sity.
far as
ahve.
In reality
it is
God knows which
is
not a question of possibility but of necestrue.
The same
thing applies to the oc-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
230
currence of an eclipse in the future for the
But
there
an event is
man who
is
Such possibihty due to ignorance does not
tronomy.
God.
another sense of the word possible; the sense in which
is
An
objectively undetermined.
is
ignorant of as-
exist in
event
possible
is
if
there
nothing in the previous chain of causation to determine the thing's
happening in one way rather than another.
The
matter of pure chance or of absolute free
Now God may make
will.
a thing possible in this objective sense, and then
is
you ask, but
If
also.
be determined sible,
means
God then ignorant of
like echpses,
it is,
it is
is
then a
possible for
him
We say,
this
the result?
and that everything should
and that God cannot create things pos-
to destroy the order of the world, of this world as well as
For why
the next.
is
For to assume that
not ignorance.
result
definite lines of
shall
man
engage in various occupations or pursue
conduct since his destiny
is
already fixed?
The truth of the matter is that there are several orders of causes. Some are directly determined by God, and there is no way of evading them; others are entrusted to nature, and benefits
and avoid
its injuries
is
able to enjoy its
by proper management.
contains the things of chance, and one
So we are bidden
man
in the Bible to
may guard
make a parapet on
the fourth class, those things which depend
When
upon the
Finally there free choice of
Right and wrong conduct are matters of choice,
the individual. else there
third class
the roofs of our
houses to guard against the possibility of falling down. is
A
against these also.
would be no use in prophets, and no reward and punishment.
a person makes an
effort to
be good, his desire increases, and
he obtains assistance from the angels. Since freedom
is
supported by reason. Scripture and tradition, the
passages in the Bible which are in favor of
and those against Bible says that
God
it
should be taken hteraUy,
should be interpreted figuratively.
it
hardened Pharaoh's heart,
Pharaoh was allowed to proceed as he began. of our nation If
whatever we
soluble problem. will
the
AH
the ancient sages
the above discussion of the problem of freedom with
Judah Halevi (above, p. 171),
consistent,
When
means simply that
^^* were in favor of freedom.
we compare
that of
it
and on the
He
may
we
see that
Ibn Daud
is
more
think of his success in solving the in-
frankly insists on the absolute freedom of the
reality of the objectively contingent, not shrinking
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD
231
before the unavoidable conclusion that the events which are the
freedom or chance are no more known beforehand to
results of such
God than
they are to man.
attributing imperfection to
The
reader
may
think what he pleases of this defence, but there
seems to be a more serious
what
in
it
difficulty in
what
God
like
God made
the contingent,
he
also, it follows that
To
complete master of nature and the world. that
i. e.,
made
it
say as Ibn
stone so big that he cannot
lift it
not the
is
Daud
does
to be contingent, sounds
a contradiction, and reminds one of the question whether
make a
than
this idea implies
explicitly says.
contingent exists for
If the
of
to
not ignorance, and hence not an imperfec-
foretell the contingent is tion.
And he tries to avoid the criticism God by insisting that not to be able
God can
himseK.
His proofs in favor of freedom and the contingent are partially identical with those of
Judah Halevi, but
admit that the
explicitly
he evades, to be
will
may
itself
sure, the strongest
in so far as
argument against him, but he
does so at the expense of completeness in his analysis. consistent
and more thorough, Ibn Daud
he
take account of real
fails to
In the
final
outcome
he does not
be influenced by prior causes
is
more
Halevi
is
less
consistent, because
difficulties.
of their respective analyses, Halevi maintains
God's foreknowledge at the expense of absolute freedom, or rather he does not see that his admissions are fatal to the cause he endeavors to defend. fices
Ibn Daud maintains absolute freedom and frankly
sacri-
by
blind-
foreknowledge; though his defence of freedom
secured
is
ing himself to the argument most dangerous to that doctrine.
Abraham Ibn Daud
concludes his
'
Emunah Ramah" by
a
dis-
cussion of ethics and the application of the principles thus discovered to the laws of the Bible.
He
"Medicine
on the ground that virtue
of the Soul,"
the soul as vice definitions
and
entitles this final division of his treatise, is
the health of
disease.
In his fundamental ethical distinctions,
classifications
he combines Plato's psychology and the
is its
virtues based thereon with the Aristotelian doctrine of the
which he also applies in
tonic virtues and, unlike Plato of the other three virtues
Ibn Daud makes
mean,
He omits wisdom as one of the Plafor whom justice consists in a harmony
detail.
and has no psychological
seat peculiar to
justice the virtue of the rational soul.
it,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
232
The end
he says, happiness.
is,
by good morals; second, by proper family by means of correct social and poHtical conduct.
attained, third,
of practical philosophy
The human
This hfe;
first,
is
and
soul consists of three principal faculties, vegetative,
animal, rational.
Corresponding to these the principal virtues and
The
vices are also three.
vegetative power, whose functions are nour-
ishment, growth and reproduction,
is
and
related to appetite,
The animal power
the appetitive soul.
is
called
as being the cause of sensation,
voluntary motion, cruelty, revenge, mercy and kindness,
called
is
the spirited soul, because these quaUties are dependent upon the energy
The
or weakness of the spirit. is
and
directed upwards
The
the arts.
is
the
other aspect
is
rational
means
we too
call
One and
and endeavors to
may
two lower powers
them against
excess
be), the
and
This function
defect.
mean between the two extremes of The mean of the appetitive power is tem-
conduct, and virtue
much and
aspects.
directed downwards,
control (successfully or not as the case of the soul, guarding
power has two
of our learning the sciences
too httle.
is
the
perance; of the spirited power, bravery and gentleness; of the rational soul, justice.
"^^
Justice consists in giving everything its due without excess or defect. Justice
is
and
therefore the highest of all quahties,
of value not
is
merely in a person's relations to his family and country, but also in the relations of his powers one to another. see to
it
no more and no
less.
in the relations of a
rational
he cannot do
man
this,
to his maker.
much
men
is
their due,
commandments.
possessed in the highest degree.
if
possible.
Hence the reason This quahty, the
Moses "said
that did the wrong, wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? "
And when
power must
It is just that a person should
as he received from him,
he should at least thank him.
for divine worship, the first of
greatest of
what
This quality has an important application also
requite his benefactor as If
The
that the two lower faculties of the soul get
(Ex.
to
him
2, 13).
came and drove away the daughters of the priest of Midian, ''Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock" {ih. 17). This is the reason why God sent him to deliver the shepherds
Israel.
God showed
the care he
had
of his nation
by revealing himself to
them, and thus showing them the error of those
who
think that
God
ABRAHAM IBN BAUD gave over the rule of
have no further
am
this
world to the
interest in
"Thou
gods,"
(Ex. 20,
shalt not take
"Remember
2ff.)-
condemning the behef
"For
the sea, and
that in
and thy mother"
the Sabbath
them
12)
is
is
.
,
"
.
all
aim
to teach the revelation
"Thou
purpose of
for the
shalt not covet,"
"Honor thy
11).
{ib.
Thus the
which
first five
and Providence
and poHtical conduct,
rest deal with social
is
from
father
intended to inculcate the duty of honoring
the cause of one's being, including God.
ments
day"
days the Lord made heaven and earth,
in six
{ib.
commandment is "I is followed by "You shall have no other the name of the Lord thy God in vain" first
in the eternity of the world, as is evident
the conclusion, all
and that he and the angels
Hence the
it.
the Lord thy God," which
stars,
233
of
commandGod. The
especially the last one,
important in the preservation of
is
society.
The commandment for one cannot love
to love
God
involves the knowledge of God,
A man must know there-
what one does not know. and
fore God's attributes
He must
actions.
be convinced likewise
that no evil comes from God, or he cannot love
He may fear him but not with and the one that
of fear,
is
the proper fear.
commanded
is
him as he
should.
For there are two kinds
fear of majesty
and awe,
not fear of punishment.
Divine service means not merely prayer three times a day, but
To develop and train this thought of God commanded to put on phylacteries and fringes, and to fasten the "mezuzah" to our door posts. For the same reason we celebrate the festivals of Passover, Tabernacles, Hanukkah and constant thought of God. in us
we
are
Purim, as a remembrance of God's benefits to our people.
All these
observances are ultimately based upon the duty of thanking our benefactor, which
Among moral sion of anger, attribute,
and
."
.
repay
evil for evil,
and so
on.
part of justice, the highest of the virtues.
its
are also is
the Lord, a
(Ex. 34, 6).
In fact
we
inculcation
"The Lord,
cious
.
is
virtues
commanded
to practice suppres-
emphasized by making
God
full of
it
a divine
compassion and gra-
Other virtues of the same kind
are,
not to
not to be jealous, to practice humility like Moses, all
the virtues laid
down by
ethical philosophers are
found better expressed in the Bible. In respect to family virtues, we are bidden to care for and protect
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
234
members of our family, wife, children and slaves. Of social virtues we have love of our neighbor, honesty in deahng, just weights and the
measures, prohibition of interest and of taking a pledge from the poor, returning a find to the loser, and a host of other teachings.
There which In of
is
are,
however, some of the traditional laws, the purpose of
not known, especially the details of
we must say
explanation of these life
composed
ties; third,
of several parts.
family
life;
First
fourth, social
sacrifices
and the
like.
that the law consists of a rule is belief;
and
second, moral quaU-
political life; fifth, the
com-
mandments above referred to, which we shall characterize as dictated by divine wisdom, though we do not understand them. Not The fundaall the parts of the Law are of the same order of value. mental portion and the most important
Next
in
without which society
is
and there
about these; class of
is
that dealing with belief.
importance are the laws governing social and moral conduct, impossible. is
That
commandments, whose purpose
in importance, as
is
clear also
"I spake not unto your
why
is
all
nations agree
The
honesty even among thieves. is
from statements
fathers, nor
last
not known, are the least in the Bible, such as,
commanded them
in the
day that
I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
..."
that there are
At the same time we cannot deny their observance. Thus sacrifice leads
(Jer. 7, 22).
some reasons
for
to repentance as a result of reflection, even
confess his sin, as he
In fact there
is
is
if
the person does not
bidden to do in certain cases.
one aspect which gives
even greater importance than the
this class of
social duties.
It
commandments is
the principle
when we do not see the value of the commean that a man should not study science,
of implicit obedience even
mandment.
I do not
what concerns the knowledge of God. This is not to be recommended. But when a man is convinced that there is such a
particularly
thing as genuine prophecy, showing God's providence, as
we
see in
Moses who delivered his nation, performed wonders for them and was always honored and believed he should not balk at the acceptance of some laws given by such a divine man simply bethe case of
—
cause he does not understand them.
Abraham
is
a good example.
For when God promised him that Isaac would become a great nation, and then commanded him to sacrifice his only child, he did not ask
ABRAHAM IBN DAUD any questions and was ready to be followed by all. This ments, which are difference
is meant command-
to
do God's behest. His example
is
the purpose of these subtle
made with wisdom. Through them we may
see the
between beUef and unbehef.^^®
The above
discussion
Daud and
tude of Ibn
is
extremely typical of the rationalistic
his school,
monides, Gersonides and others. tion
235
atti-
which includes such men as MaiReason, theory, science, explana-
— these are the important considerations in things philosophical, Theory
as well as things religious.
and
belief stands higher
ides
was not
satisfied until
who
is
practice,
No wonder that Maimon-
he elaborated a creed with a definite num-
Dogmas and
ber of dogmas.
mystic
more important than
is
than mere conduct.
faith in reason
go together.
impatient of prescribed generalities, for he
is
It
is
the
constantly
by the living and ever flowing stream of individual experiThe rationalist has a fixed unchangeable Idea or reason or
refreshed ence.
method, whose
reality
and immutability. alist
Ibn Daud
is
and value
In favor of ready to
single verse of
this hypostatised reason, the ration-
sacrifice so
sacrifice in the face of the entire
book
fundamental an institution as of Leviticus, pretending that a
Jeremiah entitles him to do
end asserted himself, and he finds
in the
permanence
consists in its unity,
in a sense these non-rational laws
may
But the Jew Ibn Daud
so. it
necessary to admit that
be of even greater importance
than the rational; not, however, as a simple believer might say, because
we must not
search the
unreasoned obedience
is
wisdom
of
God, but for the reason that
itseK a virtue.
In conclusion we remind the reader that Ibn of Maimonides, touching upon,
question treated first
by
his
and
for the
more famous
Daud was the precursor
most part answering every
successor.
Ibn Daud was the
to adopt Aristotelianism for the purpose of welding
He showed the way Daud and succeeded in
Maimonides took
it
his cue
daism.
to follow.
Ibn
putting the latter in the shade.
justice
demands that Ibn Daud be brought forward
and given the
credit
which
is
deservedly his due.
with Ju-
from
Historic
into the light
CHAPTER
XIII
MOSES MAIMONIDES
With Maimonides we reach the high water mark of mediaeval Jewish He was by far the most comprehensive mind of mediaeval
philosophy.
Jewry, and his philosophy was the coping stone of a complete system of Judaism. literature,
In his training and education he embraced
Bibhcal and Rabbinic, as well as
all
all
the science
Jewish
and phi-
And his literary activity was fruitful in every important branch of study. He was well known as a practicing physician, losophy of his day.
having been in the employ of the Caliph's
visier at Cairo (Fostat),
He was
and he wrote on medical theory and
practice.
mathematics and astronomy, and
knowledge of these subjects
his
versed in
served him in good stead not merely as an introduction to theology
and metaphysics, but was on the Jewish calendar. for this
was the
of direct service in his studies
and writings
he knew
It goes without saying that
logic,
basis of all learning in mediaeval times; but in this
branch, too, Maimonides has
left
us a youthful
treatise,^^'^
which
bears witness to his early interest in science and his efforts to recom-
mend
its
study as helpful to a better understanding of Jewish
all
these activities
litera-
ture.
But
or preparations for a his
magnum
opus, or rather
toward the end of his
brilliant
and useful
less side issues,
magna
youth we can trace the evident purpose, not
until
to
and productions were more or
opera.
finally
career,
From
completed
—the purpose
harmonize Judaism with philosophy, to reconcile the Bible and
Talmud with
Aristotle.
He was
ambitious to do this for the good of
faith. Thus commentary on the Mishna,^^^ the earliest of his larger works, he had already conceived the idea of writing a composition of a har-
Judaism, and in the interest of a rational and enlightened in his
monizing nature,
viz.,
to gather all the homiletical disquisitions of
Talmud (the "derashot") and explain them in a rationalistic manner so as to remove what appears on the surface to be offensive the
236
MOSES MAIMONIDES But
to sound reason.
237
instead of proceeding at once to the performance
of this cherished object of his philosophic ambition, he kept
bosom, brooding over
was
activity, until it
a manner quite
it
in his
it
during a hfe of intense Hterary and practical
in the
diflferent
end matured and brought to fruition
from that at
first
The book
intended.
in
ex-
planatory of the Rabbinic legends was given up for reasons which will
But the object that work was to realize was carried a much more effective manner because it was delayed, and was
appear
out in
later.
published toward the end of his tive
pronouncement
of the Perplexed"
as the systematic and authorita-
life
Jew
of the greatest
The "Guide
of his time.
would not have attracted the attention
it
did, it
would not have raised the storm which divided Jewry into two opposed camps,
if it
had not come as the mature work
man whom
of the
Jewry recognized as the greatest Rabbinic authority
We
Others had written on philosophy before Maimonides. these pages followed their ideas
ham Ibn Daud. The almost
Maimonides
his admirers,
Daud
were neglected, and Jewish learning continued the even tenor of
Maimonides was the
course.
the
first
who succeeded
in
no doubt, as well
Gabirol was forgotten, Ibn Zaddik and Ibn
as his opponents.
in
the effect of upsetting the theological
Everyone had
equiHbrium of Jewry.
have
—Saadia, Gabirol, Ibn Zaddik, Abra-
latter in particular anticipated
None had
all his ideas.
all
of his time.
first
make a profound
to
in stirring to their
its
impression,
depths the smooth, though
here and there somewhat turbid, R.abbinic waters, as they flowed not
merely in
scientific
Spain and Provence, or in the Orient, but also in
the strictly Talmudic communities of northern France.
Commentary on
the
It was the Mishna and the Talmudic code known as the
"Yad ha-Hazaka" that was responsible for the tremendous "More Nebukim" ("Guide of the Perplexed").
effect
of the
In these two Rabbinical
treatises,
and particularly
in the
"Yad
ha-Hazaka," the Rabbinic Code, Maimonides showed himself the master of Rabbinic mind.
literature.
Having been written
in
And
all
Hebrew
recognized in the
him the master
Code soon penetrated
all
Jewish communities everywhere, and Maimonides's fame spread
wherever there were Jews engaged in the study of the Talmud.
fame as a court physician
in
Egypt and as the
Jewry enhanced the influence
of his
official
name and
His
head of Oriental
his work.
Jealousy
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
238
no doubt had
Code
share in starting opposition to the
its
even
itself
before the publication of the "Guide," and during the lifetime of
author.
its
When
original Arabic into
"More Nebukim" was
the
Hebrew, so that
was no longer among the
translated from the
could read
all
living, the zealots
and Maimonides
it,
became emboldened and
the storm broke, the details of which, however,
it is
not our province
to relate.
For completeness' sake ben Maimon was born
let
us set
down
the facts of his
Moses
life.
Cordova on the fourteenth
in the city of
of
Nissan (30th of March) at one o'clock in the afternoon, on a Sabbath
which was the day before Passover,
in the year 1135.
that the birth of a medijeval Jewish writer
is
It
not often
is
handed down with such
detail. Usually we do not even know the year, day and the hour. Cordova had long fallen from
minute
to say nothing
of the
its
It
was no longer the glorious
conquest.
And
it
cal hordes of the
Mohammedan
city of the days before the
Almoravid
when
the fanati-
was destined
to descend lower
still
Almohades renewed the ancient motto
conquerors,
Maimonides was barely
high estate.
of the early
"The Koran or the Sword." thirteen when his native city
into the
fell
hands of the zealots from Morocco, and henceforth neither Jew nor Christian dared
avow
his faith
openly in Cordova.
Adoption
of
Islam, emigration or death were the choices held out to the infidel.
Many
Jews adopted the dominant
was demanded
of
served Judaism. of
Moses' father.
in Spain, like
them
faith
—while in the
Some
emigrated, and
The conquerors
to
Fez
in
of
outwardly as Mohammedans.
Palestine,
He
and
On
after a
visited Jerusalem
ising place for
settled in
Morocco.
fire,
for
Be
Fez was the
Maimon
that as
it
lion's
And
family had to appear
the i8th of April, 1165, the family set
month's stormy voyage they arrived
and Hebron, but did not
Old Cairo (Fostat), and with His father died soon
to
and
sail for
in Acco.
find Palestine a
his brother
after,
den
there
may, Maimonides did not
permanent residence and decided
the jewel trade.
the family city to city
This seems to us
Cordova came from Morocco.
seems to be some evidence too that the
stay long in Fez.
among them was
For a time they wandered about from
and then crossed over
that
all
homes they ob-
secret of their
going from the frying pan into the
itself.
—that was
outwardly
prom-
go to Egypt.
He
David engaged
later his brother
in
met
MOSES MAIMONIDES
239
an untimely death when the ship on which he was a passenger on one of his business trips
was wrecked
in the Indian Ocean.
Maimonides gave up the jewel business and began which at
did not offer
first
in the course of time his
Jews
of
and
and
He was
Egypt, and what with his
also
official
made
spiritual
head
*
duties as court physi-
community, practicing physician among the
and
his literary activities, Jewish
scientific,
But
necessities.
fame spread and he was appointed physician
cian, leader of the Jewish
people,
to practice medicine,
him more than the barest
to Saladin's grand visier Alfadhil. of the
Thereafter
he was a busy
man indeed;
Samuel Ibn Tibbon, the translator
of the
so
secular.
much
Rabbinical
so that he dissuades
"Guide," from pa)dng him a
visit
on the ground that he would scarcely have time to spare to see
him,
much
less to enter into scientific discussions
Mai-
with him.^*^
monides died on Monday, December 13 (20 Tebeth), 1204. The philosophy of Maimonides is contained in the "Guide of the Perplexed," his last great work, which was published in Arabic in
Some
1190.^^°
philosophic and ethical material
is
also
found
in the
introductory chapters of his commentary on the Mishnaic treatise
"Abot"
(the so-called
"Eight Chapters "—" Shemonah Perakim"),^^!
in the introduction to the eleventh chapter (Helek) of the treatise
Talmudic
"Sanhedrin," and in the introductory sections of the Code
("Hilkot Yesode ha-Torah" and "Hilkot Deot").
treatment
is
consiunption.
popular and elementary, and
He
lays
down
is
Here, however, the
intended for popular
results in their simplest
discussing their origin or the arguments pro
the Perplexed," on the other hand,
is
persons, for the sophisticated; for those
and
con.
form without
The
"
Guide
of
intended for a special class of
who
are well trained in science
and philosophy, not to speak of Bible and Talmud, and are as a result
made uneasy by
the apparent disagreement of philosophical teaching
with the ideas expressed in the Biblical and Rabbinic writings.
purpose
a
is
deliberately apologetic
and
concordistic.
The
treatise of science or philosophy.
The work
His is
latter are presupposed.
not
He
introduces philosophic principles, AristoteKan or Kalamistic, only
with a view to their relation to Jewish theology.
them, provisionally or absolutely, true
and
useful; or
if
he refutes and rejects them *
Not
And he either accepts
he regards them as proven, as
a paid post.
if
untenable.
In the
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
240
former case he shows by proper interpretation that similar principles
and Talmud;
are taught in Bible
in the latter
he contents himself by
proving that Aristotle or the Mutakallimun, as the case
may
be, did
not prove their point.
His method, in general, of quieting the doubts of the "perplexed" the old one
—
as old as Philo
as metaphors
and
or opposed to the
and beyond
—
an
allegories, containing
is
of regarding Biblical phrases
esoteric
meaning beside
Accordingly he lays the greatest stress on
literal.
the explanation of Scriptural
"homonyms,"
as he calls them, borrow-
A homon3an is a word
ing an Aristotelian term.
which has more than
one meaning; a word which denotes several things having nothing in
Thus when I apply the word dog to the domestic animal we know by that name, as well as to Sirius, known as the dog-star, I use dog as a homonym. The star and the animal have nothing in common. So the word "merciful," one of the attributes of God in the Bible, is a homonym. That is, we denote by the same word also a quahty in a human being; but this quahty and that which is denoted by the same word when applied to God have nothing in common. They are not
common.
In
merely different in degree but in kind. there
is
really nothing in
God
fact, as
Maimonides
insists,
corresponding to the word merciful.
There are besides certain passages in the Bible which while having
an acceptable meaning when taken signification
literally,
contain besides a deeper
which the practiced eye can detect.
Thus
in the descrip-
tion of the harlot in the seventh chapter of Proverbs there
is
beside
the plain meaning of the text, the doctrine of matter as the cause of
The
corporeal desires.
harlot, never faithful to
one man, leaving
one and taking up with another, represents matter which, as Aristotle conceives
it,
never
is
without form and constantly changes one form for
another.
There
is really
nothing
monides did not know, Ibn
making use
of the
interpretation.^^^
of this principle to
primarily ethical it
in the
new
and Philo apart,
in this,
Daud
anticipated
term "homon3an" as the basis of
But whereas Ibn Daud a subordinate place,
—to solve the problem
very centre of his system.
leading to a true conception of God,
—
whom Mai-
Maimonides here this
also in
method
of
relegates the chapter treating
his interest being as
of free will;
he teUs us
Maimonides places
The doctrine of attributes as God as absolutely incorporeal
of
MOSES MAIMONIDES
241
and without any resemblance or relation whatsoever is
to anything else
the very keystone of Maimonides's philosophical structure.
purpose this is
to teach a spiritual conception of
is
view without
Hence the great importance
and he actually devotes the greater part
"Guide"
of the
terms in the Bible used as homonyms. ^^^ All this
is
of
of the first
a systematic and exhaustive survey of
to
of
cannot reconcile the Bible to such a
this " homonymic " tool.
this in his system;
book
He
worse than idolatry.
His
Anything short
God.
all
preparatory to his
discussion of the divine attributes.
This consideration
and
first sight
of
will
logical thinker as
account also for the fact that, systematic
he was, he perpetrates what might appear at
as a logical blunder.
God and
Instead of
proving the existence
first
then discussing his nature and attributes, as Saadia,
Bahya, Ibn Daud and others did before him, he
treats exhaustively
of the divine attributes in the first book, whereas the proof of the
God
existence of
does not appear until the second book.
sion of the logical order
ad hominem.
is
whom
for
doubt the existence of God.
their
And
anthropomorphism.
considerations to the wind, and dealt to his heart.
The
his
of
is
directed
"Guide" did not them had an inade-
apparently the Bible counte-
Hence Maimonides first
cast logical
with that which was nearest
rest could wait, this could not.
my
I promised in
he wrote
But a great many
quate idea of his spiritual nature.
nanced
Maimonides's method
deliberate.
The Jews
This inver-
commentary on the Mishna, he
tells
us in the
introduction to the "Guide," to explain the allegories and
"Mid-
rashim" in two works to be entitled "The Book of ReconciHation and "The Book of Prophecy." But after reflecting on the matter a number of years I decided to desist from the attempt. The reasons are these.
If I
my
expressed
explanations obscurely, I should have
accomplished nothing by substituting one imintelligible statement for another.
If,
on the other hand,
I
were really to make clear the
matters that require explanation, the result would not be suitable for the masses, for
those Midrashim
whom
to such a person nothing
person
who
is
those treatises were intended.
when read by an ignorant man is
impossible.
And
Besides,
are harmless because
if
they are read by a
learned and worthy, one of two things
is
likely to
happen.
Either he will take them literally and suspect the author of ignorance,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
242
which
not a serious offence; or he will regard the legendary state-
is
ments as containing an
—which not.
In
is
esoteric
of the author
Accordingly I gave up the idea of writing the books mentioned.
work
this
I
am
addressing myself to those
phizing;
who
science;
and are perplexed
mous
meaning and think well
a good thing, whether he catch the meaning intended or
are believers in the Bible
who have been
philoso-
and at the same time know
in their ideas
on account of the homony-
terms.
Having made masterpiece
clear
Maimonides's chief interest and purpose in his
we need not
follow his
own method
which
of treatment,
often gives the impression of a studied attempt to conceal his inner-
most ideas from
all
but the
initiated.
At
least
he
is
not willing that
anyone who has not taken the trouble carefully to study and nize every chapter
and compare
it
scruti-
with what precedes and follows,
should by a superficial browsing here and there arrive at an under-
He
standing of the profound problems treated in the work. that the mysterious doctrines passing by the
and "Maase Merkaba"
Talmud
in the
name of Maase Bereshit {cf.
Introduction, p.
denote respectively Physics and Metaphysics of
which he treats
in the
"Guide."
believes
''
— the
Accordingly he
xvi)
very sciences
tells
us that
fol-
lowing the instructions of the Rabbis he must not be expected to give
more than bare
allusions.
in the book, but scattered desires to explain.
And
even these are not arranged in order
and mixed up with other subjects which he
For, as he says, "I do not
want
to oppose the di-
vine intention, which concealed the truths of his being from the
masses."
"You must not suppose," he known to anybody completely. truth flashes upon us and tution
it is
and habits shut them
relative proportion of light
these matters,
men and httle
if
makes the
continues, " that these mysteries are
By no
means.
But sometimes the
day; and then again our natural consti-
out,
and we are again
in darkness.
The
and darkness which a person enjoys
in
difference in the grade of perfection of great
The greatest of the prophets had comparatively With those who never see light at all, namely people, we have nothing to do in this book."
prophets.
any darkness.
the masses of the
Finally he adjures the reader not to explain to anyone else the novel ideas found in his work, which are not contained in the writings of
MOSES MAIMONIDES Heaven knows, he
his predecessors.
writing this book, because
it
243
exclaims, I hesitated long before
contains
unknown
matters, never before
by any Jewish writer in the "Galut." But I rehed on two Rabbinic principles. One is that when it is a question of doing sometreated
thing for a great cause in a critical time,
The
a law.
unselfish.
other
it is
the consciousness that
is
In short, he concludes, I
am
permitted to transgress
my
the
motives are pure and
man who, when
himself in a critical position and cannot teach truth except
one worthy person and scandalizing ten thousand
fools,
he finds
by
suiting
chooses to
say the truth for the benefit of the one without regard for the abuse of the great majority.
As we are not bound by Maimonides's mystery, nor are
we
to the fools,
we
in fear of being
and
principle of esoterism
an offence and a stumbling block
proceed more directly in our exposition of his
shall
philosophy; and shall begin with Maimonides's general ideas on the
need
history
The
and
God
is
metaphysics or theology, the knowlThis
below, p. 285).
(c/.
in the Bible, but
may know
relation thereto of Jewish
literature.
highest subject of study
edge of
I
and the
of science for intelligent faith
directly
it is
thee, to the
not merely not forbidden
is
commanded. When Moses
end that
I
may find grace in
who
fasts
God who knows
and prays. ^^^ Besides, the command-
ment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," cannot be out a study and understanding of the whole of as
we
shall see, it is only
stand that affection
is
"That
thy sight" (Exod.
33, 13), he intimates that only he finds favor with
him, and not merely
says,
by a study
of physics that
with-
fulfilled
nature. ^^^
we come
Thus,
to under-
a defect and must therefore be removed from
the conception of God. tentiahty and actuahty.
The same
We
thing applies to the ideas of po-
should not
know what they
signify
without a study of physics, nor should we understand that potentiality is
a defect and hence not to be found in God.
to study both physics
and metaphysics
for
It
is
therefore a
duty
a true knowledge of God.^^^
At the same time we must recognize that human reason has a limit and that there are matters which are beyond its ken. Not to realize this and to deny what has not been proved impossible is dangerous, and may lead a man astray after the imagination and the evil desires which quench the
light of the intellect.
And
it is this
the Bible
and
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
244
had
the Rabbis eat so
much
vomit
it
as
in
mind
"Hast thou found hoxiey?
in such passages as,
is sufficient
" (Prov. 25, 16); or in the following from the Mishna,
come
ever pries into four things, had better not
what
above and what
is
is
after " (Hagigah, ch. 2).
and
for thee; lest thou be filled therewith,
"Whom.,
into the world,
below, what was before and what will be
The meaning
not, as
is
some
fools think,
that the Rabbis forbid the use of the reason entirely to reach what in its power.
It
is
is
abuse of the reason that they prohibit, and neglect
of the truth that the
human
reason has a limit. ^^^
Accordingly while the study of metaphysics and the explanation of the allegories of Scripture are thus
gent
belief, it is
must
shown
Otherwise the study of metaphysics
to confuse the like feeding
mind
in its behef,
is
but to destroy
likely not
why
is
merely It
belief entirely.
an infant on wheat bread and meat and wine.
not bad in themselves, but the infant is
One
difficult subjects.
be mature intellectually and possessed of the preliminary
first
sciences.
That
to be a necessity of intelli-
not proper to begin with these
is
These are
not prepared to digest them.
these matters are given in the Bible in the form of alle-
—men, women and children —not because metaphysical ideas are injurious themselves, as some gories, because the Bible is intended for all
in
fools imagine,
who
sufficient that
they have the right view by tradition and
believe they are wise men.
For beginners
it
know
is
the
existence of certain beings, without being able to prove the opinions
they hold, or to understand the essence of the being in the existence of
which they
capable.
believe.
This they
will acquire gradually
if
they are
^^^
There are
five causes
preventing the study of metaphysics on the
part of the general masses.
First, the difficulty of the subject itself.
Second, the limitations of
people's
the great
amount
everybody
know
is
is
creation; ties of
And
and
God and is
and which
necessary,
may
be to
to study metaphysics without preliminary
worse than not to study
is
is
not ready to undertake, however eager he
existence except
and what
minds at the beginning. Third,
of preparatory training that
the results.
training
all
it
at
his creation.
all.
not proper to ascribe to
and thus arithmetic, the nature
For there
is
nothing in
To know God's of
existence
him we must examine
his
number, and the proper-
geometrical figures help us a great deal in determining what
MOSES MAIMONIDES Even much more important
attributes are inapplicable to God.
metaphysics
throw
light
245 for
the study of spherical astronomy and physics, which
is
on the relation
of
God
Then
to the world.
there are
some
theoretical topics which, while not directly of help in metaphysics,
mind and enabling it to know what is true One who wishes therefore to undertake the study of metaphysics, must first study logic, then the mathematical sciences are useful in training the
demonstration.
in order, then physics,
and not
until
he has mastered
ductory branches should he take up metaphysics.
most people, who would
for
and
studies,
if
these intro-
all
This
is
too
much
die in the midst of their preparatory
not for tradition would never
know whether
there
is
a God or not, not to speak of knowing what attributes are applicable
him and what are
to
The
not.
fourth cause which keeps people
aphysics
their natural disposition.
is
intellectual qualities are
away from For
it
the study of met-
has been shown that
dependent upon moral; and the former can-
not be perfect unless the latter
Now
are.
some persons are temper-
amentally incapable of right thinking by reason of their passionate nature; and
it is
foolish to
attempt to teach them, for
or geometry, and not everybody too,
are
why young men still
its luxuries, too,
many
it,
it.
it is
This
not medicine is
the reason,
because of the passions which
Finally as a fifth reason, the necessities of
enough time and attention to Like
prepared for
cannot study
strong in them.
the body and
is
stand in the this subject.
way
of a person's devoting
^^^
others before him, Christians as well as Jews, Mai-
monides also believed that
in ancient times the
Jews
diligently cul-
tivated the sciences, which were gradually forgotten on account of
Maimonides adds another reason
foreign domination.
for their dis-
appearance, namely, that they were not disseminated abroad.
were confined to a
select
handed down by word
of
They
few and were not put dov/n in writing but
mouth.
As a
result only a
found in the Talmud and Midrashim, where the kernel
few hints are is
small and
the husk large, so that people mistake the husk for the kernel.^*'
He
then traces the history of philosophical thinking in Jewish
mediaeval literature from the time of the Geonim, and little
that
is
tells
us that the
found of the Kalam concerning the Unity of God and
related topics in the
works of some of the Geonim and the Karaites
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
246 in the
East
borrowed from the Mutakallimun of the
is
Mohammedans
constitutes a small fraction of the writings of the latter on this
and
subject.
The
attempt in
first
known
that of the party
this direction
as the Mu'tazila,
among
whom
the
Moslems was
our people followed.
Later came the party of the Ashariya with different opinions which,
This was not due,
however, were not adopted by any of our people.
he tells us, to a deliberate decision in favor of the
Mu tazila,
solely to the historical accident of their chronological priority.
but
On
the
other hand, the Spanish Jews of Andalusia adopted the views of the philosophers,
with our
what
i. e.,
the Aristotelians, so far as they are not in conflict
They do not
religion.
httle of the subject
this class resembles
our
follow the Mutakallimun,
found in the works
is
own method and
views.
and hence
of the later writers of ^®^
There seems no doubt that whatever other Spanish writers Maimonides had fits
in
mind, whose works are not extant, his characterization
admirably the
"Emunah Ramah"
above, p. 217), and in a
less
degree
it is
of
Abraham Ibn Daud
{cf.
Ibn Gabirol, Bahya,
also true of
Judah Halevi, Moses and Abraham Ibn Ezra. Bahya as we saw above (p. 86) still retains a good deal of Kalamistic material and so does Ibn Zaddik (p. 126). As for Mukammas, Saadia and the two Karaites Al Basir and Jeshua ben Judah, we have seen (pp. they
move wholly
in the ideas of the
great interest for us therefore to see
17, 24, 48, 56) that
Mutakallimun.
It
becomes
what Maimonides thinks
of
of these
Islamic theologians, of their origins, of their methods and of their philosophical value.
Maimonides's exposition and criticism of the prin-
Mutakallimun
ciples of the
is
of especial interest, too, because
recent times his sketch of the tenets of this school tensive account shall,
known; and
it
has not lost
its
up to
was the only
ex-
We
value even yet.
however, be obliged to abridge his detailed exposition in order
not to enlarge our volume beyond due
limits.
Besides, there
is
no
we have already said of the Kalam in our though the account there given was not
occasion for repeating what
Introduction
(p. xxi ff.);
taken from Maimonides and does not follow his order. Maimonides is aware that the Arabs are indebted to the Christians,
Greeks as well as Syrians. base their
The Mu'tazila and
Ashariya, he says,
opinions upon premises and principles borrowed from Greek
and Syrian
Christians,
who endeavored
to refute the opinions of the
MOSES MAIMONIDES
247
philosophers as dangerous to the Christian rehgion.
a Christian lay
Kalam prior
down premises
to the
When
to refute the opinions opposed to them.
In
the Christians.
by means
favorable to their religion, and
came upon the scene and they included in their work
Yahya ben Adi and
this
the
to
of these
Mohammedans
translated the works of the philosophers, of translation the refutations
way they found
others;
There was thus
Mohammedan. ^^^ Their method was
and adopted
composed by
the works of Philoponus,
also the opinions of the pre-
Socratic philosophers, which they thought would be of help to them,
though these had already been refuted by
Such are the atomic theory a vacuum.
and the behef
authoritieSj^ who
after.
in the existence of
characterize briefly the
methods
and the Mohammedans, did not follow
of the first
members
MutakaUimun, Mai-
among them,
reality,
the Greeks
but adopted principles
which were calculated to help them in defending
and then interpreted
their religious theses,
reality to suit their preconceived notions.
of the school
all
were closer to the philosophers.
monides continues, I would say that the
later
who came
These opinions they carried to consequences not at
contemplated by their
To
of matter
Aristotle,
no longer saw through the motives
The
of their
predecessors and imagined their principles and arguments were bona fide refutations of philosophical opinions.
On
examination of their works I found, he continues, that with
sUght differences they are
and nature.
reality
all alike.
They do not put any
trust in
For, they say, the so-called laws of nature are
nothing more than the order of events to which we are accustomed.
There be
no kind of necessity
is
different.
and
In
many
call it reason.
in
them, and
it is
conceivable they might
MutakaUimun follow the imagination Their method of procedure is as follows. They first cases the
state their preliminary principles, then they prove that the world
''new,"
i. e.,
have had an
created in time. originator,
Then they argue
and that he
is
that the world
one and incorporeal.
is
must
All the
MutakaUimun foUow this method, and they are imitated by those of who follow in their footsteps. To this method I have serious objections, continues Maimonides,
our own people
for their
arguments
in favor of the creation of the
vincing unless one does not tical or sophistic.
know a
real
world are not con-
demonstration from a dialec-
The most one can do
in this line
is
to invaUdate
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
248
But the decision of the question is by no means easy, as is shown by the fact that the controversy is three thousand years old and not yet settled. Hence it is a risky policy to the arguments for eternity.
God on so shaky a foundation way then, it seems to me, is
build the argument for the existence of
"newness"
as the
The
of the world.
to prove God's existence, unity
best
and incorporeality by the methods
of
the philosophers, which are based upon the eternity of the world.
Not
that I believe in eternity or that I accept
it,
but because on
this
hypothesis the three fundamental doctrines are vahdly demonstrated.
Having proved these doctrines we the origin of the world and say
This
is
will
then return to the problem of
what can be
^^^ said in favor of creation.
a new contribution of Maimonides.
All the Jewish writers
God
before Halevi followed in their proofs of the existence of
method designated by Maimonides
as that of the
Kalam,
the
Judah
Halevi criticised the Mutakallimun as well as the philosophers in the interest of a point of view all his
Kalam and based
ignored the
own
(p.
176
fif.,
182).
Ibn Daud
his proof of the existence of
tacitly
God upon
the principles of motion as exhibited in the Aristotelian Physics, without, however, finding
it
necessary to assume even provisionally the eter-
nity of motion and the world (p. 217 ity of
God
is,
we have
as
seen
ff.).
{ibid.),
His proof of the incorporeal-
weak, just because he does not
admit the eternity of motion, which alone implies
God and hence
incorporeality.
deliberate account of the
MutakalUmun,
of the essentials of their teaching their principles as well as their
tive criticism with
Maimonides
is
gives
infinity of
the
first
power
who
in
takes
an adequate outline
and administers a crushing blow to
He then follows up his destruc-
method.
a constructive method, in which he frankly admits
that in order to establish the existence, unity and incorporeality of
God
— the three fundamental dogmas of Judaism—beyond the possibil-
ity of cavil,
though
it
we must make common cause with
the philosophers even
be only for a moment, until they have done our work for
and then we may
fairly turn
of their weakness, strike for the eternity of the of creation.
The
them down, and upon
world establish our
attitude of
certain of creation,
us,
on our benefactors and taking advantage
Maimonides
we should not have
their lifeless
own more is
arguments
plausible theory
in brief this.
If
we were
to bother with the philosophers.
Creation implies the existence of God.
But the question cannot be
MOSES MAIMONIDES strictly
demonstrated either way.
Hence
let
249
us prove the existence of
God on the least promising hypothesis, namely, we are quite secure against all possible criticism. Of the twelve propositions
Maimonides as the
and
that of eternity,
Mutakallimun enumerated by
of the
basis of their doctrine of
God, we
shall select
a few
most important. ^^*
of the
The Theory of Atoms. The entire universe is made up of inhaving no magnitude. Their combination produces
1.
divisible bodies
magnitude and corporeality. tion
They
are
Genesis and dissolu-
all alike.
means simply the combination or rather aggregation
them
of
atoms and
These atoms are not eternal, as Epicurus believed
their separation.
to be, but created.
Time
This atomic theory they extend from magnitude to time.
2.
them
also according to
is
composed
moments
of
Neither magnitude, nor matter, nor time
time.
or atomic units of
is
continuous or in-
finitely divisible. 3.
Applying these ideas to motion they say that motion
the
is
passage of an atom of matter from one atom of place to the next in
an atom
It follows
of time.
from
this that
one motion
is
as fast as
another; and they explain the apparent variation in speed of different
when two bodies cover unequal distances by saying that the body covering the smaller dis-
motions, as for example in the
same
time,
tance had more rests in the intervals between the motions. The same thing is true in the flight of an arrow, that there are rests even
though the senses do not reveal them.
We
trusted.
must follow the
For the senses cannot be
reason.
Maimonides's criticism of the atomic theory of matter and motion just described
is
that
it
ties of
In fact
its side.
commensurability and incommensurability in
faces, of rational all
that
and
is
The The proper-
undermines the bases of geometry.
diagonal of a square would be the same length as
irrational lines
lines
and
sur-
would cease to have any meaning.
contained in the tenth book of Euclid would lose
its
foundation. 4.
The atom
cannot be.
is
made complete by
the accidents, without which
Every atom created by God, they
dents, such as color, odor, motion,
and
magnitude, which according to them
is
say,
must have
it
acci-
so on, except quantity or
not accident.
If
a substance
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
250
has an accident, the latter
but
is
ascribed to every
body every atom
in a white is
in motion, in a living
not attributed to the body as a whole,
is
atom
of
which the body
white, in a
is
body every atom
possessed of sense perception; for
life
is
Thus
composed.
moving body every atom aUve, and every atom
is
is
and sense and reason and wisdom
are accidents in their opinion like whiteness and blackness. 6. Accident does not last more than one moment of time. When God creates an atom he creates at the same time an accident with it. Atom without accident is impossible. The accident disappears at the end of the moment unless God creates another of the same kind,
and then another, and so kind to continue.
If
on, as long as he wants the accident of that
he ceases to create another accident, the sub-
stance too disappears.
Their motive in laying
down
this theory of accidents is in order
to destroy the conception that everything has a peculiar nature, of
which
its
this
moment, and
to create 7.
They
quahties and functions are the results.
everything directly to God.
it
anew
All that
moment, is
it will
accident,
dents;
composed
species
and there
is
no
difference be-
of similar atoms,
which
differ
essentiality.
only in acci-
Hence the
is
the
between the individuals
difference
same as that between individuals
of the
accidental properties.
why
iron
is
of different species.
In
way they would
this
hard and black, while butter
The Mutakallimun deny any such dents.
Hence
it
distinction.
would follow that there
is
no
is
conceivable
is
possible, except
explain, soft
what involves a
atom or group
8. It all.
When we it
at
Everything that
logical contradiction; shall
com-
man
has no power of agency
we are dyeing a garment red, it is not we who God creates the red color in the garment at the
think
all.
why man
of atoms.
follows from the above also that
are doing
ex-
All forms are acci-
and God alone determines at every instant what accident bine with a given
for
and white.
intrinsic reason
rather than the bat should be a rational creature.
at
all
same
philosophers distinguish between essential forms of things and
ample,
is
ceases
and animality and humanity and sensation and reason are
accidents.
The
God
If
cease to be.
tween one kind of accident and another in reference to All bodies are
attribute
created a particular accident at
this is the explanation of its being.
the next
not atom
is
God
MOSES MAIMONIDES
2$!
The
red dye does not enter
time when we apply the red dye to
we
the garment, as
it.
an accident
think, for
cannot pass beyond the substance in which
What
will of
So when a
Nor
God.
the same as that of yesterday.
created anew.
God
only momentary, and
it is.
appears to us as the constancy and regularity of nature
nothing more than the
it.
is
a pen,
is
gone and to-day's
it is
not he
and at the same time
not the cause of the motion of the pen.
is
is
our knowledge of to-day
Yesterday's
man moves
creates motion in the hand,
The hand
is
is
who moves in the pen.
In short they
God is the sole cause. In respect to human conduct they are divided. The majority, and the Ashariya among them, say that when a person moves a pen, God creates four accidents, no one of which is the cause of the other. They merely exist in succession, but no more. The first accident is the man's will to move the pen; the second, his ability to move deny causation.
the third, the motion of the hand; the fourth, the motion of the pen.
it;
from
It follows
him a
in
will,
this that
when a person does anything, God
the abihty and the act
of the ability.
The Mu' tazila hold
itself,
but the act
that the abUity
is
is
creates
not the effect
the cause of the
effect. 9.
They hold
Impossibility of the Infinite.
any
possible in
an actual
sense,
extension
is
i.
is
whether actual or potential or accidental.
infinite is impossible is
infinitely divisible,
So
a matter of proof.
has been proved that the potential infinite
infinite,
that the infinite
i. e.,
is
possible.
potentially.
As
it
im-
That
can be and
For example
to the accidental
c, an infinity of parts of which each ceases to be as soon as
the next appears, this
is
doubtful.
Those who boast
the eternity of the world say that time
is infinite,
of
having proved
and defend
their
view against criticism by the claim that the successive parts of time disappear.
In the same
an
number
infinite
way
these people regard
of accidents
it
as possible that
have succeeded each other on the
universal matter, because here too they are not
all
present now, the
The it prove They Mutakallunun do not admit of any kind of infinite. in this way. If past time and the world are infinite, then the number of men who died up to a given point in the past is infinite. The num-
previous having disappeared before the succeeding ones came.
ber of
men who
died
up
to a point one thousand years before the
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
252
former
of
men who
absurd.
this
number
is less
than the other by the
died during the thousand years between the two
Hence the
starting points. is
But
also infinite.
is
number
than the
infinite is larger
which
infinite,
If the accidental infinite were really impossible the theory
of the eternity of the world
would be refuted at once.
But Alfarabi
has shown that the arguments against accidental infinity are invalid. ID. Distrust of the Senses.
see at
all,
far away.
The
senses, they say,
and falsehood;
as criteria of truth
for
many
cannot be regarded
things the senses cannot
either because the objects are so fine, or because they are
In other cases the senses are deceptive, as when the large
appears small at a distance, the small appears great in the water, and the straight appears broken
So a bile
man on
when
partly in water and partly without.
with the jaundice sees everything yellow,
his tongue tastes everything bitter.
madness.
The motive
There
for this sceptical principle
is
and one with red
is
method
in their
to evade criticism.
If the senses testify in opposition to their theories,
they reply that
the senses cannot be trusted, as they did in their exp! .nation of motion
and
These are
in their theory of the succession of created accidents.
ancient theories of the Sophists, as
all
Having given an
is
clear
from Galen. ^^^
outline of the fundamental principles of the
Muta-
kallimun and criticised them, Maimonides next gives their arguments
based upon these principles in favor of creation in time and against eternity.
It will
not be worth our while to reproduce them here as
they are not adopted by Maimonides, and of
them though
pp. 29
we have already met some
a somewhat modified form before
{cf.
above,
£f.).2«6
The Kalamistic for the
in
God
proofs for the unity of
most part with those found
in Saadia,
are similarly identical
Bahya and
others,
and
we need only mention Maimonides's criticism that they are inadequate unless we assume with the Mutakallimun that all atoms in the universe are of the same kind. If, however, we adopt Aristotle's theory, which
is
different
more
plausible, that the
from that
supposing that one
The
matter of the heavenly bodies
God
controls the
inability of the one to govern the
necessarily argue imperfection,
unity of
God
is
we may defend dualism by heavens and the other the earth.
of the sublunar world,
regard
it
domain
of the other
any more than we who
as a defect in
God
that he cannot
would not
believe in the
make a
thing
MOSES MAIMONIDES both be and not be.
and we should sphere that
This belongs to the category of the impossible;
same category the control
likewise class in the
independent
is
253
one and belongs to another.
of
of a
This
is
purely an argumentum ad hominem, for Maimonides does not regard the sublunar
He
and superlunar worlds as independent
recognizes the unity of the universe.
Maimonides their
of each other.
^^^
closes his discussion of the Kalamistic
system by citing
arguments for incorporeality, which he likewise finds inadequate,
both because they are based upon God's unity, which they did not succeed in proving (Saadia, in so far as he relates the two, bases unity upon incorporeality), and because of inherent weakness. ^^
Having disposed
the arguments of the Mutakallimun, Mai-
of
monides proceeds to prove the existence, unity and incorporeality of
God by ^^^
proof
the methods of the philosophers,
and Avicenna, take
farabi
e.,
i.
arguments from
their
this proof in
There
Ibn Daud
chief
(cf.
is
We have already met
above, p. 217), and the method in Mai-
only in form and completeness, but not in essence.
differs
is,
The
based upon the Aristotelian principles of motion and
is
found in the eighth book of Aristotle's Physics.
monides
those who, like Al-
Aristotle.
however, this very important difference that Ibn
Daud
shy of Aristotle's theory of the eternity of motion and time,
fights
thus losing his strongest argument for God's infinite power and in-
corporeaHty
(cf.
argument from
p. 218);
whereas Maimonides frankly bases his entire
motion (provisionally to be sure)
With
theory, including eternity of motion. there is
is
not
much
in this part of the
not already contained, though
Ramah"
of
Abraham Ibn Daud.
these technical arguments entirely in the
upon the
this
important deviation
Maimonidean
less
discussion which
completely, in the
We if it
Aristotelian
"Emunah
should be tempted to omit
were not for the fact that
form which Maimonides gave them that they became
and not
in Jewish philosophy,
The second proof
of
in that of
it is
classic
Ibn Daud.
God's existence, unity and incorporeality,
that based upon the distinction between "possible" and "necessary" existent, ^'^'^
which has
found in Ibn Daud.^'^^
own,
As
i. e.,
its
origin in Alfarabi
The
and Avicenna,
other two proofs
^^^
is
also
are Maimonides's
they are not found in the works of his Jewish predecessors.
in the exposition of the theory of the
Mutakallimun Maimonides
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
254
began with
fundamental principles, so here he lays down twenty-
their
six propositions culled
and
his
Arabian commentators, and applies them
He
points.
from the Physics and Metaphysics
of Aristotle
later to
prove his
does not attempt to demonstrate them, expecting the
reader to take them for granted, or to be familiar with them from a
Ibn Daud presupposed
study of the philosophical sources.
having written as he
his readers,
many
said, for beginners;
less
from
hence he proves
which Maimonides lays down dogmatically.
of the propositions
Possibly Maimonides expected his readers to be familiar with the
work
immediate Jewish predecessor.
of his
The
twenty-six propositions of the philosophers are as follows:
1.
There can be no
2.
There cannot be an
tude, all at the
infinite object possessing infinite
magnitude.
of bodies possessing
magni-
same time.
There cannot be an
3.
number
chain of cause and
infinite
effect,
even
if
these links are not possessed of magnitude, for example, intellects.
Change
4.
is
found in four categories.
— —motion
In quantity
decay.
change.
In place
motion
5.
6.
Motion may be per
coming under per of a
—genesis and —qualitative
of translation.
change, and
All
is
In substance
growth and diminution. In quality
the realization of the potential.
per accidens, forcible, partial, the latter
se,
An
accidens.
body from one place
is
example of motion per
se is the
to the next; of motion per accidens,
motion
when the
move from one place to another. Forcible motion is that of the stone when it is forced upward. Partial motion is that of a nail of a ship when the ship moves.
blackness of an object
said to
Every changeable thing
7.
divisible,
is
is
i. e.,
every body
is
is
divisible;
hence every movable thing
What
divisible.
is
not divisible
is
not
movable, and hence cannot be body. 8.
its
That which
motion
is
is
not in
moved
per accidens
itself.
Hence
it
is
necessarily at rest because
cannot have that accidental mo-
tion forever. 9.
A
body moving another must
itself
be in motion at the same
time. 10.
Being in a body means one
of
two things: being
in it as
an
accident, or as constituting the essence of the body, like a natural
form.
Both are corporeal powers.
MOSES MAIMONIDES 11.
Some
things which are in a
They
the body.
body are divided with the
are then divided per accidens, like colors
Some
powers extending throughout the body. stitute the 12. all
body are not
of the things
divisible at all, like soul
and
division of
and other which con-
intellect.
Every power which extends throughout a body
body 13.
255
is finite,
because
is finite.
None
of the kinds of
change mentioned in 4
is
continuous ex-
cept motion of translation; and of this only circular motion. 14.
Motion
of translation is the first by nature of the motions. For and decay presuppose quahtative change; and qualitative
genesis
change presupposes the approach of the agent causing the change to
And
the thing undergoing the change.
Time
is
is
no growth or diminu-
and decay.
tion without antecedent genesis 15.
there
an accident following motion and connected with
The one cannot
exist
without the other.
No
motion except
and time cannot be conceived except with motion.
it.
in time,
AVhatever has no
motion does not come under time. 16. is
Whatever
is
incorporeal cannot be subject to number, unless
it
a corporeal power; in which case the individual powers are num-
Hence the separate forms or
bered with their matters or bearers. Intelligences,
which are neither bodies nor corporeal powers, cannot
have the conception of number connected with them, except when they are related to one another as cause and 17.
efi'ect.
Everything that moves, necessarily has a mover, either outside,
like the
hand moving the
consists of
a mover, the
mobile of the last kind
is
stone, or inside like the animal body,
soul,
called
the motor element in the thing 18. If
and a moved, the body proper. a self-moving thing.
is
which
Every
This means that
part of the whole thing in motion.
anything passes from potentiality to actuahty, the agent
that caused this must be outside the thing.
For if it were inside and was no obstruction, the thing would never be potential, but always actual; and if there was an obstruction, which was removed, the there
agency which removed the obstruction
is
the cause v/hich caused the
thing to pass from potentiality to actuahty. 19.
Whatever has a cause
for its existence is a "possible" existent
in so far as itself is concerned. if
not,
it
does not.
If the
Possible here
cause
means not
is
there, the thing exists;
necessary.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
256
Whatever
20.
is
a necessary existent in
has no cause for
itself,
its
existence.
Every composite has the cause
21.
Hence
tion.
not in
it is
of its existence in the composi-
a necessary existent; for
itself
dependent upon the existence of
its
existence
its
constituent parts and
upon
is
their
composition.
body
22. All
form; and
is
necessarily has accidents,
it
Whatever
23.
composed necessarily
is
potential
and has
matter and
things,
quantity, figure, situation.
viz.,
in
two
of
it
a possibility
may
some
at
time not exist as an actuaUty.
Whatever
24.
possibility
The
25.
is
is
potential
is
necessarily possessed of matter, for
always in matter.
an individual compound substance are matter
principles of
a mover which moves the
and form; and there must be an agent,
i. e.,
object or the underlying matter until
prepares
it
it
to receive the form.
This need not be the ultimate mover, but a proximate one having a particular function. itself.
This
is
The
idea of Aristotle
is
that matter cannot
move
the great principle which leads us to investigate into the
existence of the first mover.
Of these twenty-five propositions, Maimonides continues, some are clear after a little reflection, some again require many premises and proved in the Physics and Metaphysics of
proofs, but they are all
Aristotle
and
his
commentators.
My purpose here
those principles which
we must have
is,
as I said, not to
I will simply mention
reproduce the writings of the philosophers.
for our purpose.
more deserving
by way
of hypothesis until
proposition 26.
of belief than
we
anything explain
else.
We
is
true
and
grant him this
will
what we intend
must add,
I
however, one more proposition, which Aristotle thinks
to prove.
The
is:
Time and motion
are eternal and actual.
Hence
there
must be
a body moving eternally and existing actually.
This
constituting the substance of the heavenly bodies.
Hence the heavens
are not subject to genesis
and decay,
for their
motion
presupposes the possibility of accidental infinity Aristotle regards this as true, though
claims he has proved that
it is
it.
it
{cf.
is
is
the matter
eternal.
This
above, p. 251),
does not seem to
me
that he
His followers and commentators maintain
a necessary proposition and demonstrated.
The Mutakalli-
MOSES MAIMONIDES
257
mun, on the other hand, think it is impossible that there should be an infinite number of states in succession {cf. ibid.). It seems to me it is This
neither necessary nor impossible, but possible.
the place to discuss
Now follows
it.^''^
God from
the classical proof of the existence of
We
motion.
same as that given by Ibn Daud, but much more
It is in essence the
elaborate.
however, not
is,
shall try to simplify it as
much
The num-
as possible.
bers in parentheses in the sequel refer to the preliminary propositions
above given.
We
start with
something that
is
known, namely, the motion we see
in the sublunar world, the motion which
a mover this
involved in
ever, that all
infinity,
which
impossible
is
We
(3).
it,
find,
and
how-
motion here below ends with the motion of the heaven.
The wind
Let us take an example. I take a stone
the hand, the hand
by the
nerves, the nerves
by the animal
to stop the hole
blowing through an opening in
is
and stop up the
the waU.
moved by
natural heat
the processes
all
This motion must have
This mover must have another mover to move
(25).
would lead us to
the wind
is
and decay and change generally.
of genesis
Here the stone
hole.
is
by the tendons, the tendons by the
veins, the veins soul, the
by the natural
heat, the
animal soul by a purpose, namely,
from which the wind comes, the purpose by the wind,
by the motion
heavenly sphere.
of the
But
this is
not the
The sphere must also have a mover (17). This mover is either outside the sphere it moves or within it. If it is something outside, it end.
is
either again a
body
arate Intelligence."
like the sphere, or
If the
an incorporeal
sphere, two alternatives are again possible.
power
body power in
all.
thing, a
"Sep-
mover of the sphere is something within the
The
internal
moving
of the sphere
may
be a corporeal force extended throughout the
of the sphere
and
divisible
with
like soul or intellect (10, 11).
The mover
of the
it
We
heavenly sphere
hke heat, or an
indivisible
thus have four possibilities
may
be
(a)
a body external
to the sphere; (b) a separate incorporeal substance; (c)
an internal
corporeal power divisible with the division of the sphere; (d) an internal indivisible power.
of the sphere
is
have another
to
on ad
infinitum,
Of these
four, (a)
another body,
move
it,
which
is
it is
which,
if
is
impossible.
likewise in
For
motion
if
(9)
the
mover
and must
a body, must have another, and so
impossible
(2).
The
third hypothesis, (c),
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
258 is
For as the sphere
likewise impossible.
its
power
also finite (12), since
is
Hence
sphere (11).
it
it is
is
a body
divisible
cannot move infinitely
the last alternative, (d).
(26).
body
must
accidens in
motion by
(b), viz., {i.
e.,
motion per accidens
in
is itself
it is
body are not subject
to
no time without motion
We have
the thing set
it
a "separate"
is
indivisible
and unchangeable
number
unless one
he
is
(7, 5).
essences which
cause and the
not subject to time, for
is
(15).
thus proved with one stroke God's existence as
unity and incorporeality.
left,
not subject to motion either
is itself
It follows, too, that
other effect (16). is
and with
thus only one alternative
He cannot be two or more, for " separate "
God.
are not
is
For a soul that moves
and whatever moves per
that the cause of the motion of the sphere
incorporeal) power, which
is
there
There
stop also.
per se or per accidens; hence
This
(6);
necessarily sometime stop (8), it will
Nor can we adopt
For a soul residing within the sphere could
not alone be the cause of continuous motion. its
and
it is finite (i),
with the body of the
But,
will
it
be observed,
if
weU
as his
not for the
twenty-sixth proposition concerning the eternity of motion, which implies
an
power, we should not have been forced to the alter-
infinite
native (b), and could have adopted
might have concluded that God resident within
it,
is
or even that he
(c)
as well as (d).
That
is
way we prove only
the existence of a
But we God who
the cause of the heavenly motions, and through these of the processes
of genesis is
in this
we
a corporeal force pervading the
is
extension of the sphere as heat pervades an ordinary body.
must admit that
is,
the soul of the heavenly sphere
not the
and decay, hence
God
of all the life of our sublunar world.
of Jewish tradition,
who
creates out of nothing,
the cause of the being of the universe as well as of
Maimonides was aware
grounds.
briefly
we must
is
and he
motion on philosoph-
Before, however,
.monides's attitude in this matter,
who
processes.
of this defect in the Aristotelian view,
later repudiates the Stagirite's theory of eternal ical as well as religious
its life
This
we speak
of
Mai-
for completeness' sake
mention three other proofs for the existence of God as given by
Maimonides.
They
are not strictly Aristotelian, though they are
based upon Peripatetic principles cited above and due to the Arabian
commentators
The second
of Aristotle.
proof
is
as follows.
If
we
find
a thing composed of two
MOSES MAIMONIDES elements, and one of these elements
that the other element
found separately,
also
found separately
is
also.
Now we
follows
it
frequently
two elements of causing motion and being moved combined
find the
same
the
is
259
And we
object.
also find things
in
which are moved only,
but do not cause motion, as for example matter, or the stone in the something that
It stands to reason therefore that there is
last proof.
causes motion without being subject to motion,
subject to motion.
itself
it is indivisible,
incorporeal
Not being
and not subject
to
time, as above.
The is
third proof
based upon the idea of necessary existence.
is
no doubt that there are existing
perceive with our senses. or
all
The
Now either all
are subject to genesis
first is
some time
But
all.
all
things are incapable of decay,
we
see things
The second hypothesis
things are subject to genesis
at
and going
in the world has been going
is
coming
is
not a possibility
in that case
how
and nothing should
on from
if
exist at
eternity, the possibiHty just
—and nothing existed at
all
is
at that
never reahzed
moment.
But
could they ever have come into being, since there was
example and everything
therefore,
and that
to genesis
and decay, there
existent,
For
of individuals in the various species
And
nothing to bring them into being? for
not.
and pass-
a possibility that
spoken of must have been realized—a possibility that is
into,
likewise untrue.
and decay, there
things might cease to be
as the coming
There
example the things we
and decay, or some are and some are
evidently untrue for
ing out, of being. all
things, for
is
yet they do exist, as ourselves
There
else.
is
only one alternative
left,
that beside the great majority of things subject is
a being not subject to change, a necessary
and ultimately one that
exists
by
virtue of its
own
necessity
(19).
Whatever (20)
is
necessary per se can have no cause for
and can have no multipHcity
body nor a corporeal power
We
in itself (21); hence
its
existence
it is
neither a
(12).
can also prove easily that there cannot be two necessary
ents per
se.
For
in that case the element of necessary existence
exist-
would
be something added to the essence of each, and neither would then be necessary per is
se,
but per that element
of necessary existence
common
to both.
The
argument against dualism may
last
which
also be formulated as fol-
MEDIjEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
26o
If there are
lows.
two Gods, they must have something
that in virtue of which they are Gods
—and
which makes them two and not one.
differ,
common
in
which they
something in
each of them has
If
in addition to divinity a differential element, they are both composite,
and neither of
the
is
them only has
not the
The
first
cause or the necessary existent (19).
first
this differentia, then this
one
If
one
composite and
is
is
cause.
fourth proof
is
very
much
but
like the first,
and actuality instead
ideas of potentiality
is
based upon the
But when we
of motion.
consider that Aristotle defines motion in terms of potentiality and actuality, the
fourth proof
is
ing into actuality.
Maimonand com-
first.
Every such thing must have an agent outside
It is clear, too, that this
became one
It reads in
existing potentially
identical with the
We see constantly things
ides as follows:
actually.
agent was
This potentiaHty was due either to an obstacle
in the agent himself or to the absence of a certain relation
agent and
In order that the potential agent
its effect.
actual agent, there
is
(18).
an agent potentially and then
first
need
of another agent to
between the
may become an
remove the obstacle or
to bring about the needed relation between the agent and the thing to
be acted upon. This agent requires another agent, and so finitum.
that
is
terial, is
As
this is impossible,
we must
it
goes ad in-
stop somewhere with an agent
always actual and in one condition. This agent cannot be mabut must be a " separate " (24). But the separate in which there
no kind of potentiaHty and which
already proved
him
exists per se,
incorporeal, he
is
one
is
God.
As we have
(16).^^*
We
must now analyze the expressions incorporeal and one, and see and how our logical deductions agree misled by the metaphorical expressions persons, with Scripture. Many in the Bible, think of God as having a body with organs and senses
what
in strictness they imply,
on the analogy in
of ours.
Others are not so crude as to think of
God
anthropomorphic terms, nor are they polytheists, and yet for the
same
reason,
namely, misunderstanding of Scriptural expressions,
ascribe a plurahty of essential attributes to God. insist
on the absolute incorporeality
of Scripture in expressing itself in
the other
of
God and
must
therefore
explain the purpose
anthropomorphic terms, and on
hand emphasize the absolute unity
lievers in essential attributes.
We
of
God
against the be-
MOSES MAIMONIDES God
Belief in
as
body or as
261
worse than
liable to suffer affection is
For the idolater does not deny the existence
idolatry.
God; he
of
merely makes the mistake of supposing that the image of his own
him and God.
construction resembles a being which mediates between
And yet because who
this leads to erroneous belief
on the part
are inclined to worship the image itself instead of
of the people,
God
people cannot discriminate between the outward act and
(for the
its idea),
the Bible punishes idolatry with death, and calls the idolater a
who
God
thinks
God
How much
angers God.
He
body!
is
entertains
serious is the error of
and custom and the evidence are no
of
God
and
is
of the literal understanding of the Bib-
more an excuse
for this erroneous belief than they are
up
confirmed in them by some false notions.
himself able to reason out the truth, there to listen to one
who has reasoned
it
is
The
he thinks
if
God
is
corporeal.
show
their authors to
children, that
God
all
is
existent, living, wise, powerful,
to speak of
him
as this alone denotes
life;
in order to indicate that in order to
minds
of
It
that he
means
God,
and is
active.
to
many
to err so griev-
women and
all perfection,
Hence
it
that he
to ascribe to
to
him
endow him with motion,
seeing, hearing,
is
and so
on,
as
all
mouth, tongue,
to the
way in which ideas are comAs we are active by our sense
the only
He
is
given a soul, to denote
these activities are
of organs, these also are ascribed to
show that God has
is
was necessary
he understands; to represent him as speaking,
people this
Then
an un-
the only thing that suggests real
was necessary
too, is described as doing.
is alive.
eye, nose,
is
are due to a desire on the part of
municated from one person to another. of touch,
He
God.
show that he communicates with prophets, because
common
not
^'^^
possessed of
as body, for this
existence to the masses.
is
for his refusing
people, the masses including
and
exists
God
man
a
A person is not an unbeliever
out.
expressions in the Bible which have led
ously in their conceptions of
wrong
in his
If
no excuse
for not being able to prove the incorporeaHty of
believer
of
Habit
to burn.
for idolatry; for the idolater, too, has been brought
ideas
man
him who
an error regarding the nature
and surely causes the anger
directly,
lical text
more
among
God, as
voice, fingers, palm, arm.
all perfections,
feet,
us done
by
hands, ear,
In other words,
certain senses are ascribed to
him; and to indicate these senses the respective organs are related
MEDIjEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
262
to them, organs of motion to denote
life,
of sensation to denote under-
standing, of touch to denote activity, of speech to denote revelation.
As a matter and powers
of fact, however, since all these organs
man and
in
and perceptions
animals are due to imperfection and are for
the purpose of satisfying various wants for the preservation of the
and God has no wants
individual or the species,
any kind, he has
of
no such powers or organs. ^^^
Having disposed up the problem
of crude
self-evident truth that
essence of a thing. it is
anthropomorphism we must now take which endangers the unity.
of attributes,
It
an attribute
the thing over again, or
explanation of the name, and signifies that the thing these elements.
that there are
that
God
If
many
a
Otherwise
to the essence.
the definition of the thing
it is
is
something different from the
is
an accident added
is
It
and the
composed
is
of
we say God has many attributes, it will follow The only belief in true unity is to think
eternals.
one simple substance without composition or multiplicity
is
but one in
of elements,
all
respects
and
aspects.
Some go
so far as to
say that the divine attributes are neither God's essence nor anything
This
outside of his essence.
is
as another, or
imagination
not the same.
it is
them always have up
of
many
The
may be
definition of
man, "
can apply to
3.
by
An
is
The
Because bodies as we know
God,
too, is
made
be
its definition,
This everyone
causes.
which denotes will
its
admit cannot
cause, hence cannot be defined.
God no more than
part of a definition, as attribute rational
is
when we
part of the
the
first;
for
if
there
is
This
a part in God's
composite.
attribute
gories of accident,
An
same
rational animal " being the whole definition.
may
be an expression which characterizes not the
essence of the thing but
4.
its
God has no
may
An attribute may consist of a "man is rational," where the
essence, he
either the
no other alternative.
is
of five kinds:
attributes of a thing
be in God, for 2.
is
thing
attributes, they thought that
essence as determined
say,
There
A
essential elements or attributes.
Attributes 1.
fact.
responsible for this error.
is
words which have
It is saying
absurd.
nothing corresponding to them in
attribute
its quality.
Quality
is
one of the nine cate-
and God has no accidents.
may
indicate relation, such as father, master, son.
MOSES MAIMONIDES At
slave.
sight
first
might seem as
it
if
263
kind of attribute
this
may
be
we find that it is not. There time between God and anything else; because
applicable to God; but after reflection
can be no relation of time
God
the measure of motion, and motion
is
In the same way
not corporeal.
is
be a relation of place between
it is
God and
an accident
is
of body.
clear that there cannot
But
other things.
neither
can there be any other kind of relation between God and his creation.
For God
is
existent.
A relation exists only between things of
species, as
mon
between white and black.
genus, and
there
more
still
so
if
relation
else is
the
a possible
same proximate
have only a com-
If the things
they belong to two different genera,
no relation between them.
is
God and a
a necessary existent, while everything
If there
were a relation between
other things, he would have the accident of relation, though
is
the least serious of attributes, since
it
does not necessitate
multiplicity of eternals, nor change in God's essence owing to change
in the related things. 5.
An
attribute
may
by
characterize a thing
reference to
its effects
or works, not in the sense that the thing or author of the effect has
acquired a character by reason of the product, like carpenter, painter, blacksmith, but merely in the sense that he
An
particular thing.
attribute of this kind
essence of the thing so characterized it
to God, provided
we remember
by
it;
the one
is is
far
who made a
removed from the
and hence we may apply
that the varied effects need not
be produced by different elements in the agent, but are
all
done by
the one essence.
Those who believe God's
effects
work, since
if
all
by wise
some reason it
them
into
two
classes,
and
"creator," which denotes God's relation to his
like
God
about which
Now
in attributes divide
following four as essential attributes, not derived from
number the
The
did not create himself.
four essential attributes
agree are, living, powerful, wise, possessed of is
meant God's knowledge
for calling
implies "living,"
it
an
and there
of himself, there
essential attribute; is
no need
of two.
though in that case
But they
refer the
attribute wise to God's knowledge of the world, and then there
reason for calling
it
an
"creator," for example.
essential attribute
In the same
will.
might be
is
no
any more than the word
way "powerful" and "having
will" cannot refer to himself, but to his actions.
We
therefore hold
MEDIzEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
264
we do
that just as
not say that there
something additional
is
in his
by which he created the heavens, something else with which he created the elements, and a third with which he created the Intelligences, so we do not say that he has one attribute with which he essence
exercises power, another with
which he
knows, and so on, but his essence
is
wills,
a third with which he
simple and
one.^'''^
Four things must be removed from God: affection,
(3)
we have
first
potentiality,
(4)
The second
already proved.
(i)
corporeality,
(2)
The
resemblance to his creatures.
implies change, and the
author of the change cannot be the same as he who suffers the change
and
feels the affection.
then
If
God were
subject to affection, there
would be another who would cause the change in him.
must be removed from him; and
tential,
that quality in
actii.
The
As
there
same
of the
is
in
species.
fourth is
want
of
is
all
want
something
is po-,
So
an agent having
also evident; for resemblance in-
no relation between God and ourselves,
Resemblance can
no resemblance.
is
he who
in order to pass into actuaUty requires
volves relation. there
for
exist only
between things
All the expressions including "existent" are
God and to ourselves in a homonymous sense (c/. above, The use is not even analogical; for in analogy there must be
applied to p. 240).
some resemblance between the things having the same name, but not Existence in things which are determined by causes (and
so here.
this includes all that is
those things.
The
not God),
essence
is
is
not identical with the essence of
that which
is
expressed in the definition,
whereas the existence or non-existence of the thing so defined part of the definition.
God
the case
It is
is different.
an accident added
His existence has no cause, since he
necessary existent; hence his existence
So we say God he
living,
is
erful,
exists,
is
life;
but not with power; wise, but not with wisdom.
may
who
is
many.
be.
They
In is
a
Similarly
knowing, but not with knowledge; pow-
Unity and
many
as the
are accidents of the category of quantity.
God,
plurality are also accidents of things which are one or
case
not
identical with his essence.
but not with existence, as we do.
but not with
is
to the essence.
a necessary existent and simple cannot be one any more than
He
is
one, but not with unity.
express our ideas of God. to say he
is
Language
Wishing to say he
one; though one as well as
many
is
is
inadequate to
not many,
we have
pertains to the accidents
MOSES MAIMONIDES To
of quantity.
correct the inexactness of the expression,
"but not with unity."
"new," though is
reality neither "eternal" nor
mean merely
say one, we
Scripture speaks of
we
So we say "eternal" to indicate that he
in reality eternal is
an accident
of motion, the latter being
an accident
265
"new"
that there
him as the
is
is
of time,
add,
not
is
which in turn
dependent upon body.
apphcable to God.
none other
like
him; and when
the meaning
first
and the
God
are the negative ones.
last,
In
When we is
that
he does not change.
The only
true attributes of
attributes, too,
by excluding the part
to be designated
of the field in
Negative
which the thing
not contained, bring us nearer to the thing
is
itself;
though unlike positive attributes they do not designate any part of the thing
God cannot have
itself.
positive attributes because he has
no
essence different from his existence for the attributes to designate, and surely no accidents.
knowledge
of
Negative attributes are of value
when we have proved intelligible things,
existence
that there
and we say he
is
is
existent,
way
we mean
like
heat from
fire
sun, but with purpose and design and method. fore are either derived
meant
to
see,
from God's
effects or, if
This does not mean, however, that
meaning that
in the sense in
God
or light from the
they have reference
is
i. e.,
are really neg-
devoid of a quality
which we say a stone does
does not pertain to the nature of the stone
it
see.^''^
All the
names
of
God
longs to
him alone and
unknown.
except the tetragrammaton designate his
Jhvh alone
activities in the world.
is
means
All attributes there-
to exclude their opposites,
which he might have, but not
means not dead;
living
—not ignorant; wilHng denotes that creation proceeds
from him not by natural necessity
to himself, are
a
So
that his non-
negative; eternal signifies not caused; powerful
not weak; wise
atives.
involved.
is
a being beside these sensible and
is
In the same
unthinkable.
is
incorporeal
in leading us to
God, because in negation no plurality
is
It denotes
is
the real
not derived from anything
names used by the
charms are quite meaningless and absurd.
man.^*^^
of
God, which be-
else.
Its
meaning
perhaps the idea of necessary existence.
the other so-called divine
these people bespeak for
name
them are not
writers of talismans
The wonderful
to be believed
by any
All
and
claims
intelligent
MEDIMVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
266
The above account
of
Maimonides's doctrine of attributes shows us
that he followed the same line of thought as his predecessors.
more thorough and
treatment
is
religionist
more
He
stringent.
elaborate,
and
does not even allow attributes of rela-
which were admitted by Ibn Daud.
tion,
Negative attributes and
those taken from God's effects are the only expressions that
This
applied to God. of
God, but
it is
not even Aristotelian.
about God's attributes, Httle he
decidedly not a Jewish
is
it is
does say for such
conception as
we
thought thinking
His
his requirements of the
true,
mode
may
be
of conceiving
Aristotle has very little to say
but there seems no warrant
in the
an absolutely transcendental and agnostic
find in
Maimonides.
To
itself.
In so far as he
is
to be similar in kind, though not in degree, to
only source of Maimonides's ideas
is
God
Aristotle
thought we
is
pure form,
may suppose him
human
The
thought.
to be sought in Neo-Platonism, in
the so-called Theology of Aristotle which, however, Maimonides never
He
quotes.
need not have used
this
himself. He was a descendant of a Mohammedan and Jewish, in which
it
long line of thinkers, Christian,
problem was looked at from a Neo-Platonic point
the Theology of Aristotle predecessors.
The
had
its
it
How
to the limit.
would be a mistake to suppose that
it
tions represented his last
word on the
it is
hard to
his philosophical deduc-
subject.
As
in Philo so in
monides, his negative theology was only a means to a positive.
And
purpose was to emphasize God's perfection.
nay maintenance,
of
man's
to
he could combine
such transcendence with Jewish prayer and ceremony
but
and
making God transcendent appealed
idea of
Maimonides, and he carried
tell;
of view;
share in forming the views of his
inability to understand
MaiIts
in the admission,
God
Hes the solu-
problem we raised above. Prayer is answered, man is proby divine Providence; and if we cannot understand how, it is because the matter is beyond our limited intellect. Having discussed the existence and nature of God, our next probtion of the
tected
lem
is
the existence of angels and their relation to the "Separate
Intelhgences " of the philosophers.
In this matter, too, Ibn
Daud
more elaborate
in his
anticipated Maimonides, though the latter
is
exposition as well as criticism of the extreme philosophic view.
adopts as
much
doctrine as
is
of Aristotelian (or
what he thought was
He
Aristotelian)
compatible in his mind with the Bible and subject to
MOSES MAIMONIDES
267
rigorous demonstration, and rejects the rest on philosophic as well as religious grounds.
The
existence of separate intelligences he proves in the
Ibn Daud from the motions cannot be purely "natural," rectilinear
i. e.,
unconscious and involuntary like the
motions of the elements,
true of the elements
place, as
is
actually
move
in
water and earth, because
fire, air,
would stop as soon as they came to
in that case they
a
circle
(cf.
same way as
These motions
of the celestial spheres.
their natural
above, p. xxxiii) whereas the spheres ;
and never
We must
stop.
therefore
assume
that they are endowed with a soul, and their motions are conscious
But
and voluntary. on
creatures, for
not sufficient to regard them as irrational
it is
motions would have to
this hypothesis also their
cease as soon as they attained the object of their desire, or escaped
Neither object can be accomplished by
the thing they wish to avoid.
circular motion, for one approaches in this
one
and
flees,
flees
to account for continuous circular
sphere
endowed with reason or
is
to a desire
on
its
the thing from which
motion
intellect,
is
and
and that
So far as the sphere
is
a body,
its
motion
God
is
the love of God, to
it is
sphere desires to become similar, that
The only way
by supposing that the
part to attain a certain conception.
of the conception of the sphere,
tion.
way
the object which one approaches.
is
the object
whom
the cause of the sphere's
is it
can accomplish
due
the
mo-
this only
by
circular motion; for this is the only continuous act possible for a body,
and
the simplest of bodily motions.
it is
Seeing, however, that there are of motions, varying in speed
difference
must be due
ceptions.
Hence he posited
are spheres.
That
is,
and
many
spheres having difi"erent kinds
direction, Aristotle thought that this
to the difference in the objects of their con-
as
many
separate Intelligences as there
he thought that intermediate between
God and
the rational spheres there are pure incorporeal intelligences, each one
moving
As
the
own number
sumed
its
sphere as a loved object moves the thing that loves of spheres
were in his day thought to be
there were fifty separate Intelligences.
sciences in Aristotle's
fifty,
he
it.
as-
The mathematical
day were imperfect, and the astronomers thought
that for every motion visible in the sky there must be a sphere, not
knowing that the
number
inclination of one sphere
of apparent motions.
may
be the cause of a
Later writers making use of the more
MEDimVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
268
advanced state
of astronomical science, reduced the
number
of In-
telligences to ten, corresponding to the ten spheres as follows: the
seven planetary spheres, the sphere of the fixed sphere embracing them
one
of these
ligence
all
and the sphere
to west,
is
is
and giving
life
an
in charge of
them the motion from
all of
The
Intelligence.
the Active Intellect, which
is
These are the views
last separate Intel-
the cause of our mind's passing
of the various processes of sub-
of Aristotle
And
in
and
a general
are not incompatible with the Bible.
is
his followers concerning the sep-
way his views, says Maimonides, What he calls Intelligences the
Both are pure forms and
Scriptures call angels.
indicated in the nineteenth Psalm,
That God
the glory of God."
from a number of passages
"Let us make
and confuse
man in
their
{ib. 11, 7) is
ing" (" Mistakkel ")
when he
is
says that
striking;
God
is
declare
evident
i,
26),
"^^^
in
"Come, let us go down by the Rabbis in the
explained
first
(Bab. Talm. Sanhedrin 38b.)
celestial 'familia.'"
them
and Talmud. The plural number
our image" (Gen.
speech"
"The heavens
rules the world through
in Bible
Their ra-
incorporeal.
statement that " God never does anything without
uses
east
Each
generally.
arate Intelligences.
tionahty
the diurnal
of the elements surrounding the earth.
from potentiaHty to actuahty, and lunar
stars,
for it is
looking at the
The word
"look-
the very expression Plato
looks into the world of Ideas and produces
^^^ the uni verse.
For once Maimonides in the
upon a passage which owes Philonian influence. the works of Philo
its
Rabbinic quotation actually hit
last
content to Alexandrian and possibly
Having no idea
and
his relation to
Haggadah, he made no
distinction
of the
Alexandrian School and of
some theosophic passages
in the
between Midrash and Bible, and
read Plato and Aristotle in both alike, as
we
shall see
more particularly
later.
Maimonides's detailed criticism of Aristotle we shaU see
later.
For
the present he agrees that the philosophic conception of separate Intelligences
is
the
same as the
Biblical idea of angels with this excep-
tion that according to Aristotle these Intelligences and powers are
eternal
and proceed from God by natural
Jewish view ligences;
is
that they are created.
God
necessity,
all
whereas the
created the separate Intel-
he likewise created the spheres as rational beings and im-
MOSES MAIMONIDES
269
planted in them a desire for the Intelhgences which accounts for their various motions.
Now
Maimonides has prepared the ground and
is
ready to take up
He
the question of the origin of the world, which was left open above.
enumerates three views concerning
itself is
For time
moving
is
genesis
exist
when
was no world.
there
a measure of motion, and motion cannot be without a
thing.
Hence no motion and no time without a world.
and decay; hence
out of nothing.
made out
important matter.
created everything out of nothing.
a creation, which did not
The world
The Platonic View.
2.
it
God
The Biblical View.
1.
Time
this
it
as
we
see
now
it
subject to
is
But God did not make matter and form should be
originated in time.
That a composite
of
be reduced to nothing
of nothing or should
is
to the Plato-
a thing being and not being at the
nists
an impossibility
same
time, or the diagonal of a square being equal to its side.
fore to say that
like that of
God cannot do
lieve therefore that there
is
sure, but co-eternal with him,
The Aristotelian View.
3.
it
They beGod to be
argues no defect in him.
an eternal matter, the
There-
effect of
which he uses as the potter does the
Time and motion
are eternal.
clay.
The
heavens and the spheres are not subject to genesis and decay, hence they were always as they are now.
And
the processes of change in
Matter
the lower world existed from eternity as they exist now.
not subject to genesis and decay;
it
the other, and this has been going on from eternity.
from it is
his statements,
though he does not say
it
in so
impossible there should be a change in God's
of the universe, which he brought into being will
The arguments
of Aristotle
and
by
his followers
It results also
many words, that He is the cause
will.
his will,
does not change, the universe has existed this
their
is
simply takes on forms one after
and as
way from
his
eternity.
by which they defend
view of the eternity of the world are based partly upon the na-
ture of the world,
and partly upon the nature
of God.
Some
of these
arguments are as follows:
Motion
is
not subject to beginning and end.
comes into being precede
came
it,
after a state of non-existence requires
namely, the actualization from non-being.
into being, there
diction.
For everything that
was motion before motion, which
As motion and time go
together, time also
motion to
Hence
is
is
if
motion
a contra-
eternal.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
270
common
Again, the prime matter ject to genesis
and decay.
existing matter with
prime matter
be a previous matter from which matter has no matter before
If
he created
it
not sub-
came
into being, there
must
this is impossible, since the
and
is
prime
not endowed with form.
God are
the following:
forth the world from non-existence, then before
he was a creator potentially and then became a creator
There
actually.
it
itself
the proofs derived from the nature of
God brought
is
the combination of a pre-
is
came, and the thing that resulted
it
But
must be endowed with form.
Among
to the four elements
genesis
all
a new form, namely, the form of the generated
If therefore the
thing.
For
then potentiality in the creator, and there must
is
be a cause which changed him from a potential to an actual creator. Again, an agent acts at a particular time and not at another because of reasons and circumstances preventing or inducing action.
God
In
Hence he
there are no accidents or hindrances.
Again,
yesterday
how is made
it
God was
possible that
the world?
of worlds before this
idle
acts always.
an eternity and only
For thousands of years and thousands
one are after
all
as yesterday in comparison with
God's eternity.
These arguments Maimonides answers Aristotle himself, as can be inferred
first
by maintaining that
from his manner, does not regard
his discussions favoring the eternity of the world as scientific strations.
Besides, there
is
attitude to the question of the ultimate principles things.
demon-
a fundamental flaw in Aristotle's entire
and beginnings
All his arguments in favor of eternity of motion
and
of
of the
world are based upon the erroneous assumption that the world as a
whole must have come into being in the same way as
now
after the world
to prove that genesis,
God
and
is
here.
According to
motion must be
so on.
eternal, that
Our contention
is
parts appear
matter
is
easy
not subject to
that at the beginning,
when
created the world, there were not these laws; that he created
matter out of nothing, and then made
and
its
this supposition it is
it
the basis of
all
generation
destruction.
We
can also answer the arguments in favor of eternity taken from
the nature of God.
The
tentiality to actuality
if
first is
he
that
made
God would be
passing from po-
the world at a particular time and
not before, and there would be need of a cause producing this passage.
MOSES MAIMONIDES Our answer
is
271
that this appHes only to material things but not to im-
material, which are always active whether they produce visible re-
The term
sults or not.
action
the conditions applying to
we speak Nor is
of
it
is
a
homonym
do not hold when
God.
An
the second argimient conclusive.
determined by a purpose external to himself positive
above, p. 240), and
(c/.
in the ordinary usage
is
agent whose will
and negative, which now induce, now hinder
person desires to have a house and does not build stacles of various sorts.
When
In the case of an agent whose does not hold.
If
it
A
his activity.
by reason
of ob-
these are removed, he builds the house. will
has no object external to itseK
he does not act always,
of will sometimes to will
is
subject to influences
it is
and sometimes
because
it is
Hence
not.
this
the nature
this does not
argue change. ^^^
We
So far our results have been negative.
God
did create the world in time;
the Aristotelian arguments and thereby creation
is
not impossible.
are positive reasons which
We
have not proved that
we have only taken
must now proceed
make
the edge
shown that the doctrine
creation a
to
more
off
of
show that there plausible theory
than eternity.
The
gist of
Maimonides's arguments here
between eternity and creation resolves difference
is
that the difference
into a
more fundamental
between an impersonal mechanical law as the explanation
of the universe
and
itself
design.
and an
intelligent personality acting with will,
purpose
Aristotle endeavors to explain all motions in the world
above the moon as well as below in terms of mechanics. pretty well as far as the sublunar world
from prejudice can
is
free
If
he were just as convincing in his explanation of
on the mechanical
principle as
succeeds
who
to see the cogency of his reasoning.
is
fail
He
concerned, and no one
he
is
celestial
phenomena
in his interpretation of sublunar
events, eternity of the world would be a necessary consequence.
Uniformity and absolute necessity of natural law are more compatible with an eternal world than with a created one.
But Aristotle's method
down the moment he leaves the sublunar sphere. There are too many phenomena unaccounted for in his system. Aristotle tries to find a reason why the heavens move from east to
breaks
west and not in the opposite direction; and his explanation for the
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
272
difference in speed of the motions of the various spheres
is
that
which
is
the cause
due to
their relative proximity to the outer sphere,
of this
under
motion and which
But
it.
it
communicates to
the other spheres
all
some
his reasons are inadequate, for
ing spheres are below the slow
it is
mov-
of the swift
When he
moving and some are above.
says that the reason the sphere of the fixed stars moves so slowly
from west to east
because
is
it is
so near to the diurnal sphere (the
outer sphere), which moves from east to west, his explanation
wonderfully clever. ^^^
a sphere
is
from the
But when he
fixed stars the
to east, his conclusion
is
from
more rapid
not true to
ence of the stars in the spheres.
infers
fact.
Or
The matter
is its
let
is
this that the farther
motion from west
us consider the exist-
of the stars
must be
differ-
ent from that of the spheres, for the latter move, whereas the stars are
Now
always stationary. Stranger
together?
still is
stars in the eighth sphere.
others are very thin. (since the sphere
is
what has put these two
Some
parts are thickly studded with stars,
In the planentary spheres what
is
the reason
simple and uniform throughout) that the star
occupies the particular place that
matter of necessity.
different matters
the existence and distribution of the fixed
It will not
it
This can scarcely be a
does?
do to say that the differences
in
the motions of the spheres are due to the separate Intelligences for
which the respective spheres have a
desire.
are not bodies, and hence do not occupy
For the Intelligences
any position
relative to
There must therefore be a being who determines
the spheres.
their
various motions. Further,
it is
argued on the philosophical side that from a simple
cause only a simple effect can follow; and that as
many
Hence from God first
the cause
come only one simple
directly can
is
composite,
elements in the cause. Intelligence.
This
Intelligence produces the second, the second produces the third,
and so on
{cf.
how many last,
if
effects will follow as there are simple
even
above, p. 178).
Intelligences are
if
to this idea,
this successive
no matter
manner, the
he be the thousandth, would have to be simple.
then does composition arise? Intelligences are
Even
removed from the
become by reason
how can we
Now according
produced in
if
first
we grant
Where
that the farther the
cause the more composite they
of the composite nature of their ideas or thoughts,
explain the emanation of a sphere from an Intelligence,
MOSES MAIMONIDES seeing that the one
273
body, the other Intellect?
is
Granting again
also on the ground that the Intelligence producing the sphere posite (since
it
thinks
itself
and another), and hence one
is
this
com-
of its parts
produces the next lower Intelligence and the other the sphere, there is still this difficulty
sphere
that the part of the Intelligence producing the
simple, whereas the sphere has four elements
is
and the form
of the sphere,
— the matter
and the matter and the form
of the star
fixed in the sphere.
from the Aristotelian theory
All these are difificulties arising
of
mechanical causation, necessity of natural law and eternity of the
And
world.
they are
intelligent cause
by
all
removed at a stroke when we substitute
working with purpose,
will
and
much
who
Alexander,
says that where a theory
adopt the view which has the
which are solved It
is
if
least
difficulties
we adopt
be sure,
number
it,
of
not proved one should
is
This,
of objections.
shall show, is the case in the doctrine of creation.
pointed out a number of
To
But we should follow the view
do we prove our own.
less
design.
we do not disprove
finding difl&culties attaching to a theory
We
we
have already
attaching to the Aristotelian view,
creation.
And
there are others besides.
impossible to explain the heavenly motions as a necessary me-
The hypotheses made by Ptolemy
chanical system.
to account for
the apparent motions conflict with the principles of the Aristotelian
According to these principles there
Physics. lation,
i. e.,
there
is
no change
of place, in the
is
no motion
of trans-
heavenly spheres.
Also
there are three kinds of motion in the world, toward the centre (water, earth),
away from
celestial spheres).
centre.
and
x\ll
the centre
and around the centre
(air, fire)
Also motion in a circle must be around a
(the fijxed
these principles are violated in the theories of the epicycle
eccentric, especially the
For the epicycle
first.
is
a sphere which
changes place in the circumference of the large sphere. Finally,
by
an important objection
of natural
phenomena,
is
that
it
and does away with miracles and p. 269) is not so
but there as
to the doctrine of eternity as taught
Aristotle, involving as it does necessity
it
is
subverts the foundations of rehgion, signs.
bad and does not
no need
and absolute changelessness
The
Platonic view
{cf.
above,
necessitate the denial of miracles;
of forcing the BibHcal texts to that opinion so long
has not been proved.
As long as we
believe in creation
all
possible
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
274
phenomena such
questions concerning the reasons for various
ecy, the various laws, the selection of Israel,
swered by reference to the If,
however, the world
will of
God, which we do not understand.
a mechanical necessity,
is
as proph-
on, can be an-
these questions
all
and demand an answer. ^^^
arise
It will
be seen that Maimonides's objections to eternity and mechan-
ical necessity (for these
twofold, philosophic ceive
Maimonides
two are necessarily connected
and
The
religious.
to insist
upon
if
and the
in his mind), are
latter objection
we may
he were living to-day.
necessity as a universal explanation of will
and so
con-
Mechanical
phenomena would exclude
efficacy of prayer as ordinarily understood,
free
though not
we mean by miracle simply an extraordinary by the laws of nature as we know them, and happening only on rare occasions. But in reality this is not what we mean by miracle. A miracle is a discontinuity in the laws of nature necessarily miracles,
phenomenon not
if
explicable
brought to pass on a special occasion by a personal being in response to a prayer or in order to realize a given purpose.
In this sense mir-
and Maimon-
acles are incompatible with the doctrine of necessity,
whom
ides's objections hold to-day, except for those to
religion is in-
dependent of the Bible, tradition or any external authority.
As concerns the
We may
scientific objections, the case is different.
allow Maimonides's negative criticism of the Aristotelian arguments,
namely, that they are not convincing.
does not explain
the facts
all
is
not valid.
in his actual explanations of particular in his
method.
method in
Modern
of interpreting
which science can
Aristotle
all.
And
denied,
be wrong
if
it is
there
correct
adopted the mechanical
phenomena, assuming that
is still
may
principle
phenomena and yet be
science, in fact, has
exist at
mechanical causation
His positive criticism that
phenomena on the mechanical
Aristotle's interpretation of
is
this is the
only
any domain
in
way
which
not the celestial regions about
which Maimonides was so much concerned
—the motions of the heav-
enly bodies have been reduced to uniformity in accordance with natural law quite as definitely as,
some
terrestrial
phenomena
and
—but
in
some
cases
the regions of
In these domains the discussion within the folds
is
still
going on.
But
has succeeded in justifying
its
more life,
scientific
mind and
will.
and philosophic
modern
science
increasing
number
in inanimate nature
method by the ever
definitely than,
MOSES MAIMONIDES phenomena that
of
obsolete philosophy
and obsolete
on the ground that much is
is
its
The
possible
is
But an objection what Maimonides
doing
is
It
science as well,
its
of this desires
best to classify
all
to discover the uniformities underlying their
admirably and
is
continually widening
It has been able to predict as
sphere of activity.
method.
consider
Science
It has succeeded
behavior.
we
if
modern
to in
yet unexplained.
to place in science's stead.
phenomena and
scientific principles.
much to object
captious, particularly
natural
Maimonides fought an
yield to its treatment.
that he might have found
sort
275
its
and mechanical necessity
principle of uniformity
becoming more and more generally
a result of
verified with every
new
is
scientific
discovery and invention.
And what intelligent
tions if
does Maimonides offer us in
purpose and design.
stead?
its
This, he says,
is
The
principle of
not open to the objec-
which apply to the AristoteKan principles and methods.
one said the coward
the latter
is
is
a better
open to the danger
whereas the former
way
that the only
is
not so
It
is
as
than the brave warrior, because
of being captured,
wounded
or killed,
The answer obviously would be is by
liable.
the coward escapes the dangers mentioned
running away, by refusing to
tantamount to a
man
fight.
refusal to fight,
it is
Maimonides's substitution
is
equivalent to flight from the
field of battle.
Aristotle tries to explain the variation in speed of the different celestial motions,
after Aristotle
and succeeds
Another
indifferently.
man coming
and following the same method may succeed
This has actually been the case.
better.
Leverrier without ever looking into
a telescope discovered Neptune, and told the observers in what part
new
planet.
Substitute Mai-
monides's principle, and death to science!
Why
do the heavenly
of the heavens they should look for the
bodies
move
as they do?
Maimonides
replies in effect,
God's wisdom has determined and his wisdom is
no further impulse to investigation
reply of the obscurantist,
and
it is
transcendent.
an answer.
It
There is
the
very surprising that Maimonides
the rationalist should so far have forgotten his
own
ideal of reason
and
Mu-
He is whom he so severely criticises. They were more consistent.
enlightenment.
takallimun
is
in such
because so
here playing into the hands of those very
Distrustful of the irreligious consequences of the philosophical theories
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
276
and
of Aristotle
his
Arabian followers, they deliberately denied causa-
and natural law, and substituted the continuously in the phenomena of nature. tion
because and as long as it
atoms
to the
of
God
will of
A
God
as interfering
red object continues red
creates the "accident " red
which the object
Fire taking hold
composed.
is
and attaches
God wills at the particular moment that this shall be the result. The next moment God may will otherwise and the fire and the wood will lie down in peace together and no harm done. This makes miracles possible and of
wood burns
it
and reduces
it
to ashes because
Maimonides would not think
easy.
of going so far;
he has no names
harsh enough to describe this unscientific, unphilosophic,
guilty of the
because else
it
which
thing at
is
same lack
in our day,
of scientific insight
find that
when he
illogical, ir-
he
rejects
himself
is
a method
not completely successful, and substitutes something
will
all
But we
imaginary procedure.
rational, purely
always be successful because
and
it will
we may
never
tell
us any-
Were Maimonides
will stifle all investigation.
living
suppose he would be more favorably inclined to
the mechanical principle as a scientific method.
Having
laid the philosophical foundations of religion in proving
the existence, unity and incorporeality of God, and purposeful creation in time,
Maimonides proceeds
doctrines of Judaism,
Here
also
to the
more properly
and begins with the phenomenon
he follows Aristotelian ideas as expressed
religious
of prophecy.
in the writings
Arabs Alfarabi and Avicenna, and was anticipated among the by Ibn Daud. His distinction here as elsewhere is that he went Jews further than his model in the manner of his elaboration of the doctrine. of the
He 1.
cites three opinions
The Opinion
concerning prophecy:
of the Masses.
God
chooses any person he desires,
be he young or old, wise or ignorant, and inspires him with the prophetic 2.
spirit.
The Opinion of
requires natural
the Philosophers.
aptitude and
Prophecy
given these qualifications, and prophecy 3.
The Opinion of Judaism.
This
is
is
a
human
gift
and
But
sure to come.
very
philosophers, the only difference being that a qualifications
is
hard preparation and study.,
much like that man may have
and yet be prevented from prophesying
of punishment, does not desire that he should.
if
of the all
the
God, by way
MOSES MAIMONIDES Prophecy
is
277
an inspiration from God, which passes through the
mediation of the Active Intellect to the rational power to the faculty of the imagination.
attain and retical
is
is
not open to everyone.
wisdom and
in morals,
first
and then
man
the highest stage a
of the imagina-
work when the senses are
its
can
It requires perfection in theo-
and perfect development
This latter does
tive power.
It
at rest,
giving rise to true dreams, and producing also prophetic visions.
Dream and prophecy differ in hard
in his
waking
degree, not in kind.
Now if a person has a perfect brain; can;
pure morally;
is
is
causes and the First Cause;
is
—
if
a
man
has
man
thinks
man
the mysteries of existence,
dominion and
these qualifications, he without doubt receives
all
The
through his imagination from the Active Intellect divine ideas. difference in the grade of prophets
three requirements
its
not susceptible to the purely animal
desires, or to those of the spirited soul ambitious for
honor
a
develops his mind as far as a
know
eager to
What
imagination works over in sleep.
state, that the
is
due to the difference
in these
—perfection of the reason, perfection of the imagi-
nation and perfection of moral character.
According to the character and development of their reasons and imaginations 1.
men may be
Those whose rational
divided into three classes. faculties are highly developed
influences from the Active Intellect, but tive constitutionally, or
is
defec-
not under the influence of the Active In-
These are wise men and philosophers.
tellect. 2.
is
and receive
whose imagination
When
the imagination also
perfect in constitution
is
and
well
developed under the influence of the Active Intellect, we have the class of prophets. 3.
When
the imagination alone
tellect is defective,
we
in
good condition, but the
in-
have statesmen, lawgivers, magicians, dreamers
dreams and occult
of true
is
These men are so confused some-
artists.
times by visions and reveries that they think they have the
gift of
prophecy.
Each
of the first
two
classes
may be further divided into
ing as the influence from above
is
of the individual himself, or is so
to seek to impart in the
first class,
it
to others.
two accord-
just sufficient for the perfection
abundant as to cause the
We
recipient
have then authors and teachers
and preaching prophets
in the second.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
278
Among and
the powers
in
any
in varying degrees are those of courage
These are innate and can be perfected
divination.
them
we have
By means
degree.
power
of the
one has
if
we some-
of divination
times guess what a person said or did under certain conditions, and
The
guess truly.
mind
the
made
result really follows
Some prophets than those of
also
have
The same
it
seems to
—
it its
same
this
tional power, and makes
in
me:
for
my
in his
saw
ideas as certain as
its
waking
this great vision,
and the process
if
is
the
upon the
ra-
they were derived
a state of agitation coming
is
state, as is clear
retained no strength" (Dan. 10, 8).
Whenever
theoretical
perceptions are real and due
from the words
of
and there remained no strength
comeliness was turned in
their functions,
by
inspiration acts also
by intellectual effort. The prophetic vision (Heb. Mar'ah) upon the prophet
his reason
inspiration which renders the activity of the imagi-
to the external senses
I
faculties
powers more highly developed
their rational
an ordinary person who perfects
"And
two
these
Witness Moses braving the wrath of a great king.
nation so vivid that
Daniel,
seems the guess was
it
The prophet must have
instantaneously.
in a high degree.
study.
from a number of premises, but
passes over these so rapidly that
me
and I
into corruption,
In vision also the senses cease
same as
the Bible speaks of prophecy
in sleep.
commg
to anyone,
it is
always through an angel and in a dream or vision, whether this specifically stated or not.
in a
dream
The
expression,
of the night," does not denote
"And God came
prophecy at
all.
a dream that comes to a person warning him of danger.
It
to
is
.
is .
.
merely
Laban and
Abimelech had such dreams, but no one would credit these heathens with the prophetic power.
Whenever an angel with a person,
ham and
it is
is
met
in Scripture speaking or
always in a dream or vision.
the three men, Jacob wresthng with the angel,
the ass, Joshua and the angel at Jericho; or vision. is
communicating
Examples
Sometimes there
is
no angel at
—
all
all,
are,
Abra-
Balaam and
these were in a
dream
but merely a voice that
heard by such as are not deserving of prophecy, for example Hagar,
and Manoah and
The prophets
his wife.
see images in their visions.
times interpreted in the vision itself;
These images are some-
sometimes the interpretation
MOSES MAIMONIDES
279
Sometimes the prophet
does not appear until the prophet wakes up.
sometimes he sees God speaking to him, or an angel;
sees a likeness,
or he hears an angel speaking to him, or sees a
or sees nothing at
way we
In this
man
speaking to him,
but only hears a voice.
all
The
distinguish eleven grades of prophecy.
first
two are only preparatory, not yet constituting one who has them a prophet. 1.
When
one
endowed by God with a great
is
munity or a famous
we have
the
first
individual,
grade
and he undertakes
man, hence he
called a
this desire
killed the
The same
shepherds, and so on.
who has
a very great 2.
When
speak
this desire is
about,
it
This was the
from the moment from the
of Jethro
Not
true of David.
everyone, in doing
a prophet until he succeeds
thing.
a person
feels
something come upon him and begins to
—words of wisdom and praise or of warning, or relating to while in a waking state and with —
social
or religious conduct consciousness,
This
is
com-
Egyptian and chided the
two quarreling men, and delivered the daughters however,
to bring
as the "Spirit of God."
Moses always had
position of the Judges.
he could be
known
desire to save a
is
full
all this
we have
the second stage called the
"Holy
Spirit."
the inspiration which dictated the Psalms, the Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes,
Song
and the other
of Songs, Daniel, Job, Chronicles
sacred writings (Hagiographa).
Balaam's discourses also belong to
this class.
David, Solomon and Daniel belong here, and are not in the
same
with Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nathan, Ahiah, and so on.
class
God
spoke to Solomon through Ahiah the Shilonite; at other times he spoke to
him
in
a dream, and when Solomon woke up, he knew
and not a prophecy.
why
his
book
is
it
was a dream
Daniel's visions were also in dreams.
This
is
classed in the third division of the BibHcal writings
(Hagiographa), and not in the second (Prophets). 3.
This
is
the
first
sees a picture in a is
explained to
grade of real prophecy,
dream under the proper
him
in the
dream
itself.
i.
e.,
when a prophet
conditions,
Most
of the
and the picture
dreams
of Zecha-
riah are of this nature. 4.
When
he hears speech in a prophetic dream, but does not see
the speaker, as happened to Samuel in the beginning of his career. 5.
When
a
man
speaks to him in a dream, as
we
find in
some
MEDimVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
28o
"And
of the prophecies of Ezekiel,
man. 6.
of of
.
.
When an
God
said to
When
it
to him; as
him
angel speaks to
most prophets, as
7.
man
the
said unto me, son of
."
me
in
in a dream.
This
"And an
angel
a dream."
seems to him in a prophetic dream as
we
the condition
is
indicated in the expression,
is
"I saw the Lord
find in Isaiah,
God
if ,
.
speaking
is
and he
.
said,
whom shall I send and who will go for us" (Isa. 6, i, 8). 8. When a vision appears to him and he sees pictures, like Abraham at the covenant of the pieces (Gen. 15). 9.
When
he hears words in a vision, as in the case of Abraham,
"And, behold, the word shall not 10.
Lord came unto him saying, This man
of the
be thine heir" (Gen. 15, 4).
When
he sees a
man
speaking to him in a prophetic vision.
Examples, Abraham in the plain of Mamre, Joshua in Jericho. 11
When he sees an angel speaking to him in a vision, This
in the sacrifice of Isaac.
is
like
Abraham
the highest degree of prophecy,
The next higher stage would be that a prophet God speaking to him in a vision. But this seems impossible, too much for the imaginative faculty. In fact it is possible
excepting Moses.
should see as
it is
that in a vision speech
never heard at
is
all,
In that case the eleven grades are reduced to eight.
seen.
All the details of actions visions
and
travels that are described in prophetic
must not be understood as having actually taken
example Hosea's marrying a harlot.
Many
prophet's vision or dream. h)^erbolical or metaphorical,
Moses was the greatest
be the meaning
longest of
is
the people to the Law.
were
many
literally.
alone received his
his miracles before
The standing
stiU of the
sun pro-
of all the people.
Besides
that that day seemed to the people the
any they experienced
reason of his superiority to
the
All the others got their divine
duced by Joshua was not in the presence
may
He
Moses performed
the whole people as no one else did.
in
expressions in the prophets are
and must not be taken
messages through an angel.
place, as for
They appear only
of the prophets.
communications direct from God.
it
but only likenesses are
all
No
in those regions.
Moses
alone,
by
other prophets before or after, called
one before him did
prophets before Moses.
this,
though there
Abraham taught a few
people,
MOSES MAIMONIDES and so did Lord sent
But no one
others.
me
like
Moses
281
to
"The
said to the people,
you that you may do thus and
After Moses
so."
all
the prophets urge upon the people obedience to the law of Moses.
This shows that the law of Moses will never change.
and any change
From
in
any
For
it is
perfect,
would be for the worse. ^^^
direction
the theoretical part of philosophy
we
pass to the practical.
This includes ethics and other topics related thereto, theodicy, providence, free will and
its
To
compatibility with God's omniscience.
give his ethical doctrine a scientific character, Maimonides bases
it
upon a metaphysical and psychological foundation. The doctrine of matter and form gives him a convenient formula underlying his ethical discussion. Sin and vice are due to matter, virtue and goodness to form.
For sensuous
desires,
which are due to matter, are at the
basis of vice; whereas intellectual pursuits, which constitute the noblest activity of the soul, the
We may
form
of the living body, lead to virtue.
therefore state man's ethical duty in broad philosophical
terms as follows: Despise matter, and have to do with as
is
and
absolutely necessary. ^^^ it is
This
is
only so far
it
too general to be enlightening,
necessary to have recourse to psychology.
Ethics has for
ing use of a medical analogy
we may say
the physician to cure the body, so
We may
to cure the soul.
as the physician
it is
that as
the
aim
it is
the business of
of the
moral teacher
carry this figure further and conclude that
must know the anatomy and physiology
before he can undertake to cure the nature of the soul and
its
it
of its
powers or
ills,
of the
so the moraUst
body
must know
faculties.
In the details of his psychology Maimonides follows Alfarabi stead of Avicenna
its
Mak-
subject-matter the improvement and perfection of character.
who was
the model of Judah Halevi
in-
and Ibn Daud
(pp. 175, 211).
The
soul consists of five parts or faculties: the nutritive, the sensi-
tive, the imaginative, the appetitive
and the
The
rational.
description of the nutritive soul pertains to medicine
further
and does not
known five The imaginative faculty is the power which retains the forms sensible objects when they are no longer present to the external
concern us here.
The
sensitive soul contains the well
senses.
of
senses.
It also has the function of original
combination of sense
elements into composite objects having no real existence in the out-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
282
This makes the imagination an unreliable guide in matters
side world. intellectual.
The
appetitive faculty
an object and
of
is
a thing or rejects
desires
its
the power of the soul
Acts resulting from
it.
by which a person it
are the pursuit
avoidance; also the feelings of anger, favor, fear,
and so on. The organs of these are the members of the body, like the
courage, cruelty, pity, love, hate,
powers, feelings and activities
hand, which takes hold of an object; the foot, which goes toward a thing or
away from
courage or
The
is
it;
rational faculty
flects,
the eye, which looks; the heart, which takes
stricken with fear;
and so with the
the power of the soul
is
acquires knowledge,
and a blameworthy. The functions
cal
and
The
by which a person
re-
discriminates between a praiseworthy
act
theoretical.
rest.
of the rational soul are practi-
practical activity of the reason has to
do
with the arts directly, as in learning carpentry, agriculture, medicine, seamanship; or
it is
concerned with reflecting upon the methods and
principles of a given art.
The
theoretical reason has for its subject-
matter the permanent and unchangeable, what
is
known
as science
in the true sense of the term.^^*^
Now
as far as the
commandments, mandatory and
of the Bible are concerned, the only parts of the soul
are the sensitive and the appetitive. subject to control.
The
nutritive
prohibitive,
which are involved
For these are the only powers
and the imaginative powers func-
tion in sleep as well in waking, hence a person cannot be held responsi-
ble for their activities, which are involuntary.
about the rational faculty, but
it
There
is
some doubt
seems that here too a person
sponsible for the opinions he holds, though
no
is re-
practical acts are in-
volved.
and
Virtues are divided into ethical and intellectual (dianoetic); so are the contrary vices. of the reason.
Such are
The
intellectual virtues are the excellencies
science,
which consists in the knowledge of
proximate and remote causes of things; pure reason, having to do with
we The
such innate principles as the axioms; the acquired reason, which
cannot discuss here; clearness of perception and quick
insight.
intellectual vices are the opposites or the contraries of these.
The
ethical virtues are resident in the appetitive faculty.
sensitive soul
is
auxihary to the appetitive.
The number
The
of these
MOSES MAIMONIDES virtues
Examples
large.
is
283
temperance, generosity, justice,
are;
The
modesty, humility, contentment, courage, and so on. this class are the
above
to the required extent.
The
have neither virtues nor
vices.
or
poor; his imagination
it is
vices of
qualities carried to excess, or not practiced
faculties of nutrition
is
We
and imagination
say a person's digestion
correct or
it is
defective, but
is
good
we do not
attach the idea of virtue or vice to these conditions. Virtue
a permanent and enduring quahty of the soul occupying
is
an intermediate position between the two opposite extremes each of which
a vice, sinning by exceeding the proper measure of the
is
mean
golden
by falhng short
or
of
A good
it.
act
is
that form of con-
A
duct which follows from a virtuous disposition as just defined. act
is
of excess or defect.
the
is
bad
the result of a tendency of the soul to either of the two extremes,
Thus temperance
mean between
or moderation
The
insensibility or indifference in the direction of defect.
are vices.
a virtue. It
is
over-indulgence in the direction of excess, and
Similarly generosity
is
two
last
a mean between niggardliness and
is a mean between foolhardiness and cowardice; mean between haughtiness and loutishness; humihty is
extravagance; courage dignity
is
a
a mean between arrogance and self-abasement; contentment
mean between
avarice
and
between baseness and excessive tween
irascibility
self-denial; gentleness is
and insensibihty
to insult;
tween impudence and shamefacedness.
modesty
of the extremes as a virtue.
the foolhardy
often praised as the brave; the
is
called gentle; the indolent
is
is
Thus the
man
of
reckless
error.
The
The mean
ethical virtues
alone
and
is
vices are acquired as
a confirmed habit and a second nature.
What he
will turn
trained from childhood.
And
As in bodily
here
is
a result of repeated
out to be depends upon the
If his training
we may borrow a
become
A person is not born virtuous way he
leaf
is
has been wrong and he has
acquired a vicious disposition in a particular tendency, he cured.
in-
This
worthy of commendation.
practice during a long time of the corresponding acts until they
or vicious.
and
no backbone
mistaken for the contented; the
sensible for the temperate, the extravagant for the generous.
an
a
People are often mistaken
and regard one
is
is
mean a mean bea mean be-
slothful indifference; kindness is a
may be
from the book of medicine.
disease the physician's endeavor
is
to restore the disturbed
MEDIMVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
284
equilibrium in the mixture of the humors that
by
increasing the element
if
a person has a decided
deficient, so in diseases of the soul,
is
tendency to one of the vicious extremes, he must as a curative measure,
be directed to practice the opposite ex-
for a certain length of time,
Then he may go back
treme until he has been cured.
Thus
mean.
if
to the virtuous
a person has the vice of niggardliness, the practice
of liberality is not sufi&cient to cure him.
As a
heroic measure he
practice extravagance until the former tendency has left him.
may
he
the
The same
return to the liberal mean.
other virtues, except that
amount
it is
Too
result.
from the mean would
in
extreme necessary to bring about
Thus
the opposite vice.
it is
and too long continued
great deviation
some
thing applies to the
necessary to use proper judgment in
of practice of a vicious
a satisfactory
must
Then
cases be dangerous, as likely to develop
comparatively safe to indulge in extrava-
gance as a cure for niggardliness; the reverse process must be used
Care should likewise be taken in trying to wean a
with caution.
person away from a habit of insensibility to pleasure by means of
a regime of indulgence.
If it is
become a pleasure
which
It
in this
is
men and and
seeker,
is
even worse than total indifference.
way that we must explain the conduct of certain pious who were not content with following the middle way,
saints
inclined to one extreme, the extreme of asceticism
They
ment.
may
not discontinued in time, he
and
self-abase-
did this as a measure of cure, or because of the wicked-
ness of their generation, whose example they feared would contaminate
them by the
life
of
its
Hence they
contagion.
a recluse.
It
lived a retired
was not meant
as the normal
and
solitary
mode
life,
of conduct,
which would be as unwholesome to the soul as an invalid's drugs
would be dangerous
The
will of
God
is
if
taken regularly by a person of sound health.
that
we should
and drink and enjoy ourselves
follow the middle
in moderation.
To be
way and eat we must be
sure,
always on our guard against slipping into the forbidden extreme,
but
it is
not necessary for this purpose to
upon ourselves or
from food and drink beyond what
many this
inflict
additional burdens
to practice mortification of the flesh is
and abstention
prescribed in the Law.
of the regulations in the Pentateuch have been laid
very purpose.
The
For
down
for
dietary laws, the laws of forbidden marriages,
the laws of tithes, the laws prescribing that the corner of the
field,
MOSES MAI MON IDES
285
the dropped and forgotten ears and the gleanings of the vintage should
be
the poor, the laws of the sabbatical year, the Jubilee,
left to
the regulations governing charity
—
us against avarice and selfishness.
and
these are intended to guard
all
Other laws and precepts are for
the purpose of moderating our tendency to anger and rage, and so
with
the other virtues
all
lousness to
add
and
Hence
vices.
restrictions of one's
it is folly
own accord
and overscrupu-
except in critical
instances, as indicated above.
The purpose it is
of all
life
Hence
and activity
is
know God
to
as far as
should be directed to
all his activities
His eating and drinking and sleeping and waking and
that one end.
motion and
human
man.
possible for
rest
and pleasure should have
nance of good health and cheerful
spirits,
for their object the mainte-
not as an end in themselves,
but as a means to intellectual peace and freedom from worry and care in order that
he
may have
upon the highest truths works
and abihty
leisure
of
Good
God.
of art, splendid architecture
and
and monotony
fine clothing
measure to dispel gloom and low
The same
of toil
spirits or
to speculative theology, train the
mind
and
in deduction
knowledge
of benefit for the
be necessary
labor, or as a curative
a tendency to melancholy. Medicine
and curing
it
of its
their value is evident; or
and
is
of as-
ills.
The
difference
analysis,
indirectly
conduce to intellectual perfection,
between one prophet and another is in large measure
dependent upon relative ethical superiority. say that Moses saw
Thus when
God through a luminous
mirror,
prophets through a non-luminous, the meaning intellectual
they serve to
and are thus
of God.^^^
ethical quaUties similarly
and the
of
should not be
may
mathematical and physical sciences are either directly helpful
logical,
The
and
thing appHes to the arts and sciences.
sistance in maintaining bodily health
reflect
music, beautiful scenery,
pursued for their own sake, but only so far as they to relieve the tedium
and
to study
and moral
perfection, so far as a
is
human
the Rabbis
and
that
tlie
other
Moses had
being
is
capable
having them, and the only partition separating him from a complete
vision of
God was
his humanity.
fects besides, constituting so
The
many
other prophets had other de-
additional partitions obscuring
the divine view.^^^
Some
foolish astrologers are of the opinion that
a man's character
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
286 is
determined in advance by the position of the stars at the time of This
his birth.
is
The
as tradition.
a grave
error, as
that a man's acts are under his
no one
can be shown from reason as well
Bible as well as the Greek philosophers are agreed
own
control,
and that he himself and
else is responsible for his virtues as well as his vices.
that a person's temperament, which
is
he has no control, plays an important
constitutional
It
true
is
and over which There
role in his conduct.
is
no denying that men are born with certain tendencies. born phlegmatic, some are passionate and hot-blooded.
a tendency
to fearlessness
But while
ward.
and bravery, another
true that
it is
more
it is
is
Some are One man has
timid and back-
difficult for
the hot-blooded
to develop the virtue of temperance
and moderation than
phlegmatic, that
warm-tempered to learn courage
than
for the cold-tempered
it is
we have
easier for the
it is
seen before,
is
due to long continued
for the
it is
—these are not impossible.
Virtue,
not a natural state, but an acquired possession discipline
and
One man may
practice.
require
longer
and more assiduous practice than another
virtue,
but no matter what his inherited temperament, he can acquire
it if
he undertakes to do
so, or if
and conduct were determined, tions in the Bible
has no
the
If
man's character
commandments and
in vain, for without
freedom
command
any trade or
profession; for
if it is
determined beforehand
that a given individual shall be a physician or a carpenter, he to be one
whether he studies or not.
This would make
all
punishment wrong and unjust whether administered by God.
prohibi-
Similarly there would be no use in a person's endeavor-
effect.
ing to learn
would be
properly trained. all
to acquire a certain
is
bound
reward and
man
or
by
For the person so rewarded or punished could not help doing
what he
did,
and
is
therefore not responsible.
and
All our plans
preparations would on this supposition be useless and without meaning,
such as building houses, acquiring food, avoiding danger, and so
on.
All this
is
absurd and opposed to reason as well as to sense.
It
undermines the foundation of religion and imputes wrong to God. The Bible says distinctly, "See, I have set before thee this day
the good, death and
the evil
.
.
.
therefore choose thou
life
life.
.
and .
."
(Deut. 30, 15, 19.)
There are some passages
in the Bible
which apparently lend color
to the idea that a person's acts are determined
from on high.
Such
MOSES MAIMONIDES
287
are the expressions used in relation to Pharaoh's conduct toward the
them go out
IsraeUtes in refusing to let
God hardened the heart Israehtes go. And he did this that
criticism here
person
a
man
is
twofold.
is
First, these expressions indicate
gives to this passage
But
man
this
that a
it.
is
as follows:
was a penal measure and exceptional.
may
but he
is free,
freedom
forfeit this
Israel
His
go out of Egypt,
His
free choice.
object was to let
own accord and
of his
was already
all
the world
be sure
God
may forfeit his human privilege.
that a person
does not always punish sin so severely, but
us to search his motives and ask
and another
We
in another.
Another argument against the knowledge of God. well as the past
at a given
If
why he
punishes one
must leave
this to his
free will
that
God
is
is
moment.
But
since God's
work
He
(p.
God is
ff.).
As he does not means of knowledge. are.
his existence
know It is
and
his essence,
way
wisdom.
incompatible with
knowledge
is
certain
is
will act
and not
God
long
not the result of his free
this objection is virtually
an admission
takes refuge in the transcendence of God's knowl-
upon which he dwelt so 260
not for
one
in
person in question cannot help acting as
Maimonides's answer to
edge,
it is
omniscient and knows the future as
foreknew he would act, and hence his act
of ignorance.
it is
man
and the present, he knows how a given person
liable to error, the
will.
as a result of
punishment, and
in the nature of a
know
freedom of action as a punishment for abusing his
To
So
it.
the children of
freedom in complying with Moses's request
loss of
to let the Israelites go
let
sin consisted in his tyrannical treatment
which he did
of Israel in the past,
Normally
he abuses
if
Pharaoh's primary offence was not that he would not
its
the
The
admits that in Pharaoh's case there was a restriction of Pharaoh's
freedom.
a
let
seems scarcely just to force
it
a certain way and then to punish him for
The explanation Maimonides
He
are told there
punish the Egyptians.
in order to
not always free; and second,
to act in
We
of Egypt.
Pharaoh that he should not
of
his
insistently in the earlier part of his
we his
creatures
so he does not
know by
not qualified by attributes as
live
by means
He knows
of
life,
through his
knowledge are
identical.
own
essence.
He and
Hence as we cannot
we cannot have any conception
of his knowledge.
mistaken therefore to argue that because we cannot know a future
event unless
it is
already determined in the present,
God cannot do
so.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
288
His knowledge
is
of a diflferent kind
from
and he can do what we
ours,
cannot. ^^^
The next problem Maimonides takes up The presence of evil in the world, physical stumbling block to
still,
is
its origin in
Neo-Platonism,
evil in the
world?
isfactory.
who identified God with the Good. If he come from him. How then account for the
It
The answer
was given was extremely unsat-
that
was founded on a metaphysical
distinction which
any
sidered a principle without
was made the
definite nature or actual being,
it is
nothing positive, but only a nega-
tion or privation of
good as darkness
needs no creator,
has no
this
it
is
the absence of light; hence
efficient cause,
man
it
but only a deficient cause.
way physical evil was accounted for. Moral
man's inhumanity to
and
Evil partakes
basis of all imperfection, death, sin.
of the non-existence of matter,
as
is
Matter was con-
old as Plato, namely, of matter as the non-existent.
In
The back
or, farther
in Philo of Alexandria,
the Good, evil cannot
this
was a
middle ages.
religious thinkers in the
all
seems to find
difficulty
the doctrine of evil.
is
as well as moral,
evil as the result of
could easily be explained by laying
it
to the
charge of man's free will or even to the free will of the fallen angels as
Origen conceives
We
evil.
This removes from
it.
shall find that
God
responsibihty for
all
Maimonides has nothing
essentially
new
to
contribute to the solution of the problem. Strictly speaking,
he says, only a positive thing can be made, nega-
tion or privation carmot.
We may speak loosely of the negative being
produced when one removes the positive. light,
we
Evil
is
say he
made
Hence God cannot be
positive thing which he produces
Matter also
in the thing. it
if
is
a
man
is
good so
is
it is
is
is
positive,
is
due to
which makes each other
is
it
its
so far as
The
evil
negative or privative aspect as the formless,
the cause of defect and
also
All
due to defect i. e.,
causes continued existence of one thing after another.
in matter
good.
said to produce evil.
good; the evil
far as
puts out a
a negation.
nothing but the negation of the positive, which
positive things are good.
The
So
darkness, though darkness
evil.
All evil that
men do
to
due to negation, namely, absence of wisdom and
knowledge.
Many people mistake
is
think there
is
more
evil in the
world than good.
Their
due to the fact that they make the experience of the Individ-
MOSES MAIMONIDES
man
289
was They forget that man is only a small fraction of the world, which is made by the will of God. Even so man should be grateful for the great amount of good he receives from God, for many ual
made
the arbiter in this question, thinking that the universe
for his sake.
of the evils of
man
decay,
as
i. e.,
to which
man
These are
composed is liable
inevitable,
on account
Hence
of
And
terms.
They
2.
bad
with
man and
arise the various accidents
air
and other natural
causes.
and inseparable from matter, and from the gen-
To demand
that a person of flesh
not be subject to impressions
shall
evils befalling
to man's nature as subject to genesis
of matter.
eration of individuals in a species.
and blood
In fact the
are self-inflicted.
come under three categories. 1. The evil that is incident
all this
is
a contradiction in
the evils of this class are comparatively few.
are the evils inflicted
by one man upon the
are more frequent than the preceding.
These
other.
And
Their causes are various.
yet these too are not very frequent.
These are the most common. They are the
3.
evils
man brings upon He injures
himself by self-indulgence and the formation of bad habits. the body
by
excess,
and he
verting and weakening there
he
is
no end.
will easily
creatures
and
power and
injures the
a person
is
is satisfied
ability.
its
with that which
all
the individuals of the
up here
tion that
nents.
and
is
is
body by per-
same
which
necessary,
is
hard to all his
species similar
^^^
discusses
is
really theoretical
and
place in the discussion of the divine attributes, for
The reason
deals with the character of God's knowledge. it
the
to luxuries to
for the necessaries are not
The next problem Maimonides should have
it
evident in affording the necessaries to
making
in
mind through
and by enslaving
have what he needs;
God's justice
get.
in
If
it,
because, according to Maimonides,
was the motive
it
was an
for the formulation of the
Accordingly the problem
is
it
for taking
ethical ques-
view of the oppo-
semi-ethical, semi-metaphysical,
closely related to the question of Providence.
Observing that the good are often wretched and the bad prosperous,
God
the philosophers
came
to the conclusion that
dividual things.
For
he knows and does not order them as
this
must be due
if
does not
either to inability or to jealousy, both of
impossible in God.
Having come
know is
in-
proper,
which are
to this conclusion in the
way
in-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
290
dicated, they then bolstered
it
up with arguments
Such are that the individual
itively.
is
to justify
known through
has no sensation; that the number of individual things
sense
it
pos-
and God
is infinite,
and
the infinite cannot be comprehended, hence cannot be known; that
knowledge
of the particular is subject to
whereas God's knowledge that to suppose
is
God knows
change as the object changes, Against us Jews they argue
unchangeable.
things before they are connects knowledge
with the non-existent; and besides there would be two kinds of knowledge in God, one knowledge of potential things, and another of actual
So they came to the conclusion that God knows only species
things.
but not individuals.
own
Others say that
essence, else there
God knows nothing
would be multiplicity
entire dif&culty, according to
except his
impropriety in the government of individual destinies, he cusses the question of Providence of God's knowledge.
He 1.
thing
and comes back
later to the
first dis-
problem
^^^
enumerates
five opinions
The Opinion
oj Epicurus.
is
As the
in his nature.
Maimonides, arose from the supposed
the result of accident
concerning Providence.
There
is
no Providence at
and concurrence
of atoms.
all;
every-
Aristotle has
refuted this idea. 2.
The Opinion
oj Aristotle.
others are governed
by
spheres, hence they are
Some things are subject to Providence, God provides for the celestial
accident.
permanent individually; but, as Alexander
says in his name. Providence ceases with the sphere of the moon. Aristotle's doctrine concerning Providence
the eternity of the world.
it
shows that there
individually.
is
related to his belief in
Providence corresponds to the nature of
As the
the object in question.
is
individual spheres are permanent,
special Providence
which preserves the spheres
As, again, there proceed from
them other beings which
are not permanent individually but only as species, namely, the species of our world, it is clear that with reference to the sublunar
there
is
manence
so
much
world
Providential influence as to bring about the per-
of the species,
but not of the individual.
To be
sure, the
individuals too are not completely neglected. There are various powers
given to them in accordance with the quality of their matters; which
powers determine the length of their duration, their motion, perception,
purposive existence.
But the other
incidents
and motions
in
MOSES MAIMONIDES individual
human
as well as animal
storm scatters the leaves of
a ship with
its
down some
passengers, the incident
drowned as with the scattered
as accidental with the
is
a
trunks and drowns
That which
leaves.
When
are pure accident.
life
trees, casts
291
men
follows invariable
laws Aristotle regards as Providential, what happens rarely and with-
out nile
is
accidental.
The View of
3.
of a
man.
will of
God, whether
Everything
do or forbear.
from
be the
Everything
accident. fall of
a
leaf or the
is
death
view that the category of the pos-
this
Everything
sible is ruled out.
all
determined, and a person cannot of himself
is
It follows
it
the very opposite of the pre-
is
The Ashariya deny
ceding opinion.
done by the
This
the Ashariya.
is
either necessary or impossible.
follows also that all laws are useless, for
and punishment are determined
man
is
by the
solely
helpless,
will of
It
and reward
God, to
whom
the concepts of right and wrong do not apply. 4.
The Opinion of
the
Mu tazila.
They
vindicate man's power to
do and forbear, thus justifying the commands and prohibitions, and
God
the rewards and punishments of the laws.
They
also believe that
God knows
This opinion, too,
for all things.
born with a defect, they say
man
better for the
open to
is
this is
to be thus.
If
does not do wrong.
of the fall of a leaf, criticism.
and provides If
a person
due to God's wisdom, and
a pious
man
is
put to death,
is
it is
it is
to
They extend this to lower mouse killed by the cat will be rewarded
increase his reward in the next world.
animals
also,
and say that the
in the next world.
The
have
last three opinions all
the data of nature. to God.
their motives.
The Ashariya
The Mu' tazila
refused
object to imputing to
to
Aristotle followed
impute ignorance
him wrong,
or to deny-
ing reason, which holds that to cause a person pain for no offence
wrong.
Their opinion leads to a contradiction, for they say
knows everything and 5.
Moses an
same time man
at the
The Opinion of our Law. is
that
man
fundamental principle
tioned
is
is free.
A fundamental principle
of the
law of
has absolute freedom in his conduct, and so has
irrational animal.
and punishment
is
God
No is
one of our religion disputes
that
God
justly given.
by the Rabbis, what they
this.
does no wrong, and hence
There
is
Another all
reward
only one exception men-
call "suffering for love,"
i.
e.,
mis-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
292
fortunes which are not in the nature of punishment for sins committed,
There
but in order to increase reward. this
Talmud
said in the Bible or in the
mals.
It
is
no support, however, for
All this applies only to
view in the Bible.
was adopted by some
of
Nothing
man.
is
reward and punishment of ani-
of the later
Mu
Geonim from the
-
tazila.
After citing these five opinions on the nature of Providence, Mai-
monides formulates
his
My own belief in
own
to the following effect:
the matter, not as a result of demonstration, but
me to be the meaning of man alone enjoys individual
based upon what seems to
Scripture
is
that
in the sublunar world
Providence.
All
other individual things besides are ruled by chance, as Aristotle says.
Divine Providence corresponds to divine influence or emanation.
The more one has of divine influence, the more one has of Providence. Thus in plants and animals divine Providence extends only to the
When
species.
in
the Rabbis teU us that cruelty to animals
the Torah, the meaning
own good, in order why God does not provide for our
he does
for
is
that
we must not be
forbidden
is
cruel to animals
not to develop habits of cruelty. for the lower animals in the
To ask
same way as
the same as to ask why he did not endow the aniThe answer would be, so he willed, so his wisdom opinion is not that God is ignorant of anything or is
man,
is
mals with reason. decreed.
My
incapable of doing certain things, but that Providence lated to reason.
One has
as
much
fluence of the divine reason.
not the same for
all
of Providence as
It follows
individuals of the
from
human
the person's character and achievements.
is
closely re-
he has of the
this that
species,
in-
Providence
is
but varies with
The prophets enjoy a
and wise men come next; whereas a ignorant and disobedient is neglected and treated like
special Providence; the pious
person
who
is
a lower animal, being left to the government of chance.^^^
Having disposed
of the question of Providence,
the discussion undertaken above edge.
The
idea that
world below
is
God
(p.
does not
an old one and
is
289) of the nature of God's knowl-
know
the particular things in our
referred to in the Bible often.
to quote one instance from the Psalms, the idea in the following passage,
God know?
And
is
"And
we may now resume
they say
[sc.
is
the wicked].
there knowledge in the
Thus,
clearly enunciated
How
most High?
doth
Behold,
MOSES MAIMONIDES
293
these are the wicked; and, being alway at ease, they increase in riches.
Surely in vain have I cleansed
my
."
The
innocency
.
.
(73, 11-13).
heart,
origin of this notion
of the wicked, though
many
is
a free agent.
But
kind
is
a defect, and
"He
said,
God
of the troubles are of a
this is
view
wrong.
is
hmnan
He
this
of
senses are, he could not have
made
any
when he
that formed
This means that unless
the eye shall he not see?" (94, 9).
in
man's own doing,
that planted the ear shall he not hear?
knows what the
in
For ignorance
David pointed out
perfect.
is
hands
and the prosperity
experience, which sees the adversity of the good
who
my
and washed
God
the sense organs
to perceive.
We
must now answer the other metaphysical arguments against
God's knowledge of particulars.
It
is
agreed that no
new knowledge
can come to God which he did not have before, nor can he have
We
who are believers with one knowledge God knows many things, and
knowledges. that
say therefore (we
We
does not change as the objects change. all
his
things before they
come
into being,
in the
his
many
Torah)
knowledge
say also that he knows
and knows them always; hence
knowledge never changes as the objects appear and disappear.
It follows
from
this that his
and embraces the
infinite.
knowledge
We
beheve
relates to the non-existent this
and say that only the
absolutely non-existent cannot be known; but the non-existent whose existence
is
in
God's knowledge and which he can bring into reality
As
can be known.
to
comprehending the
infinite,
we say with some
thinkers that knowledge relates primarily to the species indirectly to the individuals included in the species.
are
finite.
The
the species
philosophers, however, decide that there cannot be
knowledge of the non-existent, and the hended.
and extends
And
infinite
cannot be compre-
God, therefore, as he cannot have new and changing knowl-
edge knows only the permanent things, the species, and not the
changing and temporary individuals.
Others go
still
further
and
God cannot even know the permanent things, because knowledge of many things involves many knowledges, hence multipUcity in God's essence. They insist therefore that God knows only maintain that
himself.
My
people
that they assume there
is
view
is,
says Maimonides, that the error of is
all
these
a relation of resemblance between
our knowledge and God's knowledge.
And
it is
surprising that the
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
294
men who
philosophers should be guilty of such an error, the very
proved that God's knowledge
know God's
our reason cannot
identical with his essence,
is
and that
essence.
The difference between our knowledge and God's knowledge is we get our knowledge from the data of experience, upon which depends. Each new datum adds to our knowledge, which cannot
that it
run ahead
He
God.
of that is
which produces
and not vice
everything else before
comes into being.
it
Maimonides considers
last topic
the reason
and purpose
of the
latter follow
Hence by knowing himself he knows
versa.
We
knowledge, for to do this would be to have
The
The
the cause of the data of experience.
his knowledge,
his
It is different in the case of
it.
cannot conceive of ourselves.
it
^^^
in his philosophical
commandments
work
is
of the Bible, partic-
ularly the ceremonial precepts
which apparently have no rational
meaning.
who maintain
In fact there are those
for reasons of the laws
where none are given
the sole reason in those cases
is
that
vain to search
it is
in the Bible itself; that
These people labor
the will of God.
under the absurd impression that to discover a rational purpose in the ceremonial laws would diminish their value and reduce
human
Their divine character and origin
institutions.
the minds of these people
by
have no human meaning. the rationalist.
It
is
God
This
is
man
will
command
and
all
man
no earthly
The Law, he
to
attested in
Maimonides
is
superior to
only that which
The
use.
is
truth
of is
the laws are for our benefit. ^^^
Accordingly Maimonides undertakes to account for the Bible.
them
fact that they
clearly absurd, says
gives orders which have
quite the reverse,
by the
tantamount to saying that
God; and that whereas a benefit,
their irrationality,
is
says, has
all
the laws of
two purposes, the improvement
of
body and the improvement of the soul or the mind. The improvement of the soul is brought about by study and reflection, and the the
result of this
is
theoretical knowledge.
realize this perfectly
the body.
This
is
But
a necessary prerequisite
in order to is
be able to
the improvement of
inferior in value to perfection of the soul,
but comes
naturally and chronologically
first as a means to an end. For bodily must have health and strength as far as one's constitupermits, and for this purpose a person must have his needs at
perfection one tion
all times.
Social
life is
necessary for the supply of the individuals'
MOSES MAIMONIDES needs, and to
and wrong
make
social life possible there
to be observed.
295
must be
Applying what has just been said to the Law, we contents broadly into four classes, beliefs
and
power,
will, eternity.
(3)
The
may
divide
its
Precepts inculcating true
(i)
ideas, such as the existence of
God,
his unity, knowledge,
Legal and moral precepts, such as the incul-
(2)
and a benevolent
cation of justice
rules of right
^^®
disposition for the
narratives and genealogies of the
Law.
(4)
good of
society.
The ceremonial
prescriptions.
Of these the purpose admitted by aU.
ment
True
of the first
is
perfectly clear
of the world are directly conducive to the highest
knowledge and perfection of the duct
two divisions
and ideas regarding God and
beliefs
They
end of man,
Honorable and virtuous con-
soul.
a preHminary requisite to intellectual perfection.
is
and narratives
ealogies
and
his govern-
The
gen-
of the Bible are also not without a purpose.
are intended to inculcate a theoretical doctrine or a moral,
to emphasize the one or the other, which cannot be done so well
bare statement or commandment. the creation of the world
is
and by a
Thus, to take a few examples,
impressed upon the reader beyond the
possibiHty of a doubt by a circumstantial narrative of the various steps in the process, the gradual peopling of the earth tiplication of the
The
human
and
story of the flood
has for
its
race descended from the of the destruction of
Edom
in Genesis (36, 31)
their tyrannical rule
well
known
terring
Deuteronomy is
it is
and oppression
list
example to the
man who came which
Sodom and Gomorrah is a just judge, who The genealogy of the
intended as a warning to Israel of the
of kings
Israelites
(17, 15),
all of
of their
Edomite subjects was
Hence the point
their origin
is
to serve as
of the
a de-
never to appoint as king of Israel a
from another nation,
in accordance with the precept
"Thou mayest not put a foreigner
not thy brother."
over thee,
^^''
There remains the division ject of dispute.
and
Edomites were
probable that the history of
to the people in Moses's time.
enumeration of the
in
Edom, and
foreigners not of
is
These kings
in the appointment of kings.
them
by the mul-
paif;"and so on.
purpose to emphasize the truth that God
rewards the pious and punishes the wicked. kings of
first
of the ceremonial laws,
The purpose
in these precepts
is
which are the subnot evident, and
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
296
opinions are divided as to whether they have any purpose.
I will en-
deavor to show, says Maimonides, that these also have one or more of the following objects: to teach true beliefs and opinions, to remove
and
injustice
to inculcate
good
Abraham grew up among and
qualities.
the Sabeans,
believers in the eternity of the world.
keep
men away from
who were star worshippers The object of the law is to
the erroneous views of the Sabeans, which were
The Sabeans beUeved
prevalent in those days.
that the worship of
the stars helps in the cultivation of the ground to
For
this reason
They
the land.
make
it fruitful.
they think highly of the husbandmen and laborers on also respect cattle
and prohibit slaughtering them be-
cause they are of benefit in the cultivation of the land.
In the interest
of agriculture they instituted the worship of the stars,
which they be-
lieved
On
would cause the rain to
this
fall
and the earth
to yield its fertility.
account we find the reverse of this in the Bible,
worship of the stars
In the
life
will result in lack of rain
of nature
we
see
how one
and
telling us that
infertility.
thing serves another, and certain
objects are not brought about except through certain others,
velopment
is
gradual.
on meat and breast. in
So, for example, a
and de-
young infant cannot be fed
and nature provides milk
in the mother's
Similarly in governing the people of Israel,
who were living away from
solid food,
a certain environment,
God
could not at once tear them
the habits of thought to which they were accustomed, but he led gradually.
Hence
God ordered them to away from the idols
sacrifice to
him, the object being to wean them
in the easiest
prophets do not lay stress on the impossible for this
form
sacrifices,
God
to
of training,
but
this
them
as they were accustomed to sacrificing to the stars,
form
their
and would
way
possible.
sacrifices.
To be
This
is
sure, it
why
the
was not
minds so that they would not require
God does not need And while God does
see at once that
would have been a miracle.
perform miracles sometimes for certain purposes, he does not change the nature of to be free
man; not because he cannot, but because he
and responsible.
desires
man
Otherwise there would be no sense in laws
and prophets.
Among
the purposes of the law are abstention from self-indulgence
in the physical appetites, like eating
and drinking and sensuous pleasman, and
ure, because these things prevent the ultimate perfection of
MOSES MAIMONIDES are likewise injurious to
sorrow and trouble and
Another purpose Another
docility.
to
is
is
and
civil
strife
social life, multiplying as
1.
External cleanliness
The important
for internal.
by dividing
of the Pentateuchal laws
into fourteen classes (following in this the divisions in his great
"Yad Ha-Hazakah") and
explaining the purposes of
It will be useful briefly to reproduce the division here.
class.
Those laws that concern fundamental ideas
of
theology, including the duty of learning and teaching,
and
tions of repentance
tual perfection
is
The purpose here
fasting.
religion
and the
Intellec-
is clear.
without learning and teaching; and without wisdom there
by God's name, and not in God's greatness.
and continuance
and
institu-
the greatest good of man, and this cannot be attained
good practice nor true opinion.
2.
also
is
internal purity, external takes a secondary place.
is
legal code, the
each
and politeness and
inculcate gentleness
purity and hohness.
Maimonides ends the discussion
them
they do
and jealousy and hate and warfare.
recommended, but not as a substitute thing
297
to swear falsely
Repentance
in evil doing
The precepts and
is
neither
Similarly honoring the wise, swearing
is
—
all
these lead to a firm belief
useful to guard against despair
on the part of the
sinner.
Here are
prohibitions relating to idolatry.
included also the prohibition to mix divers kinds of seeds in planting, the prohibition against eating the fruit of a tree during the
years of of
growth, and against wearing a garment
its
wool and
which
flax.
The
prohibition of idolatry
to teach true ideas about God.
is
mentioned are connected with idolatry. because
is
first
three
of a mixture
evident in
The
Magic
made
its
purpose,
other matters above
is
a species of idolatry
based on a belief in the direct influence of the
stars.
All
practices done to produce a certain effect, which are not justified
by a
it is
reason or at least are not verified by experience, are forbidden as
being superstitious and a species of magic. earlocks
is
Cutting the beard and the
forbidden on a similar ground because
the idolatrous priests.
The same
it
was a custom
of
thing applies to mixing of cotton and
flax, to
men wearing women's garments and
there
the additional reason, to prevent, namely, laxness in sexual
is
vice versa,
though here
morality. 3.
The precepts
purpose
is clear,
relating to ethical
and moral conduct.
namely, to improve social
life.
Here the
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
298 4.
The
pose
to teach kindness to the poor,
is
the rich 5.
man
Laws
to-day
Laws
The
and the
so on.
benefit
is
The pur-
mutual, for
be poor to-morrow.
and damages. The purpose
is
to
remove
injustice.
The purpose
relating to theft, robbery, false witnesses.
to prevent injury 7.
may
relating to injury
wrong and 6.
and
rules relating to charity, loans, gifts,
by punishing the
is
offender.
regulation of business intercourse, like loan, hire, deposits,
buying and
selling, inheritance,
and so
The purpose here
on.
is
social
make life in society possible. Laws relating to special periods, such as the Sabbath and the festivals. The purpose is stated in each case in the Law itself, and justice to 8.
inculcate a true idea like the creation in the case of the
it is either to
Sabbath, or to enable mankind to rest from their labors, or for both
combined.
The
9.
other practical observances like prayer, the reading
"Shema," and
so on.
These are
to true opinions concerning him, 10.
The
regulations bearing
all
modes
and
of serving
to fear
and
of
God, which lead
love.
upon the temple and
The
its service.
purpose of these was explained above in connection with the institution of sacrifice,
and customs
namely that
it
was a concession
to the primitive ideas
of the people of those times for the
purpose of gradually
weaning them away from idolatry. 11.
under 12.
Laws
relating to sacrifices.
The purpose was
stated above
and
10.
Laws
of cleanness
and uncleanness. The purpose is to guard Temple in order to maintain
against too great familiarity with the respect for
it.
Hence the
regulations prescribing the times
may, and the occasions when one may
when one
not, approach or enter the
Temple. 13.
The
dietary laws.
clean animals.
and
Unwholesome food
The purpose in some cases Some regulations like
self-indulgence.
is
is
to
forbidden, also un-
guard against excess
the laws of slaughter
and
others are humanitarian in their nature. 14.
Forbidden marriages, and circumcision.
The purpose
guard against excess in sexual indulgence, and against making
end
in itself.
^^^
is
to
it
an
MOSES MAIMONIDES To sum
up, there are four kinds of
excellencies,
Acquisition
(i)
Moral
strength, beauty, etc., (3)
The
ual perfection.
common
human accomplishments
wealth,
(2)
or
Physical perfection,
and
perfection, (4) Intellectual
The
most important.
last is the
ternal; the second is
of
299
first is
spirit-
purely ex-
to the lower animals; the third
for the
is
sake of one's fellowmen, in the interest of society, and would not exist
The
for a solitary person.
Jeremiah expresses
Let not the wise
last alone
concerns the individual himself.
"Thus
this truth in his statement,
man
glory in his might,
let
not the rich
man glory in his
that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth,
that I
am
quotation means the
Jeremiah says,
is
man
9, 22).
him
and knoweth me,
know God through
to
"Wise man"
good morals.
of
Maimonides's ethics as well as chal laws
is
in the
above
The important
thing,
and
his actions
to imitate
it
should be.
the middle ages, alike this character.
among
Aristotle
tellectual contemplation
man
is
man
The
account shows.
is
And
prevailing trend of thought in
the Arabs, Jews
was the master
and
Christians,
of science,
the highest good of man.
his rational faculty,
this faculty is the
being.
his interpretation of the Pentateu-
intellectualistic, as the foregoing
natural that
it is
was
him
of
and
to
The
distinction
in-
hence the excellence and perfection of
proper function of
man and
the realization of his
This alone leads to that "eudaimonia" or happiness for which
strives.
To be
sure complete happiness
the complete development of
man
reason in
is
all
impossible without is
because the
not isolated from the rest of his individual and social
and perfection of the intellect,
practical.
is
one's powers, but this
of
mind
requires as its auxiliaries
complete living in freedom and comfort. life
man
let
299
Jjjjjj
life;
but
riches:
the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment and
righteousness in the earth" (Jer.
of
saith the Lord,
glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
and preparation
But the aim
is
after all the
and the "dianoetic" virtues are superior
to the
Theoretic contemplation stands far higher than practical
activity.
Add
eternally
itself,
to this that Aristotle's
God
is
pure thought thinking
the universal mover, himself eternally unmoved, and
attracting the celestial spheres as the object of love attracts the lover,
without
itself
necessarily being affected,
Aristotle stands out clearly.
and the
intellectualism of
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
300
Maimonides
is
an Aristotelian, and he endeavors to harmonize
the intellectualism and theorism of the Stagirite with the diametri-
opposed ethics and religion of the Hebrew Bible.
cally
And he
is
apparently unaware of the yawning gulf extending between them.
The
ethics of the Bible
upon knowledge and the wise
man
is
nothing
if
No
not practical.
stress is laid
The wisdom and Proverbs no more mean the theoretical
theoretical speculation as such.
book
of the
of
philosopher than the fool and the scorner in the same book denote the one ignorant in theoretical speculation.
dom
and
erbs,
This
the fear of the Lord."
is
is
is
solely concerned with practical
conduct, religious, ceremonial and moral, needs not saying. absolutely clear and evident that one wonders
a thinker
how
It
is
so
so clear-sighted
Maimonides could have been misled by the authority
like
of Aristotle
of wis-
precepts and exhortations are practical and nothing
its
That the Pentateuchal law
else.
"The beginning
the keynote of the book of Prov-
and the
atmosphere of the day to imagine
intellectual
The very passage from Jeremiah which he quotes as summing up his idea of the summum bonum, speaks against him, and he only succeeds in manipulating it in his favor by misinterpret-
otherwise.
ing the
book
of Proverbs, here in
who
person
it
approximates
describing the ideal
istic
in line
man
an opponent
God's
is
may
hence there
it
more
when he undertakes
judgment and
the theoretical philosopher, closely than the expression
is
is
to find a reason for every
given in the Law.
He
of all mysticism, sentimentality
paramount.
will
clearly contrasted with the
practices kindness,
with Maimonides's general rationalistic and intellectual-
point of view
Reason
is
in the
of Jeremiah's commendation.
mandment, where no reason this
God
The word does not denote
to be sure, but
is
Jeremiah he
in imitation of
righteousness.
It
Whatever the wise man may denote
word "wise."
The
intellect
be arbitrary.
His
and
arbitrariness.
will,
and not even
determines the will is identical
a reason in everything that he
wills.
com-
shows himself in
with his reason,
We may
not in
every case succeed in finding the reason where he himself did not choose to
tell us,
but a reason there always
our part to discover
The
it
should be
commended
is,
and the endeavor on
rather than condemned.
details of his motivation of the ceremonial laws are very in-
teresting,
and
in
many
cases they anticipated, though in a cruder
MOSES MAIMONIDES
301 I
form, the more scientific theories of modern
Moses
of expression,
this:
and
idolatry.
You and They
have no inherent meaning or value. tion
his inter-
the personal
which might seem to imply that God spoke to
some such fashion as
in
Take
Take away
pretation of the institution of sacrifices.
manner
critics.
know
rather
We
But what can we do?
that sacrifices
smack
cannot,
of supersti-
i. e.,
we must
We must train them gradually
not, change the nature of these people.
They
to see the truth for themselves.
I
are
now on
the level of their
environment, and believe in the efficacy of kilUng sheep and oxen to the stars and the gods.
we humor them their allegiance
from the
system of
institute a
We
will use
a true pedagogical method
false
Let us then
gods to the one true God.
sacrifices
with
all
the details and minutiae of
the sacrificial systems of the heathens and star worshippers.
shaU impose
this
it
—take away
of expression in Maimonides's interpretation, which
subject to change
his other institutions.
is
this
in
mode
not essential, thus.
Man 's
and development and progress
like all
and the essence may be rendered is
We
system upon our people for the time being, and
the end as they grow wiser they will outgrow
religion
if
in this their crudity for the purpose of transferring
in
more modern terms
The forms they
of their development are determined
successively take in the course
by the
state of general intelli-
gence and positive knowledge that the given race or nation possesses.
The same
thing holds of religious development.
sacrifices is
prevalent in
in their career.
and replaced by
all religious
The
institution of
communities at a certain stage
human sacrifice, which is later discarded animals. And this is again in the course
It starts with sacrifices of
of time discontinued, leaving its traces only in
which in Judaism has
officially
the prayer book,
taken the place of the Temple service.
While the merit of Maimonides in foreshadowing
this
understanding of ancient religion cannot be overestimated, that in
some
modern
it is
of his other interpretations of Jewish ceremonial,
clear
he
is
wide of the mark.
His rationahsm could not take the place of a knowl-
edge of history.
His motivation of the dietary laws on the score of
hygiene or of moderation and self-restaint is
is
probably not
true.
Nor
the prohibition against mixing divers seeds, or wearing garments
of wool
and
due to the
flax
mixed, or shaving the corner of the beard, and so on,
fact that these were the
customs of the idolaters and
their
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
302 priests.
If
down from
Maimonides was bold enough its
to pull the sacrificial system
glorious pedestal in Jewish tradition
being inherently nothing but a superstition,
pomp and
stituted with such great
a
and a host
levitical tribe
was nevertheless
it
in-
ceremony, with a priestly family,
and
of prescriptions
and prejudices
as a concession to the habits
and admit that
regulations, merely
of the people,
why
could
he not apply the same method of explanation to the few prohibitions
Why
mentioned above? to
not say the ancient Hebrews were forbidden
mix divers seeds because they had been from time immemorial
taught to believe that there was something sinful in joining together
what God has kept asunder; and ties
new
too rudely the
in order
by means
in order not to shock their sensibili-
religion let
them have
these harmless notions
of these to inculcate real truths?
Before concluding our sketch of Maimonides
is
as old as Philo,
and though
whom it was borrowed by Clemby them handed down to the other
from
ent of Alexandria and Origen and Patristic writers,
a word
Though the tendency to read philosophy
about his Bible exegesis. into the Bible
we must say
in the Jewish
middle ages
too,
from
Saadia down, the verses of the Bible were employed to confirm views
Abraham Ibn Daud
adopted from other considerations; though
finally
in the matter of exegesis, too, anticipated
Maimonides
Aristotelian metaphysic in the sacred scriptures,
as in everything else pertaining to Jewish belief
the interpretation of
and
Maimonides
practice, so in
the Bible also obtained the position of a leader,
of the founder of a school tive
in finding the
still
and the most
brilliant
and most authorita-
exponent thereof, putting in the shade everyone who preceded
him and every endeavor himseK owed
in the
his inspiration.
same
direction to which
Maimonides
Maimonides's treatment of the Bible
texts and their application to his philosophical disquisitions is so much more comprehensive and masterly than anything in the same line done before him, that it made everything else superfluous and set
the pace for manifold imitation
small and great.
by the
successors of Maimonides,
Reading the Bible through AristoteUan spectacles
became the fashion
of the
day
after
Maimonides.
Joseph Ibn Aknin,
Samuel Ibn Tibbon, Jacob Anatoli, Joseph Ibn Caspi, Levi Ben Gerson and a host of others tried their hand at Biblical exegesis, and the Maimonidean stamp
is
upon
their work.
'
MOSES MAIMONIDES
We
have already spoken
Maimonides's general attitude toward
of
the anthropomorphisms in the Bible and the
counts for the style and
He
303
mode
manner
which he ac-
in
of expression of the Biblical writers.
wrote no special exegetical work, he composed no commentaries
on the
Bible.
But
his
"Guide
of the Perplexed"
from the Biblical books, and certam sections
in
of quotations
is full it
are devoted to a
systematic interpretation of those Biblical chapters and books which lend themselves most easily and, as Maimonides thought, imperatively to metaphysical interpretation. details,
but
it
is
It
impossible here to enter into
is
proper briefly to point out his general method of
treating the BibHcal passages in question,
and
what these
to state
passages are.
We sions
have already referred more than once to the Talmudic expres''
(Work
Maase Bereshit" (Work of Creation) and "Maase Merkaba" Maimonides says definitely that the former
of the Chariot).
denotes the science of physics,
i. e.,
as treated in Aristotle's Physics,
the fundamental notions of nature
and the
latter signifies
metaphysics
The
or theology, as represented in Aristotle's Metaphysics.
creation
chapters in Genesis contain beneath their simple exterior of a generally intelligible narrative,
women as And similarly
appealing to young and old alike,
well as children, a treatment of philosophical physics.
in the obscure phraseology of the vision of Ezekiel in the first
and
tenth chapters of that prophet's book, are contained allusions to the
most profound ideas
and the separate
of metaphysics
Intelligences
and the
and theology, concerning God celestial spheres.
As the Rabbis
forbid teaching these profound doctrines except to one or two worthy
persons at a time, and as the authors of those chapters in the Bible clearly intended to conceal the esoteric contents
vulgar,
Maimonides with
all his
of reason
and knowledge
Talmud.
His interpretations
from the gaze of the
eagerness to spread abroad the light
hesitates to violate the spirit of Bible of these
The
expressed in allusions and half-concealed revelations.
student of the " Guide, " totle as taught
out
much
will not.
who
is
Maimonides's
Without going into
diligent
familiar with the philosophy of Aris-
by the Arabs AJfarabi and Avicenna
difficulty to solve
and
mystic passages are therefore
details
it
will
be able with-
allusions, the casual reader
will suffice for
our purpose to
say that in the creation story Maimonides finds the Aristotelian
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
304
doctrines of matter and form, of the four elements, of potentiality
and
actuality, of the different
distinctions (the true
on the
other),
and so
and the
powers of the false
soul, of logical
and
ethical
on one hand, the good and the bad
In the Vision of Ezekiel he sees the Peri-
on.^°°
patetic ideas of the celestial spheres, of their various motions, of their
and the separate
souls, their intellects
heavenly bodies on the changes in
Intellect, of the influence of the
the sublunar world, of the
fifth
Intelligences, of the Active
element (the ether) and so on.^^^
Don
Isaac Abarbanel has already criticized this attempt of Maimonides
by
justly arguing that
Ezekiel it in
is
the meaning of the mysterious vision of
if
what Maimonides thinks
such obscurity, since the matter
of philosophy. ^°^
We
was no occasion
there
it is, is
to
wrap
plainly taught in all schools
might, however, reply that no
less
a
man
than
Plato expresses himself in the Timaeus in similarly obscure terms con-
Be
cerning the origin and formation of the world.
Munk
certainly right
is
when he says
that
if,
as
this as it
may,
not improbable,
is
Ezekiel's vision does contain cosmological speculations, they
have
nothing to do with the Aristotelian cosmology, but must be related
Babylonian
to
theories".
^°^
Another favorite book
was the book
of Job.
of the Bible for the exegesis of philosophers
In
this
Maimonides
sees reflected the several
human
views concerning Providence, divine knowledge and
which he enumerates
The
influence of
diate successors
290
Maimonides upon
was indeed very
and used the Guide
freedom,
ff.).^^^
his contemporaries
great,
Christian Scholastics and
Judaism. ied
(p.
and
it
was not confined to
Mohammedan
of the Perplexed.
and imme-
theologians stud-
Maimonides
himself,
it
"Guide" in the Arabic language, did not to the Mohammedans, fearing possibly that
seems, though he wrote his desire to
some
make it accessible
of his doctrines concerning
Hence he
is
prophecy might be offensive to them.
said to have instructed his friends
transliterate the
Hebrew
and
disciples not to
characters, which he in accordance with
general Jewish usage employed in writing Arabic, into Arabic characters.
But he was powerless
to enforce his desire
doubt that such transcriptions were in the
Hebrew
translator of the "Guide,"
written in Arabic letters.
We
and there
is
no
use.
Samuel Tibbon himself,
made
use of manuscript copies
are told that in the
Mohammedan
MOSES MAIMONIDES
305
schools in the city of Fez in Morocco, Jews were appointed to teach
Maimonides's philosophy, and there a commentary by a
is
Mohammedan
extant in
Hebrew
down by Maimonides God (p. 254).^''^
philosophical propositions laid his proof of the existence of
The
influence of
as the basis of
Maimonides on Christian scholasticism
We have already said
greater.
translation
theologian on the twenty-five
(p.
199
f.)
is
still
that the philosophical renais-
sance in Latin Europe during the thirteenth century was due to the introduction of the complete works of Aristotle in Latin translation.
These translations were made partly from the Arabic versions
Mohammedans,
from the Greek
partly
accessible after the capture of Constantinople
of the
which became
originals,
by the Crusaders
in
Before this time the scope of philosophical research and in-
1207.^°
vestigation in Christian
Platonism of
St.
Europe was
limited,
and
its
general Platonism was favorable to Christian dogma.
came nearest
to Augustine
philosophers.^"''
And
was the
basis
Augustine and fragments of Aristotle's
Plato according
to Christianity of all the ancient
the dangers to
In
logic.
Greek
Church doctrine which lurked
in philosophical discussion before the thirteenth century
were a tend-
ency to Pantheism on the part of thinkers imbued with the NeoPlatonic of
God
mode
of thought,
and an undue emphasis
either
expense of the unity (Roscellinus of Compiegne) sulting
on the unity
as opposed to the Trinity (Abelard), or on the Trinity at the
from the attitudes of the thinkers
—conclusions
in question
re-
on the nature
of universals.
In the early part of the thirteenth century for the
time, the
first
horizon of the Latin schoolmen was suddenly enlarged and brilliantly illumined
by
the advent of the complete Aristotle in his severe, exacting
and rigorous panoply.
All science
and philosophy opened before the
impoverished schoolmen, famished for want of new ideas.
And
they
threw themselves with zeal and enthusiasm into the study of the new philosophy.
The Church took alarm because
stituted a danger to accepted
world,
tiie
dogma.
He
the
new
Aristotle con-
taught the eternity of the
uniformity of natural law, the unity of the
human
intellect,
denying by implication Providence and freedom and individual immortality. totle
Some
of these doctrines
were not precisely those of Aris-
but they could be derived from Aristotelian principles
if
inter-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
3o6
preted in a certain way; and the Arab intermediators between Aristotle
and
had so interpreted him,
his Christian students
who
particular,
excellence of Aristotle,
and he had
Averroes in
gained the distinction of being the commentator par
was responsible
his followers
among
for this
mode
of interpretation;
the Masters of Arts in the University
These and similar tendencies the Church was striving to
of Paris.
prevent, and
attempted to do
it
this at first crudely
by prohibiting
the study and teaching of the Physical and Metaphysical works of
Faihng
Aristotle.
atives of the
You might
him harmless. geometry!
The
more valuable way.
different
in this the
Dominican order
Papacy commissioned three representto expurgate Aristotle in order to render
as well think of expurgating a
for the welfare of the
Albertus
book on
But instead something
task was never carried out.
Church was accomplished
in
Magnus and Thomas Aquinas undertook
a
the
study of Aristotle and the interpretation of his works with a view to
harmonizing his teachings with the dogmas of Christianity.
Magnus began Maimonides
the task,
taking Maimonides was
The Guide its
Thomas Aquinas,
of the Perplexed
composition. ^°^
his greater disciple, the
it. And Thomas Aquinas's model. ^"^
of Christian philosophy,
Albertus
completed
in this under-
was translated into Latin not long
after
Before Albertus Magnus, Alexander of Hales, the
Franciscan leader, and William of Auvergne, the Bishop of Paris, had
made use of Maimonides's Magnus was still more diligent
read and
philosophical masterpiece.
bertus
in his adoption of
views, or in taking account of them, where he
adoption.
But
is
Al-
Maimonidean
opposed to their
remained for Thomas Aquinas, who made the most
it
systematic attempt in the mediaeval schools to harmonize the philos-
ophy
Church, to use Maimonides
of Aristotle with the doctrine of the
as his guide
and model.
Like Maimonides he employs Aristotelian
proofs for the existence of God, proofs based on the eternity of motion;
and
like
him Aquinas argues that
was made
if
motion
in time, the existence of
God
is
not eternal and the world
is still
more
readily evident.
In his discussion of the divine attributes, of angels, of Providence, of
Prophecy, of free
Thomas Aquinas
will,
of the ceremonial laws in the Pentateuch,
constantly takes account of Maimonides's views,
whether he agrees with them or not. to say that there
It
is
no doubt an exaggeration
would have been no Aquinas
if
Maimonides had not
MOSES MAIMONIDES For Aquinas had access
preceded him. his
Maimonides
igently than of
himself.
works of Aristotle and
to the
Arabian commentators, the former of
method
307
But
whom there
he studied more
is
dil-
no doubt that the
harmonizing Aristotelian doctrine with traditional teaching
common
so far as the
elements of Judaism and Christianity were con-
cerned was suggested to Aquinas by his Jewish predecessor.
It
is
not
our province here to go into details of the system of Aquinas to show
wherein he agrees or disagrees with Maimonides, nor
more than mention the
fact that after
head of the Franciscan
school,
Aquinas
also,
is it
possible to
Duns
do
Scotus, the
had the "Guide" before him, and
in
comparatively modern times, such celebrities as Scaliger and Leibnitz
speak of the Jewish philosopher with admiration and respect. ^^"
That Maimonides's deep and lasting
and philosophers
influence
upon Jewish theology and thought was
The attitude of the prominent theologians who succeeded him will appear in the sequel in con-
is
a truism.
Here a
nection with our treatment of the post-Maimonidean writers.
word must be
said of the general effect of Maimonides's teaching
upon
Jews and Judaism throughout the dispersion. His fame as the greatest
Jew
—great as a Talmudical authority, which appealed to
of his time
Jewish students, great as a physician with the added
all classes of
glory of being a favorite at court, great as the head of the Jewish
community entist
—
in the East,
and
finally great as
a philosopher and
sci-
these qualifications, never before or after united in the
all
any other man, served to make him the cynosure of all make his word an object of notice and attention throughout the Jewish diaspora. What he said or wrote could not be ignored whether people liked it or not. They could afford to ignore a Gabirol
same way
in
eyes and to
even, or an Ibn Daud.
The
greater the
independent,
But Maimonides must be reckoned
man, the greater the
spirits, to
to one authority,
guard against the enslavement of
no matter how
with.
alertness of lesser, though not less
great.
And
all
in particular
Judaism
where
this
authority erred in boldly adopting views in disagreement with Jewish tradition, as it
alongside
of,
seemed to many, and
ity of tradition, to
no
in setting
up a new source
or even above, the revelation of the
which these
latter
of truth
Torah and the author-
must be bent whether they
will or
—his errors must be strenuously opposed and condemned without
fear or favor.
This was the view of the traditionalists, whose sole
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
3o8
authorities in all matters of theology
of Scripture
On
and Rabbinic
and related topics were the words
literature as tradition
had interpreted them.
the other hand, the rationalistic development during the past three
centuries,
which we have traced thus
progress as capped
and the climax
far,
by Maimonides was not without
its
of that
influence on
another class of the Jewish community, particularly in Spain and southern France; and these regarded Maimonides as the greatest
Their admiration was unbounded for his
teacher that ever lived.
personaUty as well as his method and his conclusions.
His opponents
were regarded as obscurantists, who, rather than the object of their attack, were endangering Judaism.
All
Jewry was divided into two
camps, the Maimunists and the anti-Maimunists; and the polemic and
them was long and
the struggle between
bitter.
Anathema and coun-
anathema, excommunication and counter excommunication was
ter
the least of the matter.
The arm
of the
Church Inquisition was
in-
voked, and the altar of a Parisian Church furnished the torch which set
on flame the pages of Maimonides's "Guide"
More
tragic
formers
had
French
capital.
who betrayed
their people to the
enemy. The men responsible
their tongues cut out.
The
details of the
Maimunist controversy belong to the general
Our purpose here
historian.^ ^^
general effect which
sequent ages.
is
the teaching of
to indicate in brief outline the
Maimonides had upon
The
predecessors.
them
Maimon
and sub-
men many
which put an end
glorious era inaugurated three centuries before
in
famous
or his
persecutions of the Jews in Spain led
to emigrate to neighboring countries,
The
his
'The thirteenth century produced no great
philosophy at aU comparable to Moses Ben
rut.
in the
even was the punishment meted out to the Jewish in-
of
to the
by Hasdai Ibn Shap-
centre of Jewish liberal studies was transferred to south
France, but the literary activities there were a pale shadow compared
with those which
had reached
its
made Jewish Spain famous.
Philosophical thought
perigee in Maimonides, and what followed after was
an attempt on the part
of his lesser disciples
and successors
in the steps of their master, to extend his teachings, to
more widespread and more popular. literary centre
With the
to follow
make them
transference of the
from Spain to Provence went the gradual disuse of
Arabic as the medium of philosophic and
scientific culture,
and the
MOSES MAIMONIDES age of translation made
Maimonides
all
its
appearance.
the Jewish thinkers
309
Prior to, and including,
whom we
have considered, with
Abraham Bar Hiyya and Abraham Ibn Ezra, wrote their works in Arabic. After Maimonides Hebrew takes the place of Arabic, and in addition to the new works composed, the commentaries on the "Guide" which were now written in plenty and the the exception of
philosophico-exegetical works on the Bible in the
Maimonidean
spirit,
the ancient classics of Saadia, Bahya, Gabirol, Halevi, Ibn Zaddik,
Ibn Daud and Maimonides himself had to be translated from Arabic it
was
necessary to translate those writings which contained the purely
sci-
into Hebrew.
entific
In addition to these religio-philosophical works,
and philosophical branches that were preliminary
of religious philosophy. of
This included
logic, the
mathematics and astronomy, medical
treatises
to the study
various branches
and some
of the
books of the Aristotelian corpus with the Arabic compendia and com-
The grammatical and lexical treatises of Hayyuj also translated. The most famous of the host
mentaries thereon.
and Ibn Janah were of translators,
which the need of the times brought
three Tibbonides,
Judah
(11 20-1 190),
Samuel
(i
forth,
were the
150-1230) and Moses
(fl. 1194-1256), Shemtob Falaquera Ben Machir (1236-1304), Moses of Narbonne (d. after 1362), and others. Some of these wrote original works besides. Samuel Ibn Tibbon wrote a philosophical treatise, " Ma'amar Yikkawu ha-Mayim," ^^^ and commentaries in the Maimonidean vein on Ecclesi(fl.
1240-1283), Jacob Anatoli
(1225-1290), Jacob
and the Song
astes
of the "
Guide
of Songs.
on
his translation
He translated besides
Maimonides's
His greater fam.e
of the Perplexed."
rests
"Letter on Resurrection," the "Eight Chapters," and other Arabic writings on science
and philosophy.
Moses Ibn Tibbon was
as an original writer as well as a translator. (11 60-1 2 26), the favorite pupil of
wrote his "Guide,"
and
of exegetical
Mishnic
is
on
whom
the latter
the author of treatises on philosophical topics,
treatise, the
"Ethics of the Fathers."^^2a
Aristotle's logic,
on philosophical homiletics teuch. ^^^
Maimonides, for
works on certain books of the Bible and on the
in addition to translating Ptolemy's taries
prolific
Joseph Ibn Aknin
wrote a work, in the
form
Shemtob Falaquera, the
j^cob Anatoli,
Almagest and Averroes's commen-
of a
"Malmad ha-Talmidim," commentary on the Penta-
translator of portions of Gabirol's
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
3IO Vitae," ^^^
commentary on the "Guide," enand of a number of ethical and psychotitled "Moreh ha-Moreh," logical works.^^® Jacob Ben Machir translated a number of scientific and philosophical works, particularly on astronomy, and is likewise
"Fons
the author of a
is
^^^
the author of two original works on astronomy. (i 297-1340)
was a very
to his credit,
most
on the "Guide."
mentary on
^^^
translations of
he has been
called,
having twenty-nine works
and among them a commentary Narbonne wrote an important com-
exegetical,
Moses
of
the " Guide," ^^^
works on the philosophy
The
prolific writer,
them
of
Joseph Ibn Caspi
and
is
likewise the author of a
of Averroes, of
whom he was
Judah Ibn Tibbon, the father
number
of
a great admirer.
of translators as
go back indeed to the latter half of the twelfth
and Abraham Ibn Ezra translated an astronomical work as early as 1160. But the bulk of the work of translation is the product of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The result of these translations was that scientific and philosophical works became accessible century,
to all those of
who knew Hebrew Another
Arabian culture.
instead of being confined to the lands
effect
was the enlargement
brew language and the development philosophical
and
of a
new Hebrew
as they relate to pure science
dialect with
and philosophy were neglected
closing centuries of the middle ages,
when
Hea
These translations so far
terminology.
scientific
of the
conditions
among
in the
the Jews
were such as precluded them from taking an interest in any but purely Continuous persecutions, the estabhshment of religious studies. the Ghettoes, the rise of the Kabbala and the opposition of the pietists to the rationalism of the philosophers all tended to the
and mystics
neglect of scientific study
upon the
Biblical,
and
to the concentration of all attention
The Jews at modern times withand learning of the outside had
Rabbmic and mystical
literature.
the close of the middle ages and the beginning of
drew into
their shell,
Kttle effect
begmning
on them.
of
and the science
Hence, and also for the reason that with the
modern times
all
that was mediaeval was, in the secular
world, relegated, figuratively speaking, to the ash-heap, or literally
speaking to the mouldering dust of the library shelves these reasons the very large
number
tioned were never printed, and they are
—for both of
of the translations still
above men-
buried on the shelves of the
great European libraries, notably of the British
Museum,
the national
MOSES MAIMONIDES
3 II
library of Paris, the Bodleian of Oxford, the royal library of
and
others.
The
and commenting centuries in the
reader
who
activity of the
domains of
medicine and folklore
is
Munich,
wishes to have an idea of the translating
logic,
Jews
in the thirteenth
and following
philosophy, mathematics, astronomy,
referred to the
monumental work
of the late
Moritz Steinschneider, the prince of Hebrew Bibliographers, "Die Hebraischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters
und
die
Juden
als
Dolmetscher, " (The Hebrew translations of the middle ages, and the Jews as dragomen) Berlin, 1893, containing 1077 pages of lexicon
octavo size devoted to brief enumerations and descriptions of extant editions
and manuscripts
of the translations referred to.^^^
CHAPTER XIV HILLEL BEN SAMUEL In the post-Maimonidean age
all
philosophical thinking
is
in the
nature of a commentary on Maimonides whether avowedly or not.
The
circle of speculation
"Guide
and
of the Perplexed,"
monides are
reflection is complete.
and the
efforts of those
It
who
is
fixed
by the
followed Mai-
which are
to elaborate in his spirit certain special topics
summary way. In the case of the more like Levi ben Gerson we find the further attempt
treated in his masterpiece in a
independent thinkers to carry out
more boldly the implications
of view, which, as the latter thought,
of the philosophical point
Maimonides
went
still
Not knowledge of
and
farther
substituting will
man, but love
of
God
for rationalism
and
as logically demonstrated
God.
But even
logical inference.
is
the highest
Maimonides was thus the point
sources philosophical reflection after
In the matter of external
of the chief Christian scholastics
Magnus and Thomas Aquinas Hillel of
Verona
in the fifteenth.
tions of Alfarabi
Maimonides was enriched
of Averroes
among
on
refutes.
more rigorous
of departure for his
followers as well as for his opponents.
by the works
aim
in his opposition Crescas leans
Maimonides's principles, which he takes up one by one and
spect to details
by
entirely repudiated the authority of Aristotle,
and emotion
of
left implicit
Hasdai Crescas
reason of his predisposition in favor of tradition.
in re-
on the Arabic side and those the Latin writers.
Albertus
men
furnished some material to
like
in the thirteenth century
and Don Isaac Abarbanel
Maimonides was limited
to the Aristotelian exposi-
and Avicenna.
The works
of Averroes, his
porary, he did not read until toward the end of his
life.
contem-
After his
death Averroes gained in prestige and influence until he succeeded in putting into the shade his Arabian predecessors and was regarded by
Jew and
Christian alike as the
Commentator
of Aristotle
par
excellence.
His works were rapidly translated into Hebrew and Latin, and the Jewish writers learned their Aristotle from Averroes. 312
The knowledge
HILLEL BEN SAMUEL
313
was gradually disappearing among the Jews of Europe, and they were indebted for their knowledge of science and philosophy to the works translated. Philosophy was dechning among of the Arabic language
the Arabs themselves owing to the disfavor of the powers that be, and
many
of the scientific writings of the
Hebrew
translations or transcriptions in
escaped the proscription of the
The one problem teaching,
Arabs owe
that
came
their survival to the
Hebrew
Mohammedan
characters which
authorities.
to the front as a result of Averroes's
and which by the solution he gave
it
formed an important
subject of debate in the Parisian schools of the thirteenth century,
was that
of the intellect in
man, whether every individual had
his
own
immortal mind which would continue as an individual entity after the death of the body, or whether a person's individuaUty lasted only as long as he was alive, and with his death the one survived.
human
intellect alone
This was discussed in connection with the general theory of
the intellect and the three kinds of intellect that were distinguished
by
the Arabian Aristotelians, the material, the acquired and the active.
The problem goes back two
intellects in
treatment there
to Aristotle's psychology,
man, passive and active is
so fragmentary
who
distinguishes
But the
(above., p. xxxvi).
and vague that
it
gave
rise to
widely varying interpretations by the Greek commentators of Aristotle,
Alexander of Aphrodisias and Themistius, as well as among the
Arabs, Alfarabi, Avicenna and Averroes. unity of the intellect for the
immortahty, and
human
this Averroistic doctrine,
of Arts at the University of Paris, esies,
and refuted
Aquinas. his
The
latter insisted
adopted by some Masters
was condemned among other
in the writings of Albertus
He
in detail in
drops a remark incidentally here and there, and
him too, separation from the body is not would appear that
her-
Magnus and Thomas
Maimonides does not discuss these problems
"Guide."
on the
race, thereby destroying individual
for
there cannot be several
human
as for Averroes, the intellect
when
it
in
subject to individual distinction, that intellects, since
matter
is
the principle
and the immaterial cannot embrace a number of inthe same species. ^^^ The problem of immortality he does
of individuation
dividuals of
not treat ex professo in the "Guide."
up by
his successors.
Hillel
Hence
this
was a matter taken
ben Samuel as well as Levi ben Gerson
discuss this question in detail.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
314
ben Samuel does not tower as a giant
Hillel
His importance
literature.
learning
and philosophy
as being the
is local,
in mediaeval
first
in Italy in the middle of the thirteenth cen-
The
tury, at the close of a period of comparative ignorance.
Jews before
his time contributed little to
some other
admirer
of
countries.
ben Samuel
Hillel
Maimonides and undertook
He
the Perplexed."
more favorable than
(12 20-1 295)
comment on
was a strong
the " Guide of
defended Maimonides against the aspersions of
and was so confident
his opponents,
to
Italian
knowledge and learning
despite their external circumstances, which were in
Jewish
devotee of Jewish
in the truth of his master's teach-
ings that he proposed a conference of the learned
men
Jewry
of
to
judge the works and doctrines of Maimonides and to decide whether the
"Guide" should be allowed
first, if
not the
first
Jew who by
his
the writings of the scholastics, to
Nefesh" (The Rewards
He was also
An-
to live or should be destroyed.
other interest attaching to Hillel ben Samuel
is
that he was
among
the
knowledge of Latin had access to
whom
he
of the Soul) as the
refers in his
"wise
men
"Tagmule ha-
of the nations."
active as a translator from the Latin.
His chief work, which entitles him to brief notice here,
mule ha-Nefesh"
just mentioned.^-^
He
the
is
"Tag-
does not offer us a system of
philosophy, but only a treatment of certain questions relating to the
nature of the soul,
its
immortality and the manner of
over lightly.
With the exception all
of the discussion relating to the
and the question
three kinds of intellect
quired intellect for
existence
its
body, questions which Maimonides passes
after the death of the
mankind, there
is
of the unity of the ac-
not
much
that
remarkable in the discussion, and we can afford to pass
is it
new or by with
a brief notice.
Men
of science
able possession of
know, he
man is
tells
us in the introduction, that the valu-
the soul,
purpose of man's existence.
and the happiness thereof
And
yet the
pains to investigate the nature of the soul in
a hundred.
And even
subject are hindered truth.
The matter its
is
Then
the final
who
take
very small, not even one
who do undertake
itself is difficult
is
of those
by various circumstances from
preliminary knowledge. ness of
the few
number
to
examine
this
arriving at the
and requires long preparation and
the vicissitudes of
life
and the short-
duration, coupled with the natural indolence of
man when
HILLEL BEN SAMUEL comes to study, completely account
it
on
most important
this
for the lack of true
ben Samuel undertook to
Hillel
works of the philosophers
collect the scattered notices in the extensive
and arranged and expounded them are in search of wisdom.
which
is
soul, its
an end
knowledge
topic.
Induced by these considerations
who
315
in itself.
briefly so as not to discourage those
His purpose
He
desires to explain the existence of the
The
nature and reward.
the knowledge of truth,
is
soul
that which
is
makes man man,
hence we should know the nature of that which makes us intelligent creatures, else
we do not deserve
the name.
Another reason for the importance soul
is
that error in this matter
may
knowing the nature
of
lead to
other departments of knowledge and behef
more
Thus
.
of the
serious mistakes in if
a
man who
calls
body
himself pious assumes that the soul after parting from the
is
subject to corporeal reward and punishment, as appears from a literal
rendering of passages in Bible and Talmud, he will be led to think that the soul
corporeal.
itself is
And
since the soul,
it is
from on high, the upper world must have bodies and
and hence the angels too are tions
But
bodies.
from the divine splendor, God too
believed,
since the angels are
is
Thus you
body!
comes
definite places,
emanasee
how
serious are the consequences of a belief, in itself perhaps not so danger-
ous, as that of the corporeahty of the soul.^^^
We
must
prove the existence of the
first
We
in various ways.
propagate their
like,
soul.
see that of natural bodies
This can be shown
some take
food, grow,
while others, Uke stones, do not do these things.
This shows that the powers and functions mentioned cannot be due to the corporeal part of the objects performing them, else stones, too,
would have those powers, as they are There must therefore be a
responsible for those activities.
As all must be
also corporeal like the rest.
different principle, not body,
We
existents are divided into substance either the one or the other.
Aristotle, is that
which
may
fore a substance.
soul.
is
Now
and accident, the
soul
an accident, according to
be or not be without causing the being or
destruction of the object in which
body without the
which
call it soul.
it is.
Hence the
Substance
may
But the body cannot be a living
soul
is
not an accident;
it is
be corporeal or incorporeal.
soul cannot be a corporeal substance, for all
body
is
divisible,
there-
The
and sub-
MEDIjEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
3i6
motion and change, whereas the
ject to
not movable, not changeable and not the soul
again
is
when
subject to motion, since it
leaves the body.
it
But
soul, as will
be shown
It
divisible.
descends into the body and rises
this is
not
Descent and ascent
so.
when thus applied to the soul are metaphorical. The union of body is not a spatial relation. The upper world from which comes
is
not corporeal, hence there
spiritual
world and
its
tion of the soul to the
is
no such thing as place
Hence the coming
anything limited by space.
is
soul
nor
from the
The
all.
and
the soul
there,
of the soul
return thither are not motions at
body
later, is
might seem that
rela-
as that of form to matter, as Aristotle
says.
Granted that the are not motions,
answer
Hillel's
is
is
soul's
union with and separation from the body
not the soul subject to motion while in the body?
that
it is
not,
and he proves
his point in the pre-
by making use of Aristotle's classification of motion genesis and (2) decay, (3) increase and (4) diminution, (5)
scribed fashion into (i)
qualitative change
He
and
(6)
motion proper, or motion
then undertakes to show that the soul can have none of the kinds
motion here enumerated.
of
of translation.
or interesting,
The arguments
and we can afford
ofier
to omit them.
nothing striking
It
however, to refer to his interpretation of emotion. the soul from joy to
kind of motion.
grief,
Hillel
from
anger to favor,
is
worth while,
The passage
of
might seem to be a
answers this objection by saying that these Their primary cause
emotions do not pertain to the soul as such.
is
the state of mixture of the humors in the body, which affects certain corporeal powers in certain ways; tions only so far as
soul has
We
it is
and the
united with the body.
In
its
own nature
the
no emotions.
can also prove that the soul
thing must have parts.
means
soul shares in these affec-
Now
if
is
not divisible.
the soul
either that every part of the soul,
is
For a
divisible
divided or divisible, this
no matter how small, has
the same powers as the whole, or that the powers of the soul are the resultant of the union of the parts. for
it
The
first
alternative
is
impossible,
leads us to the absurd conclusion that instead of one soul every
person has an infinite number of souls, or at least a great number of souls.
The second
alternative implies that while the soul
ally divided, since its
is
not actu-
powers are the summation of the parts, which
HILLEL BEN SAMUEL form a
But
unit, it is potentially divisible.
time this potential
317
this signifies that at
be realized
divisibility will
some
would
(or potentiality
be vain and meaningless) and we are brought back to the absurdity of a multiplicity of souls in the
Having shown that the
we
are certain of
its
soul
is
human body. not movable, changeable or
"a
Hillel accordingly defines the soul as
tion of the soul.
divisible,
and we are ready to give a
incorporeality,
defini-
stage of
emanation, consisting of a formal substance, which subsists through
own
its
and occupies the fourth place
perfection,
process, next to the Active Intellect.
who
himself,
is
the ultimate perfection and the Good,
from him indirectly through the mediation standing above the
first
it
entelechy of a natural body."
The above
definition
is
It
The
is
God
emanates
Powers
soul constitutes
shows that
Hillel did not
from the Neo-Platonic,
clearly distinguish the AristoteUan standpoint
That
it
^^^
interesting.
for in the definition just quoted, the
and
of the separate
emanation.
in the scale of
emanatory
in the
Its ultimate source
two points
of
view are combined.
mediceval Aristotelianism was tinged with Neo-Platonism,
all
especially in the doctrine of the Active Intellect,
and
it
represents a step
Hillel.
known.
of
But
of this pe-
to the stand-
Ibn Daud and
a purer Aristotelianism seems not to
in the interest of
have enlightened
backward
The work
point of Pseudo-Bahya and Ibn Zaddik.
Maimonides
well
we have an extreme form
in Hillel's definition of the soul culiar combination,
is
The Neo-Platonic emanation theory The soul stands fourth
clearly enunciated in Hillel's definition.
the series.
The
Intelligences,
(3)
was a student p. xx),
order he has in
mind
Active Intellect,
is
probably
(i)
God,
(2)
We know
(4) Soul.
of the Neo-Platonic "Liber de Causis"
having translated some of
it
into
is
in
Separate
that Hillel {cf.
above,
Hebrew, and he might have
imbibed his Neo-Platonism from that Proclean book. Continuing the description of the soul in man, he says that the noblest part of matter, tional soul,
Thereby
it
viz.,
the
human body,
and becomes the subject becomes a man,
z. e.,
is
of the
endowed with the powers of the
ra-
latter.
a rational animal, distinguished from
other animals, and similar to the nature of the angels.
all
The Active
Intellect causes its light to
soul, thus bringing its
emanate upon the rational
powers out into actuality. The Active
Intellect,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
3l8
which
is
one
power
in
man
of the ten degrees of angels, is related to the rational
power
as the sun to the
which changes the
potentially seeing
The sun
of sight.
power into
same
light enables the sight to see the
sun
of the actualization in the sight.
So the Active
thing to the rational power which
is
and by means
become through
who was
some-
as light to the sight;
Also the potentially intelligible ob-
itself.
potentially intelligent
former power
it
the cause
Intellect gives
this influence actually intelligible,
Intellect ("sekel") in
By the
related to
is
something the rational soul can see or under-
of this
stand the Active Intellect jects
which
itself,
and
Moreover,
the potentially visible object into the actually visible. this
gives light,
actually seeing,
and the man
becomes thereby actually
intelligent.
man is distinguished from wisdom ("hokmah").
is
meant an immediate understanding
of abstract
Wisdom
principles.
The
speculation
about universals through inference from particulars.
latter
is
mediate understanding.
Intellect applies directly to the universals
upon the
and to
denotes
their influence
particulars.^^*
Hillel next discusses the live topic of the day,
made popular by many individual
Averroes, namely, whether there are in essence as souls as there are
human
bodies, or, as Averroes thought, there
only one universal soul, and that
men
its
is
individualizations in different
are only passing incidents, due to the association of the universal
soul with the hvmian body,
and disappear when the body
dies.
The
''sages of the Gentiles," Hillel tells us, regard Averroes's notion as heretical,
soul
is
and leading besides
to the absurd conclusion that the
both rewarded and punished; a view which upsets
same
all religion.
Averroes employs a number of arguments to prove his point, among
them being the all existing first is
If there are
following.
many
souls,
they are either
from eternity or they are created with the body.
impossible, for since the soul
have actually an
infinite
number
is
a form of the body, we should
of forms,
the actual existence of an infinite
The
and
number
this
would necessitate
of bodies also; else the
existence of these souls for the purpose of joining the bodies
would be
But it is absurd to suppose that there has been from eternity an infinite number of bodies created like the number of souls, and yet they have not become real bodies with souls until now. in vain.
The second
alternative
is
also impossible.
For
if
there are
many
HILLEL BEN SAMUEL souls which
came
319
into being with the bodies, they either
came from
From nothing is impossible, for nothing nothing except by way of creation, which is a miracle; comes from and we do not believe in miracles unless we have to. That they came nothing or from something.
from something
is
also impossible; for this something can be neither
matter nor form.
be matter,
It cannot
come from the
for form, the actual
and
inferior.
form, for then form would proceed from form
by way
superior, cannot
which
dissolution,
We
dissolution, not form.
soul
Matter
not true.
is
potential
is
and
It cannot of genesis
and
the cause of generation and
are thus forced to the conclusion that the
one and eternal, one in substance and nimiber; and that
is
becomes many only per
be
accidens,
by
it
virtue of the multiplicity of its
receiving subjects, comparable to the light of the one sun, which
divides into
The
many
rays.
Bible cannot help us to decide this question, for
can be interpreted either way.
its
expressions
then undertakes to adjudicate
Hillel
He
between the contending views by striking a compromise. that he
an
is
feels
contributing to the solution of an important problem
original suggestion,
which he says
is
to be found
nowhere
by else
expressed with such clearness and brevity.
Here again
Hillel's
Neo-Platonic tendencies are in evidence.
For he
assumes both a universal soul and a great number of individual souls
emanating from
it
in a descending series.
cannot come from other forms by way Hillel says, is not valid, for
tion
and
dissolution
by
contact.
tact,
because
is
is
The
objection that forms
of generation
no such process
is
and
dissolution,
Genera-
here involved.
pecuhar to the action of body upon body, which
A spiritual form acts upon other forms not through connot limited by time or place. We know concerning
it is
it by way many human
the Intelligences that each comes from the one previous to of emanation, souls
and the same thing applies to the
from the one universal
issue of
After death the rational part of
soul.
every soul remains; that part which every soul receives from the Active Intellect through the help of the possible or material
and which becomes This
is
identified with the Active
intellect,
Intellect.
the part which receives reward and punishment, whereas the
one universal soul from which they
all
and
^^
is
and separate
not rewarded or punished,^
emanate
is
a divine emanation,
320
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
.
We
must now For
tellect.
discuss further the nature of the three grades of in-
this it will
be necessary to lay down three preliminary
propositions.
There must be an
1.
intellect
whose relation to the material
the same as that of the object of sense perception
is
is
intellect
to the sense.
This means that just as there must be a real and actual object to arouse the sense faculty to perceive, so there must be an actual intelligible object to stir
It follows
2.
from
i
the rational power to comprehend. that as the material sense has the power of
perceiving the sensible object, so the material intellect has the power of perceiving this other intellect. If it
3.
has this power, this must at some time be realized in aciu.
Therefore at some time the material intellect other intellect, which
We we
must now prove
is
identified with the
the Active Intellect.
i.
This
are potentially intelligent,
become actually
to
is
done as follows:
is
and
intelligent.
it
takes effort
We
all
know
that
and pains and study
In fact the process of intellection has
to pass several stages from sense perception through imagination.
Now
our intellect cannot
make
itself
pass from potentiality to ac-
Hence there must be something else as agent producing this change and this agent must be actually what it induces in us. Hence tuality.
;
it is
an active
The
intellect.
common
material intellect has certain aspects in
and
faculty,
receptive
in certain aspects it differs.
and not
active.
But the mode
with the sense
It is similar to
it
in being
of receptivity
is
different
As the intellect understands all forms, it cannot be a power residing in a body in the sense of extending through it and being divided with the division of the body, as we see in some of the powers in the two.
of sense. 1.
it
This we can prove as follows:
If the intellect
were receptive in the same manner as the senses,
would receive only a
definite
kind of form, as for example the sense
of sight does not receive taste. 2.
If the intellect
were a power in body and had a special form,
could not receive that form, just as for example
if
it
the eye were colored,
could not perceive colors.
it
3. its
If
the intellect were a corporeal power,
object
it
and injured by a powerful stimulus,
would be affected by as
is
the case in the
HILLEL BEN SAMUEL senses of sight
321
A dazzling light injures the eye, a deafen-
and hearing.
ing noise injures the ear, so that thereafter neither sense can perform its
normal function properly.
An
unusually
4. If it
This
the intellect were similar in
would not be
is
-not true with the intellect.
subject of thought does not injure the intellect.
difficult
its
activity to sense perception,
cannot perceive
self-conscious, as the sense faculties
themselves. 5.
The
intellect,
hend a thing and
were
if it
its
a confused manner, as 6.
The
like sense,
would not be able to compre-
opposite at the same time, or
would do so
it
in
the case in the powers of sense.
is
intellect perceives universals; the sense, particulars.
This being the case, there
is
a difference of opinion as to the natvue
Some say
of the material intellect.
in itself except that of possibiUty
from other
that
has no definite nature
it
and capacity, though
possibilities in this respect that it is
dependent upon a material subject
That
and becomes actual when
it
in,
and
is
why
not anything before
is
it
with reference to the
intellects; that it is in its essence potential
intelUgibilia,
not resident
like the others.
Aristotle says that the material intellect
different
it is
understands them ac-
tually.
Themistius says tial
not any of the existents actually, but a poten-
it is
essence receiving material forms.
that of prime matter; hence to call
it
and
dissolution
i. e.,
a power
the body, hence
is
in the soul,
from
the possible intellect
Which it is
opposing
For
something
is
it
as its subject. it
is
intellect is only
nor
is it
is
a separate substance,
has by virtue of
Hence
its
being con-
this capacity is neither
identical with
it.
According to him
is
correct, says Hillel, requires discussion,
whichever of these we adopt there
the conjunction of the possible intellect
if it is
a
soul enters
not a part of the soul.
of these views clear that
best
not eternal a parte ante.
and that the capacity nected with the body
but
is
not subject
and appears when the
Averroes holds that the possible intellect
entirely distinct
it is
It
any more than prime matter.
Alexander of Aphrodisias thinks the material capacity,
analogous to
is
Being a potential existent
possible intellect.
to generation
it is
Its nature
called material intellect.
an eternal substance, potential
is
no reason
with the Active.
in its nature, like
primary
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
32 2
matter, then
it
becomes actual when
The same
objects.
is
true
if it is
it
understands the
Hillel is thus of the opinion in this other question
days, whether the intellect of life
man
of
leading
it
to perfection.
Intelligences receive
is
is itself
its
like the influence
from the Active
Intellect
Intellect,
not in the
manner
formal or
of
an
final cause,
which the separate
from one another, the influence
and not a material influence comparable tion of influence
in the
e.,
i.
but rather as
It
The Active
it is.
intellect influences it
one body acting upon another,
efficient or material cause,
soul.
debated in those
capable of conjunction during
is
with the angelic Active Intellect, that
he says, in actualizing the material
manner
intelligible
a capacity residing in the
of emanation,
This recep-
to generation.
on the part
of the potential
means that the agent and the thing acted species. The material becomes a separate substance when it can understand it-
conjunction.
It
upon become one, and the same substance and intellect self.326
Before taking up the more theological problem of reward and punishment, he devotes the last section of the theoretical part of his book to a discussion of the relation of the possible or material intellect to the rest of the
human
This problem also arose from Averroes's inter-
soul.
pretation of the Aristotelian psychology, and
other one of the unity of the
human
is
closely related to the
It
intellect.
is
needless for us to
enter into the technical details which are a weariness to the flesh of the
modern student, but
is
it
worth while to state
underlying the opposing views. scruples, interpreted Aristotle to
mean
was intimately associated with the body as
its
it,
form, constituting an
embraced
die with its death.
The reason on
life
lower fac-
body that they
of the
the other hand, which has to do with
immaterial ideas, or intelligibles as they called them, is
not the form of the body.
is
not affected by the
contact with the
But
its
imagination and the more concrete types of judgment.
These are so intimately bound up with the
into existence
motives
theological
that the part of the soul which
indissoluble organism in conjunction with ulties of sense,
briefly the
who had no
Averroes,
life
human
It
is
eternal
is
and
a unitary immaterial substance and
or death of the body.
soul during the
life
To be
sure
it
comes
in
of the body, thus bringing
an individualized human reason as a passing episode.
this individualized
phase of the
intellect's life is
dependent upon
HILLEL BEN SAMUEL the body and ceases
when
body
the
dies, or is
323
reabsorbed in the univer-
sal intellect.
The
theological implications of this view were that
reward and punishment after death,
it
if
there
would either have
is
any
to be ad-
ministered to the lower faculties of the soul, which would have to be
made immortal
for the purpose, or
the rational soul
is
the subject of
retribution, this cannot aflfect the individual, as there
is
no individual
rational soul.
bertus
if
Hence the Christian opponents
of Averroes, like Al-
Magnus and Thomas Aquinas (Hillel speaks of them here as the who believe in religion"), endeavored
"Rehgionists," or the "Sages
to vindicate for the Aristotehan definition of the soul as the
form
of the
body, also the rational part, thus maintaining the view that the reason too has an individual existence both during
Thomas Aquinas,
maintain that the Active Intellect soul,
and not one
monides nor
and
life
after death.
as a truer interpreter of Aristotle, goes so far as to itself is also
a part of the human
of the angelic separate Intelligences.
Hillel
Neither Mai-
ben Samuel, nor any other Jewish philosopher was
able to depart so widely from their Arabian masters or to undertake
an independent study clusion.
of Aristotle's text, as to
Hence the Active
imously held to be the
come
to a similar con-
Intellect in Jewish Philosophy
is
unan-
last of the Angelic substances, and the proximate
inspirer of the prophet.
The
cerns the possible intellect,
discussion therefore in Hillel's
and here he ventures
work con-
to disagree with
Averroes and decides in favor of the possible intellect as a part of the soul
and the subject
of
reward and punishment.
^^''
Concerning the nature of reward and punishment after death
Some think that both reward and punishment Some say reward is spiritual, punishment is corporeal; number are of the opinion that both are spiritual. Hillel
opinions are divided. are corporeal.
while a small
naturally agrees with the latter and gives reasons for his opinion.
the soul, as was shown before, substance,
it
is
incorporeal, immaterial
cannot be influenced by corporeal treatment.
poreal influence implies motion on the part of agent
and
If
and a formal For
cor-
patient,
and
the pervasion of the influence of the former through the parts of the latter;
whereas a spiritual substance has no parts.
and punishment are corporeal, and Paradise then
why
separate the soul from the body,
Besides,
if
reward
is
to be taken literally,
why
not reward the living
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
324
person with eternal
and give him the enjoyment
life
of paradise while
would be much greater upon the
on earth? The
effect
who would
how the righteous fare and the wicked. The objection make people mercenary does not hold, for they are
see
rest of
mankind,
that this would
mercenary in any or in the next
When God
Reward must
difference.
and so must punishment,
itual,
a
they expect reward; whether in this
case, since
makes no
since the
life
therefore be spir-
two go together. ^-^
human
in his kindness favored the
race
by giving them
which he united with the body, he also gave them the possibiUty
soul,
For
of attaining eternal happiness.
grades of ascent,
purpose he arranged three
this
the three intellects spoken of above, the material
viz.,
or possible intellect, the acquired intellect (this
is
the actual function-
and the active
ing of the possible intellect and the result thereof) tellect.
partly
in-
The second intellect is partly speculative or theoretical and practical. The theoretical intellect studies and contemplates which are separate from matter.
all intelligible existents
nothing practical in this contemplation, existents
and
This
their causes.
is
it is
just the
There
is
knowledge of
called the science of truth,
and
is
the most important part of philosophy.
The
practical intellect
The former
technological.
not,
is
again divided into the cogitative and the
decides whether a thing should be done or
and discriminates between the proper and the improper
actions
and
It
qualities.
the soul because
it
is
instructs the appetitive
things which are subject to the will,
and
in
human
important as a guide to the happiness of
and
power
directs
in reference to those
it
to
aim at the good
to reject the evil.
The
technological intellect
The
trades.
is
practical intellect
that is
by which man
learns arts
and
also theoretical in the sense that
it
has to think in order to discriminate between the proper and the improper,
and between the
to practice.
The
beneficial
difference
and
injurious in all things pertaining
between the speculative and practical
intellects is in the respective objects of
hence
is
accidental
and not
intellect are the true
bad.
The acquired
essential.
and the
The
their comprehension,
false; of the practical,
the good and the
intellect gives these intelligibles to the soul
the possible intellect, and
Active Intellect, which
is
is
and
objects of the theoretical
through
intermediate between the latter and the
one of the separate Intelligences above
soul.
HILLEL BEN SAMUEL
The Active
Intellect
325
watches over the rational animal that he
may
attain to the happiness which his nature permits.
Men
differ
human
according to their temperamental composition and their
conduct.
ing and in the
is
of influence received
Maimonides
Hillel quotes
stage
This leads to differences in the power of understand-
amount
an emanation
from the Active
in support of his
view that the prophetic
from God through the medium
of glory
Active Intellect, which exerts
upon the
influence
its
and upon the imagination, so that the prophet tified extra
animam.
The
The first without
the second without the
rational
of the
power
sees his vision objec-
three conditions requisite for prophecy are
and perfection
perfection in theory, perfection in imagination
morals.
Intellect.
and
the second
and
first
in
third produces a philosopher;
third gives rise to a statesman or
magician. It
is
important to know, he
and imagination alone ments
is
sufl&cient.
rational power. (c/.
desire,
qualities
command-
which are instruments of the
Maimonides says
For, as
and
p. 282), all observance
good and bad
Practice of the
Hence a man must guide properly the two
very important.
powers of sense perception and
Aboth
that the cultivation of the reason
tells us,
not
is
in his
violation of the
commentary on
commandments,
depend upon those two powers.
Without a
proper training of these the influence of the active intellect upon the reason and imagination
may
lead to
Beginning with sense perception a to attend only to
what
is
good and
evil.
man must
to turn
train all his five senses
away from
evil.
When
he
sensuous desires, he must do this in order to preserve his
satisfies his
body that he may be enabled
to
serve
God
in the best possible
way.
The same directs
applies to the
power
This
of desire.
is
the power which
one to pursue the agreeable and shun the disagreeable.
From it
proceed also courage, confidence, anger, good will, joy, sorrow, humility, pride.
a
man do
life,
and
All these qualities this,
will
he
must be used
will attain the
in the service of
God.
If
grade of an angelic being even during
be able to perform miracles
like the
prophets and the
sages of the Talmud.
After death the souls of such
men
reach even a higher degree than
they had before entering the body, as a reward for not allowing them-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
326
selves to be degraded
by
but on the contrary-
their corporeal desires,
directing these to higher aims.^-^
As
may
reward and punishment more particularly, we
for the nature of
say that the soul of the wicked loses
and descends
to a position lower than
pelled from the land of
life
all
the glory promised to her
was hers
and remains
Knowing what she has
returning to her original station.
She
originally.
is
ex-
in darkness forever, without lost,
she will
feel continuous distress, sorrow and fear, for the power of imagination
But
remains with the soul after death. with
fire.
On
there
no physical burning
is
the other hand, the soul of the righteous will return to
God.
The
doctrine of the resurrection
and the explanation
further proof that the soul after death
The motive their
soul
corporeal, there
is
no need
Hillel then proceeds to
seem to speak
are a
and body may receive
then the retribution of the
of resurrection.
show that the words
^^°
of the
Rabbis which
for corporeal retribution are not to be taken literally.
In this connection
it is
the contents of the
merates
If
life.
it
not punished corporeally.
of the resurrection is that the soul
compensation together as in
is
is
for
worth while to reproduce
Talmud and
his attitude
his classification of
toward them.
He
enu-
six classes.
Passages in the Talmudic and Midrashic literature which must
1.
be taken
literally.
These are the discussions
of the
Halaka (the
legal
and ceremonial portions). To pervert these from
their literal
or to maintain that the intention of the law
the important thing
and not the practice it is
of the
ceremony,
is
is
heresy and infidelity; though
meritorious to seek for an explanation of every law, as the Rabbis
themselves do in 2.
many
instances.
Passages which should be understood as parables and allegories
with a deeper meaning.
These are the peculiar Haggadahs, or the
strange interpretations of Biblical verses where is
meaning,
no ceremonial precept
involved. 3.
Statements similar to those of the Prophetical books of the
Bible,
which were the result of the influence
and came to the sages
in a
dream
or in the waking state, speaking of
the future in an allegorical manner. tales
of the Active Intellect
These are the extraordinary
found in the Talmud, which cannot be understood
literally,
as
HILLEL BEN SAMUEL
327
they involve a violation of the order of nature; and no miracle must
be believed unless for a very important reason. 4.
The
homilies addressed to the people on the occasion of holidays
for the purpose of exhorting
of the
Many
Law.
them
and observance
to divine worship
of these are hyperbolical in their expression,
especially in the promises concerning the future blessings in store
These were
for the people.
people to
make
their
encouragement to the
in the nature of
Here belong
burdens easier to bear.
also unusual
interpretations of Bibhcal verses, explanations which do not give the original
meaning
of the verse in question,
We
to interest the people.
that
came
but are suggested
too, stories of the
in order
good things
These must be
to pious people in return for their piety.
taken for the most part 5.
must add,
literally, unless they are clearly improbable.
way
Jokes and jests by
of relief
from the strain
of study.
Hy-
perboles belong here. 6.
Narratives of miracles done for pious people, such as reviving
the dead, punishing with death rain,
and so
heresy.
on.
This
is
real
must be taken
All these
of a
word, bringing down
literally.
To
disbelieve
is
true only where the alleged miracles were done for a
high purpose, otherwise
The reason
by means
the Bible
we need not believe them. and the Talmud express themselves
terms concerning reward and punishment
is
in corpo-
in order to frighten
the people and to impress them with the terrible punishment conse-
quent upon wrongdoing.
and punishment unless ual existence
is
more
The people do not understand any reward
it is
real
physical and corporeal.
than physical.^^^
In reality
spirit-
CHAPTER XV LEVI BEN GERSON
Among
the
men who devoted
themselves to philosophical investi-
gation in the century and a half after Maimonides's death, the greatest
and most independent was without doubt Levi ben Gerson sonides, as he
is
also called.
or Ger-
There were others who were active as
commentators, translators and original writers, and
who
a certain fame, but their work was too
to merit
than very brief notice in these pages. of thirteenth century)
little original
achieved
more
Isaac Albalag^^^** (second half
owes what reputation he enjoys to the boldness
with which he enunciated certain doctrines, such as the eternity of the world and particularly the notion, well enough
known among
by the Church, but never philosophy
—the
before aimounced or defended in Jewish
so-called doctrine of the twofold truth.
an attitude assumed be,
by a number
the
and condemned
Averroists of the University of Paris at that time
This was
in self-defence, sincerely or not as the case
of scholastic writers,
views at variance with the dogma of the
may
who advanced philosophic Church. They maintained
that a given thesis might be true and false at the same time, true for
philosophy and false for theology, or vice versa. ^^^
quera (12 25-1 290)
is
a more important
man
Shera
than Albalag.
Tob
Fala-
He was
a
thorough student of the AristoteUan and other philosophy that was accessible to
him through
his
knowledge Gabirol
(p.
by Falaquera's
Hebrew
of
translation into
Of great importance also
Vitse."
is
Munk's
of Arabic.
in identifying Avicebron with
Falaquera's commentary of Mai-
monides's " Guide, " which, with that of Moses of Narbonne 1362),
is
(d. after
based upon a knowledge of Arabic and a thorough familiarity
with the Aristotelian philosophy of the Arabs, and better
success
63) was made possible extracts from the "Fons
known commentaries
of
is
superior to the
Shemtob, Ephodi, and Abarbanel,
Falaquera also wrote original works of an ethical and philosophical character. 328
LEVI BEN GERSON Joseph Ibn Caspi
commentator ture.
of
(i
297-1340)
is
329
likewise a meritorious figure as a
Maimonides and as a philosophical exegete
But none
of these
men
of Scrip-
stands out as an independent thinker
with a strong individuahty, carrying forward in any important and authoritative degree the
work
of the great
Maimonides.
Great Tal-
mudic knowledge, which was a necessary qualification for national recognition, these men seem not to have had; and on the other hand none of them felt called upon or able to make a systematic synthesis of philosophy
and Judaism
Levi ben Gerson
can at
all
in a large
way.
was the
(i 288-1344)
first
after
Maimonides who
He was
be compared with the great sage of Fostat.
a great
mathematician and astronomer; he wrote supercommentaries on the Aristotelian commentaries of Averroes,
who in
the source of philosophical knowledge for the
was thoroughly versed
Pentateuch shows; and he of the middle ages.
Talmud
the
in
as his
his
day had become
Hebrew student; he commentary on the
one of the recognized Biblical exegetes
is
Finally in his philosophical masterpiece "Mil-
hamot Adonai" (The Wars of the Lord),^^^ he undertakes to solve in a thoroughly scholastic manner those problems in philosophy and theology which Maimonides had either not treated adequately or had not solved to Gersonides's satisfaction. That despite the techniand
cal character
style of the
"Milhamot," Gersonides achieved such
great reputation shows in what esteem his learning and critical power
were held by brew, and
if
His works were
his contemporaries.
all
written in He-
he had any knowledge of Arabic and Latin
him
limited, too limited to enable
written in those languages.^^^
Jewish thought, as
is
to
make
it
was very
use of the important works
His fame extended beyond the limits of
shown by the
fact that his scientific treatise deal-
ing with the astronomical instrument he had discovered was translated into Latin in 1377
by order
of
Pope Clement VI, and
his
supercom-
mentaries on the early books of the Aristotelian logic were incorporated, in Latin translation, in the Latin editions of Aristotle and
Averroes of the i6th century.^^^ Levi ben Gerson's general attitude to philosophical study and relation to the content of Scripture
is
the same as
property through Maimonides and his predecessors.
and
perfection of
man
its
had become common
are the purpose of religion
The happiness and knowledge.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
330
This perfection of man, or which the
human
soul, is
cuss the nature of the
human
the purpose of the Bible
—morals and The
three parts.
same
thing, the perfection of
brought about through perfection in morals and appear more clearly when we
in theoretical speculation, as will
elements
the
is
intellect
For
science.
first is
man
to lead
is
and
its
immortality.
dis-
Hence
to perfect himself in these
two
Law consists of Law containing the
this reason the
the legal portion of the
613 commandments, mandatory and prohibitive, concerning belief
and
This
practice.
of the Pentateuch,
preparatory to the second and third divisions
is
which deal respectively with
As
conduct, and the science of existence. it
was not practicable to lay down
hibitions because this aspect of
exercising
it is
life.
and
and
social
ethical
concerned
far as ethics is
commandments and
definite
pro-
so extremely difi&cult to reach perfection in
Thus
the Torah gave definite prescriptions for
if
and
controlling our anger, our joy, our courage,
the results would be very discouraging, for the majority of
And
be constantly disobeying them.
commandments
this
so on,
men would
would lead to the neglect
Hence the principles of social and ethical conduct are inculcated indirectly by means of narratives exemplifying certain types of character in action and the consequences of the other
likewise.
The
flowing from their conduct.
third division, as
was
said before,
contains certain teachings of a metaphysical character respecting the
nature of existence.
This
is
the most important of
The account
forms the beginning of the Pentateuch.
all,
and hence
of creation
is
a
study in the principles of philosophical physics. ^^^
As
to the relations of reason
and
belief or authority,
Levi ben
Gerson shares in the optimism of the Maimonidean school and the philosophic middle age generally, that there
them.
The
priority should
is
no opposition between
be given to reason where
are unequivocal, for the meaning of the Scriptures
and
is
subject to interpretation.^^''
On
is
its
demands
not always clear
the other hand, after having
devoted an entire book of his "Milhamot" to a minute investigation of the nature of the human intellect and the conditions of its immortality,
he disarms in advance
the religious point of view doctrine
He
if it is
shown that
developed his views, he
all
possible criticism of his position
it is
from
is
ready to abandon his
in disagreement
with religious dogma.
by saying that he tells us,
because he believes that they are
LEVI BEN GERSON
331
in agreement with the words of the Torah,^^^ diction
is
This apparent contra-
by making a distinction between the abstract the principle and the concrete application thereof. In
to be explained
statement of
general Levi ben Gerson
so convinced of man's prerogative as a
is
rational being that he cannot believe the Bible meant to force upon
him
the behef in things which are opposed to reason.
the Bible
subject to interpretation, the
is
paramount where they do not admit where the traditional dogma
of
demands
On
of doubt.
Judaism
is
clear
Hence, since
of the reason are
the other hand,
and outspoken,
incumbent upon man to be modest and not to claim the of direct revelation for the
Hmited powers of
it is
infallibility
logical inference
and
deduction.
We must now give a brief account
of the questions discussed in the
And first a word about Gersonides's style and One is reminded, in reading the Milhamot, of Aristotle as Thomas Aquinas. There is no rhetoric and there are no super-
"Milhamot Adonai." method. well as
fluous words.
One
All
is
precise
surprised to see
is
guage has become so totelian ideas.
and
how
flexible
technical,
an instrument
being
lan-
Levi ben Gerson does not labor in the expression of his
and analyst, has no use
of speech.
small.
in the expression of Aris-
is
quite adequate
urally to the manipulation of the author. logician
is
Hebrew
in a brief century or so the
His hnguistic instrument
thought.
and the vocabulary
The
subject,
made more
so
by
and
Gersonides, the minute
for rhetorical flourishes
he says,
is difficult
yields nat-
enough as
and
it is,
figures
without
rhetorical obscuration, unless one intends to
hide the confusion of one's thought under the
mask
of fine writing. ^^^
Like Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, he gives a history of the opinions of others in the topic
under discussion, and enumerates long
arguments pro and con with rigorous
upon the reader
by the
is
logical precision.
monotonous and wearisome.
fact that he
is
groping his
ideas formulated in proper order
way
lists
The
of
effect
Aristotle escapes this
before us.
and form ready
He
has not
to deliver.
all his
He
is
primarily the investigator, not the pedagogue, and the brevity and obscurity of his style pique the ambitious reader and spur
puzzle out the meaning. generally.
method
Not
so
Thomas Aquinas and
him on
to
the scholastics
As the term scholastic indicates, they developed their They were expositors of what was ready made,
in the schools.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
332
rather than searchers for the new.
Hence the question
form was an
of
important one and was determined by the purpose of presenting one's ideas as clearly as
may
be to the student.
Add
to this that the logic
and the syllogism was the universal method
of Aristotle
of presenta-
tion and the monotony and wearisomeness becomes evident. Levi ben Gerson is in this respect like Aquinas rather than like Aristotle. And
he
the
is
first of his
Since the larger views
kind in Jewish literature.
and problems were already common property, the efforts of Gersonides were directed to a more minute discussion of the more technical details of
such problems as the
creation,
and so
For
on.
human
intellect,
prophecy. Providence,
this reason, too, it will
not be necessary for
us to do more than give a brief resume of the results of Gersonides's lucubrations without entering into the really bewildering splitting
and
hair-
arguments and distinctions which make the book so hard on
the reader.
We have already had occasion in the Introduction briefly to Aristotle's theory of the intellect
The
the passive and the active intellects in man.
were also referred to in our treatment of
Maimonides (p.
317
ff.),
(pp. i8o
was the
f.,
first
213
among
xxxvi) to refer
the Jews
Arabs
ideas of the
Halevi, Ibn
Judah ben Samuel,
Hillel
282).
f.,
(p.
and the distinction between
who undertook
Daud and as we saw
to discuss in
greater detail the essence of the three kinds of intellect, material, ac-
quired and active, as taught by the lastics,
and devoted some space
terial intellect.
Mohammedan and Christian Scho-
to the question of the unity of the
ma-
Levi ben Gerson takes up the same question of the
nature of the material intellect and discusses the various views with
more
rigor
and minuteness than any
chief source
was Averroes.
The
of his Jewish predecessors.
His
principal views concerning the nature
of the possible or material intellect in
man
were those attributed to
Alexander of Aphrodisias, the most important Greek commentator of Aristotle (lived about 200 of the Christian Era), Themistius, another
Aristotelian Greek ian,
of
commentator who
lived in the time of
Emperor Jul-
and Averroes, the famous Arabian philosopher and contemporary
Maimonides. All these three writers pretended to expound Aristotle's
views of the passive intellect rather than propound their own.
And
Levi ben Gerson discusses their ideas before giving his own. Alexander's idea of the passive intellect in
man
is
that
it is
simply
LEVI BEN GERSON a capacity residing material things.
in the soul for receiving the universal
It has
no substantiality
not survive the lower functions of the imagination, which die with the body.
of its
not a part of
by Alexander wdth God. The Active
identified
man
Intellect
mere potentiahty,
originally a
or acquired intellect, which though at
may
And
and in
is
Active Intellect),
immortal.
man
is
it
of sight color.
The reason
is
dependent on the data of
its activity
make up becomes
it
unaided by sense
the content of the divine identified with the latter
for supposing that the material intellect
may
Thus
not be of any form.
itself
receive all colors as they are,
If the sight had a color of
Applying
the same inference that
any one idea or form,
it
must
else this
its
own,
it
must
this
itself
be free from it
from
we make
be neutral, not identified with
would color
is
kinds of
would prevent
this principle to the intellect
in itself
owm, but
of its
may be reflected in it,
all
in order that the sense
all else
and the mind would not know things as they
which has no form that
and
called the actual
because as having the capacity to receive
must
recei\'ing other colors.
sion,
intellect in
a mere capacity residing in the soul and not an independent
substance
forms
is
but
thus pure
in so far as the acquired intellect thinks of the purely
immaterial ideas and things which intellect (the
This
first
succeed later in continuing
perception.
actualall,
to acquire general ideas,
thus to become an intellect with a content.
sense,
is
at
is
form and actuality, and enables the material or possible
man,
of
namely, sensation and
soul,
is
forms
own, and hence does
This passive intellect
ized through the Active Intellect, which is
7,7,$
knocking for admisare.
Now a faculty
a mere mirror so to speak of
all
cannot be a substance, and must be simply
a power inherent in a substance and subject to the same fate as that in
which
is
at the
it
inheres.
This explains the motive of Alexander's view and
same time a This commentator
criticism of the doctrine of Themistius. is
which Aristotle speaks else,
of the opinion that the passive intellect of is
not a mere capacity inherent in something
but a real spiritual entity or substance independent of the lower
parts of the soul, though associated with
body, and hence is
eternal.
intellect
is
them during the
life
not subject to generation and destruction, but
In support of
this
view
may
be urged that
if
the passive soul,
we
grow weaker as the person grows older and
his
were merely a capacity of the lower parts of the
should expect
it
to
of the
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
334 sensitive
and imaginative powers are beginning
contrary
is
The
the case.
The
however, remains that
difficulty,
to decline;
older the person the keener if
is
whereas the his intellect.
human intellect is a real why is it that at its
the
substance independent of the rest of the soul, first
human
appearance in the
being
being
it is
extremely poor in content,
but empty, and grows as the rest of the body and the soul
all
is
developed?
To obviate De Anima of
commentary on the
these difficulties, Averroes in his
ben
Aristotle practically identifies (according to Levi
Gerson's view of Averroes) the material intellect with the Active
The Active
Intellect.
Intellect according to
him
with the divine, as Alexander maintains, nor
Themistius and others think, but
is
mover
is it
is
neither identical
a part of man, as
the last of the separate Intelhis
a pure
actuahty, absolutely free from matter, and hence eternal.
This
gences, next to the spiritual
of the lunar sphere.
It
Active Intellect in some mysterious manner becomes associated with
man, and
this association results in
As a
the material intellect.
a temporary phase represented by
result of the sense perceptions, images of
and the Active
the external objects remain in the imagination, lect takes
and by
its
intellect in
illumination produces out of
which they
with the
in the
them actual
reside, the material intellect.
intellect is therefore the result of the tellect
Intel-
hold of these images, which are potentially universal ideas,
and an
ideas
The
material
combination of the Active In-
memory images, known as phantasmata
human faculty of imagination. So long as
{<^avrd(j[iaTa),
this association exists,
the material intellect receives the intelligible forms as derived from
the phantasmata, and these forms are represented
animal
is
sensitive," "all
objects of this world. dies,
and the Active
from material forms. intelligence.
man
rational,"
is
i. e.,
by such
ideas as "all
ideas concerning the
This phase of man's mind ceases when the body Intellect alone remains,
The Active
At the same time
whose content
is
free
Intellect contemplates itself, a
pure
it is
possible for
man
to identify him-
seK with the Active Intellect as he acquires knowledge in the material intellect, for the
Active Intellect
is like
light
which makes the eye
see.
In seeing, the eye not merely perceives the form of the external object,
but indirectly also receives the light which made the object In the same way the
human
soul in acquiring
visible.
knowledge as implicit
LEVI BEN GERSON same time gets a glimpse
in its phantasmata, at the light
which converted the phantasma into an
When
p. 320).
of this world
may
335
man
the soul in
it
becomes
be likened to the
of the spiritual
explicit idea
above,
(cf.
perfects itseK with all the knowledge
which
identified with the Active Intellect,
intellect or soul of the corporeal world.
In this combination of the views of Alexander and Themistius
Averroes succeeds in obviating the criticisms levelled at the two
That the power
former.
of the material intellect
grows keener with
age though the corporeal organs are weaker, supports Averroes's doctrine as against Alexander, to
upon the mixture is
whom it is
a mere capacity dependent
human body. But
of the elements in the
neither
he subject to the objection applying to Themistius's view, that a
real independent entity could scarcely
For the material
receptacle.
in combination with the
empty
It
potentiality.
itself all
only in
be void
human body
is
of all
is
the Active Intellect, which combines in
individualized aspect that
ready to receive
all
when not
not a mere receptacle or
immaterial forms and thinks them as
its
forms and a mere
intellect as it really is in itself
it
it
thinks
itself.
becomes a potential
It is
intellect
material forms.
But what Averroes gains here he
loses elsewhere.
There are certain
that theoretical studies
Thus it would follow which have no practical aim are useless.
But
Nature has put
considerations which are fatal to his doctrine.
this is impossible.
in us the ability as well as
The much greater than that And nature does nothing
the desire to speculate without reference to practical results. pleasure
we
afforded
by the
in vain.
derive from
theoretical studies
practical arts
and
is
trades.
Theoretical studies must therefore have some value.
But
have none.
For
in Averroes's theory of the material intellect they all
values
may be divided into those which promote the life of the body
and those which lead clearly not served
practical aim.
to the final happiness of
by those
On the
contrary, they hinder
it.
theoretical sciences forego all bodily pleasures, necessities.
But
neither can there be
speculation for ultimate
human
according to Averroes (and he
is
is
which have no
Deep students
of the
and often do without
any advantage
happiness.
in
The former
man.
theoretical speculations
in theoretical
For human happiness
a sense right, as we shall see later)
consists in union with the Active Intellect.
But
this
union takes
MEDIMVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
336
place as a matter of course according to his theory at the time of death,
man be
whether a
wise or a
For the Active Intellect then ab-
fool.
sorbs the material.
Another objection to Averroes's theory material intellect
the following.
is
same as the Active
in essence the
is
a separate, immaterial substance, and hence
B, though
A and B
Horse
is
is
It follows
For
hence the latter
same
reference to the
does not
know
it.
sense experience
are absurd,
Horse as such
in quality.
from
this that the material
and build all
is
is
But
one only.
means that
all
men have
if
so,
the
no
same
wise and ignorant at the same time in
would
It
and they
roes's position
is
it
thing, in so far as
A knows a given thing A can make use
also follow that
his
knowledge upon
it.
and
B
of B's
All these inferences
follow from the assumption that the material
intellect is in essence the
same as the Active
Hence Aver-
Intellect.
imtenable.^^
Gersonides then gives his is
because
being like the Active Intellect an immaterial form, cannot
of absurdities follows.
intellect,
numerically different from
as such can be differentiated quali-
be numerically multiplied, and therefore
end
substratum can
its
qualitatively the same),
from ass
different
and horse as such are the same. intellect,
{i. e.,
Forms
they are corporeal beings. tatively only.
men
are both
A
Thus
be quantitatively differentiated.
Active In-
like the
is,
For only that which has matter as
tellect, one.
the
If
Intellect, it is
own view of the material intellect, which The material intellect is a capacity,
similar to that of Alexander.
and the prime matter
is
the ultimate subject in which
it
inheres.
But
there are other powers or forms inhering in matter prior to the material intellect.
Prime matter as such
things would have
human
not endowed with
is
Prime matter when
reason.
stage of development of the imaginative faculty receive the material intellect. soul, of
We may
which the imaginative faculty
the material intellect inheres. der,
which applies here
intellect is
also,
dependent upon
The
is
Indirectly there
is
it
reaches the
then ready to
is
the subject in which
criticism directed against Alexan-
may be answered as follows. The material its
subject, the sensitive soul, for its exist-
the weakening or strengthening of all.
is
say then that the sensitive
a part,
ence only, not for the manner of receiving
at
intellect, or all
its
its
Hence
knowledge.
subject cannot affect
it
a relation between the two, and
directly it
works
LEVI BEN GERSON
When
in the reverse direction.
and
the sensitive powers are weakened
their activities diminish, there is
tellect to
337
monopolize the one soul for
more opportunity itself
for the in-
and increase
its
own
ac-
tivity,
which the other powers have a tendency to hinder, since the
soul
one for
is
all
these contending powers.
the material intellect in sensitive soul,
it
man
It follows of course that
As a capacity
not immortal.
is
dies with the latter.
What
part of the
it is
that enjoys immortality and on what conditions
But
before
we do
this,
we must
we
of the
human
soul
shall see later.
try to understand the nature of the
Active Intellect. ^"^
We know now that the function of the Active Intellect is to actualize the material intellect,
i. e.,
to develop the capacity which the latter
has of extracting general ideas from the particular
memory images
(phantasmata) in the faculty of imagination, so that originally
and
empty
of
any content,
From
thus constituted into an actual intellect.
is
this capacity,
receives the ideas thus produced, this it follows
that the Active Intellect, which enables the material intellect to form ideas,
must
itself
necessarily in the
of chair
have the ideas
upon a piece
of
induces in the latter, though not artisan,
by the material
so far as the end and purpose
Hence
wood.
realizes in the
intellect constitute is
concerned
perfection of the person), the agent which also be one.
who imposes
wood, must have the form of chair in
though not the same sort as he ideas acquired
it
same form. Thus an
there are not
many
sponsible for certain ideas, but one Intellect realized in the material intellect.
is
Now
the form his
mind,
as all the
one single activity
(for it all leads to the
the cause of
it all
must
Active Intellects, each reis
the cause of
Moreover, as
this
all
the ideas
Active Intellect
gives the material intellect not merely a knowledge of separate ideas,
but also an understanding
words it
of their relations to each other, in other
of the systematic unity connecting all ideas into
one whole,
follows that the Active Intellect has a knowledge of the ideas from
their unitary aspect.
which
is
In other words, the unity of purpose and aim
evident in the development of nature from the prime matter
through the forms of the elements, the plant
and up
to the
higher,
must
human
reason, where the lower
soul, the is
animal soul
for the sake of the
reside as a unitary conception in the Active Intellect.
For the Active
Intellect has another function besides developing
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
338
We
the rational capacity in man.
can arrive at this insight by a con-
sideration undertaken from a different point of view.
If
we
consider
the wonderful and mysterious development of a seed, which
only
is
a piece of matter, in a purposive manner, passing through various stages
and producing a highly complicated organism with psychic
powers, is
an
we must come
to the conclusion, as Aristotle does, that there
intellect operating in this
shows a unity of purpose, not be
one of
like
its
generation and decay.
products,
But
As
development.
this intellect it
must be
must be
all
sublunar nature
And
one.
as
it
can-
and not subject to
eternal
these are the attributes which, on grounds
taken from the consideration of the intellectual activity in man,
Hence
ascribed to the Active Intellect.
And we have
thus shown that
it
One
has two functions.
is
and evolutions; the other
to rise from a tabula rasa to
both these
is
to enable the rational
an actual
intellect
activities it is evident that the
endow
to
sublunar nature with the intelligence and purpose visible in esses
we
the Active Intellect.
it is
its
power
proc-
in
man
From
with a content.
Active Intellect has a knowl-
edge of sublunar creation as a systematic unity.
This conception of the Active Intellect, Levi ben Gerson says, also
answer
the difficulties
all
will
by which other philosophers are troubled
concerning the possibility of knowledge and the nature of definition.
The problems
Knowledge concerns
are briefly these.
permanent and
universal.
There can be no
particular, for the particular
is
real
with the
knowledge
never the same,
On
changing and in the end disappears altogether.
itself
it
is
of the
constantly
the other hand,
the universal has no real existence outside of the mind, for the objectively real
A
or
B
or
is
the particular thing.
C man ;
in general,
man
man, has no objective extra-mental
The only only real
The only
that
is
existence.
Here
is
a dilemma.
we can really know is the thing that is not real, and the thing is that which we cannot know. The Platonists solve
this difficulty
tory.
is
thing
by boldly declaring that the and the models of the
are the real existents
absurd.
man
really existing
not a particular individual
Aristotle's solution in the
Our
universal ideas or forms
things of sense.
Metaphysics
is
This
is
likewise unsatisfac-
conception, however, of the Active Intellect enables us
to solve this problem satisfactorily.
the particular thing which
is
The
object of knowledge
is
not
constantly changing; nor yet the logical
LEVI BEN GERSON abstraction which
nature as
it
is
only in the mind.
exists in the
It
is
339
the real unity of sublunar
Active Intellect.
The problem of the definition is closely related to that of knowledge. The definition denotes the essence of every individual of a given species. As the individuals of a given species have all the same definition,
and hence the same
not in the definition
not
is
For what
essence, they are all one.
Our answer
real.
is
represents that unitary aspect of the sublunar individuals which
This aspect
the Active Intellect.
is
is
that the definition is
in
also in a certain sense present in
every one of the individual objects of nature, but not in the same ^^^ as in the Active Intellect.
manner
We The
now ready
are
up the question
to take
of
human immortaHty.
material intellect as a capacity for acquiring knowledge
acquisition of knowledge
which appear
its
upon the memory images (phantasmata)
in the imagination, the
power
knowledge
to acquire
and imagination.
ceases with the cessation of sense
edge already acquired, which, we have shown above,
But the knowlis
identical with
the conceptions of sublunar nature in the Active Intellect,
is
indestruc-
For these conceptions are absolutely immaterial; they are
tible.
really the Active Intellect in a sense,
to destruction.
The sum
the acquired or actual
Further than this
human
Intellect,
says,
not
Being inherent in the sensitive soul and dependent for
immortal.
the
is
it
intellect
subject
and
this is the
immortal part of man.
man cannot go. The idea adopted by some that may become identified completely with the Active
would be necessary
rejects.
to
In order to accomphsh
it is
this,
he
have a complete and perfect knowledge
and that too a completely
knowledge just as
is
of acquisition of immaterial ideas constitutes
intellect,
Levi ben Gerson
of all nature,
and only the material
unified
and wholly immaterial
in the Active Intellect.
This
is
clearly im-
But it is true that a man's happiness after death is dependent upon the amount and perfection of his knowledge. For even in this
possible.
life
the pleasure
the more nearly
we derive from intellectual contemplation is greater we succeed in completely concentrating our mind on
the subject of study.
Now
after death there will be
factors such as are supplied in this world tional powers. of
To be
new knowledge,
as
by the
no disturbing
sensitive
and emo-
sure this lack will also prevent the acquisition
was
said before, but the
amount acquired wiU
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
340
be there in the soul's power
at once and
all
all
the time.
knowledge one has succeeded in obtaining during he
will
the
life,
The more more nearly
resemble the Active Intellect and the greater will be his hap-
piness.^^^
The next
topic Levi
ben Gerson takes up
is
that of prognostication.
There are three ways in which certain persons come to know the determine the kind of future events that
What we wish to do is to may be thus known before-
hand, the agency which produces in us
power, and the bearing this
future, dreams, divination
and prophecy.
phenomenon has on the nature
this
and particularly
of events generally,
as concerns the question of chance and free will.
That there
who
is
such knowledge of future events
Experience
theory.
testifies to
a fact and not a
is
the fact that there are certain people
are able to foretell the future, not as a matter of accident or
through a chance coincidence, but as a regular thing. are called, or fortune in prophecy,
tellers.
This power
which no one denies.
is
even better authenticated
We can also cite many instances of
dreams, in which a person sees a future event with
and the dream comes credited to chance.
Now
events thus foreseen?
happenings, for what clusion then to be
order of nature.
what does
Clearly is
But
it
this
show as
is
there
common
to
be
to the nature of the
indicates that they carmot be chance
by chance cannot be
drawn
all its particulars,
All these cases are too
true.
Diviners these
foreseen.
The only conby the
that these events are determined is
another implication in man's ability
to foretell the future, namely, that what is thus known to man is first known to a higher intellect which communicates it to us. The first of these two consequences leads us into difl&culties. For if we examine the data of prognostication, whether it be of dream, divination or prophecy, we find that they concern almost exclusively such particular human events as would be classed in the category of
the contingent rather than in that of the necessary. regularly
tell
sort of things they will do,
told she
Fortune
tellers
people about the kind of children they will have, the
and so
would have a son (Gen.
on.
In prophecy similarly Sarah was
i8, lo).
We
also
have examples of
prognostication respecting the outcome of a battle, announcement of
coming
rain,
—events due to
definite causes
—as well as the prediction
of events which are the result of free choice or pure accident, as
when
LEVI BEN GERSON Samuel give
tells
Elisha that he will meet three
him two loaves
prophet in Samariah
by a
The
lion.
known
of bread,
men on
who
will
when
the
the way,
will accept; or
the prophet in Bethel that he will be killed
tells
question
now
these contingent things can be
if
is,
and
in advance, they are not contingent;
For the uniform events
are.
which he
341
if
these are not, none
in nature are surely not contingent.
If
then those events usually classed as contingent and voluntary are not such, there
is
no such thing as chance and
free will at all,
which
is
impossible.
Our answer
we
call
that as a matter of fact those contingent happenings
is
luck and
whom we
call
ill
luck do often
result of pure chance,
and that there
is,
the
more nature takes care
highest being here below,
is
it
some
sort of order determining
to
all its
guard
it.
Hence as man
is
the
stands to reason that the heavenly bodies
And
order his existence and his fortune.
with
to certain persons,
Moreover, we know that the higher in the scale of being a
them. thing
come frequently
lucky or unlucky, which shows that they are not the
so the science of astrology,
mistakes on account of the imperfect state of our knowl-
edge, does say a great
many
things which are true.
does not destroy freedom and chance. only one side of the question. purpose, which enable
their positions
Man was also endowed with
him whenever he chooses
order of the heavenly bodies.
This, however,
For the horoscope represents reason and
to counteract the
In the main the heavenly bodies by
and motions and the consequent predominance
of cer-
tain elemental qualities in the sublunar world over others affect the
man
manner tending
temperaments
of
order with
differentiation of labor
its
wonderfully well positions
in a
The
to his welfare.
and occupation
is
social
worked out
—better than the system of Plato's Republic—by the
and motions
of the heavenly bodies.
would choose the more honorable trades and
If
not for
this, all
professions, there
men
would
be no one to do the menial work, and society would be impossible.
At
the same time there are certain incidental evils inherent in the
rigid
system which would tend to destroy certain individuals.
counteract these unintended defects,
and choice enabhng him
God endowed man with
to avoid the dangers threatening
him
To
reason in the
world of nature.
The
solution of our problem then
is this.
These human events have
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
342 a twofold aspect.
They
are determined so far as they follow from the
They
order of the heavenly bodies; and in so far they can be foretold.
are undetermined so far as they are the result of individual choice, in so far they cannot
events in inanimate nature, bearing no relation to
These cannot be
We
and
be known beforehand. There are also pure chance
human
fortune.
foretold.^^^
said above that there
must be an
intellect
which knows these
contingent events predicted in dreams, divination and prophecy and
imparts a knowledge of them to these men. the Active Intellect, whose nature tive Intellect
knows the order
we
and gives us a knowlMoreover, he
intellect.
them through the instrumentality
Hence the heavenly bodies are
bodies.
For the Ac-
discussed above.
of sublunar things,
edge of them in the ideas of the material the agent producing
This can be no other than
of the
is
heavenly
also his instrument in ordering
those contingent events which are predicted in dreams and prophetic visions.
The purpose of this information is to protect man against the evil him in the order of the heavenly bodies, or in order that he may avail himself of the good in store for him if he knows of it. destined for
There
is
a difference in kind between prophecy on the one hand and
divination and
dream on the
Intellect directly acting ligent
men
can be prophets.
Active Intellect indirectly.
and the action isolated
is
are caused
on the imagination.
from the other parts
intellect.
Hence only
intel-
Divination and dream come from the
They
Hence we find examples
tons.
Prophecy comes from the Active
other.
on the material
of the soul in of
by the heavenly
The imagination
is
bodies,
more
easily
young people and simple-
dreams and divination among them. ^^^
In discussing the problem of God's knowledge, Gersonides takes direct issue with
Maimonides.
The
reader will recall that the question
Some philosophers go so far God any knowledge of things other than his own essence; known is in a sense identified with the knower, and to bring
turns upon the knowledge of particulars. as to deny to for the
in a multiplicity of ideas in God's
unity.
Others, however,
fell
knowledge would endanger his
short of this extreme opinion
and ad-
mitted God's knowledge of things other than himself, but maintained that is
God cannot know particulars
for various reasons.
perceived by sense, a material faculty, whereas
God
The is
particular
immaterial.
LEVI BEN GERSON Particulars are infinite
knowledge
is
343
and cannot be measured or embraced, whereas
The
a kind of measuring or embracing.
particulars are
Hence God's knowl-
not always existing, and are subject to change.
edge would be subject to change and disappearance, which If
sible.
God knows
tion of right
would argue
and
how
that there
is it
is
impos-
is
often a viola-
men?
justice in the destinies of individual
God
in
particulars
either inability or indifference, both of
This
which are
impossible.
Maimonides
insists
on God's knowledge
And he
the creator, including particulars.
by saying that
of the philosophers
we assume
impossible to
it is it is
as
that God's knowledge
know
of all things of
which he
answers the arguments
their objections are valid only
is
is
similar to ours,
and
if
since with us
the material except through a material organ,
not possible in God.
As we cannot comprehend the
infinite;
we cannot know the non-existent, nor the changing without a change God cannot do so. But it is wrong to assume this.
in our knowledge,
God's knowledge philosophers insist it
is is
identical with his
essence,
unlike anything else,
follows that his knowledge
which these same
and unknowable.
Surely
also without the least resemblance
is
in common. away at one stroke. We cannot in one act of knowing embrace a number of things differing in species; God can, because his knowledge is one. We cannot know
to our knowledge and the
Hence
all
name
alone
is
what they have
the objections of the philosophers
fall
the non-existent, for our knowledge depends upon the thing known.
God
can.
embraced;
We God
cannot know the can.
unless the event
is
infinite, for
We cannot know
the infinite cannot be
the outcome of a future event
necessary and determined.
If the
event
is
contin-
gent and undetermined we can only have opinion concerning
which
God is
can know the outcome of a contingent event, and yet the event
not determined, and
may happen
one way or the other.
edge of a given thing changes as the thing for it
if
it,
may or may not be true; we are imcertain and may be mistaken.
itself
Our knowl-
undergoes a change,
our knowledge should remain the same while the object changes,
would not be knowledge but
error.
In
God
the two are compatible.
He knows in advance how a given thing will change, and his knowledge never changes, even though that which was at one
and
implicit
becomes
later actual
and
explicit.
moment
potential
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
344
At
this point
He
sanity.
Maimonides, he intimates, did not choose
self.
own
free will
to
by
it
fair
Gersonides steps in in defence of
—a position
scientifically quite
He
theological exigencies. ^^^
means
human
and
felt
this position of his
—he was forced
untenable
that he
must
vindicate,
And so
knowledge of particulars.
or foul, God's
proceeds to demolish Maimonides's position by reducing
What
logic
accuses Maimonides of not being quite honest with him-
by
Gersonides
adabsurdum.
it
mean by saying that God knows the contingent? If he means that God knows that the contingent may as contingent happen otherwise than as he knows it will happen, we do not call this in us knowledge, but opinion. If he means that God knows
does Maimonides
it will
happen
in a certain way,
and yet
it
may
turn out that
we call this in our case error, God merely knows that it may
the reverse will actually take place, then
And
not knowledge.
if
he means that
happen one way or the other without knowing happen, then we
call this in
not knowledge.
By insisting that all
forsooth, God's
knowledge
to saying that
what
is
definitely
which
will
our experience imcertainty and perplexity,
is
this is in
God knowledge because,
not like our knowledge,
is
tantamount
in us opinion, uncertainty, error,
is
in
God
—a solution far from complimentary to God's knowledge.
knowledge
Besides, the entire principle of of resemblance just,
and
Maimonides that there
no relation
is
between God's attributes and ours, that the terms wise,
homonyms,
so on, are pure
is
fundamentally wrong.
We at-
tribute knowledge God we know in our own case that an And since we have come to the intellect is perfected by knowledge. conclusion on other grounds that God is a perfect intellect, we say he must have knowledge. Now if this knowledge that we ascribe to God has no resemblance whatsoever to what we understand by knowledge in our own case, the ground is removed from our feet. We
because
to
might as well argue that If
the word knowledge
what If
it
means
we have
in us,
man
its
rational because solid
absolutely no idea
edge, ignorance does not
that
what the
for preferring
opposite or negative?
mean
is
continuous.
totally different thing in
how do we know
God, what reason have we bute to
is
means a
If
it is
God from
to be found in
term means when
God?
applied to
knowledge as a divine
attri-
knowledge does not mean knowl-
ignorance, and
whether we ascribe to God the one or the other.
it
is
just the
same
LEVI BEN GERSON
The
truth
is
that the attributes
we
345
God do have a
ascribe to
resem-
blance to the same attributes in ourselves; only they are primary in
God, secondary in ourselves,
manner than
Hence
in us.
us error or uncertainty
is
in
more
in a
perfect
absurd to say that what would be
God knowledge.
solved more candidly and differently. of God's
God
they exist in
i. e.,
it is
in
Our problem must be
There are arguments
in favor
knowing particulars (Maimonides gives some), and there
The
are the arguments of the philosophers against the thesis.
truth
must be between the two, that God knows them from one aspect and does not know them from another. Having shown above that
human
events are in part ordered and determined by the heavenly
bodies,
and
undetermined and dependent upon the individ-
in part
we can now make use of this distinction for the solution God knows particulars in so far as they are ordered, he does not know them in so far as they are contingent. He knows that they are contingent, and hence it follows that he does not know ual's choice,
of our problem.
which
of the
as
it is is
two This
contingent.
possibilities will
no defect
is
no imperfection.
happen,
else
they would not be
know a thing know particulars
in God's nature, for to
In general
God
does not
by the universal laws of nature. He and he knows the particulars in so far as
as particulars but as ordered
knows the
universal order,
they are united in the universal order. This theory meets
all objections,
and moreover
it is
in
agreement
by which we can harmonize the apparent contradictions in the Scriptures. Thus on the one hand we are told that God sends Prophets and commands people to do and forbear. This implies that a person has freedom to choose, and that the contingent is a real category. On the other hand, we find with the views of the Bible.
that
God
tiny,
which
repents,
foretells the signifies
It
coming
the only one
human
des-
find that
God
of future events respecting
determination.
and that he does not
tions can be
is
And
repent.
yet again
we
All these apparent contradic-
God
harmonized on our theory.
foretells the
coming
of
events in so far as they are determined in the universal order of nature.
But man's freedom may succeed events predicted that
God
may
repents.
not come.
and the by the expression
in coimteracting this order,
This
is
signified
3^^
Levi ben Gerson's solution, whatever we
may
think of
its scientific
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
346
or philosophic value,
say
it is
is
surely very bold as theology,
a theological monstrosity.
It practically
we might almost
removes from God
the definite knowledge of the outcome of a given event so far as that
outcome for that its
Gersonides will not give up the contingent,
contingent.
is
He
would destroy freedom.
therefore accepts free will with
consequences, at the risk of limiting God's knowledge to events
which are determined by the laws consistent,
Maimonides was
of nature.
less
but had the truer theological sense, namely, he kept to
God
both horns of the dilemma.
is
omniscient and
man
is free.
He
gave up the solution by seeking refuge in the mysteriousness of God's This
knowledge.
The
is
the true religious attitude.
question of Providence
For
edge.
it is
clear that
he does not know. to that of
Job and in this
Gersonides's view in this problem
Maimonides, and
like
him he
God's knowl-
is
very similar
sees in the discussions
his friends the representative opinions held
between
by philosophers
important problem.
There are three views, he
One
closely related to that of
is
one cannot provide for those things of which
is
says, concerning the nature of Providence.
that God's providence extends only to species and not to in-
dividuals.
ual of the
The second opinion is that God provides for every individhuman race. The third view is that some individuals are
specially provided for,
but not
all.
Job held the
first
view, which
is
The arguments in favor of this opinion are that not know particulars, hence cannot provide for them.
that of Aristotle.
God
does
Besides, there
and
evils
dividual.
would be more
in the world
if
justice in the distribution of
God concerned
Then again man
is
goods
himself about every in-
too insignificant for God's special
care.
The second view is that of the majority of our people. They argue God is the author of all, he surely provides for them. And as a matter of fact experience shows it; else there would be much more violence and bloodshed than there is. The wicked are actually punthat as
ished
and the good rewarded.
Some think to a
man
is
that while
God
This class
provides for
all
is
divided into two parts.
men, not
all
due to God; there are also other causes.
think that every happening
is
due to God.
again be divided according to the manner
in
that happens
The
others
This second class
may
which they account for
LEVI BEN GERSON
347
those facts in experience which seem to militate against their view.
Maintaining that every incident
is
due to God, they have to explain
the apparent deviation from justice in the prosperity of the wicked
and the adversity
of the righteous.
One party
phenome-
explains the
non by saying that the prosperity and the adversity in these cases are only seeming
and not
what they seem,
or at least lead to the opposite.
real; that
they in fact are the opposite of
The second party
answers the objection on the ground that those we think good not really be such, and similarly those
we
For the way to judge a person's character
be bad.
his deeds alone,
disposition,
his deeds as related to his
which God alone knows.
who
to those
but by
think that not
a man's misfortune.
folly is responsible for
beheved that
all
evil is really so.
is
may
not really
not merely by
temperament and
Eliphaz the Temanite belonged
which happens
all
may
think bad
things are from God, but not
is
due to God; that
Bildad the Shuchite all
that seems good and
Zophar the Naamathite thought we do not always
judge character correctly; that temperament and disposition must be
taken into account.
Of these various opinions the
first
one, that of Aristotle, cannot be
Dreams, divination, and especially prophecy contradict
true. flatly.
All these are given to the individual for his protection
above, p. 342).
The second
by the
is
Bible.
likewise disproved
We
by
have already proved
reason,
as ordered
by the heavenly
same time that they may
Now
if
God
fail to
bodies;
happen because
punishes and rewards every
man
by
ex-
345) that
(p.
He
God's knowledge does not extend to particulars as such.
knows things
(cf.
opinion, namely, that God's providence
extends to every individual, perience and
it
only
and knows at the of
man's
free will.
according to his deeds,
Either he rewards and punishes
one of two things necessarily follows.
according to those deeds which the individual
is
determined to do by
the order of the heavenly bodies, or according to the deeds the individual actually does. tice, for
In the
first
case there would be often injus-
the person might not have acted as the order of the heavenly
bodies indicated he would act, for he
second case
is
impossible, for
ulars as particulars evil does
—a
not come from
thesis
God
it
is
free to act as
he
will.
The
would mean that God knows partic-
we have
already disproved.
directly, since
he
is
Besides,
pure form and
evil
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
348
Hence
comes only from matter. the evil doer for his
Experience also
sin.
testifies
some good coming
man
wicked to receive the often has troubles
all his life
tions as Eliphaz does
it
will
is
his due.
The
no matter how careful he is
punished, his children will be,
is
is
sense.
To
to avoid them,
prosper-
is
avoid these objec-
man
is
not
to go from the frying pan into the
fire.
that
if
the wicked
himself
not just either to omit to punish the one deserving
punish another innocent
man
man
righteous
true of the wicked, that he
and good
by saying
and
not account for the
he deserves, and of the
to get the reward
ous, despite his lack of caution
better.
But
punishment which
and correspondingly the same
it is
Man's own
evils befalling the righteous
to the wicked.
good
failure of the
For
see the just suffer
which Eliphaz, Bildad and
in
to defend God's justice will not hold water.
account perhaps for some
folly will
we
against this view, for
The manner
and the wicked prosper. Zophar wish
cannot be said that he punishes
it
Nor
for him.
is
it,
or to
Zophar's defence any
For the same man, with the same temperament and disposi-
tion, often suffers
ous when he
is
more when he
is
inclined to
Bildad
not so scrupulous.
is
do good, and
is
prosper-
no more successful than
The evils coming to the righteous are often real and permanent. But neither does the Bible compel us to believe that God the other two.
looks out for
all individuals.
This
is
especially true in reference to
punishment, as can be gathered from such expressions as "I
my face from them, and they shall be given to be devoured" 17), or
"As thou
God
them
(Deut. 31,
(Hosea
4, 6).
These expressions indicate
does not punish the individuals directly, but that he leaves
to the fate that
bodies.
hide
hast forgotten the law of thy God, so will I myself
also forget thy children"
that
will
is
destined for
them by the order
True there are other passages
punishment, but they
may
of the
heavenly
in Scripture speaking of direct
be interpreted so as not to
conflict
with
our conclusions.
Having seen that neither
of the
two extreme views
is
correct, it
remains to adopt the middle course, namely, that some individuals are provided for specially, and others not.
The
nearer a person
is
to the
Active Intellect, the more he receives divine providence and care.
Those people who do not improve as
members
their capabilities,
which they possess
of the species, are provided for only as
members
of the
LEVI BEN GERSON
The matter may be put
species.
Man
all ideas.
is
When
actuality.
way
man from
actual, leads
is
God knows
also.
them
in a certain
his potentiality to
a man's potentialities are thus realized, he becomes
when
similar to God, because
The way
ideas are actualized the agent
and the
Hence the person enjoys divine providence
thing acted upon are one.
men
which God provides for such
is
by
them knowledge through dream, divination or prophecy
or
at that time.
giving
in another
potentially capable of receiving
God, who
manner.
349
in
some other unconscious manner on the
intuition or in
which knowledge protects him from harm.
God
know
individual's part,
This view
is
not in con-
For
flict
with the truth that
it is
not to the individual person as such that providence extends as a
The
conscious act of God.
and not bodies, their
God
is
due to the recipient
object that after
all
since
it is
bad men may have goods as ordered by the heavenly
and good men may have misfortune as thus ordered, when
attachment to God if
particulars as such.
individualization
One may
to the dispenser.
possible that
does not
is
loosened somewhat, there
is
injustice in
he could have arranged the heavenly spheres differently and
did not, or incapacity
if
he could not.
The answer
is
briefly that the
order of the spheres does a great deal of good in maintaining the
And
existence of things. this does
some
if
Httle evil
comes
not condemn the whole arrangement.
from the very agencies which are the authors providence here adopted
is
Maimonides
in the
of good.
evils come The view of
that of Elihu the son of Barachel the
Buzite in the book of Job (ch. 32), and of
also incidentally,
In fact the
"Guide
of the
it
agrees also with the opinion
Perplexed"
(c/.
above, p.
292).^'*^
Instead of placing his cosmology at the beginning of his system and
proceeding from that as a basis to the other parts of his work, the
psychology and the
Hash em"
is
not so
ethics,
much a
Levi ben Gerson, whose "Milhamot
systematic work as an aggregation of dis-
cussions, reversed the process.
He
begins as
we have
seen with a
purely psychological analysis concerning the nature of the reason and
its
relation to the Active Intellect.
He
follows
discussion with a treatment of prognostication as exhibiting
human up
this
some
of
the effects of the Active Intellect upon the reason and imagination of
man.
This
providence.
is
again followed by a discussion of God's knowledge and
And
not until
all
these psychological (and in part ethical)
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
350
questions have been decided, does Levi ben Gerson undertake to give
us his views of the constitution of the universe and the nature and
In this discussion he takes occasion to express his
attributes of God.
dissatisfaction with Aristotle's proofs of the existence of the spheral
movers and
of the
structure which
unmoved mover
or God, as inadequate to bear the
intended to erect upon them.
it is
be remem-
It will
Abraham Ibn Daud and Maimonides
bered that the innovation of
making Jewish philosophy more
strictly Aristotelian
than
it
in
had been
consisted in a great measure in just this introduction of the Aristotelian
proof of the existence of
mechanical.
as derived from the motions of the heav-
Aristotle said a
which
side of
it,
mover
in turn.
must be
God
Levi ben Gerson 's proofs are teleological rather than
enly bodies.
if it is
And
moving body must have a mover out-
again a body
in
motion and must have a
as this process cannot go on ad infinitum, there
As unmoved
an unmoved mover.
at the end of the series
mover cannot be body; and
this
is itself
as producing motion eternally,
it
can-
not be a power residing in a body, a physical or material power, for no
such power can be
He
Gersonides
infinite.
is
not satisfied with this proof.
argues that so far as the motions of the heavenly bodies are con-
cerned there
them
is
no reason why a physical power cannot keep on moving
eternally.
The reason
our world come to a stop change, which alters
is
that motions caused
because the thing
its relation to its
the force endeavors to
move
moved
is
is
subject to
is
its
own
tend-
In the case of the heavenly bodies
present.
and
as they are not
The
made of move
they have no inherent tendency to
finite
moved
mover; and secondly because
relation of the
mover
to the
always the same, since the heavenly bodies are not subject
to change;
offer
finite forces in
the object in opposition to
ency, in opposition to gravity. neither of these conditions
by
the four terrestrial elements in
any
direction, hence they
no opposition to the force exerted upon them by the mover.
A
power might therefore quite conceivably cause eternal motion.
Similarly an
unmoved mover cannot be body,
be a physical power
moved by
like
that motion.
a
soul,
to be sure, but
which in moving the body
is
it
not
may itself
Aristotle's proofs therefore are not sufiScient
to produce the conviction that the
himself are separate Intelligences.
movers
of the spheres
and God
^^^
Gersonides accordingly follows a different method.
He
argues
LEVI BEN GERSON that
351
a system of things and events exhibits perfection not here and
if
there and at rare intervals but regularly, the inference
that there
is
an
sign in establishing the system.
Hence
it
has an intelligent agent as
a separate and immaterial soul.
He
then shows that
have to reside
in the
of which,
in the parent
would
upon matter and endows
it
and animals.
Moreover,
This
produces.
It is the Active Intellect of
The forms
of terrestrial things
found in the seed and sperm
aware
of the order of
which we spoke above
come from
comes from the motions
an
is
he argues
intellect,
with forms, the only mediat-
is
it is
It remains
of the sublunar world
life
intellect.
ing power being the natural heat which
in the seed
it
a
animal from which the
he argues, are impossible.
immaterial power, a separate
of plants
be
like
animal sperm which exhibits such wonderful
then that the cause of the teleological
further, acts
may
a corporeal power
cannot be a corporeal power, for
and purposive development, or sperm came, both
justified
This agent
author.
its
intelligence, or
it
is
who had a definite purpose and deThe world below is such a system.
intelligent agent
it
what
it
(p. 337).
directly, the heat residing
This shows that
of the spheres.
the permanent motions of the heavenly bodies are also intelligent motions, for they tend to produce perfection in the terrestrial world
and never come were "natural"
to a standstill,
which would be the case
like those of the elements, or
nature like that of a stone moving upward.
if
the motions
induced against their
We are justified in saying
then that the heavenly bodies are endowed with intellects and have
no material
soul.
there are as
many
Hence of
their
them
movers are pure
as there are spheres,
i.
fifty-eight or sixty-four according to one's opinion
question of the
Now
number
e.,
on the astronomical
and the movers
knows the order
of sublunar existence
of the respective spheres
know
of their effects through the motions of the heavenly bodies,
that as
all
and
forty-eight, or
of spheres.
as the Active Intellect
in its unity,
Intelligences,
of all existence absolutely
follows
and on the earth beneath are
things in heaven above
lated in a unitary system, there
the order it
is
a highest agent
and has a knowledge
who
is
re-
the cause
of all existence as
a
unitary system. ^^°
The
divine attributes are derived
they are not pure
homonyms
(cf.
by us from
p. 240).
his actions,
God
and hence
has a knowledge of
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
352
the complete order of sublunar things, of which the several movers
have only a
is
it
very great in understanding.
standing is
He knows
part.
their
He
is life.
God
One.
do
as one,
and knows
it
eternally without
His joy and gladness are beyond conception, for our joy also
change.
is
also the
is
His
the most
most
is
also the perfect Life, for under-
and Existent, and he making the other movers
real Substance
real Agent, as
work, and producing a complete and perfect whole out of
their parts.
He
Strong, Mighty,
is
also properly called Bestower, Beneficent, Gracious,
Upright, Just, Eternal, Permanent.
tributes, however,
do not denote
From God we now
All these at-
multiplicity.^^^
pass again to his creation, and take up the prob-
lem which caused Maimonides of the origin of the world.
so
much
It will be
with the proofs for the existence of
trouble, namely, the question
remembered that
God advanced by
dissatisfied
the Mutakal-
limun, Maimonides, in order to have a firm foundation for the central idea of religion, tentatively adopted the Aristotelian notion of the eternity of motion
and the world.
But no sooner does Maimonides
establish his proof of the existence, unity
and incorporeality
of
God
than he returns to the attack of the Aristotelian view and points out that the problem
is
insoluble in a strictly scientific
manner; that
Aristotle himself never intended his arguments in favor of eternity to
be regarded as philosophically demonstrated, and that they
all
labor under the fatal fallacy that because certain laws hold of the world's
phenomena once
it is
in existence, these
governed the estabUshment of the world
the assumption of the world's eternity with sity
religion,
its corollary of
Besides,
the neces-
phenomena saps the foundation of all makes miracles impossible, and reduces the world to a ma-
and immutability
chine.
same laws must have
itself in its origin.
Gersonides
is
of its
on the whole agreed with Maimonides.
He
admits that Aristotle's arguments are the best yet advanced in the problem, but that they are not convincing.
He
also agrees with
Mai-
monides in his general stricture on Aristotle's method, only modifying
and
restricting its generality
however, he finds
and
it
and sweeping nature.
treats it in his characteristic
finally
comes
With
all
this,
anew and rigor, and
necessary to take up the entire question
manner, with
to a conclusion different
detail
from that of Maimonides,
namely, that the world had an origin in time, to be sure, but that
it
LEVI BEN GERSON came not
353
word
ex nihilo in the absolute sense of the
nihil,
but devel-
oped from an eternal formless matter, which God endowed with form. This
is
We
the so-called Platonic view.
cannot enter into
ing in the extreme, but
which are technical and fatigu-
all his details
we must
give a general idea of his procedure
in the investigation of this important topic.
The problem
of the origin of the world,
he says,
is
very
difficult.
because in order to learn from the nature of existing things
First,
whether they were created out of a state of non-existence or not, we
must know the essence
we must know
God
the nature of
could have existed or whether he
of existing things,
had
first
not easy.
in order to determine
have the world with him from
to
of
is
Secondly,
whether he
without the world and then have created
fact of the great difference of opinion
and the testimony
which
on
Maimonides that
this question
among
Aristotle himself
it,
The
eternity.
thinkers,
had no valid
proof in this matter are additional indications of the great difficulty of the subject.
made and destroyed an infinite number of times. Others say it was made once. Of these some maintain it was made out of something (Plato) others, that it was made out of Some
think the world was
;
absolute nothing (Philoponus, the Mutakallimun, Maimonides and
many totle
of
and
his followers, hold the
their defenders, totle
Some on
our Jewish writers).
and there
has already done
deserve investigation.
is
world to be eternal.
no need
this.
the other hand, namely, Aris-
They
have
all
to refute the others since Aris-
His arguments are the best so
The fundamental
far,
and
fallacy in all his proofs
is
that he argues from the laws of genesis and decay in the parts of the
world to the laws of these processes in the world as a whole.
might seem to be the same but
it
is
criticism
not really quite the same, Maimonides's assertion being
more general and sweeping.
Maimonides says that the
world as a whole need not be in any respect
on within
This
which Maimonides advances,
its
origin of the
like the processes
parts; whereas Gersonides bases his
going
argmnent on the
observed difference in the world between wholes and parts, admitting that the two
may
be ahke in
many
respects.
In order to determine whether the world best to investigate
first
is
created or not,
it is
those things in the world which have the ap-
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
354
pearance of being eternal, such as the heavenly bodies, time, motion, the form of the earth, and so on. the world
eternal;
is
not, it is not.
if
distinguish a thing having
lowing:
A
we
came
thing which
eternal thing has find that all
way
from the nature it.
general principle to help us
Applying
An
heavens
Their motions, their distances, their
Aristotle's
all for this
Hence
purpose.
attempts to explain these condi-
heavens themselves are not successful,
of the
made
all
many
of the
varieties in
The only
forms and motions require special explanation.
their
the fol-
with a purpose to ordering the sublunar
is
Again, as the heavenly bodies are
factory explanation
is
this principle to the
element (the Aristotelian ether), the
fifth
eternal,
into being in time has a purpose.
possible.
they had a beginning.
same
A
from one that has not
numbers, and so on are
positions, their
and he knew
origin
no purpose.
about them
world in the best
tions
an
proven to be
If these are
that the origin of the heavenly bodies
satisis
not
due to nature and necessity, which would favor eternity, but to
will
is
and freedom, and the many
varieties are for a definite purpose.
Hence
they are not eternal. ^^^ Gersonides then analyzes time and motion and proves that Aristotle to the
contrary notwithstanding, they are both
finite
and not
Time belongs to the category of quantity, and there is no As time is dependent on motion, motion too is
infinite.
infinite quantity.
hence neither
finite,
Another argument for creation
eternal.
is
is
sity,
the earth should be surrounded on
that
if
the world
is
eternal
in
and governed altogether by neces-
time
all sides
to the nature of the lighter element to be
by water according
above the heavier.
Hence
the appearance of parts of the earth's surface above the water
is
an
indication of a break of natural law for a special purpose, namely, in order to produce the various mineral, plant
Hence once more purpose argues design and Finally
if
Language
is
A
it is.
similar
argument
conventional; which
may
existed before the language they agreed to speak.
We
Hence mankind
is
be drawn from
means that the people
a social animal they could not have existed an language.
species.
the world were eternal, the state of the sciences would
be more advanced than language.
and animal
origin in time.
But man being
infinite
time without
not eternal. ^^^
have just proved that the world came into being, but
it
does
LEVI BEN GERSON not necessarily follow that to
show that
Nay, there are reasons
be destroyed.
it will
For there
not be destroyed.
it will
355
is
no destruction
ex-
cept through matter and the predominance of the passive powers
Hence the being that
over the active.
not being composite; hence they cannot be destroyed. neither can the sublunar order be destroyed, which
There
the heavenly bodies. their being destroyed
by
as they were made; but
destroy them,
all
is
opposites,
And
if
maker, not naturally, but by his
we can
so,
the work of
of course the abstract possibility of
is
their
must
subject to destruction
is
But the heavenly bodies have no
consist of opposites.
find
reasons existing in
no reason
God
in
will,
for wishing to
man
for destroying things being
now
established.
inapplicable to God.^^^
That the world began still
in time is
The
question
made The first is impossible, for that something out world was made must have had some form, for matter
remains, was the world
out of
something or out of nothing?
Both are impossible. of
which the
never
without form, and
is
we have
so, it
must have had some motion, and
a kind of world already, albeit
supposition ing,
if
is
an imperfect one.
The second
may come
out of noth-
also impossible; for while
form
body cannot come from not-body.
We
never see the matter of
though the form may.
Nature as
well as art produces one corporeal thing out of another.
Hence the
any object
arise out of nothing,
generally accepted principle, "ea: nihilo nihil
there
was a vacuum
that a
vacuum
It
may
i. e.,
God
is
equivalent to a belief in dualism, in two gods.
may
God because he
Eternity as such does
be easily answered. If all the
world were eternal,
controls everything
order obtaining in the world. that
proved in the Physics
out of an absolutely formless matter.
this objection
be
In general
makes the divine character
of
God,
and
we
are speaking
is
is
God would
the author of the
it is
the qualitative essence
his
wisdom and power as
the source of goodness and right order in nature. of which
would
impossible.
not constitute divinity. still
it is
it
into existence
be objected that to assume the existence of a second eternal
thing beside
But
whereas
came
The only thing remaining therefore is world was made partly out of something, partly out
is
to say that the of nothing,
in its place,
Besides
fit.'^
follow on this supposition that before the world
the opposite of
The
all this.
eternal matter
As God
is
the
MEDimVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
356
extreme of perfection so
As God
defect.
How
is
matter the extreme of imperfection and
the source of good, so
is
then can anyone suppose for a
is
matter the source of
moment
evil.
that an eternal formless
matter can in any way be identified with a divine being?
Another objection that
may
be offered to our theory
an estabhshed fact that matter cannot
exist at all
that
is
it is
without any form,
whereas our view assumes that an absolutely formless matter existed
an
made from
time before the world was
infinite length of
may
This
it.
be answered by saying that the impossibiUty of matter existing
God put
without form applies only to the actual objects of nature. in sublunar matter the nature
The primary
a certain order.
wet and the dry, as the forms receive other higher forms.
and capacity qualities, the
of the elements, enable this
The very
if it
matter to
matter having
of the
had no form there would be no reason why
receive one form rather than another; whereas
ception of forms
is
forms in
capacity of receiving a given
form argues a certain form on the part capacity; for
of receiving all
hot and the cold and the
we
it
this
should
find that the re-
not at random, but that a given form comes from a
Man
definite other form.
comes only from man.
But
apply to the prime matter of which we are speaking.
been without form.
Nay,
it is
this
It
does not
may have
reasonable to suppose that as
we
find
matter and form combined, and we also find pure forms without matter,
m.,
in the separate Intelligences,
that there
is
—
it is
reasonable to suppose
also matter without form.
Finally one may ask if the world has not existed from eternity, what determined the author to will its existence at the time he did and not at another? We cannot say that he acquired new knowledge
which he had not before, or that he needed the world then and not before, or that there
answer to will of
this
God
was some obstacle which was removed.
would be that the
to benefit his creatures.
to the divine causality, is
sole cause of the creation
due to the nature
Their existence
which never changes.
is
The
was the
therefore
due
Their origin in time
of a material object as such.
A
material object
by an external agent is incompatible with eternity. must have a beginning, and there is no sense in asking why at this time and not before or after, for the same question would apply to
as being caused It
any other
time.
Gersonides cites other objections which he answers,
LEVI BEN GERSON
357
and then he takes up one by one the AristoteUan arguments in favor of eternity and refutes them in detail. We cannot afford to reproduce them here as the Having given takes to
same
show
and
discussions are technical, lengthy
intricate. ^^^
his philosophical cosmology, Gersonides then under-
in detail that the Biblical story of creation teaches the
Nay, he goes so
doctrine.
far as to say that
it
was the
account that suggested to him his philosophical theory.
Biblical
would be
It
truer to say that having approached the Bible with Aristotelian spectacles,
and having no suspicion that the two attitudes are as
far
apart as the poles, he did not scruple to twist the expressions in Genesis
out of
all
Biblical text
since the days of Philo,
Mishna and Talmud and Midrash, and sects. Motives speculative, ethical
The
semblance to their natural meaning.
had been twisted and turned ever
and
religious,
theological,
—
and
legal
were at the basis of Biblical interpretation throughout
history of two millennia
of the
in the interest of various schools
long
its
—
and more
the end is not yet and Gersonides was swimming with the current. The Bible is not a law, he says, which
forces us to beheve absurdities
On
people think.
Hence what
fection.
by
interpretation
and
the contrary
if
to practice useless things, as
proved by reason must be found in the Law,
is
necessary.
This
world were
Hence
also his statement that
if
the eternity of the
world, Gersonides continues,
to
my
it
But it
would not be
in the
if
he
difficult to inter-
matter of the origin of the
was not necessary
for
me
to force the
Quite the contrary, the expressions in the Bible
Biblical account.
me
took pains
spoken of as
pret the Bible so as to agree.
guided
why Maimonides is
demonstrated,
strictly
is
which God
to interpret all BibHcal passages in
were corporeal.
some
a law which leads us to our per-
it is
view.^^^
Accordingly he finds support for his doctrine that the world was not created ex nihilo, in the fact that there
is
not one miracle in the
Bible in which anything comes out of nothing. of something out of
in the case of
a pre-existent something.
Ehsha
literally.
The air changed into oil as it The six days of creation must not
God's creation
dicate the natural order
the cause to the effect
instances of the oil
no exception.
is
entered the partly depleted vessel.
be taken
They are all The miracle
and rank
is
timeless,
and the
six
days
in existing things proceeding
and from the lower
to the higher.
in-
from
Thus the
MEDIyEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
358
heavenly bodies come before the spheres which they
movers
of the
move as
their causes.
for the
posed of
come
The spheres come before the terrestrial elements The elements are followed by the things comthem. And among these too there is a certain order. Plants
same
reason.
before animals, aquatic animals before aerial, aerial before
terrestrial,
Thus the
and the
man, as the most perfect
last of all is
of sublunar
All this he reads into the account of creation in Genesis.
creatures.
light
spoken of
in the first
day represents the angels or sep-
arate Intelligences or movers of the spheres, and they are distinguished
from the darkness
which stands for the heavenly bodies as the
there,
matters of their movers, though at the same time they are grouped together as one day, because the form and
The
water,
its
matter constitute a unit.
which was divided by the firmament, denotes the prime
formless matter, part of which was changed into the matter of the
heavenly bodies, and part into the four
and matter are
also designated
by
Form "Tohu" and ''Bohu" in
terrestrial elements.
the terms
the second verse in Genesis, rendered in the Revised Version
And
out form" and "void."
story of creation, into the details of which
The concluding lem
of miracles
discussion in the
and
its
by "with-
so Gersonides continues throughout the
we need not
Milhamot
is
follow him.^^'^
devoted to the prob-
Maimonides had said
relation to prophecy.
that one reason for opposing the Aristotelian theory of the eternity of the world is that miracles tion.
Hence Maimonides
would be an impossibility on that assump-
insists
on creation ex
nihilo,
mits that the Platonic view of a pre-existent matter
with the Torah. matter, finds
ment
it
though he ad-
may be
reconciled
who adopted the doctrine of an eternal say by way of introduction to his treat-
Gersonides,
necessary to
of miracles that they
do not prove creation ex
nihilo.
For as was
said before all miracles exhibit a production of something out of some-
thing and not out of nothing.
To
explain the nature of miracles, he says,
necessary to
know what
miracles are.
Biblical records as our data, just as
determining other matters.
On
we
be
of substance
and those
in
the change
one of quality or quantity.
find that they
is
their authors,
this
we must
it is
take the
take the data of our senses in
examining the miracles of the Bible
may
we
For
and
classified into those
which involve a change
which the substance remains the same and
An
example of the former
is
LEVI BEN GERSON
359
the change of Moses's rod into a serpent and of the water of Egypt
hand becoming
into blood; of the latter, Moses's
We may further
withering of the hand of Jeroboam. acles into those in
and the
leprous,
divide the mir-
which the prophet was told in advance, as Moses was
in which he was not, as for example the by Elijah and many other cases. Our examination also shows us that all miracles are performed by prophets or in relation to them. Also that they are done with some good and useful
of the ten plagues,
and those
reviving of the dead
purpose, namely, to inculcate behef or to save from
These data
will help us to decide
who
evil.
the author of miracles.
is
Miracles cannot be accidental, as they are performed with a purpose; of the sublunar order, they
and as they involve a knowledge have as their author one who has
this
the Active Intellect or man,
the prophet himself.
i. e.,
reasonable to suppose that
God
come only
no value
rarely
and are
to a special end, as
which control
Intellect
all
of
it is
Now
must
God
it is
or
not
the author of miracles, for miracles in themselves
said before.
regular events
Hence
permanent.
we
is
knowledge, hence either
all
The laws
but only as a means of nature, however,
the time, are essentially good
and
not reasonable to suppose that the Active
who, as we know, orders the sublunar world, has more im-
God were
the author of
would not know about them,
for prophetic
portant work to do than God. miracles, the prophet inspiration, as
we know
Besides
(p. 342),
is
if
due to the Active
Intellect
and
not directly to God.
Nor do we need waste words
in proving that
man
cannot be the
author of miracles, for in that case the knowledge of them would not
him through prophetic inspiration, since they are due to his own will. Besides man, as we have seen, cannot have a complete knowledge of the sublunar order, and hence it is not likely that he can
come
to
control
its
There
is
laws to the extent of changing them. therefore only one alternative
of miracles is the spirit of the
unified
same as the
namely, that the author
sublunar world, whose intellect has as
its
content the
system of sublunar creation as an immaterial idea, namely, the
Active Intellect, of
knows
left,
inspirer of the prophets, the controlling
whom we
have spoken so
often.
of them, is
who
The prophet is
the author
also the cause of the prophetic inspiration.
This will
of the miracles because the Active Intellect,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
360
account too for the fact that
all
miracles have to do with events in the
sublunar world and are not found in the relations and motions of the
The
heavenly bodies.
There was no standing
no exception.
stand
still is
moon
in that case.
and moon
case of Joshua causing the sun
What
is
meant by the expressions
that the Israehtes conquered the
sun occupied the zenith, whUe
its
enemy
in
to
sun and
stiU of the
Joshua 10
is
in the short time that the
motion was not noticeable for about
an hour, as is usually the case about noon. In the case of Isaiah moving the sun ten degrees back for Hezekiah (Isai. 38, 8), there was likewise
no change
in the
motion
of the sun,
but only in that of the
cloud causing the shadow. Miracles cannot be of regular occurrence, for
and laws were changed by miracle as a regular
if
natural
thing,
it
phenomena
would
signify
Miracles cannot take place to violate
a defect in the original order.
the principle of contradiction, hence there can be no miracles in reference to mathematical truths, nor in matters relating to the past.
Thus a miracle cannot make a
less
by miracle now to make salem yesterday, when as a matter of
is it
and white at the same time;
thing black
nor a plane triangle whose angles are possible
it
than two right angles; nor
not to have rained in Jeru-
fact
did rain. For
it
all
these
involve a denial of the logical law of contradiction that a thing cannot
be and not be at the same time.^^^
A
prophet
is
they come, and question
is
tested (i)
by the
(2)
by being able
raised concerning the statement of Jeremiah that one
be a true prophet and yet an if
the people repent.
Does
the category of the possible
The answer
of realization, as
evil
this
is
a
may
remain unfulfilled
that a good prophecy
must
is
and contingent becomes determined and
that a good prophecy too sometimes fails
illustrated in Jacob's fear of
promised protection by God. But of the fact that
prophecy
mean
The
may
In that case a good deal of what comes within
always come true?
necessary!
to foretell miracles before
realization of his prophetic messages.
man
this
Esau
after
he was
happens more rarely on account
endeavors naturally to see a good prophecy
realized, whereas he does his best to counteract an
evil
prophecy. ^^*
Gersonides's entire discussion of miracles shows a deep seated
motive to minimize their extent and influence.
and philosophy had the
effect of planting in the
The study minds
of science
of the mediaeval
LEVI BEN GERSON
361
philosophers a great respect for reason on the one
law on the other.
A
cism has developed in modern times a written records of antiquity.
ans generally.
No
hand and natural
study of history, archaeology and literary spirit of scepticism
criti-
regarding
This was foreign to mediaeval theologi-
one doubted for a
moment
the accuracy of the
Biblical records as well as their inspiration in every detail.
Hence
prophecy and miracles had to be explained or explained away.
Inter-
pretation held the place of criticism.
CHAPTER XVI AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA
The
chronological treatment of Jewish philosophy which
followed makes
of the fourteenth century that of the Perplexed."
is
closely modelled
upon the "Guide
In doing this we necessarily take a step backward
as far as the philosophical development is
we have
necessary at this point to take up a Karaite work
it
is
For while
concerned.
it
true that the early Rabbanite thinkers like Saadia, Bahya, Ibn in the circle of ideas of the
Mohammedan
Mutakallimun, that period had long since been passed.
Judah Halevi
Zaddik and others moved criticized the
Kalam, Ibn Daud
monides gave the Kalam
is
a thorough Aristotelian, and Mai-
in Jewish literature its deathblow.
No
Rabbanite after Maimonides would think of going back to the old arguments made popular by the Mutakallimun of substance
and accident
—the theory
of
atoms,
in the Kalamistic sense of accident as
a
quality which needs continuous creation to exist any length of time,
the denial of law and natural causation, the arguments in favor of creation
and the existence
of
God based upon
creation, the doctrine
of the divine will as eternal or created, residing in a subject or existing
without a subject, the world as due to God's the nature of right
and wrong
will or to his
as determined
purpose of the act or solely by the arbitrary
wisdom,
by the character and
will of
God
— these and
other topics, which formed the main ground of discussion between the
Mu' tazilites and and
the Ashariya,
to a less extent
centuries,
had long
by the
and were taken over by the Karaites
early Rabbanites in the tenth
lost their significance
the Rabbanite followers of Maimonides.
by
Alfarabi, Avicenna
and
and eleventh
their interest
among
Aristotelianism, introduced
and Averroes among the Arabs, and Ibn Daud
and Maimonides among the Jews, dominated all speculative thought, and the old Kalam was obsolete and forgotten. Gersonides no longer regards the Kalamistic point of view as a living issue. entirely.
He
ignores
it
His problems as we have seen are those raised by the Aver362
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA
In this respect then a reading of Aaron ben Ehjah's
roistic system.
"Ez Hayim"
(Tree of Life)
^^°
affects us like a breath
in 1369.
The reason
of
lived in Nicomedia, Cairo, Constantinople.
appearance of his work
for the antiquated
that he was a Karaite,
the days of Saadia anything like the of the great
body
of
in
Halaka as well as
(p.
48
ff.),
and enthusiastic
The Karaites had
in religious philosophy
Jeshua ben Judah
Hadassi, Aaron ben Joseph literature.
and never showed
sect
life
Solomon ben Yeroham, Joseph Ha-Maor Basir
in the fact
—
all
(p.
55
and
their
important
Biblical exegesis.
(Al-Kirkisani), Joseph Al
Yefet Ha-Levi, Judah
ff.),
these were prominent in Karaitic
But they cannot be compared
to the great
men among
There was no Maimonides among them. And Aaron
the Rabbanites.
ben Elijah cherished the ambition
Maimonides was
to the Rabbanites.
Accordingly he undertook to
compose three works representing the three great
divisions of Karaitic
—a book of Laws, a work on Biblical exegesis and a
religious philosophy.
posed in 1346.
The
last
was written
The "Sefer Ha-Mizvot," on
first,
of the
Law) was published
treatise
having been com-
the religious
ments, was written in 1354, and his exegetical work,
Torah" (The Crown
what
of being to the Karaites
Judaism on
after
activity
Rabbanite Judaism, which formed the great
majority of the Jewish people.
men
lies
and the Karaites never got beyond the Mu' ta-
Karaism was only a
point of view.
zilite
Levi ben Gerson.
He
from a foreign
And yet Aaron ben Elijah He was born about 1300,
clime, like the odor of a thing long buried.
was a contemporary and died
363
known
in 1362.
commandas
"Keter
It
is
the
Hayyim."
As was said before, this book is closely modelled upon the "More Nebukim," though the arrangement is different, being more logical than that of the "Guide." Instead of beginning, as Maimonides does, with interpreting the first
that interests us, the *'Ez
anthropomorphic expressions
in the Bible,
which
is
followed
treatment of the divine attributes, long before the existence of
by a
God
has been proved or even the fundamental principles laid down upon
which are based the proofs
of the existence of
God, Aaron ben Elijah
more naturally begins with the basal doctrines
of physics
and meta-
physics, which he then utilizes in discussing the existence of God.
As Maimonides brought to a focus all the speculation on philosophy and religion as it was handed down to him by Arab and Jew, and
MEDIMVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
364
gave
it
a harmonious and systematic form in his masterpiece; so did
Aaron ben EUjah endeavor to sum up
all
Karaitic discussion in his
work, and in addition declare his attitude to Maimonides. success with which he carried out this plan
on schools and opinions
of information
of
is
not equal.
The
As a source
Arabs and Karaites, the
and interest. But it cannot "Guide" as a constructive work of It has not the same originality or any degree religious philosophy. remotely approaching it. The greater part of the Aristotelian material seems bodily taken from Maimonides, and so is the part dealing
"Ez Hayyim"
is
of great importance
in the least compare with the
with the anthropomorphic expressions in the Bible.
There
is
a differ-
ent point of view in his exposition of the Mu'taziHte physics, which
he presents in a more systematic and favorable light than Maimonides, defending
it
against the strictures of the latter.
But everywhere
Aaron ben Elijah lacks the positiveness and commanding mastery of
Maimonides.
He
is
not clear what side of a question to espouse.
For the most part he places side by
and only barely intimates circumstances in extenso.
monides
It will
in the
of those topics sors,
it will
his
own
side the
opposed points of view
attitude or preference.
Under these
not be necessary for us to reproduce his ideas
be
sufficient
problems
we
if
common
indicate his relation to
Mai-
to both, adding a brief statement
which Aaron ben Elijah owes to
his Karaite predeces-
and which Maimonides omits.
His general attitude on the relation of reason and philosophy
is
somewhat
deavors to rationalize Jewish
religion or revelation to
inconsistent.
dogma and
For while he en-
Scriptural teaching like
IMaimonides, and in doing so utilizes Aristotelian terminology in
matters physical, metaphysical, psychological, ethical and
he nevertheless in the beginning
of his
logical,
work condemns philosophy
^^^ as well as philosophers, meaning of course the Aristotelians.
nowhere expressly indicates the manner contradiction.
But
it
would seem as
if
of reconciling this
He
apparent
he intended to distinguish
between the philosophical method and the actual teachings of the Aristotelians. Their method he approves, their results he condemns.
The
Aristotelians taught the eternity of the world, the immutability
of natural law, God's ignorance of particulars special Providence.
and the absence of
These doctrines must be condemned.
Maimon-
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA
365
ides too rejects these extreme teachings while praising Aristotle
maintaining that philosophy was originally a possession of the ish people,
which they
Aaron ben Ehjah
lost in the exile.
He
to follow the philosophers as far as Maimonides.
Maimonides
attributes in God, which
God and not merely a
will in
God's providence to
all
rejects;
is
and
Israelit-
not willing
admits positive
he admits an absolute
Maimonides; he extends
relative like
individuals including irrational creatures,
whereas Maimonides limits special providence to the individuals of the
human
species,
and
And
so on.
so he
condemns the philosophers,
though he cannot help using their method and even their fundamental
and
doctrines, so far as they are purely theoretical
scientific.
He
willing to go the full length of the Aristotehans only in the unity
is
and
incorporeality of God, though here too he vindicates sense perception to God,
the knowledge of that which
i. e.,
He
organs.
we
get through our sense
too like the philosophers insists on the importance of
Abraham was God with his intellect. Moses, which strengthened the same idea. The
the reason as the instrument of truth and knowledge. the
first,
he
Then came
tells us,
who proved
the law of
Gentiles hated
and envied
the existence of
Israel for their superiority
and
opinions; hence they endeavored to refute their ideas
others in their stead. phers,
who
their true
and establish
This was the work of the ancient Greek philoso-
At the
are called enemies in the Bible (Psalms 139, 21).
time of the second Temple, seeing that the Jewish religion and
its
teachings were true, they took advantage of the advent of Jesus to
adopt his
At
the
false teachings, thus
same
showing their hatred and envy
time, however, they were obliged to borrow
and methods
of proof
philosophy.
StiU the true nature of
Then came
from
the Arabs,
belief different
Israel, for religion as
who
such
is
of Israel.
some views opposed to
God was unknown
to them.
imitated the Christians in adopting a
from Judaism, at the same time borrowing views from
the Bible.
These are the Mu'tazila and the Ashariya.
on account
of the exile differences arose
formed the two parties Karaites followed the
of the Karaites
Mu' tazila, and
among
Later when
the Jews, there were
and the Rabbanites.
so did
some
The
of the Rabbanites,
because their views coincided with those of the Bible, from which they were borrowed.
The views
of the philosophers as being
to the Bible they naturally rejected.
opposed
Nevertheless some Rabbanites
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
366
adopted the views This
of the philosophers,
a mistake, for even the Christians rejected the views of the
is
philosophers.
Here we
^^^
see clearly the difference in general attitude
The
ben Elijah and Maimonides. the
though beheving in the Bible.
Mu' tazila. He
totelians (this
is
realizes the
latter
immeasurable superiority of the Aris-
the meaning of the
Jewish and Arabic literature).
between Aaron
has no use whatsoever for
word philosophers
His task
is
in mediaeval
therefore to harmonize
Aaron ben
the Bible with Aristotelian doctrine wherever possible. Elijah
is still,
believes the
in the fourteenth century, a follower of the
Mu' tazila
Kalam, and
He
are closer to Scripture than Aristotle.
is
two centuries behind Maimonides philosophically, and yet he has the truer insight because less debauched by Aristotelian learning.
As was said before, Aaron ben Elijah follows a more logical arrangement in the disposition of his work than Maimonides. In reality it is The purthe old arrangement of the Kalamistic works (c/. p. 24). pose of
all
Jewish investigators, he says,
is
the existence and nature of God, but there in the
method
of proving
on the assumption world's eternity.
the same, namely, to prove is
God's existence.
a difference among them
Some base
of the creation of the world, others
The Mutakallimun
philosophers, the latter.
their proofs
on that
of the
follow the former method, the
Their respective views of the origin of the
world are determined by their opinions concerning the principles of existence
and the
existent, that
and metaphysics.
is,
the fundamental principles of physics
Accordingly Aaron ben Elijah finds
it
necessary
to give a preliminary account of the Kalamistic as well as the philo-
sophic theories, as Maimonides did before
him
(p.
249
ff.).
It
is
not
necessary for us to reproduce here his sketch of the philosophical
we know them sufficiently from our studies of Ibn Daud and But it will be of value to refer to his account of the Kalamistic principles, though we have already discussed them in the
views, as
Maimonides.
introduction is
(p. xxi)
and
in our
study of Maimonides
(p.
249
ff.).
This
due principally to the fact that Aaron ben Elijah endeavors to de-
fend the Mutakallimun against Maimonides's charge that they were influenced to dictate
the latter
by preconceived notions and allowed their religious views to them their interpretation of nature, instead of letting speak for itself. Thus Maimonides specifically accuses
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA them
367
adopted the atomic theory of the pre-Aristotehan
of having
philosophers not because they were really and independently con-
vinced of it
truth —how could that be since Aristotle proved —but because on theory they could prove the crea-
its scientific
impossible?
this
tion of the world,
which they must at
dogma fundamental
ligious
all
hazards maintain as a
upon
in its nature, since
it is
re-
based the
proof of the existence of God.
Aaron ben Elijah denies
maintaining the philosophical
this charge,
Epicurus too, he says, believed in
honesty of the Mutakallimun.
Hence
the atomic theory, though he regarded the world as eternal. there
is
no necessary connection between atoms and on
own
The
creation.^®^
and the motives
atomic theory
is
Mutakallimun
in adopting it are purely scientific, as follows: Accord-
defensible
its
merits,
body
ing to the Mutakallimun there are only
This
accidents or qualities.
There
are,
acters,"
to
while body continues.
Since, then,
a body
is
Accidents
exist.
body may is
viz.,
"char-
exist
may disappear,
with or without
responsible for the attach-
This cause we "united " with accidents it owes this
body when they are
When
"union."
call
cannot
it
must be a cause which
of accidents to
its
the constitution of material objects.
Characters are such attributes as are essential
and accidents.
accidents, there
and
or substance
however, two kinds of qualities or attributes,
body and without which
ment
is
of the
so attached.
to the existence of a certain something, a certain property, let us say, in
it
which we have called "union."
rated " from accidents, is
no "imion."
tension gether.
But its
this
it is
Hence when the body
without accidents,
hence
it
must have "union"
"union"
is
not essential to
function
is
may
all existents; for
accidents.
And
we have as acci-
Bodies without
But we have just seen that
bodies possessing magnitude have "union." if
"sepa-
continue to exist without them,
"union" disappears together with the "union " are therefore possible and real. that
is
because there
to hold its parts to-
to unite accidents with body.
dents are separable while body
all
it is
Further, every body possessed of magnitude or ex-
is divisible,
seen that
when
It follows therefore
there are "union "-less bodies, they are without magnitude,
and hence atoms. This
is
the proof of the atomic theory and
nothing to do with the matter of the origin of the world.^^^
it
has
As a
matter of fact the Mutakallimun believe that the atoms were created
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
368
But the
ex nihilo.
creation of the world can be proved whichever \'iew
we adopt concerning
the nature of the existent, whether
it
be the atomic
theory of the Mutakallimun or the principles of matter and form of
The important
the Aristotelians. is
principle at the basis of this proof
the well-known Kalamistic one that
an attribute originating
Now
on either view
if
an object cannot do without
in time, the object itself has its origin in time.
of the constitution of the existent,
have form or accidents respectively, and as the changing, body or matter has
body must
latter are constantly
time, hence the world
its origin in
is
not
eternal.
Besides, not to speak of the inconclusive character of the philosoph-
arguments in favor of eternity and the positive arguments for
ical
which we have already met
in our previous
and need not therefore reproduce Aaron ben
Elijah's version
creation studies,
(all
or
most
of
of them), the philosophers themselves without
knowing
it
are led to
contradict themselves in their very arguments from the assumption
The
of eternity. their
own
doctrine of creation follows as a consequence from
presuppositions.
Thus on the
basis of eternity of
motion
they prove that the heavenly spheres are endowed with soul and intellect,
and
their
motions are volimtary and due to conceptions which
they endeavor to realize
{cf.
This makes the sphere a com-
p. 267).
posite object, containing the elements, sphericity, soul,
thing composite
is
upon the existence not
exist.
actual.
and
it
a possible existent, because
What
of its parts.
Moreover, that which
Hence the sphere must
required an agent to bring
is
at it
tradict our hypothesis of eternity
Creation
is
is
intellect.
Every-
existence depends
a possible existent
possible
may
also
must at some time become
some time have been non-existent, into being.
We are thus led to con-
from which we
thus established, and this
existence, unity
its
and incorporeality
of
is
started.^^^
the best
God.
way
to prove the
Maimonides attempts
to prove creation from the peculiarities of the heavenly motions,
which cannot be well accounted Adopting the
latter in the
for
on the theory
of natural causes.
main, he makes an exception in the case of
the spherical motions because the philosophers cannot adequately explain them,
and jumps
to the conclusion that here the philosophical
appeal to mechanical causation breaks teleology, with intelligent design
down and we
are dealing with
and purpose on the part
of
an
in-
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA
of
But
This leads to belief in creation.
telligent agent.
Maimonides
is
in a special case,
very weak and inconclusive.
due to the limitations
may
Mechanical causes
of
369 this
argument
Ignorance of causes
our reason, proves nothing.
be the sole determinants of the heavenly
motions even though the philosophers have not yet discovered what they are
Nor
Maimonides
God on
ence of
The
above, p. 270
(c/.
is
ff.).^^^
to be imitated,
who
bases his proof of the exist-
The
the theory of eternity.
Bible
opposed to
is
Bible begins with creation as an indication that this
is
our knowledge of God's existence, revelation and providence. is
the
method Abraham followed and
this is
it.
the basis of
This
what he meant when he
swore by the "most high God, the creator of heaven and earth " (Gen.
Abraham
14, 22).
arrived at this behef through ratiocination and
The same
endeavored to convince others.
words of Isaiah created these."
(40, 26), "Lift
He was
and proved
eternity,
the world
is
created.
doctrine of creation
The
is
to
is
is
evident in the see
who
who God by showing
that
arguing with the people
them the
existence of
believed in
All these indications in the Bible
capable of apodeictic proof.
show that the
^^''
all this is
directed against Maimonides,
not mentioned by name.
Maimonides claimed against
reader will see that
though he
thing
up your eyes on high and
the Mutakallimun that
it is
not safe to base the existence of
God upon
the theory of creation, because the latter cannot be strictly demonstrated.
And
why
more
it is
while he believed in
it
himself and gave reasons to
show
plausible than eternity, he admitted that others might
think differently; and hence based his proofs of God's existence on the Aristotelian theory of eternity in order to be on the safe side.
never too late to prove God's existence
must be sure ical theories
of his existence,
might
be.
if
the world
is
created.
It is
We
no matter what the fate of our cosmolog-
This did not appeal to the Karaite and Muta-
His idea is that we must never for a moment doubt the creation of the world. To follow the procedure of Maimonides would have the tendency of making people believe that
kallim,
Aaron ben
the world
may
Gersonides.
Elijah.
be eternal after
Aaron ben Elijah
all,
as
will
happened in
not leave a
fact in the case of
way open
to such
a
heresy.
In the doctrine of attributes Aaron ben Elijah likewise maintains
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
370
the views of the Mu'tazilite Karaites against the philosophers, and
by
familiar to us
this time,
essence
—hence
may
is
God
be applied to
it.
as actually denoting his
The arguments
Maimonides denied
for
(p.
262
it,
Maimonides's denial we
And his conclusion is that may be apphed to God are the negative, and
saw before
is sufficiently
whether there are any positive
positive essential attributes.
the Karaites affirmed
that
general problem
and we need only present the sahent points
The question
in the controversy.
attributes which
The
Maimonides.
especially against
the only attributes
f.).
those positive ones
which do not denote any
definite thing corresponding to
essence, but are derived
from the
them
God's
in
God's unitary and simple
effects of
man and nature. He is the author of these effects, and we characterize him in the way in which we would characterize a human being who would do similar things; but this must not be being on the
life
of
done.
Aaron ben Elijah
insists that there are positive essential attributes,
which are the following
tial
attributes
five:
He
Will, Living, Existent.
Omnipotent, Omniscient, Acting with
agrees with Maimonides that these essen-
must be understood
God's simpHcity and unity, but
we must not conceive
many
of
distinct elements
in a
them as additions
We
call
them
to interfere with
that this can be done.
For
to God's essence, nor as so
composing God's essence, but as representing
the multiplicity of powers issuing from unity.
manner not
is satisfied
him without detriment
essential attributes,
to his
meaning that they are the
essence of God, but not that they are different from each other
each makes up part of God's essence.
We do not know
and
God's essence,
and these terms are simply transferred from our human experience, and do not indicate that God's any
activity can be
compared to ours
The
five attributes
essence.
action,
above named are
"Livmg" denotes
"Omniscient."
which
knowledge.
all identical
ability to perceive,
with God's simple
hence
is
in turn involves true insight.
"Omnipotent"
surely God's existence
existence
identical with
"Acting with will" likewise denotes just and proper
Hence
also in the case of
identity of will
an
is
and
intellectual being
denotes the act of the intellect par excellence, which
And
in
sense.
is
knowledge.
not distinct from his essence, else his
would be caused, and he would not be the necessary existent
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA all
him
agree
It follows then that
to be.
God is
one,
371
and
his essence is
nevertheless all these five attributes.
the reasons in the world why we should apply attriThe same reason as we have for applying names to anything else exists for giving names to God. In fact it would be correct to say that we should have more names for God than for anything else, since in other things we can avoid naming them by pointing to them, as they can be perceived by the senses. Not so God. We are forced to use words in talking about him. God has given himself names in the Bible, hence we may do the same.
There are
all
butes to God.
Maimonides and philosophers,
who
negative terms.
But
negative attribute
end leads to a
we
his school
endeavor to obviate the criticisms of the
are opposed to
is
in reahty
all attributes,
by excluding
not help the matter in the
this does
no
different
from a
positive,
but
all
least.
and
A
in the
Thus
positive.
clearly say "animal."
if we say "not mineral," "not p^ant," The advocates of negative attributes an-
swer this criticism by saying that they understand pure negation without any positive implications, just as when we say a stone
is
"not
we do not imply that it is blind. But this cannot be, for when they say God is "not ignorant," they do not mean that he is not "knowing" either, for they insist that he is power and knowledge and life, and so on. This being the case, it is much more proper to use posseeing,"
Prophets do
itive attributes, seeing that the
meant only
the Prophets
so.
When
they say that
to exclude the negative; that
by
saying,
"Able," "Knowing," they meant to exclude "weak" "ignorant," they ipso facto admit that
The arguments
By
answer.
claim to
we
by excluding the
latter
we
posit the former.
against positive essential attributes
we can easily we do not
saying that certain attributes are essential
know God's
All
essence.
learn from his effects,
acterize God's existence
we know
is
God's existence, which
and according to these same
by means
of attributes of
only the existence, not the essence.
effects
which also
we charwe know
For we do not mean to indicate
God as they denote in us. God they denote essence, whereas in
that these terms denote the same thing in
They
are
homonyms,
us they are accidents.
since in
The
plurality of attributes does not argue
plurality in God, for one essence
hence we
may
may
perform a great
many
acts,
and
characterize the essence in accordance with those acts.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
372
The
error of composition arises only
if
we suppose
acts point to various elements in their author.
terms those only are applicable to substance
like
creating, doing,
that the various
Of the various kinds of
God which denote pure
essence or
knowledge, power; and those denoting activity like
and so
In reference to the
on.^^^
God Aaron ben
will of
Elijah refuses to agree
with the peculiar view of the Mutakallimun; but unlike Maimonides,
who can
afford to ignore their discussions entirely
fanciful notion with
Elijah takes
up the
a word
(
Guide,"
I.
discussion seriously.
and dismiss
75, proof
their
Aaron ben
3),
The Mutakallimun
(or the
Ashariya, according to Aaron ben Elijah) were in dread of anything
Hence
that might lend some semblance to eternity of the world.
they argued,
If
unchangeable so of his will too
much abhorred
God
the will of
other essential attributes, is
it
his will.
must be
ject, for
God
if
we grant
this,
To
acts
But
this external will also offered diffi-
God
as its sub-
not a material substance bearing accidents.
will at all; it
would be the
subject-less will
it
It can-
would not
and God's They were thus forced to
will of this other being,
would be determined by someone
assume a
avoid this
they conceived of God's voluntary acts
not be a quality inherent in another subject, for then
be God's
and
eternal
and unchangeable, and we have the
cannot be a power or quality residing in is
is
then the objects
doctrine of the eternity of the world.
as due to an external will. It
And
eternal
objectionable conclusion
ficulties.
identical with his essence like the
is
follows that as his essence
else.
newly created with every act of God.
This
notion Aaron ben Elijah rejects on the ground that a subject-less will is
an
impossibility.
An
accident
must have a
subject,
and
will
im-
plies life as its subject.
Besides, the relation
between God and
subject-less accident, will,
would be the cause
much logical difficulty.
of
this
Aaron ben Elijah therefore accepts the ordinary sane view that the
God is identical with his essence; that God wills through own essence. And he does not fear that this will lead to eternity of
will of
He
his
the
God's will with his wisdom, and God's wisdom As we do not know the essence of God's wisdom, so we do not know how it is that it prompts him to realize his will at one time and not at another, though his will is always the same.^^^ Aaron ben Elijah also follows his party in attributing to God sense world.
identifies
with right action.
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA same kind
perception, not, to be sure, the
of perception as
acquired by means of corporeal organs; for this for
many
God
reasons.
373
is
we have,
impossible in
God
not corporeal, and he cannot be affected
is
by a corporeal stimulus. But it is clear beyond a doubt that nothing can be more absurd than to suppose that the creator of
or changed
the sense organs does not understand the purpose which they serve
and the
What we mean then is that the we perceive with our senses God also perceives, though in
objects which they perceive.
objects which
an incorporeal manner. change
in
God due
Hence
it
does not follow that there
We
one, though
is
any
to the external object he perceives, nor that the
God;
multiplicity of objects involves plurality in
of perception
is
God
conclude then that
it
perceives
many
even our power
for
things and opposite.
has perception as well as intelligence, but
they are not two distinct powers in him.
It
is
the object perceived
Hence one and the same power
that determines the power percipient.
may
be called perception when we are dealing with a sensible ob-
ject,
and
when
intelligence
it
has an intelligible as
In his discussion of the nature of
evil
its object.^'^"
we once more
are brought in
contact with Kalamistic views recalling the old Karaite works of the eleventh century
pp. 52, 57).
{cf.
Thus the notion that good and bad
are adjectives applied to acts not in view of their inherent character,
which
is
per se neither good nor bad, but solely to indicate that they
have been commanded or forbidden; the idea that only the dependent subject can do wrong, but not the master, since his will of all right
and wrong
— these views are frequently
Mu'tazilite works of Arabs
nature of
evil,
with
all
of
the source
The Rabbanites
and Karaites.
Aaron ben Elijah enumerates
ever mention them.
is
discussed in the
which except the
views on the
he disagrees.
last
made good
six
scarcely
The
opinion
named above
manded
or prohibited, he refutes as follows: Such a view removes the
that an act
is
very foundation of good and bad.
For
if
or
bad by being com-
the person in authority
chooses to reverse his order, the good becomes bad, and the bad good,
and the same thing if
there are
is
then good and bad, which
two authorities giving opposite
good and bad at the same time.
To
determines the character of an act
commanding and
is
absurd.
orders, the
say that God's is
Besides,
same act
command
is
alone
incorrect, because as long as
prohibiting as such determine the goodness or bad-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
374
command is immaterial. We do God commands is good, and one bad but we mean by this merely that the comis an indication to us, who are ignorant of the
ness of an act, the person issuing the
say quite generally that an act which
which he prohibits
mand
is
;
or prohibition
true nature of acts.
Again, on this theory of the value of acts, what will you do with
such an act as the investigation of the existence and nature of God? Surely such an important matter cannot be indifferent.
good or bad.
mand and
And
yet
we cannot apply
an act
and
it
It
must be
the above test of com-
inherent in
is
it
It follows therefore that the value
and not determined and created by command
prohibition.
Aaron ben Elijah
is
We
have heard
essential activity
it
is
good
consists in the absence of
;
God
the acts of
all it is
we
as
evil is
not caused by the activity of an agent.
good, and
is
and
this opinion before
we know that Maimonides adopted it (p. 288). Its motive know is to remove from God the responsibility for evil. If nothing positive
which
similarly dissatisfied with another view,
regards evil as a negation.
are good.
All
Evil
due to matter, and does not come
from God. Aaron ben Elijah objects properly that as good act,
God,
prohibition, for this test implies the existence of
which the act endeavors to prove. of
to
a doing of something positive, so
is evil,
is
a positive
even on the theory of
its
negative character, a removal of something positive, hence a positive act.
Besides, granting all that the opponent claims, the
should work both ways, and
world because
evil in the
held responsible for doing clinches his
say of
it is
evil,
is
e.,
for
good, and of good
and sweet
for bitter."
it
is
"Woe
evil
Good and
opposed to the negative conception of His own view
by reason
tions like true
constructs, serves.
is
He
removing the positive? (5, 20),
.
.
.
evil are
with sweet and bitter, which are both positive.
act
argument
not held responsible for the
mere privation, why should man be i.
argument by quoting Isaiah
evil it is
for sweet,
God
if
unto those
who
that put bitter
placed parallel
Hence the Bible
that good and evil are qualities pertaining to
of its
own
and
false.
and the value
The purpose
of
is
evil.
an
nature, but these are not absolute concep-
The good and of
an act
is
the bad are conventional
relative to the
human convention
end or purpose
it
in regarding certain acts
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA as good and others as bad
is
the protection of the
which conduces to human welfare it is
bad.
375
human
An
race.
act
good, one that mihtates against
is
there are instances in which an act generally regarded
Still
bad may assume a
when in the given instance when pain is inflicted to obviate more serious danger. The surgeon, who amputates a leg to save the patient's life, does good, not evil. The Judge, who punishes the as
it
different character
serves a good purpose, as for example
criminal with imprisonment or death for the protection of society and this way we must explain God cannot be the cause of
In
to reahze justice, does good, not evil.
God
the evil which evil.
in
For
evil in
brings upon man.
man
due to want or ignorance.
is
God, hence he has no motive to do wrong.
complain
only apparent.
is
upon us
either brought
In reality
to prevent
still
it
Neither
we
All the evil of which is
good, because
greater evils, or
nature of just punishment for wrongdoing.
found
is
it is
In either case
it
is
in the it
is
a
good.^'''^
Aaron ben
Elijah's discussion of Providence follows closely the
The problem
plan of the corresponding arguments in Maimonides. is
treated
by both
in connection with
God's knowledge, and both
maintain that the real motive of those who denied God's knowledge of particulars
their observation of
is
ings of this world
{cf.
apparent injustice in the happen-
above, p. 289).
Both again preface
their
own
views of the question of Providence by a preliminary statement of the various opinions held are in the
more
main
detailed
by other
sects.
similar, except that
and names a few
among them being Gnostic Bardesanes.
and Maimonides
Aaron ben Ehjah
sects not
the Manicheans
Here too the two accounts is
somewhat
mentioned by Maimonides,
and the
followers of the Syrian
In their own views, however, Aaron ben Elijah
differ;
the latter approaching the view of Aristotle,
the former that of the Mu'tazUa.
Maimonides as we know
(p.
292) denies special providence for the
individuals of the sublunar world with the exception of
man.
case of the lower animals, the species alone are protected
In the
by divine
providence, hence they will continue forever, whereas the individual
animals are subject to chance. ception.
He
guidance and
is is
Man,
as a rational animal,
a free and responsible agent, hence he
is
rewarded and punished for his conduct.
is
an
ex-
under divine
The
extent
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
376
depends upon the degree to which the individual
of the divine care
develops his reason, actualizing his potential intellect.
Aaron ben Elijah argues that this view is erroneous, for it is not make a distinction between God's knowledge and his provi-
proper to dence.
If it
things, the
would argue imperfection in God not to know certain
same objection
applies to limiting his providence,
To
two should be coextensive. superior
say that God's providence extends to
and important things and ignores the
Aaron ben Elijah
guilty of injustice.
dence extends to
the Bible in his support, ''The Lord
over
all his
works," (Ps. 145,
by
sin;
is
good to
"Thou
and,
9),
an ox and an ass together " (Deut. led to his opinion
inferior is to
22, 10).
his idea that death
and not being able
to apply this
make God
believes therefore that Provi-
And he
individuals, including animals.
all
and the
and
all,
quotes
his mercies are
shalt not plough with
Maimonides, he says, was
and
suffering always involve
dictum to the suffering of animals
that are slaughtered, he removed Providence from their individuals
When
entirely.
the Bible orders us to consider the feelings of the ani-
mal, he says the object
is
to train our
own
faculties in
mercy, and pre-
vent the formation of habits of cruelty, not for the sake of the animal.
But he cannot remove
all difficulties in this
What
way.
will
with the case of a person born crippled, and the sufferings of
The
children?
must be given ward
is
idea that death and suffering in up.
Maimonides
purely intellectual and
the "acquired intellect."
duct as such
is
is
All this
is
little
cases involve sin
wrong when he says that
re-
dependent upon the development of
would follow from
not rewarded; that
the acquired intellect.
The
It
also
is
all
he do
it
this that right con-
serves merely as a help to realizing
opposed to Biblical teaching. ^'^^
prosperity of the wicked and the adversity of the righteous
Aaron ben Elijah endeavors
to explain as follows.
The
prosperity of
may be due to former good deeds; or by way of punishment, that he may continue in his evil deeds and be punished more severely. It may be in order that he may use the good fortune he the wicked
has in whatever fortune
may
way he
good or
ill.
be given him as a matter of grace,
Correspondingly
we may
similar manner.
It
sufferings
pleases, for
may
may
Finally his
good
like his creation.
explain the adversity of the righteous in a
be due to former
be intended to
test
him
sins.
If
in order to
he has no
add to
sins, his
his reward.
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NI COMEDI A If
he dies without having enjoyed
The
next world.
For
since they are given as a matter of grace, they
he
sins,
When
man
a
may be rewarded for his good may be paid according to the
he
his bad, or
be rewarded
considered.
may come
or not
has both good deeds
deeds and punished for
element which predomi-
Those who are born crippled and the
nates. will
be rewarded in the
will
must not be
pleasures of this world
without involving any injustice.
and
he
life,
377
sufferings of children
In reference to the slaughter of animals,
later.
Aaron ben Ehjah does not agree with the Mu' tazila that the animals There is no will be recompensed for their undeserved sufferings. immortal part
no reason
men need them
for their sufferings except that
but he sees nothing wrong in taking an animal's the
of animals
life
was given
no wrong in taking
it
He can
hence no reward after death.
in animals,
to
them as a matter
However, to
away.
life
for food,
for food, for as
of grace, there
pain in a
inflict
assign
way
is
dif-
manner permitted by God is wrong. '^^ Aaron ben Elijah lays great stress upon what he considers an important difference of opinion between the Rabbanites and the Karaites concerning the nature and purpose of divine punishment. The Rab-
ferent from the
banites according to
him
insist that
"there
no death without
is
sin,
nor suffering without guilt," whereas the Karaites admit that some of the sufferings of the righteous are not in the nature of
at
all,
purpose
is
to increase the
man's reward
who
in the
in themselves
Accordingly Aaron ben
strengthening the person spiritually.
Elijah,
Their
later in the future world,
and at the same time they have a pedagogical value in
punishment
but are what are known as ''chastisements of love."
main follows the opinions
of the Karaites, differs
with the Rabbanites and particularly Maimonides in the interpretation of the "trials" of
So far as Job
is
Adam, Abraham, Job. we know the opinions
concerned,
subject.
book
Job in connection with
of
In the general nature of suffering the idea
of love"
is
Bible.
The
quite famihar to the Rabbis, though insist
on
it,
claiming that there
idea of "trial" according to
know what he
Maimonides
his discussion of Providence
p. 304).
not care to
of
In his "Guide of the Perplexed" he interprets the
on the
did not
know
is
him
before; nor
{cf.
of "chastisement
Maimonides does
no support for is
is it
it
in the
God may make a man suffer
neither that to
above,
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
378
that he may be rewarded later. The purpose of trial is that mankind may know whatever it is desired to teach them in a given case. In
the
trial of
Abraham when he was
two-fold reason;
God may go
that
first,
all
what extent the love
to
man; and second
in a pious
was a
told to sacrifice Isaac, there
may know
show that a prophet
to
convinced of the reality of his visions as an ordinary person
is
of is
of the
data of his senses.^^*
The book
of
Job
is
Maimonides a
to
drama represent the various opinions on
the five characters in the
the nature of Providence as they were held
by
philosophy and theology in Maimonides's day. lian
view that
God
cares nothing for
correct Jewish view that everything
merit and demerit.
many
on Providence, and
treatise
man.
different schools of
Job has the AristoteEliphaz represents the
reward or punishment for
is
Bildad maintains the Mu'tazilite opinion that
misfortunes are for the purpose of increasing reward in the
Zophar stands
world to come. all is to
should be asked.
dence with our
Rabbis,
will of
God, and no questions
Elihu finally insists that the individual
own
interest in,
and care
between them except
who do not make
of
man
we must not compare God's
object of the divine care, but that
relation at all
view of the Ashariya that
for the
be explained by reference to the
for things; that there is
name
in
the
is
provi-
{cj.
above, p. 304).
no
The
Job a philosopher, naturally do not under-
stand the matter as Maimonides does, but they nevertheless agree
with him that Job deserved the punishment he received. The Karaites on the other hand classed Job's sufferings with "chastisements of love,"
which would mean that Job was a perfect
any punishment. upon him was
The
sole
to reward
motive for
him the more
Aaron ben Elijah agrees
in the
that Job was not punished for
man and
inflicting
pain and tribulation
later.
main with
any
did not deserve
fault
his Karaite predecessors
He
he had committed.
does
not see in the arguments of Job's friends any difference of opinion
on the general question of Providence, and Job was not an Aristotelian. Unlike Aristotle, he did beheve in God's care for man, as
from such statements as (Job pour
me
out,
and
10, 10),
like cheese didst
holds, are correct in their
Behold
like
thou curdle me."
is
evident
milk didst thou
The
main contention that Job's
Karaites, he
sufferings
were
not in the nature of punishment for previous guilt and wrongdoing,
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA but they are mistaken
in
supposing that Job was altogether right in
meaning and reason
his conception of the
had no other purpose except
Man, he
says,
is
composed
this
of his sufferings; that they
reward in the future.
to increase his
Aaron ben EHjah then explains endeavor to gain
379
his
own view
body and
of
world and the next.
of "trial."
and must therefore
soul,
he
If
is
punished for guilt
or offence, the punishment corresponds to the offence. guilt is followed
by corporeal punishment,
Adam
punishment.
Corporeal
by
spiritual guilt
spiritual
offended spiritually and was punished spiritually
of Eden as will be explained later. Abraham endeavored to do justice to both the constituent parts of his being; and hence God in his kindness, wishing to strengthen Abra-
by being driven from the Garden
ham
spiritually,
gave him the opportunity in the
At
trial of Isaac.
the same time the physical suffering was compensated by the promise to
Abraham
of the continuity of Isaac's descendants.
Job's sufferings
were of the same kind, except that they came to him without
knowledge and without
And
his being told their purpose.
at
his first
he thought they were in order to give him future reward, but without
any use
in themselves.
directly
by increasing
Aaron ben Elijah
Later he discovered that they benefited him
his spiritual strength.
differs also
^''^
from Maimonides
in reference to the
Maimonides maintains that while there
purpose of the world.
is
sense in inquiring for the purpose of the parts of the world, the question of the ultim.ate purpose of the world as a
The purpose
of a given event or
the other events and laws, hence there
is
lar things; thus, given the existence of
sense perception,
and
so on.
But
if
understand.
that the world perience and in nature,
is
makes
it
we ask why is
man, as
this
relation to
the universe as a
God's wisdom, which will
not admit
view clashes with ex-
many phenomena man and take no cogni-
impossible to explain a great
which are distinctly of no benefit to
zance of his interests. ^'^^ that God's
meaningless.
a relative purpose in particu-
In particular Maimonides
for the sake of
is
lies in its
animals they must have food,
whole, the only answer that can be given
we do not
whole
law of nature
Aaron ben Elijah agrees with Maimonides
wisdom rather than
his arbitrary will, as the Ashariya
maintain, must be appealed to in answering the question of the pur-
pose of the world.
But he
is
inclined to regard
man
as the purpose
MEDI/BVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
380
of the lower world, admitting that
we cannot know
the purpose of the
higher worlds of the spheres and Intelligences, as they transcend the
powers
We
of our comprehension.^''^
can pass over Aaron ben Elijah's discussion of prophecy very because there
briefly
Without saying
no new attitude or contribution
is
and with apparent variations
"Guide"
of the
in
He
(p. 277).
form
gives
really adopts the classification
no psychological explanation
prophecy because he disagrees with the philosophers, to ecy
is
in his views.
he reluctantly perhaps, leans upon Maimonides,
it,
a purely natural
gift
which cannot
fail
whom
of
proph-
when
to manifest itself
the requisite conditions are there, namely, perfection in intellect and
imagination.
In fact when he gives the different views on the nature
of prophecy,
he refuses to identify what seems to stand in his book
for the
view of Maimonides (the fourth view) with that of the
lowers of the Mosaic law.
fol-
Whereas Maimonides following the philoso-
phers insists on the two important elements in prophecy, namely,
and imagination, adding thereto
intellect
Aaron ben Elijah
of Moses, says nothing of the imagination. fection in intellect
and
ever, only apparent;
in ethical character.
and further on he
an important element, which determines, the character of a
—
the
all in
moral perfection,
also
in giving the opinion of those
He
who
follow the law
only on per-
insists
This difference
how-
is,
refers to the imagination as
in its relation to the reason,
man as a prophet or a mere statesman or philosopher
manner
of
Maimonides.
His idea of the purpose of prophecy he develops, as eye to the criticism of the Brahmins of India,
it
seems, with an
whom
he quotes as
denying prophecy, though admitting Providence, on the ground that it
can serve no purpose.
decide
what
is
right
The
and what
reason alone, they say,
is
meets their objection as follows:
wrong.
is
sufficient to
Accordingly Aaron ben Elijah
It is true that
man might have gotten
along without prophecy through the laws which his
own
reason estab-
and wrong, good and evil. Those who followed these laws would have attained long life, and the others would have
lished for right
rational
perished.
But a good man
living in a
bad environment would have
been involved in the downfall of the majority, which would not be
Hence
it
just.
was necessary that God should warn the man, that he might
save himself.
This
is
the
first
beginning of prophecy.
Witness
Noah
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA Abraham was
and Lot.
a great advance on his predecessors.
He
both body and
soul.
endeavored to follow God's
.
will in respect to
Hence God saved him from the danger of the Chaldees,
381
and wanted
was exposed
to which he
in
Ur
to benefit his descendants also that they
should perfect their bodies and their souls.
This
whole nation without special laws to guide them.
is
impossible for a
This
is
particularly
true of the "traditional" laws (ceremonial), which are not in themselves
A
good or bad, but are disciplinary
in their nature.
prophet must have both intellectual and ethical perfection.
he must understand the nature of God
and
will;
this
it
of the time,
his
is
the reason, he says,
human
species
And besides they
by reason
They were misled by
why we
and Mohammed, because they
of intellectual perfection.
the extinction of the
who meant
This
in the religions of Jesus
were not possessed
celibate ideal.
For
communicate
cannot be had without previous ethical perfection.
Hence the twofold requirement. do not believe
in order to
tend to
of their monastic
and
the asceticism of the prophets,
merely as a protest against the material self-indulgence
and
called attention to the higher
But those people
life.
in their endeavor to imitate the prophets mistook the
means
for the
end, with the result that they missed both, perfection of soul as well as of body,
and merely mortified the
flesh,
thinking
Hence, Aaron ben Elijah continues, we
shall
which does not preach the maintenance
of this
Not even
next.
it
the will of God.
never accept a religion
world as well as of the
miracles can authenticate a religion which preaches
monasticism and celibacy.
Moses was superior their
The
awake. i.
e.,
to the other prophets.
All the others received
messages in a vision or a dream, Moses had his inspiration while others were inspired through the
medium
of
an angel,
through the imagination, hence their language abounds in
gories
and
parables.
alle-
Moses did not use the imagination, hence the
plain character of his speech.
The others were overcome by
the vision
and physically exhausted, as we read in Daniel (10, 17), "There remained no strength in me, and no breath was left in me." Moses was free
from
face, as
a
this
weakness
—"And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to
man speaketh unto his neighbor "
required preparation, Moses did not. stronger than that of
all
the rest.
(Exod. 33, 11).
The
others
Moses's testimony, too, was
His authority in the end was made
MEDIMVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
382
the people directly and openly, so that there remained not
plain to
all
a shred
of a doubt.
cause none
This
is
why we
The Law cannot change without
so well authenticated.
is
accept his law and no other, be-
implying that the standard of perfection has changed, or the world has changed, or God's knowledge has changed.
The Law
"Thou
says besides,
not diminish therefrom" (Deut.
which
it
to,
thereto,
contains.^^^ all
purpose, and the
Law
as a whole
The ceremonial laws
in vindicating the rational
and
for the
is
He
truth and inculcating the good.
and
are
disciplinary
purpose of teaching the
goes further than Maimonides
ethical purpose of all the details of the
various laws, and not merely of the several
above,
command-
the
have a purpose and
of the Bible, including the ceremonial laws,
for the sake of the rational, serving a pedagogical
A
law
and subtractions from, the written law
are not due to the arbitrary will of God.
{cj.
shalt
in the oral or traditional
Aaron ben Elijah agrees with Maimonides that ments
impossible.
is
and thou
Therefore, concludes Aaron
13, i).
ben Elijah the Karaite, we do not believe because of the additions
All this
add
shalt not
commandments
as a whole
p. 294).^'^^
problem that occupied the minds
as well as Karaites, but which
of the
Mutakallimun, Arabs
Maimonides does not
piupose of God's giving commandments to those
co-exist
and neither destroys the
God knows,
is
the
That God's knowledge and
remain unbelievers, and refuse to obey.
man's freedom
discuss,
who he knew would other, has already
we must assume, that a given person will refuse to obey the commandments, what is the use of giving them to him? And granting that for some reason unknown to us they have been given, is it just to pimish him for disobedience when the latter might have been spared by not giving the man in question any commandments? Aaron ben Elijah answers these questions by citing the following been shown.^^"
parallel.
If
then
as
A man prepares a meal for two guests and one does not come.
The absence
of the guest does not
make
the preparation improper, for
the character of the act does not depend to do or not to
do the
because the host quite parallel,
meant the
and
to
upon the choice
desire of the host.
make
guest's benefit. it
so
The
invitation
To be
we must assume
of the guest
was proper
sure, the case
is
not
that the host expects
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA
His intention being good, the invitation
that the guest will not come.
In our problem knowledge takes the place of expectation.
proper.
is
God But
383,
man
does not merely expect, he knows that the as God's desire
is
to benefit
not obey.
will
mankind and arouse them
to higher
command is proper, no matter what the person chooses to do. To punish the man for disobedience is not unjust because God in-
things, the
tended to benefit him by the command. If the benefit
lookout.
he disobeyed, that
If
could have been had without the
is
his
command,
then the punishment would be unjust, but not otherwise.
men were commanded and
only good
If
the rest ignored, the danger
would be that the former being thereby assured tempted to do wrong; and the others
in despair
of reward,
might be worse than
God saw
they would be imder ordinary circumstances.
might be
that
man has And
evil tendencies,
and needs warning and guidance from without.
just as he gave
men
knew
understanding and ability to believe though he
that a given person would not avail himself thereof, so he gave
men commandments, though he knew
all
The
rest of the
book
that some would not obey.^^^
devoted to such questions as reward and
is
punishment after death, immortality
of the soul, the
soul's pre-existence, the nature of the future
tions
which Maimonides
that whatever religion strictly
untouched
left
and
tradition
in the
life, '
problem
of the
—ques-
repentance
Guide " on the ground
may say about
them, they are not
speaking scientific questions, and are not susceptible to phil-
osophical demonstration.
Aaron ben Elijah proves that there must be reward and punishment after death.
For as
man
is
composed
reward for each according as them.
Thus
if
his body,
i. e.,
body and
soul
a
man
man
of
body and
soul, there
must be
endeavors to maintain and perfect
cares for his
body
alone, he will be rewarded in
The
other
man who
in this world.
must have the same reward
looks out for both
in this world as the other,
since their physical efforts were similar.
At the same time he must
have something over and above the other
in the nature of
tion for his soul,
The
and
this
must be
prosperity of the wicked
also to be explained in part, as
in the next world.
and the misery
we have
seen
their respective destinies in the next world, this
world
will
be adjusted.
compensa-
of the righteous are
(p. 376),
by
reference to
where the inequalities of
MEDIjEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
384
Finally, material reward cannot be the consequence of intellectual
and
would mean doing the greater
spiritual merit; it
And
smaller.
pleasures,
besides the soul
and would remain without reward.
another kind of reward after death.
must become
the soul
who
for the sake of the
not benefited by physical goods and
is
Hence
there
must be
In order to deserve such reward
At the same time the common
wise.
people,
observe the ceremonial commandments, are not excluded from a
share in the world to come, because the purpose of these laws
and
intellectual
we
spiritual, as
said before (p. 382),
observance makes the soul wise, and gives
comment
is
clearly directed against the
Maimonides and Gersonides, according alone confers immortality
The
their
This
immortality.
it
also
is
and hence
last
extreme intellectualism of
whom
to
rational activity
(p. 339).^^^
considerations just adduced imply the immortality of the soul,
But Aaron ben Elijah endeavors
to which they lend indirect proof.
besides to furnish direct proof of the soul's continuance after the death of the body.
And the first thing he does is who deny immortality on
to
the philosophers,
being the form of the body,
must
it
disarm the criticism of
the ground that the soul
forms cease
like other material
with the dissolution of the things of which they are the forms.
He
answers this by showing that the soul as the cause of knowledge and
wisdom
—immaterial
faculties
cause of the body's motion, to time,
and
itself
is
not
itself
subject to motion, hence not
body and
in the ordinary sense.
stituent parts
is
from that of matter and
is
For
in the former case each of the con-
different
form
are as follows:
The
of the soul,
the last statement
is
which
is
the matter.
it is
independent in
its existence.
that the power of the rational soul
and does not become weary, as a corporeal power exist
For the acquired Other proofs
rational soul performs its functions without help
from the body, hence
stronger,
The body
already a composite of matter and form.
intellect is the
Besides
soul
has both matter and form, and the soul has likewise.
can
Being also the
immaterial.
therefore not destructible like a natural form.
the composition of
form
—
it is
without the body.
The proof is
of
not limited,
does.
Hence
it
Again, as the corporeal powers grow
the intellectual powers grow weaker, and vice versa as
the corporeal powers grow weaker in old age, the intellect grows stronger.
Hence the
soul
is
independent of the body, and when
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA
385
the physical powers cease entirely in death, the intellect height.
The
is
at
its
^^^
question of the soul's pre-existence before coming in contact
with the body, Aaron ben Elijah answers in the affirmative, though his
His sole
arguments in favor of the opposite view are stronger.
argument
in favor of its pre-existence
is
not dependent upon the
have existed before the body.
The consequence which
subsisting substance
body, and must
that the soul, being a self-
is
and not an
some have drawn from
accident,
combined with the
this supposition
immortality, namely, that the soul
is
eternal,
soul's
he refuses to adopt.
The soul existed before the body, but like all things which are not God it was created in time. Though we have thus seen that the soul existed before the body, it is
mistaken to suppose that
it
matures proves nothing for the account for
this progress
For though
was completely developed.
the gradual progress in knowledge
and understanding as the individual
soul's original imperfection, as
we may
by the gradual adaptation of the physical is a more vahd objection.
elements to the functions of the soul, there If the soul
was perfectly developed before entering the body,
should be alike when they leave
it,
which
is
not the case.
all souls
We come to
the conclusion therefore that the soul does acquire knowledge while
The human
in contact with the body.
soul
is
a unit, and from
its
connection with the body arise the various powers, such as growth, life,
When
reason.
the soul
is
which functioned with the aid
separated from the body, those powers of the
body
perish; the others remain.^^^
In the matter of eschatology Aaron ben Elijah gives a number of views without declaring himself definitely for any of them. difference
among
The main
the three points of view quoted concerns the possi-
bility of the resurrection of the
body, and the meaning of the terms
"revival of the dead" ("Tehiyat ha-metim") and "the world to
("01am ha-ba").
Aaron ben Elijah seems
to incline to the
come" in
first,
favor of resurrection.
We must
endeavor, he says, to get some notion of final reward and
punishment. is
For without any idea of
its
nature a man's hope or fear
taken away from him, and he has no motive for right conduct.
be sure
it is
To
not possible to get a clear understanding of the matter, but
some idea we must have.
The
first
view which he seems to favor
is
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
386
that revival oj the dead and world
end
man
of
This
soul.
There
ment.
"Thy dead Lord
is
come are the same thing; that the reunion with the
its
meant by reward and punish-
thy dead bodies shall arise"
and maketh
bringeth up " (i
this is
Bibhcal support for this view in such expressions
shall live,
killeth,
and
the future Hfe,
is
to
the resurrection of the body and
is
Sam.
alive;
he bringeth down to the grave and
There
2, 6).
as,
"The
(Isa. 26, ig).
is
nothing to object in
he says,
this,
for the
same God who made man
death.
Besides, there seems to be a logical propriety in bringing soul
and body together conduct in
the soul
is
once reunited with the body in the
The
never separated again.
it is
can revive him after
reward and punishment just as they were during
When
life.
resurrection,
for
of the dust
expression
^^
garden of
Eden " for paradise is a figure of speech for eternal life free from pain. The second opinion is expressed by those who do not believe in bodily resurrection. The end of man according to these is the return of the soul to the world of souls.
come"; and "revival
of the
This
is
the meaning of "world to
dead" means the same
thing.
For
it is
not possible that the soul should be reunited with the body, which
temporary in
its
nature and subject to dissolution.
is
body
Besides, the
has organs, such as those of food and reproduction, which would be useless in the future
life.
The advocates
of this theory also believe in
Aaron ben Elijah
transmigration of souls as a punishment.
metempsychosis on the ground that there soul
and
its
Aaron ben Ehjah
also quotes without
and
(p. 119), of
(4) sick.
comment
himian souls into
Death denotes
between a
soul.
dead, (2) alive,
good deeds;
This classification
applied in determining the destiny of the soul after death.
and healthy,
alive
in the
and
is
whence
it
If
he
is
+
+
is
returns again
If
he
is
alive
ignorance), the soul rises to the upper air,
and again to the body
to be able to rise to the world of angels.
deeds
one
+ evil
healthy and dead (knowledge
kept in an intermediate world forever.
sick (good deeds
If
has knowledge and good deeds, he has a share
i. e.,
world to come.
deeds), the soul
rejects
the classification, (i)
evil deeds; life,
health, intellectual knowledge; disease, ignorance. is
relation
body, and not every body can receive every
already familiar to us (3) healthy,
some
is
until it acquires
wisdom
dead and sick
(evil
a combination of resurrection
and
If
he
is
ignorance), the soul dies like an animal.
Finally, the third opinion
is
AARON BEN ELIJAH OF NICOMEDIA "future world."
387
Seeing that some of the functions of the soul are per-
formed with the help of the body, while others are not, the advocates of this
view maintain that the soul
will
be rewarded in both condi-
—with the body, in resurrection, without the body, in the world
tions
to come. If
a
man
has merits and demerits, his good and
evil
deeds are bal-
anced against each other, and the surplus determines his reward or
punishment according to
its nature.^^^
CHAPTER XVII HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS (1340-1410)
The
influence of Aristotle on Jewish thought, which began as early
as Saadia
and grew
in intensity as the Aristotelian writings
better known, reached
high water
To Maimonides
and Gersonides. authority for
its
mark
became
Ibn Daud, Maimonides
in
was the indisputable
Aristotle
matters pertaining to sublunar existence, but he re-
all
served the right to differ with the Stagirite
when the question con-
cerned the heavenly spheres and the influences derived from them.
Hence he denied the
eternity of motion
and the fundamental
prin-
ciple at the basis of this Aristotelian idea, that necessity rules all
natural phenomena.
In his doctrine of creation in time, Maimonides
endeavored to defend God's personality and voluntary and purposeful
For the same reason he defended the
activity.
Gersonides went
institution of miracles.
Aristotelian principles to their inevitable conclusions,
shrink from adopting to
world
(strictly
carried the
further in his rationalistic attitude,
intents
all
and purposes the
and did not
eternity of the
speaking the eternity of matter), and the limitation of
God's knowledge to universals.
Aristotle's authority
was now su-
preme, and the Bible had to yield to Aristotelian interpretations, as
we have
Maimonides and Gersonides were the
seen abundantly.
great peaks that stood out above the rest; but there was any of lesser lights,
some who wrote books and
write, taking the great literatiire is
and
belief
men
as their models
and from there succeeded
principle in ethics
man
is
man
—and as the soul
actuating principle,
and looking at Jewish
it
—the part
is
Intellectualism
had its basis
in psychol-
in establishing itself as the ruling
and metaphysics.
distinguishing trait of
the beast
It
number
more who did not
through Aristotelian spectacles.
the term that best describes this attitude.
ogy,
still
As reason and of
man which
intellect is the
raises
the form of the living body,
its
him above essence
and
was argued that the most important part
his rational soul or intellect,
388
of
and immortality was made de-
HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS pendent upon theoretical
ideas.
Speculative study
389
made
the soul;
and an intellect thus constituted was immortal, for it was immaterial. The heavenly world, consisting of the separate Intelligences and culminating in God, was also in its essence reason and intellect. Hence
By
thought and knowledge formed the essence of the universe. thought
is
man
Most High.
saved,
and through thought
All else that
has from the relation
it
is
he united with the
is
not pure thought acquires what value
bears to thought.
In
this
it
way were judged
those divisions of Judaism that concerned ceremony and ethical prac-
Their value consisted in their function of promoting the ends of
tice.
the reason.
Judah Halevi, influenced by Al Gazali, had already before Maimonides protested against
this intellectualistic attitude in the
name
and Jewish
though more But Judah Halevi's nationalism and the expression of his poetical and religious feelings and ideas could not vie with the dominating personality of Maimonides, whose rationalistic and intellectualistic attitude swept everything before it and became the dominant naive understanding of the Bible
of a truer history.
mode
of thinking for his
Hasdai Crescas (born tian Spain
own and
succeeding ages.
in Barcelona, in 1340),
two centuries
after Gersonides, to take
after
who
It
Maimonides and over a
up the cudgels again
remained for
flourished in Chrishalf century
in behalf of a truer
Judaism, a Judaism independent of Aristotle, and one that
more upon the
spiritual
and emotional
sides of
man and
purely intellectual, theoretical and speculative.
less
is
based
upon the
Himself devoid of
the literary power and poetic feeling of Judah Halevi, Crescas had this in
common
with the mediaeval national poet that he resented the
domination of Jewish
belief
and thought by the
alien
Greek specula-
In a style free from rhetoric, and characterized rather by a severe
tion.
brevity and precision, he undertakes to undermine the Aristotelian
by using the Stagirite's own weapons, His chief work is the "Or Adonai," Light
position proof.
Agreeing with
all
logical analysis
of the Lord.^^^
other Jewish writers that the existence of
the basis of Judaism, he sees in this very fact a reason ciple
cannot be regarded as one of the
mandments.
commands.
six
and
why
God
is
this prin-
hundred and thirteen com-
For a commandment implies the existence of one who
Hence
to regard the belief in the existence of
God
as a
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
390
commandment implies The existence
presses.
ments cannot
can form the objects of a
But a matter it is
God
therefore as the basis of all
be a commandment.
itself
of belief
command which can be controlled by the wUl. of God is not subject to will, ^^'^
Maimonides, as we know, based
God upon
of
Besides only those things
Hke the existence
a matter of fact and of proof.
and incorporeality
commandment excommand-
the very thing which the of
his proofs of the existence, unity
twenty-six philosophical propositions
As
taken from the works of Aristotle and his Arabian interpreters.
he was not writing a book on general philosophy, Maimonides simply enumerates twenty-five propositions, which he accepts as proved by Aristotle
and
proposition,
his followers.
number
from
these he adds provisionally another
twenty-six, concerning the eternity of motion,
upon which he bases safe
To
all criticism.
In the sequel he discusses
and shows that unlike the other twenty-five, rigid demonstration,
tion
and the world
God
his proof of the existence of
and the arguments
in time are
more
in order to
be
this last proposition
it is
not susceptible of
in favor of the origin of
mo-
plausible.
Crescas goes further than Maimonides, and controverts most of the other propositions as well, maintaining in particular against Aristotle
and Maimonides that an actually; that there is
an
infinite
magnitude
and hence there may be many worlds, and
is
possible
and
it
need not follow that the
elements would pour in from one world into the next, so that should be together in the centre, ference,
two.
The elements may stay
assigned to them. all
the technical
results will
be
The proof Maimonides If
sufiicient for
finiteness of the
The
our purpose.
an unmoved mover
God's unity.
infinite,
Maimonides world and
possible outside of this world, fails for
and water, between these
in Aristotle
based upon the impossibility of a regress to
Similarly God's unity in
upon the
together in the outer circumair
hair-splitting discussions of these points.
of the existence of is
earth
be worth our while to wade through
It will not
and
all
in their respective worlds in the places
Hasdai Crescas admits the
proof
all fire
and the intermediate elements,
exists
void outside of this world,
infinite fullness or
the Aristotehan proof is
its
and
infinity. fails.
among
other things based
unity.
If infinite
space
and there may be many worlds,
So Crescas takes up
in detail all the
is
this
Mai-
HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS monidean proofs
of the existence, unity
391
and incorporeality
points out that they are not vahd because in the
God and
of
place they are
first
based upon premises which Crescas has refuted, and secondly were the premises granted Maimonides's results do not follow from them.^^^
own views on
It remains then for Crescas to give his
problem
this
which, he says, the philosophers are unable to solve satisfactorily,
and the Bible alone
is
At the same time he does
to be relied upon.
give a logical proof which in reality
is
not different from one of the
by Maimonides himself. It is based upon the distinction insisted upon by Alfarabi and Avicenna between the "possible existent" and the "necessary existent." Whatever is an effect of a cause
proofs given
in itself
is
merely possible, and owes the necessity of
Now,
cause.
its
argues Crescas, whether the
effects is finite or infinite, there is
not
itself
an
effect.
For
existents" as regards their
make
He
must be one cause
if all
own
its
number
existence to
of causes
of all of
and
them which
things are effects they are "possible
nature,
them exist rather than not.
This
and require a cause which self -subsisting
then endeavors to prove the unity of
God
cause
in the
will
God.^^^
is
two senses
of
the term; unity in the sense of simplicity, and unity in the sense of
Unity as opposed to composition
uniqueness.
—
the term
neither the same as the essence
is
accident added to the essence. all
It
is it
of
an
cannot be essence, for in that case
things called one would have the
for that
— the former sense
of a thing, nor
same
Nor
essence.
which defines and separates the existing thing
substance rather than accident; and this
is
what unity
is it is
accident,
truly called
Accord-
does.
ingly Crescas defines unity as something essential to everything actually existing, denoting the absence of plurality. This being true, that
existent
which
being which
is
is
before
all
others
is
most
Also that
truly called one.
most separated from other things
is
best called
one.^^''
Crescas disagrees with Maimonides's opinion that no positive attributes can tures,
be applied to God, such as indicate relation to
and so
on.
to creatures even in the term "cause," which in the attributes of action
lowed by Maimonides
—
—
it is
will
not admit.
Maimonides admits; and
the only kind of positive attributes
al-
God did God which
implied that before a given time
not do a particular thing, which he did
Maimonides
his crea-
His arguments are that we cannot avoid relation
Besides,
later, if
a condition in
there are no positive attri-
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
392
what could be the meaning
butes,
of the tetragrammaton, about
which Maimonides has so much to say?
why was
tribute,
its
meaning kept so
and
that there are positive attributes,
God and
his creatures,
though not a
If it expressed
secret?
a negative at-
Crescas's
that there
own view
is
a relation between
is
similarity, as they are far apart,
the one being a necessary existent, the other a possible existent; one
being
infinite,
the other
finite.^^^
We
must now try to show that God is one in the sense that there are no other Gods besides. We may proceed as follows: If there are two Gods, one of them controls only part of the world or he does not control
it
at
all.
The
first is
impossible because the unitary world
But
there
and hence more than one agent.
This
must be due
to one agent.
thought that being is
still
infinite in
another alternative,
may is,
be more than one world
however, answered by the
power one could control them viz.,
all.
There
that one agent controls the whole
world and the other does nothing. Here speculation can go no further,
and we must have recourse to Scripture, which says, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." ^^^ We see here that Crescas is interested in discrediting the logic chopping of the philosophers.
No merely logical argument,
is
can give us absolute certainty
his idea,
even in so fundamental a doctrine as the unity of God.
Like Judah
Halevi, Crescas took his inspiration from Algazali, whose point of
view appealed to him more than that of Maimonides and Gersonides,
who may be
classed with Alfarabi, Avicenna
Having discussed the fundamental philosophy, namely, the existence
and Averroes.
principles of all religion
and nature
of
dogmas
takes up the following six fundamental
and
God, Crescas next of Judaism,
God's
knowledge of existing things, Providence, Power, Prophecy, Freedom, Purpose.
There are three things to be remembered in the matter knowledge.
knows the
He knows
the infinite, for he
non-existent, as he
of the contingent does not
knows the
remove
its
knows
future;
and
his
God's
He
knowledge
contingent character.
monides and Gersonides had difficulty with this problem and their respective solutions.
of
particulars.
Mai-
we know
Gersonides, for reasons metaphysical as
well as ethical, does not scruple to limit God's knowledge to universals.
Maimonides endeavors
to reconcile the
dilemma by throwing the
HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS
393
blame upon our limited understanding. In God's knowledge which is toto cosh different from ours, and of which we have no conception, and contradictions find their ultimate harmony. all oppositions naturally expect, agrees with Maimonides in
we might
Crescas, as
To
limit God's
knowledge
opposed to the Bible, and would involve us in greater
difficulties
this matter rather than with Gersonides. is
than those we endeavor to escape.
^^^
Related to the question of God's knowledge
is
the problem of Provi-
For God must know the individual or thing for which he provides, and if God has no knowledge of particulars, there can be no dence.
such thing as special providence. the opinion of Gersonides
{cf.
This latter as we know
p. 345).
Crescas,
we have
God's knowledge of particulars, hence he sees no providence on this score. sense.
He
difficulty in special
by God
and animal
reproduction and conservation are due
their growth,
Providence, he says,
to God's providence.
virtually
takes, however, the term in a broad
All evidence of design in nature, all powers in plant
which guide
is
seen, defends
sometimes exercised
is
directly, without an intermediate voluntary agent, some-
God's relations to Moses and to the
times with such mediation. Israelites in
Egypt
mediate agency.
at the time of the tenth plague were without inter-
In
all
prophets, or wise men,
which are living and Providence
life
is
mediation of angels, or
according to some, the heavenly bodies,
intelligent beings.
itself is of different kinds.
and natural exhibited
and animal
other cases there or,
in the
equipment
There
is
the most general
of the various species of plant
and growth and conservation. powers found in the human race. These
for their protection
There are the more special
forms of providence have httle to do with the person's deserts. are purely dependent
Then
there
of the
male members
is
the
upon the constitution and
more
They
influence of the stars.
special providence of the Jewish nation, then
of this nation,
and
of the priests
and the
levites.
who is rewarded The reward and punishment by conduct, the reward and
Finally comes the special providence of the individual,
and punished according
to his conduct.
of this world are not strictly controlled
punishment of the next world
are.
In this last remark Crescas cuts
the knot which has been the cause of so
philosophy.
If
much
discussion in religious
the real reward and punishment are in the next world.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
394
the prosperity of the wicked and the adversity of the righteous in this
At the same time an
world do not form so great a problem.
explanation of this pecuhar
man
the righteous
even though
his
phenomenon
is still
For surely
wanting.
does not deserve to suffer for his righteousness,
good deeds
will
not go unrewarded in the next world.
In this discussion also Crescas takes issue with the intellectualistic
but by accident and by reason of
The come from God directly matter, and the corollary drawn
God does not punish
the wicked directly, that he merely
point of view of Maimonides and particularly Gersonides.
men
solution of these
therefrom that
neglects them, leaving
that evil does not
them
Crescas does not approve.
man
theory that the good
to the accidents of nature
Nor
is
and chance,
he more favorably inclined to the
provided for because the more he
is
culti-
vates his mind, the more closely he comes in contact with God, in
whom
are contained actually
man
the ideas of which
all
His main criticism
potentially.
that the theory
is
is
has some
opposed to clear
statements in the Bible, which imply special and individual reward
and punishment
in
a miraculous and supernatural manner, which
cannot be due to intellectual perfection, nor to the order of the heavBesides,
enly bodies.
if
a
man who
much
highly intellectual did
is
wrong, he should be punished in his soul, but on the intellectuahst theory such a soul
is
immortal and cannot be destroyed.
Accordingly Crescas goes back to the religious doctrine of reward
God rewards and punishes The com-
and punishment as ordinarily understood. because
man
obeys or disobeys his
will
and command.
plaint raised on account of the misery of the good of the wicked he answers
considered,
ation from disguise
by saying that
The goods and
are in the next world.
what ought
and
to be, such as that evil
vice versa; that
tinies of the majority, i.
e.,
and so
on,
is
is
sometimes a good in
on.
wrong, does not come from God,
The providence extended
aim
evil
and good from
sometimes involved in the des-
and so
its
world are also to be
for the apparent devi-
one sometimes inherits
does come from God, and as evil.
reward and punishment
evils of this
and he gives the ordinary excuses
one's parents; that the individual
evil,
real
and the prosperity
Evil in the sense of moral it is true,
is justice, it is
to Israel
is
greatest.
but punishment a good, not an
There
Providence in Palestine than elsewhere, not because there
is is
more any
HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS on God's
difference in the relation
man
side,
but there
395
on the
is
side of the
His character and disposition change
enjoying this providence.
Hence
with the place, and similarly with the time and the season.
Day
certain seasons of the year, like that about the time of the
Atonement, are more propitious for receiving God's providence. Another fundamental doctrine
Weakness would be a the contradictory. also in intensity.
From
Judaism
God's omnipotence.
is
Hence God can do everything except
defect.
His power
of
is infinite
not merely in duration, but
gather only that God's power
of
motion
is
tween God's power and the work he does; hence
shown
also in the miracles,
some
taneously, as the destruction of the precisely.
256
(p.
infinite in duration;
is
doctrine of creation ex nihilo shows that there
is
an im-
Aristotle's proof of the necessity of
movable mover as based upon the eternity
This
of
^^*
no relation at
power
his
f.),
we
whereas our all
be-
is infinite.
which took place instan-
of
born in Egypt at midnight
first
Crescas insists that the ass of Balaam did speak, and refers
with disapproval to those
who doubt
and say
it
it
was
in
a vision
(Gersonides).^^^
In his discussion of Prophecy the interest
phers that the prophetic power
by the man who
is
in addition to
if
this
be
so,
why are
that
if
this is lacking,
one
may have
all
is
the
the philoso-
necessary besides, and
the qualifications and yet
man
a student of the Torah and follows
cause he cleaves to inspiration
is
anticipate the ob-
among
God and
and
to the plain intent of Scripture
Jewish tradition that the prophet is
To
there no prophets
Crescas sees the forced nature of this explanation,
and once more frankly returns he
philoso-
a psychological process attainable
phers, Maimonides adds that divine grace
not be a prophet.
once more in his
moral perfection possesses a highly
developed intellect and power of imagination. jection that
lies
Maimonides agrees with the
anti-intellectualistic attitude.
chosen by
God because
commandments, and The prophet receives
its
loves him.
behis
from God directly or through an intermediate agent, and
the information received
may
concern any topic whatsoever.
It
is
not to be limited to certain topics to the exclusion of others, as Gersonides tries to
make
out;
and
its
purpose
is
to give guidance to the
prophet himself or to others through him.'^^
The most
original contribution of Crescas to philosophical theory
MEDIjEFAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
396 is
problem
his treatment of the ever living
has
it
seemed
Judaism to maintain the freedom
for
one hitherto had ventured to doubt Halevi, is
it.
If
insist
nothing in the past determines a man's
moment
of the act it
whether a given act
know
if
God
is
no longer
does
way
will in
But the idea
God's omniscience.
of
a given case, then up
know
undetermined, and no one can
is
take place or
its
to
On
opposite.
the other hand,
everything in the future as well as in the past,
man
manner contrary to God's foreknowledge. was recognized by Maimonides as well as by Gerson-
free to act in a
This difficulty ides,
will
that the individual
and punishment.
man's freedom clashed with the doctrine
to the
of the will that
This seemed to be the only
vindicate God's justice in reward of
no Maimonides no less than Judah
and with equal emphasis Gersonides,
not determined in his conduct.
So fundamental
of freedom.
and they solved it in
different ways.
Maimonides gives up neither
God's omniscience nor man's absolute freedom, and escapes the di-
lemma by
taking refuge in his idea of God's transcendence.
Human
human freedom; God's knowledge is not like human knowledge, and we have no conception what it is. But it is consistent with human freedom. Gersonides, who objects to knowledge
is
incompatible with
Maimonides's treatment of the divine attributes, and
must resemble
in
can avoid the
attributes,
difficulty
all its rigor,
Accordingly he maintains
and mitigates the conception
God's omniscience extends only to the universal and the contingent particular
and hence to the
is
by
of omniscience.
its
consequences;
definition not subject to foreknowledge,
argues no defect in God's knowledge
it
undetermined decisions of the
if it
does not extend
will.
Crescas embraces the other horn of the dilemma. cience
must be maintained
that the
first
universal
thing pertaining to choice at
how
all,
justify
Is
its effects.
a compromise.
a given person
is
It
is
God's omnis-
absurd to suppose
man
then not free?
of
and imply
Determinism
is
if
any-
Has he no
in the determination of his conduct?
God's reward and punishment,
are relative to conduct is
in all its rigor.
and absolute cause should be ignorant
no freedom
they
human
only by a partial blunting of the
sharp points of either horn of the dilemna.
freedom in
insists that
kind though not in degree the corresponding
If so
reward and punishment
responsibility?
not fatalism.
Crescas's answer
It does not
mean
that
preordained from eternity to act in a given way, no
HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS matter what the circmnstances
and advice and warning and education and useless
as
and without
This
effect.
by the testimony
But
of Scripture.
command
that
and endeavor are by experience as well
effort
contradicted
is
mean
It does not
are.
397
neither
is it
true on the other
hand that a person's will and its conduct are causeless and undetermined until the moment of action. This idea is equally untrue to
We know that every effect has a cause and the
reason and experience.
we
cause has a cause, and this second cause has again a cause, until reach the
spect would have the
them
different.
same
individuals similar in every re-
will unless there is
a cause which makes
We have already intimated that God's foreknowledge,
which we cannot deny, in the Bible
Two
necessary cause.
first
we have
is
incompatible with absolute freedom, and
instances of God's
knowing future events which
The
are the results of individual choice, as in the case of Pharaoh. solution then
is
determined.
It
its
cause,
i. e.,
that the act of will is
is
in a sense contingent, in a sense
contingent in respect to
the act
is
onl^
itself, it is
determined by
not fated to take place, cause or no cause.
If it
were possible to remove the cause, the act would not be; but given the cause, the effect
is
necessary.
a cause and determines an
itself
hibitions are not useless, for the
ment
Effort
is
not in vain, for effort
are not unjust, even though antecedent causes over which
has no control determine his acts, any more than
burns the one
who comes
Reward and punishment and
near
it,
is
Commandments and prosame reason. Reward and punisheffect.
it is
man
unjust that
fire
though he did so without intention.
are a necessary consequence of obedience
disobedience.
This
is
a bold statement on the part of Crescas, and the analogy
between a man's voluntary act in the tendency of in the
fire
to
ethical
burn irrespective
matter can be valid only
if
and
religious
conduct and
of the person's responsibility
we reduce
the ethical
and
religious
world to an impersonal force on a plane with the mechanism of the physical world order.
And
Crescas feels
it,
This seems a risky thing to do for a saying that to
make
dangerous, as the people would find in
understanding that punishment
is
it
this
religionist.
view public would be
an apology
for evil doers, not
a natural consequence of
This latter statement Crescas does not wish to be taken in strictness,
nor should the analogy with the burning
fire
evil.
its literal
be pressed
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
398 too
For
far.
it
would then follow even
if
a person
is
physically com-
pelled to do evil that he would be punished, just as the refrain
from burning a person who was thrown into
determination of the
he says, must not be
will,
constraint and compulsion, else the act
ment should on a
follow; for
not free and no punish-
is
prohibition can have no effect
if
ternal compulsion the person
still
where there
is
Even no ex-
so identified with the deed that
is
in a real sense the product of his
own
it is
bringing about a union
soul,
and hence reward and punishment are
with, or separation from God;
Where
there
necessarily connected with
it.
on the other hand, the act
not in reality his
is
a pedagogical
they are not deserved.
in a given case
in reality every act is determined,
though
it by force. The by the agent as a
Reward and punishment have
will constrained.
value generally, even
command and
felt
would not
fire
is
external compulsion,
own and hence no reward
or punishment.
The
question arises, however,
and
are determined
if
why
should there be punishment for
These have nothing to do with the
erroneous belief and opinion?
anything
is,
i.
the person having
e.,
will,
them
is
constrained to believe as he does by the arguments, over which he has
no
control.
This matter offers no difficulty to those who,
Mai-
like
of the soul,
monides and Gersonides, regard intelligence as the essence
and make immortality dependent upon intellectual ideas. acquiring true ideas, they say, becomes ipso facto immortal.
A It
soul
is
not
a question of right and wrong or of reward and punishment. But this is not the Biblical view, and if it were true, there would be no need of the
many
Geometry would play a greater
ceremonial regulations.
role in immortality than the Torah.
and punishment
Even
carefully. directly,
call for
in
it
and the pains one takes
conduct one
is
but for the intention and
not punished.
is
that reward
in this case are not for the beHef itself,
one finds in
for the pleasure
Crescas's answer
but rather
to examine
it
not rewarded or punished for deeds desire.
Intention without deed
is;
the greatest punishment or reward.
Deed without
intention
is
though the two together
"A
burnt offering," say
the Rabbis, "atones for sinful thoughts; sin committed through compulsion It
is
Joel,''^^
is
not punished."
of interest here to
owed his
^^^
know
idea of man's
that Spinoza, as has been shown
freedom to Crescas.
by
He also like Crescas
HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS
399
denies the absolute indeterminism of a person's conduct that sisted
upon by the majority
in-
is
And
of the mediaeval Jewish philosophers.
Joel shows moreover that Spinoza's final attitude to this question
as found in his Ethics
was the outcome
the result of reading Crescas.
God
that anything short of absolute omniscience in
sists
and
of a gradual development,
In some of his earUer writings he is
in-
unthink-
able.
He
but
not ready to sacrifice either, and like Maimonides decides that
is
man's freedom,
sees the difficulty of reconciling this with
we must not deny
it
we cannot understand
simply because
Later,
it.
however, he maintains that God's omniscience and man's freedom are absolutely incompatible, and solves the difficulty in a
by
to that of Crescas
The next
topic of which
it is
intellectualism of Crescas
Gersonides.
The
and
the purpose of the Law, and in
is
Here
also appears clearly the anti-
Law
is
of course,
good.
The Bible teaches us to perfect our morals;
beliefs
and opinions; and
body and happiness of Clearly it must be the
it
soul.
best
Maimonides and
his disagreement with
purpose of the
final
it
promises by means of these happiness of
Which
of these four is the ultimate
And
and most worthy.
it
seems as
Corporeal happiness
is
As
some think that
immortal by creating the acquired
and enjoys happiness
greater than the joy
There
is
this
a means to the
means
of
Similarly moral perfection assists in purifying the soul.
for perfection in ideas,
separate,
end?
if
which as an
perfection of the soul since the latter acts through the
bodily organs.
he says, a
inculcates true
quality pertains to the eternal happiness of the soul, to
end the other three tend.
similar
necessary to have a clear idea for a
complete understanding of Judaism, general the purpose of man.
manner
freedom as formerly understood.
curtailing
we
feel
intellect,
in
it
alone
which
is
makes the
soul
immaterial and
the next world incomparably
here below in the acquisition of knowledge.
a difference of opinion as to the subject-matter which bestows
immortality.
According to some
it is all
knowledge, whether of sub-
lunar things or of the separate substances.
only the knowledge of All these views are
God and
According to others
it is
the angels that confers immortality.
wrong from the Scriptural as well as the philosophi-
cal point of view.
The
Bible makes
it
clear repeatedly that eternal life is obtained
by
performance of the commandments; whereas according to the others
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
400
practical observance
only a means and a preparation to theory,
is
without which practice alone
According to Scripture
inadequate.
is
and
tradition certain offences are punished with exclusion
life,
and
certain observances confer immortality, which
from eternal
have nothing
do with theoretical truths.
to
But philosophically too
For
their views are untenable.
follow from their opinions that the purpose of the
it
would
Law is for something
other than man, for the acquired intellect
is
cannot be the form of man.
kind from man, for unlike
him
eternal as
it is
quired intellect
an individual.
made
is
It is different in
Besides
as a substance
by
"separate," and hence
it is
not true that the ac-
arate from the material intellect; for as immaterial its
subject from which
come
it
into being ex nihilo,
And
And
absurd.
God and
if
may
For
if
aU knowledge
by studying geometry, which can be gained only by a knowledge of
acquire
this privilege
must therefore
It
absurd.
there are other reasons against their view.
confers immortality, one is
is
it
the separate substances, the objection
is still
greater; for, as
Maimonides has shown, the only knowledge that may be had is
negative;
make an If
and
it is
sep-
has no matter as
it
could come into being.
which
whUe being
its ideas,
of these
not likely that such imperfect knowledge should
eternal intellect.
then theoretical knowledge does not lead to immortality as they
thought, and the other perfections are preparatory to theoretical, follows that the ultimate purpose of the
primarily neither thing
and
else,
which God.
fear of
philosophy.
many
by theory alone nor by is
That
Law and
of
man
practice alone, but
neither quite the one nor the other.
This it is
is
demanded
alike
by
the view of religion
the soul
is
is
clear
it
But
perfect;
love
it is
and
also de-
a spiritual substance, hence
has theoretical knowledge or not; since
decay, not being material.
the love
enough from the
capable of separation from the body and of existing by
whether
by some-
is
Scripture, tradition
passages in the Bible urging love of God.
manded by philosophy. For
It
it
attained
is
it is
it is
itself forever,
not subject to
Further, the perfect loves the good and the
and the greater the good and the perfection the greater the
and the
God with
desire in the perfect being.
the greatest love of which
Hence the
perfect soul loves
capable.
Similarly God's
it is
love for the perfect soul, though the object as compared with
him
is
HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS
401
and perfection are
low indeed,
is
great, because his essence
Now
is
the cause of unity even in natural things, the love of
God God
as love
in the soul brings
great.
about a unity between them; and unity with
surely leads to happiness
As
and inunortahty.
love
is
different
from
intellectual apprehension, the essence of the soul is love rather
than
intelligence.
There are many Talmudical passages confirming of the Shekinah,
and the wicked
is
view logically
This agrees
suffer correspondingly.
with our conception of immortality and not with
ment
this
We are told that the souls of the righteous enjoy the splendor
derived.
theirs.
For enjoy-
impossible on their showing, though they try to
plausible.
Pleasure
is
different
of the acquired intellect
apprehension, there
is
make
it
from apprehension; and as the essence
no room
is
for the
According to our view love
pleasure, the intellect being simple.
is
re-
warded with pleasure. The pleasure we feel here below in intellectual work (Gersonides, p. 339) proves nothing, for it is due to the eff'ort
and the passing from
potential knowledge to actual knowledge,
to the process of learning.
axioms and
Proof of this
first principles,
is
that
we
find
which we know without
i.
no pleasure
effort.
The Rabbis
new
have no pleasure.
also speak of definite places of
which cannot apply to the acquired substance and can have no place.
have a
in
But the
acquired intellect after the death of the body does not learn any truths, hence can
e.,
place, just as it
is
reward and punishment,
intellect, since it is
The
soul as
a "separate"
we understand
connected with the body during
it
can
life.
The Rabbis often speak of the great reward destined for school But surely the acquired intellect cannot amount to much in children. The truth is that the soul becomes mature and complete children.
as soon as
it
acquires the rational faculty in the shape of the
principles or axioms.
Then
it is
first
prepared for immortaUty as a natural
thing without regard to reward.
The purpose
we showed is to love God. This object by the commandments, which may be classified with their significance in seven groups. They exalt God; they of the soul as
the Bible attains reference to
show
his great kindness to us; they give us true ideas concerning the
nature of God; they
call
our attention to his providence; they give
us promises of corporeal and spiritual reward; they
call
our attention
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
402
to God's miracles in order to keep our attention from flagging; finally
they
command
love of
God and union with him
as the
final
and aim
of man.^^^
In addition to the
above
(p.
six
fundamental doctrines
and the denial
Judaism mentioned
which constitutes heresy; though they are not as
of
fundamental as the other
six, in
Law would
the sense that the
They
tinue to exist without them. (3)
of
392), there are true beliefs which are essential to Judaism,
con-
are (i) Creation, (2) Immortality,
Reward and Punishment, (4) Resurrection, (5) Eternity of the (6) The superiority of Moses to the other prophets, (7) The
Law,
priest's learning the future
The
the Messiah.
monides tal
(c/.
list
through the Urim and Tumim,
below, p, 409)
is
dogmas, there are not as
seven or eight
—
(8) Belief in
of thirteen articles of the creed given
open to criticism.
many
no more than
as thirteen; there are
the six mentioned before
by Mai-
he meant fundamen-
If
(p. 392),
and,
one chooses,
if
On
the existence of God, making seven, and revelation as the eighth. the other hand, are
more than
God and
if
Maimonides meant
the six enumerated above
fifteen,
revelation,
and the eight "true
this criticism of
(p. 392),
existence of
named
at the head
beliefs"
many
of this section, not counting a great
Having made
to include "true beliefs," there
specific commandments.'*'"'
Maimonides's thirteen
articles,
cas proceeds to discuss every one of the eight true beliefs
the beginning of the last paragraph.
For our purpose
necessary to reproduce the minute arguments here.
it
will
We
Cres-
named
at
not be
will select
a few of the more important topics and state briefly Crescas's attitude.
The
doctrine of creation formed the central theme in
and Gersonides.
It
was
here, as
we have
seen, that
Maimonides Maimonides
stopped short in his devotion to Aristotle and took pains to show that the arguments of the latter in favor of eternity are not valid, and that Aristotle
knew
it.
trine of creation
He
endeavored to show, moreover, that the doc-
can be made more plausible than
hence since creation
is
fundamental dogma. ing creation ex nihilo,
essential to Judaism,
it
Gersonides could not see his
among
its
opposite,
and
must be regarded as a
way clear
to accept-
other things because as matter cannot
come from form, the material world cannot come from God. Accordingly he compromised by saying that while the present world as it is is not eternal, it came from a primitive "hyle" or matter, which was
HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS Thus our world
eternal.
dependent for
is
its
403
forms upon God, for
its
matter upon the prime and eternal "hyle."
Here Crescas takes up the problem and points out that whether we accept or not an eternal "hyle," everything that exists must be de-
pendent upon God as the only necessary side of him,
owes
its
sure,
if
eternal matter or not,
it
times,
is
it
eternal, because his relation to his
and
But
product
is
a rational cause
by way
is
be
the same at
God
is
a
necessity in this case does not exclude will,
For the only way
it.
To
emanation
its
follow that the emanation of the world from
it will
implies
Everything out-
existent.
only a possible existent and
that the existence of the world
necessary process.
nay
is
Creation ex nihilo means no more.
existence to God.
we assume
from God all
be
in
which anything can come from
The
of conception.
rational cause forms a
conception of the world order and of himself as giving existence to
world order as a whole and in
this
than the
This
this.
many come from
Our answer is that The goodness of the world is
the One.
created a good world.
the parts contribute to making a whole which
hand, an agent
perfectly
is
makes miracles
also
is
how can good God
unity,
On
is
is
therefore not a fundamental
At the same time
it is
Creation
dogma with which Judaism a true belief as taught in the
verse of Genesis. '^''^
Another
of the true beliefs
the Bible and to
is
two kinds, corporeal and
sists of
is
in-
nihilo
wrong therefore when he thinks that
would upset Judaism and make miracles impossible.
falls.
will
not
and we have creation ex
eternity
first
e.,
the other
is
in time
stands and
i.
God's
will.
Moreover, eternal creation
possible.
Maimonides
the its
good.
good when he acts with
consistent with continued creation,
every moment.
more
Will means no
its parts.
will also solve the old philosophic difficulty,
is
reward and punishment. spiritual.
not opposed to reason.
Corporeal
is
This con-
spoken of in
For as the purpose
of creation
man good and enable him to achieve perfection, it that God would remove any obstacles in the way
do
reason
perfecting himself,
and
this is the
kind of reward mentioned
stands to of
man's
first,
"All
the diseases which I put upon the Egyptians I shall not put upon thee, for I the
Lord
am
thy healer" (Exod.
15, 26).
Punishment
is
pri-
marily for the same purpose.
As
for spiritual
reward and punishment, they are not mentioned
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
404
but the Talmud
specifically in the Bible,
As the
can be explained as follows. it
is full
soul
is
of
Rationally they
it.
and
spiritual
intellectual,
enjoys great pleasure from being in contact with the world of
and apprehending
of the nature of
and kept
in darkness gives it pain;
The
ultimate destruction.
essence of the soul, as was said above,
may
not intellectuality, but love and desire; hence pain
The reason
spirit
could not apprehend
it
On the other hand, being restrained from the world and this may lead to its
while in the body. of spirit
God what
reward and punishment, which
spiritual
important of the two,
not mentioned in the Bible,
is
taken as a matter of
destroy
more
the
is
because
is
is
it.
was
it
Corporeal reward and punishment was
fact.
not so regarded, hence the need of specifying
it.
A difficulty that presents itself is. How is it consistent with justice to punish the soul by that sinned? of the
This
itself,
when
it
was the composite
of the
And
it is
this is the
is
it
receives the
spiritual.
true that the composite also receives compensation.
purpose of
Resurrection of the body
some, as
soul
Hence, being the
two elements composing man,
more important punishment, namely, Besides,
body and
may be answered by saying that the soul is the form
body and does not change when separated.
more important
of
clear
resurrection.^*^^ is
not universal, but
from the passage
is
reserved only for
"And many
in Daniel (12, 2),
of
those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
the
life,
and some
same time
to disgrace
it is difficult
to
these
some
are.
be the perfect and the good only, since some of those rising disgrace
At
and everlasting abhorrence."
know who
We
and everlasting abhorrence."
can decide
when we have learned more of resurrection. The variety of opinions concerning the time
It cannot will
go "to
this better
later,
Crescas endeavors to reconcile by supposing that
of the resurrection all
agreed
it
would
take place as soon as the Temple was built, but that the Messiah
would precede the building
of
the
Temple by some length
of
time.
The purpose have
it
and
of the resurrection
to impress
the resurrection those
they fared
when
it
is
to strengthen behef in those
upon those who have
who come back
to
it
not.
life will tell
their souls left their bodies.
who
At the time the Hving
of
how
Another purpose
of
HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM CRESCAS resurrection
is,
405
as mentioned above, in order to reward
composite of body and soul which acted during
and punish the
life.
The dogma of resurrection is regarded so seriously by the Rabbis, who exclude the unbehever in it from a portion in the world to come, because in this act is
is
completed the form of man; and because thereby
realized the justice of
minds It
God, and the faith
is
strengthened in the
of the believers.
seems at
sight impossible that the elements of the body,
first
which were dispersed at the time of the body's death and formed part of other substances, can be gathered together again. really so strange, for in the first place
God may
may be in a position
to return.
that these elements really necessary. like the first in
which
will
memory
It
is
quite suflBcient that
bad.
not
Besides, this
create a it
body
is
not
exactly
with the old soul,
then behave like the old person; and being endowed with
it is sufficient
and
justice
to resurrect the perfectly
The intermediate
miracle,
it is
besides, the identity of personality will be complete.
For the purpose of showing God's faith
God
temperament and form, and endow
But
so arrange matters
classes
their spiritual
and strengthening man's good and the completely
do not deserve
reward
will
be
this extraordinary
sufficient.
^^^
CHAPTER
XVIII
JOSEPH ALBO (1380-I444)
Of the post-Maimonidean philosophers Crescas tributes original views of philosophical value.
Aragon,
real in
is
of Uttle
is
the last
who conMon-
Joseph Albo, of
He
importance as a philosopher.
rehashes
the problems which occupied a Maimonides, a Gersonides
and
Crescas,
sides
now with
one,
now with
He
the other.
and a by
benefited
the writings of his predecessors, particularly Maimonides, Crescas, and Simon Duran; ^^^ and the philosophical discussions in the last three sections of his " of
an
The
Book
of
Roots "
(" Sefer
Ikkarim ") give the impression
eclectic compilation in the interest of
style
his popularity,
which was denied
But philosophy While
interest.
a moderate conservatism.
that of the popularizer and the homilist; and to this he owes
is
more
original teacher, Crescas.
was not Albo's
as such
it is
his
true that
all
nor was
forte,
it
his chief
the Jewish thinkers of the middle
ages were for a great part apologetes, this did not prevent a Mai-
monides or a Gersonides from making a interested study of science
really
thorough and
and philosophy; and often
dis-
their scientific
and philosophic conviction was so strong that the apologia was pro
The
philosophia sua rather than pro Judaismo.
central
theme there-
fore in the majority of Albo's philosophical predecessors
equally metaphysical and theological, of
God and
was the
his attributes.
These were proved by reason and confirmed by Scripture and
tradi-
tion.
Judaism had to be formulated and defended with a view not so
much
to the dangers threatening
medanism
from Christianity and
as to those endangering
all
religions alike,
Moham-
namely, the
opinions of science and philosophy as taught especially by the Aristotelians.
Hence Maimonides
lems as the
treated for the
Aquinas the Christian had no scruple opher's
most part
Mohammedan Mutakallimun
method
his
in
406
same prob-
Thomas
making the Jewish
own when he undertook
faith "contra Gentiles."
of the
before him, and
philos-
to defend the Catholic
JOSEPH ALBO
407
Different were the circumstances as well as the attitude of Joseph
The purely
Albo.
He
philosophic interest was not strong in his day.
was not confronted by the necessity of proving the existence and incorporeality of
God by
reason.
No one doubted
had been abundantly written about of completeness
and
in times
for the benefit of those
technical philosophy,
Albo found
it
But the
was a time
who were not more
self
had taken part
and he had his
own
trained in
accessible to the
central interest in his age
of religious disputations
and they
In the interest
desirable to restate the results
of previous discussions of these topics in a style
readers of his day.
these things
gone by.
was
shifted.
and forced conversions.
It
Albo him-
in such a disputation held at Tortosa in 14 13- 14,
to defend
Judaism against Christianity.
He had
show
to
people that Judaism was the true religion and Christianity
Hence
spurious.
it
was
religion as such
he had to investigate, in order
what marks distinguished a divine law from a human, and a
to find
To make
genuine divine law from one that pretended to be such. this investigation logically
complete he had to show that there must
be such a thing as a divine law, and that no such law can be conceived without assuming certain basal beliefs or dogmas. rehgious
dogma was
essential, for
upon the nature
A
discussion of
of these funda-
mental behefs depended one's judgment of a given law and acter as divine or
Albo's treatise,
to put
of the
the
"Book
of [religious]
'
down
in his
Jewish creed, nothing
Guide
is
of the Perplexed."
fundamental dogmas
is
and
of
while
could not of articles
said of this in his philosophical work,
With Albo the estabUshment
of the
the central theme.
At the same time Albo was anticipated even nal contribution.
codifier, list
title
And
Roots [dogmas]."
commentary on the Mishna a
char-
its
Hence the
spurious.
true that Maimonides, the systematizer
it is
fail
human, genuine or
Crescas, his teacher,
Adonai," a work against
had
Christianity.^"'*
in this, his
more
origi-
"Or "Or Adonai"
written, beside the
And
in the
itseK he devotes considerable space to the question of the fundamental
dogmas
of Judaism,
his faulty
method
and takes occasion
to criticize
Maimonides
in the selection of the thirteen articles,
for
on the
ground that he did not distinguish between what was fundamental
and what was derivative. he developed in
his
own
This suggestion gave Albo his cue, which way.^''*^
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
4o8
Human
happiness, Albo
depends upon theory and practice,
tells us,
But the human mind
as Aristotle says.
superior to the
is
need of something
true ideas.
Hence everyone
For
from those which are not
to tell the divine legislation
this it is necessary to
out which a divine law cannot
and the
will define right practice
This can be only by divine guidance.
must be able divine.
human mind which
know by
inadequate to
is
Hence there
the truth touching these two.
itself
know what
exist.
This
is
are the principles with-
the purpose of the book,
to explain the essential principles of a divine law.^"^
A
knowledge
would seem easy,
of the principles of religion
for all
people profess some religion or other, and hence are presumed to
know upon what
But
their religions are based.
been treated adequately before, and there previous writers about the
Some say
has not
some say twenty-six, some
without investigating what are the principles of divine
For we must distinguish between the general
religion generally.
principles
this question
no agreement among
of the principles or their identity.
there are thirteen (Maimonides),
six (Crescas),
common
number
is
which pertain to divine
to all religions,
and
legislation as such
special principles
and hence are
which are peculiar to a
particular religion.
Seeing the importance of this subject, Albo continues, I undertook this investigation.
came to the conclusion that there
I
are three general
God, Revelation, and Reward Then there are special principles peculFrom the general principles ("Ikkarim")
principles of divine religion, existence of
and Punishment
after death.
a particular religion. follow particular or derivative principles ("Shorashim.") ^^ iar to
The
investigation of the principles of religion
because one
what to
is
is
in
danger of being reckoned an
considered
Rabbi
Hillel in the
no Messiah,
King
of
belief in the
a heretic
it is
Messiah
and has no share
Talmud
for they
Judah."
a delicate matter
infidel
by others a fundamental dogma.
Maimonides the
denies
is
he denies
who And yet
fundamental, and he
in the world to
come.
(Sanhedrin, 99a) said, "Israel need expect
had the
On
is
if
Thus according
benefit of one in the days of Hezekiah,
the other hand, Maimonides does not regard
creation ex nihilo as fundamental, whereas others do;
and to
their
mind Maimonides is open to the charge of unbelief. The truth is that only he is an unbeliever who deliberately and know-
JOSEPH ALBO
A
ingly contradicts the Bible. is
person
led mistakenly to misinterpret
it,
409
who
believes in the Bible but
and denies
real principles because
he thinks the Bible does not require us to believe them as principles, or does not require us to believe them at of forgiveness, but
is
all, is
guilty of error
and
in need
not a heretic.^
Having thus defined his attitude and purpose, Albo proceeds to criticize the list of dogmas laid down by Maimonides and modified and then defends his own view. A fundamental principle ("Ikkar," lit. root) is one upon which something else depends and Maimonides counts thirteen without which this latter cannot exist.
by
Crescas,
principles of
Judaism as
Prophecy, (9)
follows; (i) Existence of
He
(4) Eternity, (5)
IncorporeaUty,
(7) Superiority of
God,
Unity, (3)
(2)
alone must be worshipped, (6)
the prophecy of Moses, (8) Revelation,
Immutability of the Law, (10) God's Omniscience, (11) Reward
and Punishment, to criticism.
without which Judaism cannot (i)>
(6),
religion,
not see
(10), (11),
(8),
and
(7)
list is
open
strict principles
only
(12) Messiah, (13) Resurrection.^"^
Maimonides intended to admit
If
and
exist,
we understand why he named
which are general principles
(9) as special principles of
why he included
This
(2)
and
For while they are
(3).
of
any divine
But we can-
Judaism.
true,
and every
Jew should believe them, Judaism can be conceived as existing without them. It principle.
is still
more strange that
(5)
should be counted as a
To be sure, it is one of the ten commandments, " Thou shalt
have no other Gods before me. to them, nor serve them"
.
.
Thou shalt not bow
On
why
(13) should
down
.
.
(Exod. 20, 35), but Judaism can be
.
conceived to exist even with the belief in a mediator.
not clear
thyself
.
Similarly
it is
be considered as a fundamental dogma.
the other hand, he omitted Tradition and Free Will as beliefs es-
sential to If,
any divine
in defence of
religion.
Maimonides, we say that he intended to name not
only fundamental principles, but also true or derivative, then there are
such as creation ex
many
beliefs,
whether fundamental
others he might have mentioned,
nihilo, belief in miracles, that
God
rests in Israel
through the Torah, and so on.
Another writer counts twenty-six
principles, including everything
that occurred to his mind, such as the attributes of eternity, wisdom, life,
power, will and others, counting paradise and hell as two, and other
4IO
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
absurd ideas.
Others
reduce them to
Power,
Prophecy,
(4)
The
God's knowledge,
(i)
Free Will,
(5)
objection to this
list is
that
the above
list
As
special purpose peculiar to
Having laid bare the
distin-
For the dog-
to Free Will
and Purpose, they are
be sure, but not qua divine; they are
also essential to a conventional
human
law.
Divine religion has a
it.^^°
defects in the attempts at a
Judaism made by
his predecessors,
list of
fundamental
Albo categorically lays
the following three principles as fundamental to divine religion
(i)
Existence of God,
(3)
Revelation.
To
(2)
Providence, and reward and punishment,
justify this statement is
and
ing laws
Animal to the
their
we
life,
mode
of
finds
it
necessary to
and what
religion,
make
relation
it
clear
bears
This necessitates an explanation of exist-
motives and causes.
are told,
may be
divided into three classes according
Uving adopted by each.
Beasts of prey live separately
Mankind must live in communities, as one individdependent upon the work of another, and social life is essential
and not is
Albo
meant by divine law or
to other laws, not divine.
ual
by which we can
We may have all these principles and
sufficient.
essential to divine legislation to
what
principle
give us the necessary requirements for a
yet not have a divine religion.
down
Purpose, adding thereto the
(6)
the genuine and spurious divine religion.
divine law, but not the
of
principles,
Providence, (3)
does not contain the special dogmas
it
and does not give us a
gmsh between mas named in
dogmas
(2)
by Maimonides, God's existence, unity and incorporeality.
three proved
of Judaism,
Maimonides's
again,'*"^ criticizing
six, viz.
in groups.
Intermediate between beast of prey and
to their existence.
man
are-
the gregarious animals, which keep together not as a matter of necessity, as is
together. life
the case in man, but for convenience, for the sake of being
Man
by nature; and in order to make communal must be some order in the community which pro-
social
is
possible, there
hibits violence, robbery,
In addition to
made by
and so
on.
this there are in
This
many
is
known
as "natural law."
places "conventional laws,"
kings and emperors, regulating
more
and with members of the
carefully
greater detail than the natural law the affairs of the
community.
But
this is
not
all.
There
is still
another kind of law due directly
JOSEPH ALBO The providence
to God's providence.
of
411
God
seen even in the
is
lower animals, in the constitution of their bodies, not merely in matters essential to the preservation of the animal,
of comfort
and convenience, as
It stands to reason therefore that there
sense organs.
influence which provides for
providence
may
is
man
even to a greater degree.
of the race; just as in the individual
instrumental in giving
This
promulgated through
person
this
man
the heart
The law which
to all the other limbs.
life
The term "law" ("Dat")
a "divine law."
is
applies to
any system
bracing a large aggregate of men, whether
it
of directions
em-
many commands
contains
There are thus three kinds of law, natural, conventional
or one.
and
of the
a divine
is
extend only to one individual, but this person brings
about the perfection is
but also in the interest
example the duplication
for
divine.
Natural law
Conventional law
is
the
is
same
and
for all persons, times
ordered by a wise
man
or
men
places.
in conformity with
the necessity of the persons, times and places, as the reason dictates,
Divine law
is
purpose of natural law
is
without special divine suggestion.
The
through a prophet.
and promote ciety to
may
right,
keeping
be able to
men from
has for its purpose to guide its
is
robbery and theft so that so-
promote the becoming.
to
men
eternal
to reach this end, showing
and what
God
remove wrong
Conventional law goes further and tends
exist.
remove the unseemly and
ness of the soul and
ordered by to
to true happiness,
It points out the
life.
what
is
which
the true good for
the real evil which one
Divine law is
the happi-
way
man
must shun; though
to follow
to pursue,
it
also lays
down the law of right and wrong like the other two,"*^^ The conventional law is inferior to the divine in a number of ways. The conventional law only orders human conduct for the purpose of improving social
life,
but does not concern
in theoretical speculation
with perfection soul to
The divine law embraces both the parts upon which
eternal
life.
human
perfection depends, conduct
becoming and unbecoming
As the Psalmist has the soul" (Psal. 19,
The
itself
and knowledge, which leads the
it,
(practice)
"The Law
,
and theory.
It
embraces the
and the true and untrue (theory). of the
Lord
is
perfect, restoring
8).
conventional law, being human, cannot always decide with
certainty
what
is
becoming and what unbecoming.
It
is liable
to
MEDIAEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
412 This
error.
is
particularly the case in matters of theory, such as the
creation or eternity of the world.
"The testimony
in all things,
simple"
The
of the
divine law gives us certainty
Lord
{ih.).
The person guided by
the conventional law
always guided aright; hence he cannot
man whose
joy of the
of being right
heart"
guide
is
— "The precepts
Lord are upright,
is
and the
making him
the divine law,
of the
not sure that he
is
feel the satisfaction
certain
rejoicing the
{ib. 9).
The conventional law can advise in a particular case. virtue
making wise the
sure,
is
is
give general rules only, but
unable to
is
So Aristotle in the Ethics points out that
a mean, but he cannot determine exactly the proper measure
at a given time.
This
is
the function of the divine law
— "The com-
mandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes" {ib.). The conventional law is subject to change in the course Witness the marriage of
sisters in the early period of
of time.
Adam and
Abel.
is
pure,
The divine law alone does not change— "The fear of the Lord enduring for ever"
{ib. 10).
The conventional law cannot estimate and kind
of
"The
the Lord are the truth; they are just altogether"
Freedom and Purpose are freedom there
is
no sense
and Purpose are not
amount
exactly the merited
reward and punishment; whereas,
ordinances of
{ib.).^^"^
Without
principles of conventional law.
in giving orders.
For
this reason
Freedom
dogmas
of divine
correctly given as fundamental
law, for while the latter cannot get along without them, they are not
common also why Maimonides omitted Freedom in
peculiar to divine law as such, but are law.
This
same
is
is
true of Purpose in general.
special purpose, perfection
include
it
The
and eternal
Existence of God, Revelation,
life,
hence Maimonides did
law are, as we Reward and Punishment.
of divine
that there cannot be a divine law without the also necessary; for the purpose of divine law
first
and
As
all
is
signified
said before, It
two.
is
evident
The
third
must be a perfection
greater than the conventional law can accomplish. life,
The
divine law, however, has a
in his list.^^^
The fundamental dogmas
is
to conventional his creed.
This
is
eternal
by Reward and Punishment.
agree that the
Law
of
Moses
is
divine,
it is
proper to use
it
as
JOSEPH ALBO
413
a standard in order to discover what a divine law must have. ingly
we examine
if
the
ciple of the existence of
first
four chapters of Genesis,
God
we
Accord-
find the prin-
in chapter one, describing creation.
The
second and third chapters give evidence of revelation, or communi-
God with man
cation of
for the purpose of directing his conduct.
Finally in the Cain incident in chapter four
dogma
Creation ex nihilo
is
a true belief but not a fundamental principle.
For though the Aristotelian view
away
illustrated the third
is
Reward and Punishment.^ ^^
of
of eternity
heretical, as it takes
is
the possibility of miracles, nay even the possibility of
Moses and
the Messiah (for these could exist only after the lapse of an infinite
munber matter
of individuals), one is
for they It
who
believes like Plato in a primitive
not necessarily in contradiction with the Biblical miracles,
were not ex nihilo
'^^^
(cf.
above, p. 358).
not sufiicient to believe in the three principles mentioned to be
is
considered a believer and to be entitled to a share in the world to come.
One must believe also in the derivative principles following from them. Thus from the existence of God follow his unity and incorporeaiity.
And
a
if
man
does not believe in incorporeaiity, he disbelieves in the
real nature of
God, and
it is
as
if
he denied the original principle.
The derivative principles (" Shorashim "= roots) are as follows. From existence of God are derived four: (i) Unity, (2) Incorporeaiity, (3) Independence of time, (4) Freedom from defects. From Revelation are derived three: (i) God's knowledge, (2) Prophecy, (3) Authenticity of God's messenger.
From Reward and Punishment
Providence in the sense of special Providence.
In
all
is
derived one
there are eleven
dogmas.^^®
A
particular
commandment
of the
Law
sinner
and is punished
for his misdeed,
is
not reckoned either as a
He who
fundamental principle or as a derivative. but
is
share in the world to come, xmless he denies that the
question
is
from God. In that case he comes
who deny revelation. because
it is
though
it is
trangresses
a
in the category of those
Similarly the belief in tradition
a particular commandment.
it is
who loses his commandment in
not a heretic
is
not a principle
Unity of God
is
a principle
apparently a special commandment, because the term
unity contains two concepts;
first,
that
God
is
one and there
is
not
another like him; second, that being one and free from any multiplicity
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
414
or composition, he
The
latter is
is
the cause of
all
the multiplicity in the world.
not a particular commandment, but a principle derived
The former is a particular commandment. If particular commandments were regarded as principles, we should have as many principles as there are commandments in the Bible.^^^ The above distinction between the two senses of the term unity, one from the existence
of
which
is
God.
of
from the existence
rationally derived
other not being so derivable Bible as a special
it
up as incapable
clearly
is
of
One."
is
The
given in the
God
in the sense of excluding
Israel,
and
falls
back upon
the Lord our God, the
by
other sense of the word unity Crescas proves
Hence Albo counts
reason.
is
due to Crescas, who after
of proof logically,
the testimony of Scripture, "Hear,
Lord
God, whereas the
not a principle, and
is
commandment,
a few attempts at proving the unity
duaUsm, gives
of
it
among
the derivative principles
{cf.
above, p. 392). If
commandment
a particular
is
not a principle, which means that a
fundamental or derivative dogma cannot but must he at the basis
whence come these the sciences
of all
principles,
we know
and who
is
itself,
substance and accident from metaphysics.
mover from
ventional law takes philosophy.
ence of
physics.
its principles,
Whence does
of
In turn the latter takes
Among
the laws, too, the con-
freedom and purpose, from
divine law take
God can be demonstrated
back to axioms and
In
but are borrowed from another
Thus physics takes the concepts
science in which they are proved.
first
arises
to warrant their truth.
that the basal principles of a given science are
not proved in that science
the idea of a
be a commandment,
itself
commandments, the question
its
principles?
political
The
exist-
philosophically from premises going
first principles.
But
this is
not true of Prophecy
and Providence.
The answer Albo gives The principles
Crescas. i. e.,
by
experience.
to this question
is
that of Judah Halevi and
of the divine law are
Adam knew
known
of the existence of
and reward and punishment from personal
empirically,
God, of prophecy
experience.
Similarly
Noah and Abraham. Nowadays we know the law by tradition, but the majority of the principles thus known are so certain that there is neither difference of opinion nor doubt entertained
cerning them.
Such
is
by anyone con-
the status for example of the principle of
JOSEPH ALBO Other principles again,
Revelation.
was
said before,
To
find out
known by
whether a
really so or not,
it
415
must be examined
spurious and not genuine.
question,
it
are, as
theoretical speculation.'*^^
religion professing to first
be of divine origin
If it is
is
with reference to the three
fundamental, and the other derivative principles. it is
God,
like the existence of
If it
opposes them,
not opposed to the principles in
must be further examined with a view to determining
whether the promulgator the test here must
is
God
a genuine messenger of
and
sive proof of prophecy,
performing them
is
still less
And
do they prove that the person
a messenger sent by
merely show that the person
or not.
Miracles and signs are no conclu-
be a direct one.
God
announce a law. They
to
considered worthy of having miracles
is
performed through him, provided the miracles are genuine and not performed through magic. of
God must be
The
as direct as
it
test of the
was
prophet and the messenger
in the case of
people actually saw that he was addressed by
with a message for
Moses, where the
God and commissioned
them."*^^
This opinion of Albo
is
clearly intended as a defence of
Judaism
against Christianity's claim that Jesus performed miracles, a claim
which the Rabbis
of the
middle ages were incHned to recognize.
In addition to the three fundamental and eight derivative principles
dogmas, which every follower of
of divine legislation, there are six
must beUeve. They are (i) Creation ex nihilo, (2) SupeMoses to other prophets, (3) Immutabihty of the Law, (4)
the Mosaic law riority of
That human perfection can be attained by any one ments
of the
Law,
(5)
Creation ex nihilo
Resurrection, (6)
is
Judaism specially because, as we saw
before (p. 413), they can exist without this dogma. it is
a truth which
command-
neither a fundamental nor a derivative prin-
ciple of religion generally or of
it
of the
Messiah.
behooves every
religionist
At the same time
and particularly every
Jew to believe. It follows from the principle of the existence of God. If God cannot create ex nihilo, there is a defect in him. For creation ex nihilo is admitted in a certain sense even by those who hold that the world is eternal. They admit that God is the cause of everything else;
hence matter
Intellect.
there
is
is
his effect
through the mediation of the separate
But how can a separate
no creation ex
nihilo.
Intellect
This
is
be the cause of matter
ex nihilo as
much
if
as anything
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
4i6
To say
ca.n be.
that
we can
no reason why he should create at a
find
and hence the world must be
particular time rather than at another, eternal, is
no argument;
from necessity.
for this reasoning can apply only to action
Voluntary action
just of this kind, that
is
takes
it
place at a particular time.
In the above argument for creation the reader reminiscences of Maimonides as well as Crescas
The
superiority of
ism, nevertheless
it
Moses
to other prophets
is
and the Bible
not
to see
fail
pp. 271 and
403).
not essential to Juda-
behooves every Jew to believe
in the principle of Revelation,
will
{cj.
it,
as
it is
tells us,
arose not a prophet since then in Israel like unto
"
included
And
there
Moses" (Deut.
34,
10).
The Immutability it will suffice
Jew should
Law
of the
to say that while
believe
it,
as
it is
will
be treated in detail
Here
later.
not a sine qua non of Judaism, every
it is
included in the derivative principle of the
Authenticity of God's messenger. It stands to reason that
human
perfection can be attained
performance of any one of the commandments of the Law.
commandments
requires the performance of all the
then the
Law
of
Moses makes
than the previous laws, which of the
it
more
difficult to
Makkot, 23
not in consonance with the statement
is
b).
lieved because
it
us by tradition.
The same
and it is
either to religion in general or to it will
in his
is
related to the principle of Re-
not like the latter indispensable
Judaism
in particular.
^^^
be seen, between Albo and Maimonides in the
question of Jewish dogmas
Albo includes
must be be-
thing applies to the belief in the Messiah.
ward and Punishment, though difference,
It
later.
has been accepted by Israel and has come down to
also a traditional belief
The
reach perfection
"God gave Israel so many laws and commandhe wished to make them meritorious" (Tal. Bab.
Resurrection wiU be treated more at length
is
if it
for this purpose,
Rabbis that
ments because
This
by the
For
is
simply one of classification and grading.
enumeration
monides with the exception
of the
all
the thirteen
fifth,
worshipped, but instead of placing them
dogmas
namely, that all
God
on the same
of
Mai-
alone be
level of
im-
portance as equally essential to the structure of Judaism, as Mai-
monides apparently intended, Albo divides them into three categories
JOSEPH ALBO of descending
41)
rank as follows: fundamental principles, derived prin-
Of Maimonides's
ciples, true beliefs.
the last two, Messiah
list
None
Resurrection, belong to the last category.
both and held
strictly in
them.
incumbent upon every Jew to believe
it
was only a question
It
he would be
called
of the status of
according to Albo a person so guilty
but (8)
is
not a heretic.
and
by Albo class,
Maimonides,
(i),
in his first class, (2), (3), (4), (6)
and
while (7) and
and the second
first
we saw
(9)
class is purely logical
who
before (p. 413), one
of
come under
The
along with Messiah and Resurrection.
liefs
the
(11) are placed
God; whereas
existence of
a sinner and needs forgiveness,
is
Of the other eleven dogmas
belong to the second
'^lo)
would seem,
it
a heretic and be excluded from a share in the world
come equally with one who denied the
to
difference
and not
true be-
between
to
As
practical.
denies incorporeality (a principle of
the second class) disbeheves in the true nature of God, which
tamount
in
a person who mistakenly
According to Maimonides,
denies these true beliefs.
and
the less Albo believed
is
tan-
denying the principle of the existence of God.
Before concluding this general discussion of the fundamental dog-
mas
and Judaism, Albo undertakes
of religion
which must have been near
no doubt
of a great
his heart,
many
answer two questions
and which were on the tongues
honest people in those days of religious
The
challenge and debate.
to
first
question
is.
Is it proper, or
perhaps
obligatory, to analyze the fundamental principles of one's religion, to see
if
they are true; and
if
one finds another rehgion which seems to
him
better, is
sees
arguments against both sides
one permitted to adopt
to analyze his religion it
will follow that
doubting
it,
as
is
and
it
of the
in place of his
dilemma.
If
to choose the one that
a person
shown by
is
a
true.
Again,
if
And
means that one cannot conceive
allowed to exchange his sure of
and
any
so on,
religion; for
own he
religion
if
so,
find a third
and as he cannot examine
all
is
he does not it
elsewhere
of the opposite being
which he thinks better and
religion for the
may
Albo
allowed
never stable in his behef, since he
his examination.
he finds another
is
seems best to him,
deserve reward for belief, since belief, as Albo defines (Pt. I, ch. 19),
own?
man
is
new
one, he will never be
still
better,
and a
fourth,
the possible religions, he will
remain without any religious convictions.
On the other hand, if he is not allowed
to investigate the foundations
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
4i8 of his belief,
it
follows either that all religions alike bring their believer
how
happiness, no matter
God would seem
or
contradictory they are, which
unfair
happiness and no one
if
only one religion leads
its
is
absurd;
devotees to
allowed to change his religion for one that
is
seems to him the true one.
The answer
Albo to
of
this interesting question is characteristic.
shows that he armored himself in advance, before he risked such a
It
He makes
delicate question.
any danger the
to
religion of
it
Judaism, the mother of the other two,
which they came to supersede. us,
clear that it really does not expose
If all religions in the
the above difficulty would be
Hence every
superseded.
gate his religion to see is
But
real.
agree in respect to one of them that is
world, Albo
tells
were opposed to one another, and regarded each other as untrue,
it is
if it is
justified in
acknowledged to be divine.
is
not a Jew must investi-
opposing the religion which
Similarly the professor of the admit-
tedly divine religion should investigate to see
rary or eternal.
All religions
so.
divine; but they say that it
who
religionist
not
it is
his religion
if
In this investigation he must
tempo-
is
the religion
first see if
conforms to the principles of divine religion above mentioned. it
does this and in addition endeavors to order
cordance with justice, and leads it is
man
divine.
It
good character.
of
its
devotees
however, possible that
is still,
It
is
it is
the
work
This
be a direct
The
and not an is
said
above
is
a genuine
indirect.^^^
recipients are of one species.
Hence
there
may
is
is
one,
in reality the receivers
vary
to difference in inheritance
whom
it is
intended.
due to the receiver and not to the
in those elements
particulars
But
and
Since, however, the giver, it
which are dependent upon the
details,
and environ-
be a difference in the law according to the
character of the people for difference
must
(p. 415),
whether there can be more than one divine
temperament according
ment.
was
test, as
Apparently there can be only one, since the giver
religion.
and the in
test
other question
of a wise
therefore necessary to investigate the
character of the promulgator, to find out whether he divine messenger or not.
If
human affairs in acto human perfection,
must
receiver,
i.
reside e.,
in
not in the principles, fundamental or derived.
So the Noachite and the Mosaic laws fundamental principles. ^^^
differ
only in details, not in
JOSEPH ALBO
We
419
have now completed the exposition of the part of Albo's teach-
ing that
may
And
be called distinctly his own.
it
seems he was aware
that he had nothing further to teach that was new, and would have
been content to end his book with the just given
an account.
remarks to the
first
But
his friends,
first
he
part, of
tells
which we have
us in the concluding
part of the "Ikkarim,"^^^ urged him to proceed
further and discuss in detail the principles, fundamental and derived,
the true beliefs and the so-called "branches," which he barely enu-
He was persuaded by their advice and added
merated in the first part.
the other three sections, each devoted to one of the three fundamental
dogmas and the corollaries following from it. Here Albo has nothing new to teach. He follows the beaten track, reviews the classic views of
of the criticisms of Gersonides
Maimonides, takes advantage
and
Crescas,
another, without will
the problems sometimes one
settles
ever
suggesting
The second
and branches growing out from
istence of
God he
selects the third
refers to
God and
really valid
the derived
In proving the ex-
this root.
Maimonides's four proofs
and fourth as
it
It will
on the more important problems.
section deals with the existence of
principles
first
Accordingly
anything new.
not be worth our while to reproduce his discussions here.
suffice briefly to indicate his position
and
way sometimes
{cf.
p. 257
ff.),
and beyond dispute.
and second are not conclusive; the one because
it is
and
The
based upon
the eternity of motion, which no Jew accepts; the other because the major premise is not true. It does not follow if one of the two elements a, b, of
a composite a-\-b
\s>
found separately, that the other must be
found existing separately likewise.^^*
We have seen
that from the principle of the existence of
God
follow
four derivative dogmas, unity, incorporeal! ty, independence of time,
freedom from roots issue a
defects.
number
We
are
now told that from these secondary From Unity it follows that no at-
of branches.
tributes either essential or accidental can be applied to God, such as
wisdom, strength, generosity, and so on, plicity.
From
incorporeality
we
for they
would cause multi-
God
not subject to cor-
infer that
is
poreal affections like fear, sorrow, joy, grudge, and so on.
Independ-
ence of time implies infinite power and want of resemblance to other things.
Freedom from
defect implies absence of such qualities as
ignorance, weakness, and so on.^^^
MEDIjEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
420
In the discussion of the divine attributes Albo has nothing new
to
but instead he argues forward and backward, now with Mai-
ofifer,
monides,
now
classification,
against him, reproducing a good deal of Maimonides's
embodying some material
of
Bahya on
and
unity,
after
rambling and not very consistent discussion, he comes to the con-
this
clusion that none but active
God; and yet some
and negative attributes are applicable to must be his, but these
essential attributes too
must be understood as implying only the aspect that other aspect of attribute which
He
asks the question so often asked before,
And
come from unity?
after giving
of Gazali
How
can multiplicity
Ibn Sina's scheme of the emana-
and
tion of the Intelligences one after the other,
manner
and not
of perfection,
responsible for multiplicity.^-^
is
and Maimonides, he gives
his
criticizing it in the
own
solution that the
variety and multiplicity of the world tends to one end, which
And
order of the world.
is
the
thus are reconciled plurality and unity.
Gersonides above, p. 351).^^^
{cf.
He
discusses the question of angels or Intellects, gives the views of
the philosophers concerning their nature and number, each being the effect of the superior
and the cause
of the inferior,
idea on the ground that these cannot be the
who
are messengers of
God
number of angels is and that they are not
to mankind.
same
He
and objects
to their
as the Biblical angels,
then gives his
that the
infinite,
fifty,
related to each other as cause
own view
not as the philosophers say ten or
and
efifect,
but that though they are immaterial Intellects they are individuated
and
differentiated according to the degree of understanding they
have
of God.428
In discussing the second fundamental principle. Revelation, Albo argues in the good old fashion that
man is the
noblest creature of the
sublunar world, and the most distinctive and noblest part of his
form and essence
man must time,
—
is
be the realization of the theoretical
and with
little
man
Hence the purpose
the theoretical reason.
At the same
consistency, Albo takes the part of
Judah Halevi
and Crescas, employing
their arguments, without
naming them, that
the philosophers and the philosophizing theologians are wrong
make human upon
of
intellect.
who
immortality, perfection and happiness depend solely
intellectual activity.
spiritual understanding,
He comes to
the conclusion, therefore, that
which gives perfection
of soul
when
in
com-
JOSEPH ALBO bination with practice,
doing the
will of
is
God in
421
not acquisition of ideas but the intention of
the performance of good deeds,
and not that
of
^"^ pleasure or reward.
This being tices
so, it
becomes an important question what are the prac-
which tend to human perfection, and what are those which tend
the other way.
In general
we may
joices in like, that those deeds
after performance are
conclude, as like desires and re-
which give the soul pleasiue before and
good and
helpful,
while those which cause
subsequent pain, regret and sorrow are bad, and tend away from the soul's perfection.
But the
criterion of pleasure
and pain
just suggested
as a guide in conduct, for a great deal depends
ment.
What
a hot-blooded
not sufficient
is
upon a man's tempera-
man may commend and
find pleasure in,
the phlegmatic temperament will object to, and will feel discomfort in doing.
Besides, as the
tremes, which
it is
good deed
is
always a mean between two ex-
hard to measure precisely; and as the good deed
is
we cannot tell what does, and what does not please God, since we do not know his essence, it was necessary for man's sake that God should reveal his will to mankind through a prophet. Thus Revelation is proved by reason.^^'' that which pleases God, and beyond generalities
This leads to the problem of prophecy, one of the derivative prin-
The
ciples of Revelation.
knowledge
obtain without the divine
communication with heathen employed Israel, to tell the
evil
and displeasing
man
gets a
to God, he cannot
will.
Instead of magic, divination, and
spirits
and the dead, which the ancient
in order to learn the future,
people of the will of God.
only secondary with them. it
divine influence from which
of the things pleasing
Prophecy
is
God
sent prophets to
Foretelling the future
a supernatural
takes place with the help of the imagination or not.
gift,
was
whether
If it
were a
phenomenon dependent upon the intellectual power of the individual and his faculty of imagination, as the philosophers and some
natural
Jewish theologians think, there should have been prophets among the philosophers.
Here again we see Albo adopt the view
of Halevi
the intellectualism of Maimonides and classification of the grades of
though Albo
simplifies
it.
prophecy
is
and Crescas against
Gersonides.
His further
based upon Maimonides,
Instead of eleven Albo recognizes four
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
422 grades in
all,
The
including that of Moses.
great majority of
kind, he says, stop with the ability to analyze, such as
man-
exhibited in
is
the analysis of things into matter and form, and so on, though not of
them go
so far.
But there are some few who go This
being able to account for the power.
Some go
ha-Kodesh").
is
God without ("Ruah
the holy spirit
and through the strength
farther,
still
and are
farther
enabled to speak words of wisdom and to sing praises to
all
of their
reason and imagination they dream true dreams and receive prophecies;
though, the imagination having the upper hand, they struggle
very hard and tremble and the
first
stage of prophecy.
and reason are
equal.
almost losing their
faint,
The second
stage
In that case there
is
is
when
soul.
This
is
the imagination
no struggle or
fainting.
come to the prophet at night in dreams, or in a revery at dayThe forms that appear are not real, but the meanings they convey are. Such are the figures of women, horses, basket of summer fruit, and so on, in the visions of Zechariah and Amos. The third stage is when the reason gets the better of the imagination and there Visions time.
are no forms or images, but real essences Ezekiel,
which represent real things
and
ideas, like the visions of
in the secrets of nature and divinity.
The prophet in this stage also hears an angel speaking to him and giving him information of importance to himself or others. In all these cases the will of God is essential. No preparation can replace it. Finally the fourth stage is reached when the imagination does not come into play at all. In this stage there is no angel or form, and the message comes to the prophet at daytime while he
him what he
a voice
telling
he can
summon
this
power.
desires to
is
He hears
awake.
know; and whenever he chooses
Moses alone attained
to this final stage.
Outside of the prophets, the righteous and the pious have various degrees of power according to the degree of their union with God.
Some can
in this
way
influence the powers of nature to
a person can, by thinking of food,
make
his
can by taking thought cause rain and storm. fire
mouth
obey them, as So they
water.
Others can bring
down
may
some-
from above and revive the dead.
Through the
influence of a prophet the gift of prophecy
times rest upon individuals
worthy.
who
are themselves unprepared
and un-
Witness the revelation on Sinai where the entire people,
hundred thousand in number, were endowed with the
spirit of
six
prophecy,
JOSEPH ALSO and that too
medium
of the highest degree, like
reflects the spirit of
found only
of Stone,
in Israel
Moses
and
The prophetic
himself.
prophecy on others as a smooth surface
sun upon dark bodies.
reflects the light of the is
423
This
in Palestine, because the ark
upon which the Shekinah
upon those who are worthy and have
rests,
in
reflect
why prophecy
is
and the Tables
the divine spirit
them something resembling
the contents of the ark, namely, the Torah and the commandments.^^^
Among the Law is
of the
true beliefs
we have
It
would seem at
expresses his will in the
are the same,
the
i. e.,
first
Law, and
same
nally the purpose of the
and
(p.
Can a
the place to discuss this question.
time or not?
seen
416) that Immutability
Hence
related to the principle of Revelation.
nation,
cannot.
For the giver
never changes.
The receivers
sight that
his will
this is
divine religion change with it
and a nation does not change.
Law or religion is to give people
Fi-
true opinions,
these never change.
And
yet on further reflection there seems no reason
why
religion
should not change with the change of the recipient, as the physician
changes his prescription with the progress of the patient, and as a
Adam
matter of fact we find that the commandments given to
Adam was manded
were
from those given to Noah and to Abraham and to Moses.
different
not allowed to eat meat,
circumcision.
forbidden.
Noah
Abraham was com-
was.
High places were at
first
Maimonides makes the immutability
permitted and later of the
Law
a funda-
mental dogma, relying upon the commandment, "Thou shalt not add thereto,
and thou
the
place the verse refers to changes in the
first
and
laws;
shalt not diminish therefrom" (Deut. 13,
besides,
it
says nothing about
God
mode
i).
But
in
of observing the
himself changing the
Law.
The "it
not
phrases "an eternal statute," "throughout your generations," a sign for ever," are no proof of the eternity of the Law; for
is
all
commandments have
these expressions attached,
shows rather that the others are subject to change. pressions,
They
for eternity,"
and so
and
this
Besides, the ex-
on, are not to be taken absolutely.
are often used to express finite periods of time.
After the Babylonian Exile two changes were made.
They changed
the characters in which the Bible was written, and the order and names of the
months, beginning with Tishri instead of Nisan.
There
is
no
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
424
why
reason, therefore,
other laws might not change, too.
not, then, regard Immutability of the
with Maimonides.
Law
Hasdai Crescas also
and not with fundamental
We
dogma
as a fundamental
classes
it
i^eed
with true beliefs
principles.
A matter that is revealed by by a prophet unless it is changed by two commandments, "I am the Lord thy God,
Albo resolves the problem as follows:
God God
himself cannot be changed
The first "Thou shalt not have other people directly from God without the himself.
&c.," and
by the
gods, &c.," were heard
intervention of Moses, hence
they cannot be changed by any prophet.
It follows therefore that
the three fundamental dogmas, existence of God, Revelation and
Reward and Punishment can never be changed by a prophet, for they are implied in the first two commandments, which were heard from God himself. The rest of the commandments, as they were heard from God through the interpretation of Moses, can be changed by a prophet as a temporary measure. The other laws which were given by Moses may be changed by a later prophet even permanently. But the prophet must be greater than Moses, and he must show this by the greatness, number, publicity and permanence of his miracles, which must excel those of Moses. He must likewise show that he was sent
by God
was sent
Law, as
to change the
to give
it.
But
it is
Moses proved that he
clearly as
unlikely that
any such prophet
come, for the Torah says that there never was or like
will
Moses. ^^2
Before discussing the third fundamental dogma, Albo finds sirable to dispose first of a
few other problems imphed by
one of which, God's knowledge, was postponed to is
will
be any prophet
connected with Revelation, because
cussion from the problem of Freedom.
problem, which
There
is
Freedom.
is
derived from the
nothing that
He
is
insists like
new
it
this
this place,
it
though
cannot well be separated in Providence
dogma
of
is
de-
dogma, it
dis-
the other related
Reward and Punishment.
knowledge and Maimonides that God must be omniscient, in Albo's treatment of
and on the other hand the contingent cannot be denied, and neither can freedom.
He
gives the stock arguments, which
to reproduce at this late hour.
that in
And
God human freedom and
because God's knowledge
is
his solution
is
it is
not necessary
that of Maimonides
divine Omniscience are reconcilable
not our knowledge. ^^^
JOSEPH ALBO Nor
is
425
there anything original in Albo's discussion of the problem
He
of Providence.
Maimonides and others that a
recognizes with
strong argument against
special Providence
between the destinies
men and
of
their
is
the observed inequality
And he
apparent merits.
en-
deavors in the well worn method to give reasons and explanations
which
for this inequality
we
shall
not touch unfavorably God's justice or
will
The
his special Providence.
reasons are such as
Albo
not repeat them.
human phenomena
before and
also gives a few positive arguments
to prove the reahty of special Providence for
natural and
we met
man.
He
sees in various
evidence of deviation from the merely
"natural" as demanded by the principles of Aristotle's Physics or
Thus the
This shows special Providence.
the laws of uniformity.
existence of dry earth, the heaviest element, above water, cannot be
The phenomenon
accounted for by the laws of Physics. not be reduced to law, hence
Admonition it is
in
dreams
of rain can-
argues will and purpose and Providence.
direct evidence of special Providence,
is
scarcely likely that
it
man, who has
special
and
equipment above the
other animals in his reason, should not also receive special care above that which the lower animals have.
hence
species,
man
Having disposed
is
Now
they are protected in the
^^* provided for as an individual.
of the auxiliary
dogmas, Albo takes up the funda-
He
mental principle of Reward and Punishment.
cites
various
opinions on the subject, which are dependent upon the idea one entertains concerning the nature of the soul.
human
soul
as there
is
if
one regards the
possibility of intelligence he
perishes with the
ment
one holds that the
must
it
follows that
for the animal, there
human
body and there
after death.
poreal, during
if
not different in kind from the animal soul,
no reward and punishment
And
man.
is
Thus
is
none for
soul as merely a capacity or
necessarily conclude that the soul is
The only reward
no
spiritual
there
is
reward and punish-
must
therefore be cor-
On the other hand, our general experience, which many cases of good men suffering and bad men en-
life.
brings before us
joying prosperity, wovJd seem to argue against corporeal reward and
punishment
in this world.
opinion that the soul
is
This taken together with the philosophical
an immaterial and indestructible substance
gives rise to the third view that the only recompense
death.
None
of these views
is
is
satisfactory to Albo.
spiritual after
The
first
two
MEDIJEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
426
because they are based upon an erroneous notion of the
different in kind
human
that the far as
it is
value
is
from the soul soul
is
and
of the animal;
it is
and the only reward is
gious view that the soul
is
is
immortahty which
and
to substitute for
it
the
reli-
an independent substance having a capacity
The
for intelligence in God's service. this service determines his
degree in which a person realizes
The argument
reward and punishment.
from experience Albo does not answer here, but we as answered
and Crescas
similar to that of Halevi
in its endeavor to refute this notion
where he
is
likewise admitted
based upon the intellectuahst idea that the thing of highest
intellectual effort,
it
soul
His criticism of the third view so
immortal.
intellectual activity engenders,
regards
All
soul.
human
agree, philosophers as well as theologians, that the
by what he
may
suppose he
said in his discussion of Providence,
account for the prosperity of the wicked and the
tries to
adversity of the righteous.
own view
Albo's
the Bible that there
There
is still
accordingly is
soul
with
by
combined
whom
that which he also attributes to
a difference of opinion concerning the nature of the true
and ultimate reward, whether and
is
a twofold reward, in this world and in the next.
it is
in resiurection.
given to the soul alone, or to body
He
quotes Maimonides's opinion,
he agrees, that the real reward
the soul alone.
To be
is
purely spiritual enjoyed
coming
sure, after the
bodies of the righteous will be resurrected to
of the
Messiah the
make known abroad
God's wonders, or to give these people bodily pleasure for the pain they suffered during
life,
or to give
acquire perfection so that they
them
may have
additional opportunity to
a greater reward
this state of resurrected life will last only for a time,
die again,
The
and the
timate reward
Albo that
is if
souls will enjoy spiritual
other opinion, held is
that of
body and
But
all will
forever.
life
by Nachmanides,
later.
and then
is
that the real
and
soul united to everlasting
not satisfied with this view, his objections being
among
ullife.
others
only the perfect are resurrected, the rest will remain without
any reward that the
at
all,
not to mention the difficulty that
human body
—a perishable thing—
will
it is
not likely
change into a matter
that will last forever.
As
to the natiure of reward
and punishment
after death,
us that reward will consist in the soul's realization that
its
Albo
tells
endeavors
JOSEPH ALSO in this world were correct,
and
427
in the next world
join the spiritual beings, which will give
soul will find itself in a position where
it
it will
great joy.
it will still
more natural
At the same time
desire of
its
want
erring
them
for
want
of
also entertain the other
a spiritual substance to join the other spiritual
beings in the other world.
because of
it will
The
desire the corporeal
pleasures of this world, but will not be able to have
corporeal organs.
be prepared to
This feeling too
of perfection.
wUl cause the soul excruciating
it will
not be able to satisfy
This division of desires unsatisfied
torture,
and
this is its
punishment. ^^^
CONCLUSION Our task
is
We have now reached
done.
We have
ourselves.
the rationalistic
traced objectively
movement
Albo.
decline in Spain
followed
its
Bahya and Ibn Daud
Gabirol,
and we
its
We have
century.
likewise traced
We
its
took account of
we have
assigned
less detail
Jewry from its beginnings in Babylon among the Karaites and
in mediaeval
the ninth and tenth centuries in
Rabbanites to
the limit
and with greater or
and south France
in the fifteenth
ascending curve from Saadia through to its highest point in
Maimonides,
descent through Gersonides, Crescas and its essential
nature as being a serious and
conscientious attempt to define a Jewish Weltanschauung in the midst of conflicting claims of religions
writings
had
to be studied
and
The Jewish
philosophies.
sacred
and made consistent with themselves
in
regard to certain ethical and metaphysical questions which forced
themselves upon the minds of thinking men.
was necessary ing
to
up among
have regard to the system
Mohammedan
their
—and adjust
inherited from Greece
The adjustment took of the adjuster.
It
its
The system
of
who
—
itself
teachings to those of Judaism.
various forms according to the temperament
embraced the extremes
of all
but it
sacrificing
honestly endeavored to give each claim
Judaism was the same
for all
one of
counted among its
its
due.
throughout the period
of our investigation, excepting only the difference
between Karaites
and Rabbanites. This was not the case with the system doctrine.
it
was grow-
neighbors and masters
the two systems of doctrine to the other, and votaries those
In this endeavor
of doctrine that
of philosophic
There we can see a development from Kalam through Neo-
Platonism to Aristotelianism, and we accordingly
classified the
Jewish
thinkers as Mutakallimun, Neo-Platonists or Aristotelians, or combinations in varying proportions of
any two
of the three systems
mentioned. It
was not our province to
Jewry as
it
treat of the mystic
movement
in mediaeval
developed in the Kabbalistic works and gained the ground
5delded in the course of time
by the 428
healthier rationalism.
To com-
CONCLUSION plete the picture
it will suffice
429
to say that as the political
and economic
conditions of the Jews in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries dete-
and freedom and
riorated,
by persecution
toleration were succeeded
and expulsion, the Jews became more zealous for their own spiritual heritage as distinguished from foreign importations; philosophy and rationalism began to be regarded askance, particularly as experience
showed that
and
ness
scientific training
were as a rule not the so-called enlightened who played
with foreign learning, but the simple folk
good old
tradition in the
devotees were the ism. "^^^
to Jewish steadfast-
In suffering and persecution those who stuck to
loyalty.
their posts
was not favorable
Thus
it
first
The
style.
to yield,
who
believed in Torah
philosophical
and many
of
and the
and
scientific
them abandoned Juda-
was that mysticism and obscurantism took the place a measure of self-defence. The material walls of
of enlightenment as
the Ghetto and the spiritual walls of the
Talmud and
the Kabbala
kept the remnant from being overwhelmed and absorbed by the hos-
environment of Christian and Mohammedan.
tile
The second
half of
the fourteenth, and the fifteenth century were not favorable to philosophical studies still
show an
among
interest in science
Kabbala and are not
in
the Jews, and the few here
of
and there who
and philosophy combine with
any great
it
a
belief
on the development of
influence
Judaism.
Shemtob ben Joseph ibn Shemtob titled
''Emunot,"
osophy.
He
is
^^^
is
(ab. 1440)
author of a work en-
a strong opponent of Greek science and phil-
not content with attacking the lesser lights and ex-
tremists like Albalag or Gersonides or
Abraham
monides responsible
He
for the heresies
He
ibn Ezra.
to the very fountain-head of Jewish Aristotehanism
goes
and holds Mai-
which invaded the Jewish camp.
takes up one doctrine after another of the great Jewish philosopher
and points out how dangerous
it is
to the true Jewish faith.
Judah
Halevi and Nachmanides represent to him the true Jewish attitude.
The mysteries
of the Jewish faith are revealed not in philosophy
in the Kabbala,
but
which Maimonides did not study, and which he would
not have understood
if
he had studied
it,
for
he had no Kabbalistic
tradition.
Unlike Shemtob, his son Joseph ben Shemtob great admiration for Aristotle and Maimonides.
(d.
1480)
But he
is
^^^
shows
enabled to
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
43©
do so by lending credence
to a legend that Aristotle in his old age re-
canted his heretical doctrines, in particular that of the eternity of the
Joseph ben Shemtob made a special study of Aristotle's Ethics,
world.
commentary, and endeavored to show that the
to which he wrote a
Stagirite's ethical doctrines
good of
man and
had been misunderstood; that the highest
his ultimate happiness are to
to Aristotle not in this world
understanding, he thinks, totle
deny
in the next.
be sought according
It
was likewise a mis-
when Maimonides and
special Providence.
True science
is
others
make
Aris-
not really opposed to
At the same time he too like his father realizes the danger scientific study, and hence agrees with Solomon ben Adret
Judaism. of too
but
much
that the study of philosophy should be postponed to the age of maturity
when the student
is
already imbued with Jewish learning and
religious faith.
The son tob
ben
of Joseph, bearing the
Joseph
footsteps,^^^
(fl.
ab.
1461-89),
whom
Shem-
of his grandfather,
followed
commentary on
and wrote a
Perplexed" of Maimonides,
name
his
in
the
father's
"Guide
of
the
he defends against the attacks of
Crescas.
Isaac
ben
Moses Arama
philosophico-homiletical
He was
^^^
is
the
author
commentary on the Pentateuch
"Akedat Yizhak," and a small and theology.
(1420-1494)
treatise
of
a
entitled,
on the relations of philosophy
also interested in
Kabbala and placed Jewish
revelation above philosophy.
Don Isaac Abarbanel (1437-1508),*^^ the distinguished Jewish statesman who went with his brethren into exile at the time of the expulsion of the egesis ides,
Jews from Spain
and
in 1492,
religious philosophy.
was a
prolific writer
Though a
on Biblical ex-
great admirer of
Maimon-
on whose "Guide" he wrote a commentary, and whose thirteen
articles of the creed
he defended against the strictures of Crescas and
Albo, he was nevertheless an outspoken opponent of the rationalistic attitude
and has no phrases strong enough
Gersonides, Moses of heretics
and teachers
Narbonne and of
dangerous doctrines.
Maimonides himself when the tional
for such
others,
latter
men
attempts to identify the tradi-
"Maase Bereshit" and "Maase Merkaba" with
telian Physics
and Metaphysics
(c/.
as Albalag,
whom he denounces as He does not even spare
above, p. 303
f.),
the Aristo-
and adopts Kab-
CONCLUSION balistic
431
He
views along with philosophic doctrines.
neither original
is
nor thoroughly consistent. ^^^ is
His son Judah Leo Abarbanel (1470-1530)
work
philosophical
the author of a
Amore," (Dialogues
in Italian, "Dialoghi di
of
Love), which breathes the spirit of the Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Italy.
principle of all
it
is
regarded as the essential
in the world, including
There
a Jewish philosophy, and though
made
which
love,
and activity
life
organic natural processes.
under the influence of Plato and
It is
God with
Plotinus and identifies
is
all
even the
in-
no attempt made to construct
evidence
against
is
it,
some have
out that Judah Abarbanel was a convert to Christianity.
In the same country, in Italy, Judah ben Yechiel Messer Leon of
Mantua
^^^
(1450-1490)
made a name
Hebrew based upon
He
Two members
is
wrote a rhetoric in
Cicero and Lactantius, and composed logical works
based upon Aristotle's Latin text and Averroes. of philosophy he
a student of
for himself as
Cicero and of mediaeval Latin scholasticism.
of
original student
no importance.
of the
Delmedigo family
and Joseph Solomon, ^^^ are writers on philosophical
Thus the stream
As an
well
and
known
of Crete, Elijah (1460- 1498)
as students of philosophy
and
scientific subjects.
of philosophical thought
which rose among the
Jews in Babylonia and flowed on through the ages, ever widening and deepening
mark
channel, passing into Spain and reaching
its
in the latter half of the twelfth century in
its
high water
Maimonides, began to
narrow and thin out while spreading into France and
Italy, until at
which opened up a new world
last it dried
up
of thought,
beauty and feeling in the fifteenth century, the land of the Jewish philosophy never passed beyond the scholastic
Renaissance. stage,
entirely in that very land
and the freedom and
light
which came to the
in the revival of ancient learning
of the
modem
rest of the
and the inventions and
era found the Jews incapable of benefiting
ings they afforded.
world
discoveries
by
the bless-
Oppression and gloom caused the Jews to retire
within their shell and they sought consolation for the freedom denied
them without
in concentrating their interests, ideals
the Rabbinic writings, legal as well as mystical. philosophers
among
and hopes upon
There have appeared
the Jews in succeeding centuries, but they either
philosophized without regard to Judaism and in opposition to
its
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
432
fundamental dogmas, thus incurring the wrath and exclusion of the synagogue, or they sought to dissociate Judaism from theoretical speculation on the ground that the Jewish religion
but a rule of conduct. into sects its
not a philosophy
In more recent times Jewry has divided
and under the
central authority
is
influence of
making every group the
and practice and narrowing the ceremony and communal activity
itself
modern individuahsm has
religious
arbiter of its
own
lost
belief
influence to matters of
of a practical character.
There are
Jews now and there are philosophers, but there are no Jewish philosophers
and
there
is
no Jewish philosophy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY GENERAL WORKS Solomon Munk, Melanges de 461-51 1.
German
A brief
Philosophic Juive et Arabe, Paris 1859, pp. resume of philosophical authors and books.
historical
translation
by Beer, Philosophie und philosophische SchriftEnglish translation by Isidor KaUsch,
steUer der Juden, Leipzig, 1852.
Philosophy and Philosophical Authors of the Jews, Cincinnati, 1881. A. ScHMEEDL, Studien liber jiidische, insonders jiidisch-arabische ReUgionsphilosophie, Wien, 1869.
MoRiTZ EiSLER, Vorlesungen alters (3 parts),
iiber die jiidischen
Philosophen des Mittel-
Wien, 1870-84.
David Kaufmann, Geschichte der Attributenlehre in der jiidischen Religionsphilosophie des Mittelalters von Saadia bis Maimuni, Gotha, 1877.
Simeon Bernfeld,
!3N-iB>^n
Warsaw,
riTnn N^DiDi^Jsn nnijin, wnhi^ nyn,
1897.
HoROViTZ, Die Psychologic bei den judischen Religions-Philosophen des Mittelalters, von Saadia bis Maimuni, Breslau, 1898-1912 (includes so far Saadia, Gabirol, Ibn Zaddik, Abraham ibn Daud).
S.
PoLLAK, "Entwicklung der arabischen und judischen Philosophie im
J.
Mittelalter" in
Archiv fur Geschichte
der Philosophie,
vol.
XVII
(1904), pp. 196-236, 433-459-
Ueberweg-Baumgartner, Grundriss der Geschichte der II,
Philosophie, vol.
loth ed., Berhn, 1915, pp. 385-403.
David Neumark, Geschichte der judischen nach Problemen dargesteUt,
vol.
I,
Philosophie des Mittelalters,
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1907, vol.
II,
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Ignaz Goldziher, Die jiidische Philosophie in Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie, von W. Wundt, etc. (Die Kultur der Gegenwart I, 5), pp. 70-77 (2nd ed., pp. 301-337).
Kalam
in Jewish Philosophy
Martin Schreiner, Der Kalam
in
der
judischen Literatur,
Berlin,
1895. ^
This bibliography contains a selection of the more important works of exposi-
tion.
For
original sources see the notes.
433
BIBLIOGRAPHY
434
Isaac Israeli
Jacob Guttmann, Die philosophischen Lehren des Isaak ben Salomon Israeli,
Miinster
W.
i.
191 1.
Al Mukammas
Abraham Harkavy,
in
Russian periodical Woskhod, Sept. 1898.
Saadia
Jacob Guttmann, Die Religionsphilosophie des Saadia, Gottingen, D. J. Engelkemper, Saadja Gaon's religionsphUosophische Lehre die heilige Schrift, iibersetzt und erklart, Miinster, 1903.
1882. iiber
Joseph Al Basir P. F.
Frankl, Ein Mu'tazilitischer Kalam aus dem
10.
Jahrhundert, Wien,
1872.
MiKSA Klein, Juszuf Erno Morgenstern,
Al-Baszir, Al-Kitab Al-Muhtavi, Budapest, 1913.
Juszuf Al-Baszir, Al Kitab Al Muhtavi, Budapest,
1913-
Jeshda ben Judah
Martin Schreiner,
Studien iiber Jeschu'a ben Jehuda, Berlin, 1900.
Solomon ibn Gabirol S.
Munk,
Melanges,
etc., Paris, 1859,
pp. 151-306.
XV and XVI. Jacob Guttmann, Die PhUosophie des Salomon ibn Gabirol, Gottingen, Seyerlen,
in Zeller's Theologische Jahrbiicher, vols.
1889.
David Kaufmann, Studien
iiber
Salomon ibn Gabirol, Budapest, 1899.
Bahya ibn Pakuda David Kaufmann, "Die Theologie des Bachja Ibn Pakuda," in " Gesammelte Schriften von David Kaufmann " (ed. Brann), vol. II, FrankJ.
furt a. M., 1910, pp. 1-98. H. Hertz, Bachya, The Jewish Thomas a Kempis, New York, 1898 (in Sixth Biennial Report of the Jewish Theological Seminary Association).
Pseudo-Bahya Jacob Guttmann, "Eine bisher unbekannte, dem Bachja ibn Pakuda zugeignete Schrift," Monatschrijt p. 241
ff.
/,
G. u.
W.
d. J., vol.
XLI
(1897),
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435
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Abraham ibn Daud GuGENHEiMER, Die Rcligionsphilosophic des R. Abraham ben David haLevi nach dessen noch ungedruckter Schrift inneren imd historischen
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Emuna Rama
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ihrem
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Joel, Die Rehgionsphilosophie des
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M.
Joel, Verhaltniss Albert des Grossen zu Moses Maimonides, Breslau, 1876.
Jacob Guttmann, Der Einfluss der Maimonidischen Philosophic auf das christliche Abendland, in Moses ben Maimon (see above), pp. 135-230. David Kaufmann, Der "Fiihrer" Maimuni's in der Weltliteratur, Archiv vol. XI (1898), pp. 335-376; reprinted " (ed. Brann), Frankfurt a. M., 1910, vol. II,
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Benzion Kellermann, Die Kampfe Gottes von Lewi ben Gerson, Uebersetzung und Erklarung des handschriftlich revidierten Textes, Erster Teil, Berlin, 1914. Contains the German translation of the first book of the " MiUiamot Adonai." The translation is faulty in
many
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Review,
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Series, in the course of the
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Hasdai Crescas
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geschichtlichen Einflusse dargestellt, Breslau, 1866.
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437
Jaulus, in Monatschrift f. G. u. W. d. J., 1874, p. 462 ff. A, Tanzer, Die Religionsphilosophie Joseph Albo's nach seinem Werke "Ikkarim" systematisch dargestellt und erlautert, Frankfurt a. M., 1896.
Biblical Exegesis
W. Bacher, Die ID.,
Bibelexegese der judischen \
Religionsphilosophen des
Mittelalters vor Maimuni, Budapest, 1892. Die Jiidische Bibelexegese vom Anfange des zehnten bis
zum Ende
fiinfzehnten Jahrhunderts, Treves, 1892, reprinted from Winter
Wiinsche, Die jiidische Literatur 339, where a ID.,
full
bibliography
Jewish Encyclopedia,
s.
is
seit
Abschluss des Kanons,
II,
des
und 239-
given.
v. Bible Exegesis, §§ 14-16.
Influence of Jewish Philosophy on Scholasticism of Joel, Guttmann, Kaufmann, Crawford and Husik mentioned above under Maimonides; and besides Jacob Guttmann, Das Verhaltniss des Thomas von Aquino zum Judenthum
The works
und zur id..
jiidischen Litteratur, Gottrngen, 1891.
Die Scholastik des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts
Judenthum und zur For further references
in ihren
Beziehungen
jiidischen Literatur, Breslau, 1902.
see the notes.
zum
NOTES [Black figures denote the page, the Hght figures the notes] XV,
See below, p. 395
I.
xvi,
2.
Encyclopedia,
£f.
Talm. Bab. Hagiga iib.
3. Ibid.
See
4.
Griechen, III,
2,
Die Philosophie der 3d ed. p. 347; Mai-
monides, Guide of the Perplexed,
I,
ch. 16.
Wenrich,
xvii, 5. See
Graecorum Versionibus Syriacis,
De Auctorum et Commenff;
De
Geschichte der Philosophie
im
Islam, Stuttgart, 1901, p. i7ff (EngUsh translation 1
1-30)
2nd
.
by
Jones, London, 1903, pp.
Duval, La Litterature Syriaque
ed., Paris,
1900, ch.
XIV,
§ 2, p.
253 ffXX, 6. See Dieterid, Die Theologie
des Aristotles
German
1882;
See
Schrift
Die
iiber
Pseudo-
das
i.
reine
Liber
Kalam
Der
20. Schreiner,
in
der
Guide of the Perplexed,
xxvii, 21.
I,
ch. 71.
the " Vetus Logica,"
see Goldziher, Vorlesungen ff,
f.
Kalam
See Steinschneider, Die He-
26.
telalters
Uebersetzungen
1, 27.
als
des
Mit-
Dolmetscher,
479 and notes.
See Guttmann, Die Scholastik
des dreizehnten Jahrhvmderts in ihxen
Beziehungen ziun Judenthum und zur Literatur,
jiidischen
28.
in
imd die Juden
Berlin, 1893, §
p. 55
xxiv, II. See below, p. 247.
XXV, 12. See Schreiner, Der
I,
braischen
Leyden, 1906, p. 11, 97 note. xxi, 10. For the following sketch of uber den Islam, Heidelberg, 1910, 100
ff.
Yahuda, AI-Hidaja 'Ha Fara'id Al-Qulub des Bachja ibn Joseph Ibn Paquda, Leyden, 191 2, p. 53 ff. xxxvii, 25. Cf. above, note 6.
See Husik, Judah Messer Leon's
Commentary upon
p. 155
ff.
xxviii, 24. See
Deutsche
Rose,
Literaturzeitimg, 1883, p. 843.
127
p. 12.
jiidischen Literatur, p. 3, 4.
den Islam,
Valentinus
Kalam
c.
See Goldziher, Vorlesungen iiber
Br., 1882.
the
1.
See below, p. 246
de causis, Freiburg
9.
18. Schreiner
19. Ibid.
23.
dem Namen
See
min jn \bti)
22.
Gute, bekannt unter
8.
—
.iD-n n^^i'N-i ^3:p 'n
by the same,
Bardenhewer,
aristotelische
Cn ''b^:^) Tnai min
(Arabic text), Leipzig, translation
Leipzig, 1883. 7.
Schreiner, Studien iiber Jeschu'a
ben Jehudah, p. 15 note 2. 17. See Bab. Talm. Pesakim, 54a,
Armeniacis
Arabicis,
Persicisque, Leipzig, 1842, p. 4
Boer,
Bab. Berakot, 33b.
Dmo
iniK ppnK>o dhid. 15. See Talm. Bab. Megillah, 25b.
71, beginning.
tariis
See Talm.
14.
Zeller,
"Anthropomor-
v.
s.
phism."
Breslau,
1902,
ff. _
Omnia Opera Ysaac, Lugduni,
(Lyons), 1515.
D"aOin nnjN,
der jiidischen Literatur, Berhn, 1895, p. 3; ibid., Studien iiber Jeschu'a ben
sterdam, p. X4b.
Jehuda, Berhn, 1900, p. 12 ff. xxvi, 13. See L. Ginzberg, in Jewish
mente (nniD^Pl
2, 29. See
30. S. Fried,
439
Das Buch
ed.
Am-
iiber die Ele-
"^QD), Drohobycz, igoo.
NOTES
440 by Hirschfeld
31. Published
zum
schrift
in "Fest-
also pp. 233-4.
cf.
5,
Z2,-
1^2Jm
nnn IDD
cal
?D"l3n
I,
periodi-
Cf. Gutt-
pp. 401-405.
mann, Die philosophischen Lehren des Isaak ben Salomon Israeli, Miinster i.
W., 1911,
note
p. 31,
des Jahja
Gotteslehre
Autoren,
spateren
ibn
und
'Adi
Miinster,
1910,
p. 32, note, p. 52.
35, 65. Ill, ch. 10, p. 122; V, ch. 8, p. 147; VII, ch. 2, p. 165.
i.
10, 34. Fried, n'^"lD^^ "isd, p. i2f.
66. II, chs. 9-12, pp. 95-102.
17, 35. Berlin,
37, 67. VI, chs. 1-4, pp. 148-156. 38, 68. Ill, chs. 1-3, pp. 104-110.
1885, pp. 65, 77-83,
151-15436. See the
Russian paper Woskhod,
September, 1898. 24,
37.
I'tiqadat,
text
by
edited
al-Amanat
Kitab
S.
70.
many
editions.
The
to the Yozefov edition. Cf. below, p. 249 I,
ch.
argument,
78.
58 of Yozefov edition.
argument,
40. Ibid., fourth
IX,
chs. 5-1
p. 59.
upon
Saadia, Gottingen, 1882, p. 45
Wien, 1872.
f.
44. Pt. II, ch.
2,
pp. 190-197.
dem
aus
The
81.
55,
based
p. 149.
Ein
Frankl,
Kalam
42. Pt. II, chs. 9-12, pp. 95-101. I,
1,
46, 79. X, pp. 197-21548, 80. The following sketch
26, 41. Ibid., ch. 3, p. 63 ff.; cf. Guttmaim, Die Religionsphilosophie des
43. Pt. VI, ch.
pp. 113-114.
6,
45, 76. VII, chs. 1-9, pp. 162-174. 77. VIII, pp. 175-185.
ff.
third
I,
Ch.
43, 74. IX, chs. 1-4, pp. 185-190. 44, 75. VI, ch. 8, pp. 160-162.
references in the following notes are
39. Pt.
lio-
pp.
71.
Leyden 1880. The Hebrew Judah ibn Tibbon has
been published in
2>?>-
4-5,
Chs. 7-9, pp. 114-121. 41, 72. IV, pp. 124-136. 42, 73. V, chs. 1-3, pp. 136-140.
wa'l-
translation of
25,
chs.
40, 69. Ibid.,
ns-
Arabic
Landauer,
p.
opiDion,
fifth
3,
34, 63. Ibid., chs. 4-5, pp. 91-93. 64. See Graf, Die Philosophic und
published by
Hebrew
ch.
I,
62. Pt. II, ch. 2, p. 89.
ing notes.
Steinschneider in the
Pt.
33, 61. p. 68.
and the two preced-
32. See note 28
Introduction, p. 86.
Ibid., ch. I, p. 88.
60.
Moritz Steinschneiders," Leipzig, 1896, pp. 131-141;
n.
59. Pt.
Geburtstag
achtzigsten
upon
is
based
Mu'taziHtischer
loten Jahrhundert,
following
sketch
Studien
Schreiner,
is
uber
Jeschu'a ben Jehuda, Berlin, 1900.
pp. 88-9.
27, 45. Introduction, pp. 38-39.
60,
D"nO-in ni"lJN (Letters of
82.
Maimonides), ed. Amsterdam,
46. Ibid., p. 40.
28, 47. Ibid., pp. 43-48.
61,
83.
p. 14b.
Munk, Melanges de
See
48. Ibid., p. 48.
Philosophie Juive et Arabe, Paris, 1859,
49- P- 49-
p.
SO. p. 51.
des Dreizehnten Jahrhunderts, Breslau,
29, 51. Pt.
I.
Introduction, p. 54
f.
291
ff;
Guttmann, Die Scholastik
1902, pp. 60-85.
Id.,
Die Philosophie
52. Ibid., ch. I, p. 56.
des Salomon ibn Gabirol,
30, 53. Ibid., p. 57.
1889, p. 54
54. Ibid., p. 58.
that of
Munk
position
and
55. Ibid., p. 59.
31, 56. Ch. 57.
Ch.
2, p.
60
3, third opinion, p.
This
last
Gottingen,
work and
represent the best excriticism
of
Gabirol's
philosophy and of his sources and in-
£f.
32, 58. Ch. 4, pp. 80-82.
ff.
66
£f.
fluences.
62,
84.
Cf.
Baeumker,
Avence-
NOTES Fons Vitae, Miinster, 1892-95,
brolis
Prolegomena. sur
Page
Recherches
A.,
traductions Latines d' Aristote, 2 ed.
Munk,
86.
Melanges,
contains the
?,:i),
of Falaquera.
(see
etc.
Hebrew
The Latin
extracts
translation
was published by Clemens Baeumker Geschichte
zur
Beitrage
the
in
Philosophie
des
pts. 2-4 (cf.
above note
Mittelalters,
der
vol.
I,
See also
84).
Seyerlen in Theologische Jahrbiicher,
by
edited 64,
Cf.
XV
and XVI. Munk, Le Guide des
Zeller,
87.
I, 4,
Egares, II, p. 25, note
i,
Kaufraann,
78, 105. See
24
ff.;
Falaq.
end.
Munk, Melanges,
80, 106. Yahuda,
des
I'origine
et
Paris, 1843, P- 197 note.
note
72, 104. F. V.
I,
§2.
Jourdain,
85.
63,
Critiques
441
166
ff.
Prolegomena zu Herausgabe des
erstmaUgen Kitab Al-Hidaja Tla Fara'id Al-Qulub, Frankfurt a. M., 1904, 12 ff.; id., AlHidaja 'Ila Faraid Al-Qulub des Bachja einer
ibn Joseph ibn Paquda, 63
Ley den,
19 12,
f.
107.
Neumark, Geschichte der
jiid-
ischen Philosophie des Mittelalters,
I,
Berhn, 1907, 485-49381,
loS.
In
commentary
his
on
Deut. 32, 39. Cf. Yahuda, Prolegomena, p. 12, note 2, where 35 should be corrected to 39.
uber
Salomon ibn Gabirol, Budapest, 1899. 89. Baeumker, Fons Vitae, V, p.
Yahuda, Al-Hidaja, etc., p. 97. no. nnnijn nam (Duties of the Hearts) ed. Warsaw, 1875, Introduc-
313, 6.
tion, pp. 9-28.
88. See
Studien
65, 90. F. V. V, 333-335, Falaquera in
Munk's Melanges, V, 91. F. V. IV, 8
ff.,
§§ 67-69.
Falaquera IV,
93. F. V. IV,
HI,
§ i.
5
196,
ff.,
Falaq.
ff.;
Falaq.
ff.
97. F. V. IV, 2ii,9ff., 213, i7ff., 217,
218, 18; Falaq. IV, §§ 1-4
and
ff.
V. V, 258, 19; 259, i; 268, Falaq. V, § 55. 68, 99. F. V. V, 306, 7 ff.; Falaq. 98. F.
8, 14, is; 322, 12;
V, § 34
ff.;
Falaq. V,
§64ff. ff.;
Falaq. V,
§6off. 70, 102. F. V. Ill, 204, 13
ff.;
Falaq.
53-
Hearts,
I,
8,
ch. 6, pp. 57-8. 7,
pp. 58-69.
pp. 69-72.
117. Ch. 9, pp. 72-76.
95, 118. Ch. 10, pp. 76-84. 96, 119. Guide of the Perplexed
I,
ch. 53-
120. Duties, ch.
i,
p. 44.
121. Ibid., ch. 10, end, p. 92
97, 122. Duties,
II,
f.
pp. 95-137.
loi, 124.
IV, pp. 198-256.
2nd
volume,
part
V,
PP- 3-35102, 126. VI, pp. 36-58. 103, 127. VII, pp. 58-82. 104, 128. VIII, pp. 82-126.
§ 37.
"Improvement
New
of
York, 1901.
(Columbia University Oriental Studies, vol. I.)
I,
92, 115. Ibid., ch.
125. Duties,
loi. F. V. V, 326, 3
the Moral Qualities,"
pp.
99, 123. Ill, pp. 138-197.
ff.
100. F. V. V, 330, 15
71, 103. S. Wise,
the
of
89, 114. Duties,
V. Ill, 208, 15; Falaq. Ill,
67, 96. F. V. Ill, 175, 10
ff.,
Al-Hidaja,
chs. 1-6, pp. 41-58.
93, 116. Ch.
Ill, § 27
in,
Yahuda,
88, 113. Duties
243, 10.
§44.
II
112.
112.
§ 10.
95. F.
28-
Introduction,
86, III. Ibid., 37-
92. F. V. V, 296, 10.
94. F. V. Ill, p.
109.
85,
105, 129. IX, pp. 126-150. 130.
X, pp. 151-168.
106, 131. Broyde, Les Reflexions sur
I'ame par
Babya ben Joseph ibn Pa-
NOTES
442 kouda, Paris, 1896; Hebrew
title,
130
nmn.
K'Bjn
Kitab
132. Goldziher,
Ma'anI
al-
nafs, Berlin, 1907.
133. See fiir
Guttmann
in " Monatschrift
Judenthums," XLI (1897), 241 ff. 107, 134. Arabic text, p. 41, 12 and 46, 2; Hebrew, p. 55, i and 61, 5. Ch.
Maimonides,
of
29 (Heb. p.
2, p. 4,
s, last
127, 166. Ibid., 44-46; 53-54;
be-
cf.
low, p. 145. 167.
Ibid.,
p.
2
37,
below,
cf.
ff.;
p. 138.
129, 168. pp. 1-2. 130, 169. pp. 3-6.
(Heb. p. (Heb.
6,
16
f.).
134. 171- PP- 19-25. 137, 172. pp. 25-33.
138. Ibid., ch. 9, p. 34, 13
ff-
(Heb.
141, 173. pp. 33-43.
136. Ibid., p. 6,
I
137. Ibid., p. s, 16
f.
7, 3).
142, 174. pp. 43-47-
p. 44, 10).
139.
Ch.
p.
2,
6
6,
ff.
(Heb. p.
7,
8f.).
Ch. 12, p. 42, 23 (Heb. p. 56, 23). 108, 141. Chs. 1-2. 140.
111, 142. Chs. 16-17. 143. Chs. 6
147. Chs. 19
Leipzig,
I,
1887,
2.
179. Ibid., p. 29, 19-20.
7.
151,
180.
113, 146. Ch.
and
Halewi
21.
by German
114, 148. K^Sjn IVJn "IDD, edited Leipzig,
Sefer
149, 177- PP- 59-79178. Al-Chazari,
150,
i860.
67,
ed.
p.
29,
24.
145- Ch. 9.
Freimann,
145, 175- PP- 47-57146, 176. pp. 57-58.
Hirschfeld,
and 11-12.
112, 144. Ch.
Hegjon ha-Nefesch.
150. Ibid., also 4b.
and 125. Kaufmann, Jehuda " Gesammelte Schriften,"
63; II, 66; pp. 29
I,
See
181.
in
Frankfurt
M., 1910,
a.
vol. 2, pp.
99-
151-
152, 182. Al-Chazari IV, 13, 15; p. 253, 18
115, 149. p. 2a.
IS3»
ff.,
257, 6
ff.
Kaufmann,
183.
151. See, however, below, p. 119.
der
152. p. 2b.
Religionsphilosophie
Geschichte
Attributenlehre in der jiidischen
des
Mittelalters,
117, 154. pp. 1-2.
Gotha, 1877, pp. 1 19-140. 157, 184. Al-Chazari I, 1-67, pp. i-
118, 155. pp. 4b-5a.
29.
116, 153. p.
I.
156. pp. 2b-4a.
158, 185. Ibid., 70
122, 157. pp. 5b-8a.
159, 186. II, 6; p. 75, 22
158. p.
8b
187.
ff.
160. pp. 10-12.
124, 161. p. 30b
IX,
13; p. 253, 18
ff.
163, 191.
I,
87
des Joseph ibn Zaddik, Miinster, 1895,
164, 192.
I,
99
Horovitz, Der Mikrokosmos
193. II, 10
ff.;
ff.;
ff.
194. Ibid., 36
165, 195. Ibid., 68
ff.;
167, 196. IV, 3
39
p.
p. 77
I-II.
Mikrokosmos, XIII,
p.
ff.;
des Joseph Ibn Saddik, Breslau, 1903, 163. Horovitz,
ff.
ff.
161, 190. II, 2-4; pp. 71-75.
125, 162. See Doctor, Die Philosophie
pp. 1-3;
p. 31
ff.,
160, 188. IV, 3; p. 229, 10 ff. 189, Ibid., 15 ff.; p. 257, 6 ff.
123, 159. p. iia.
ff.
7,
2.
133, 170. pp. 7-19-
line).
title,
ed.
126, 165. Horovitz, Mikrokosmos, 24-8,
Geschichte und Wissenschaft des
135.
i64. Letters
Amsterdam, 14b.
ff.
ff.
p. 103
ff.;
ff.
53
ff.
f.; p.
125
p. 237, 9
f.
ff.
168, 197. II, 26, p. 95; 48, p. 107
f.
NOTES 169, 198. Ibid., 50, p. 109, 24 I
ff.,
p. 141
f.;
m,
109
fE.;
p.
59
173, 200. V, 20
ff.,
p.
337
I,
201. IV, 25, p. 267
222,
p. 285
morgenlandischen Gesellschaft,
224.
ff.
XXIX
I
p. 29s
ff.,
181, 208. V, 12, p. 311
184, 212. Quoted s.
v.
213. Published
Frankfurt
II,
a.
ff.
p.
357
p. 2 (Heb.),
p. 83.
Em. Ram.,
2-3.
225. See note 221.
der griechischen
by Dukes
in "Zion,"
M., 1842, pp. 117-
X,
Cf.
also
Cf.
205, 231.
Em. Ram.,
44-46.
207, 233. Ibid., 9-13.
220, 238.
a.
226. 242. Ibid., 70-75. 228, 243. Ibid., 75-81.
*71D\
Sefer 1834.
Bacher, Jewish Encyclopedia,
s.
v.
230, 244. Ibid., 93-98.
prn ''3UJ miD, Warsaw, (pDDH nnan), pp. 266 ff.
Die Religionsphilosophie AbraIbn Esra's, in " Monatschrift fiir
216.
Geschichte und Wissenschaf t des Juden-
232, 245. See gionsphilosophie
Daud,
see 33,
cursus. 20,
220. Introduction to his Ecclesiastes.
commentary
concerning
Steinschneider,
Die
this
treatise
Hebraischen
Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters, Berhn, 1893, § 251,
and Die Arabische Litera-
der Juden, Frankfurt
a.
M., 1902,
p. 208, 5.
248.
2.
on
1828.
tiur
Commentary on Exod.
Ibn
2.
236, 247. jrjinn ni^o -nxn, Bresiau, For other editions and interesting
information
Commentary on Exod.
Reli-
Abraham
des
235, 246. Ibid., 98-104.
455-
towards the end of the long ex-
Guttmann, Die
p. 220, note
thums," 42 and 43 (1898 and 1899). 192, 217. Ibid., 42 (1898), pp. 454-
195, 219.
44-51.
Cf.,
Lippmann,
193, 218.
Em. Ram.,
221, 239. Ibid., 51-57-
Ha-
N11D
ed.
21,
20-41.
223, 240. Ibid., 57-69.
title
ham
Em. Ram.,
237. Ibid., 41-43-
224, 241. Ibid., 69-70.
Schem,
1894, ch. 17
216, 236.
by M. Creizenach,
Hebrew
189, 215.
209, 235. Ibid., 15-20.
M., and Leipzig, 1840.
translation
Guttmann,
232. Ibid., 4-8.
manuscript. 187, 214. Jesod Mora, published with
31.
p. 117, note.
208, 234. Ibid., 13-15.
748,
1.
Die Religionsphilosophie des Abraham ibn Daud aus Toledo, Gottingen, 1879,
where Dukes pubUshes a brief passage from the "Arugat Habosem," not found in "Zion." He derived it from a different
German
Philosophie
4.
204, 230. Al Gazali.
by Bacher in Jewish Ibn Ezra, Abraham.
Literaturblatt des Orients,
Frankfurt
Ueber den
199, 226. See Horovitz, EinJBuss
203, 229. Ibid., ff.
ff.
134-137, 157-159, 175-
123,
M., 1852,
200, 227. But see below, p. 354, 202, 228. Em. Ram., p. i ff.
ff.
182, 209. Ibid., 14, p. 323 ff. 183, 210. Ibid., 16 ff., p. 331 ff.,
with
by Simson Weil,
lau, 1909.
ff.
179, 207. IV, 25, p. 281, 24
211. Ibid., 22
a.
Em. Ram.,
(Heb.
auf die Entwicklung des Kalam, Bres-
(1875), PP- 335-418.
177, 206. V,
published
198, 223. See note 221.
f.
ff.,
Emunah Ramah njlON),
translation
Frankfurt
ff.
17s, 204. See above, p. 8. 205. Zeitschrift der deutschen
Encyclopedia,
HDI
German
ff.
ff.
202. Ibid., 27, p. 283
174, 203. Ibid., 29
221.
197, title
ff.
170, 199.
443
Introduction
to
the
eleventh
chapter (ch. Helek) of the treatise Sanhedrin.
NOTES
444
239, 249. Letters of Maimonides, ed. Amsterdam, pp. i3b-i4. Arabic text was pub250. The lished with a French translation and extremely valuable notes by Solomon Munk, under the title, Le Guide des figares, 3 volumes, Paris, 1856-66. English translation by M. Friedlander in 3 vols., London, 1881-1885, re-issued
Ibid., 75.
253, 267.
268. Ibid., 76. 269. See below, p. 257. 270. Below, p. 259.
271.
Above,
p. 218.
257> 273. Guide
260, 274. Ibid., ch.
I.
261, 275. Ch. 36.
262, 276. Ch. 46.
London, 1910. For other translations, editions and commentaries see Kauf-
264, 277. Ibid., chs. 51-53265, 278. Chs. 55-58.
'Fiihrer'
Maimunis
Weltliteratur," Archiv
der Philosophie,
XI
Schriften
Frankfurt
268,
(1898), pp. 335-
Egares
Kaufmann's Gesam-
376, republished in
melte
Brann,
ed.
M., 1910, pp.
a.
vol.
XXVII
281.
152-189.
The Arabic text was published German translation by M. Wolff under the title, Musa Maimtini's Acht Leyden,
New
289. Ch.
chs.
i,
3-16, 18-
294, 294. Ibid., chs. 19-21. 295. Ibid., chs. 26
ni,
I, 55-
and
31.
295, 296. Ibid., ch. 27.
243, 254. Ibid., ch. 54.
256.
16.
292, 293. Ibid., chs. 17-18.
30, 37-45, 64-67, 70.
255-
8.
289, 291. Guide III, chs. 10-12.
ff.
p. 81
297, Ibid., ch. 50.
28.
298, 298. Ibid., chs. 29-50.
258. Ibid., ch. 33.
299, 299. Ibid., ch. 54. 304, 300. Ibid., II, ch. 30.
245, 259. Ch. 34.
301. Ibid., Ill, chs. 1-7.
244, 257-
I, 32.
260. Ch. 71.
302. See
247, f.
262. Cf.,
however,
(the view that
Kalam
above,
£gar6s,
303. Ibid.
p.
originated
in Judaism).
249, 264. The following numbers do not correspond to those of Maimonides. 252. 265. Guide,
304.
Guide
305.
305.
III, chs. 22-23.
See
Kaufmann,
Der
Fiihrer Maimflnis in der Weltliteratur
248, 263. Ch. 71.
266. Ibid., 74.
Munk, Le Guide des
III, p. 8, note.
246, 261. Ibid.
XXV
i.
7.
288, 290. Ch.
290, 292. Ibid., ch.
Emunah Ramah,
See his edi-
2.
285, 288. Ibid., chs. 2-5.
Oriental Studies, vol. VII).
I,
note
286. Ill, ch. 8.
Maimonides on Ethics, York, 191 2 (Columbia University
241, 253. Guide,
Munk understands the pre-
282, 287. " Eight Chapters," ch.
1903.
of
240, 252.
des
274, 284. Guide II, chs. 19-25. 281, 285. Ibid., chs. 32-48.
Hebrew text with English translation by Joseph I. Gorfinkle, The Eight Chapters
Guide
i.
II, chs. 3-6.
tion, vol. II, p. 157,
ff.
edition,
Guide
272, 283.
251.
2nd
note
ceding sentence differently.
with a
Kapitel,
Munk,
See
280.
II, p. 69,
271, 282. Chs. 13-18.
2,
See also Friedlander's translation, London, 1910, p.
279. Ch. 61.
in der
Geschichte
fiir
260.
Introduction.
II,
in one volume, with omission of notes,
mann, "Der
and
272. Below, p. 258, last line,
I, 73.
in
Archiv
phie
XI
fiir
Geschichte der Philoso-
(1898) p. 314
f.;
Kaufmann's Gesammelte Brann, Frankfurt
a.
reprinted in
Schriften, ed.
M., 1910,
p.
158
f.
NOTES Jourdain, Recherches
See
306.
2nd
tions Latines d'Aristote,
German
1843.
transl.
by
Book VIII,
Dei,
quam
isti
De
Augustine,
305, 307.
310, 314. PubUshed by
Munk
in
Me-
langes de Philosophie Juive et Arabe,
ch.
"Nulli nobis
5,
Platonici]
[sc,
quae multum congruere
sensisse,
new Soi.
XIII™®
Kaspi
Siecle,
Isaac Husik,
Louvain, 191 1, chs. 1-2;
An Anonymous
Medieval
Christian Critic of Maimonides, Jewish
Quarterly
II, Phila. 191 1, p.
309.
See
New
Review,
J.
159
Series,
in
lateinische
Uebersetzung
fiir
Geschichte
schaft des Judenthums,
und
Wissen-
XXIV
(1875),
307, 310. See M. Joel, Verhaltniss Albert des Grossen zu Moses MaimonBreslau, 1876, in
M.
Joel,
Bei-
trage zur Geschichte der Philosophic,
Guttmarm, Das Verhaltniss des Thomas von Aquino zum Judenthum und zur jiidischen Literatiur, Gottingen, 189 1; id., Die Scholastik des Breslau, 1876.
J.
dreizehnten Jahrhunderts in ihren Be-
ziehungen
.
.
.
zum Judenthum und
zur
jiidischen Literatur, Breslau, 1902; id.,
Der Einfluss der Maimonidischen
Philo-
a.
M.,
Edited by Goldenthal, Wien,
311,319. The English reader will also good deal of material in the
find a
pages of the Jewish Encyclopedia under the names of the translators and writers
above mentioned. 313, 320. Guide
p. 9ff.
pp. 151-181, 451-
Dalalat al Haiirin, Frankfurt
1852.
Maimonidischen Fiihrers", in Monatschrift
R.
einer
des
vol. i,
PubUshed by Werblimer, Joseph! Commentaria hebraica in Mosis Maimonides Tractatum
1848.
Miinchener Handschrift aufgefundene erste
series,
318.
"Die
494,
317.
vol.
ff.
Perles,
p.
H. Malter, Shem Tob Palquera, in Jewish Quarterly Review, i;
agnoscunt."
religionis
Munk, Melanges,
316. See
note
306, 308. See Mandonnet, Siger de Brabant et TAverroisme Latin au
veritati nostrae
Press-
Bisliches,
burg, 1837.
propius ac-
Deo
by
315. Published
Civitate
cesserunt"; ch. 9, "Platonem de
ides,
Society, Lyck, 1866.
Paris, 1859.
183 1.
ista
damim"
ed., Paris,
Stahr, Halle,
by the "Mekize Nir-
313. Published
cri-
tiques sur I'age et I'origine des traduc-
445
ch. 74, 7th proof,
I,
end.
314, 321. Published by the "Mekize Nirdamim," Lyck, 1874. 315, 322. Tagm. Hanef. 3i7> 323. Ibid., ib-7b. tion occurs, p. 7b,
28
11.
i.
The
defini-
flf.
318, 324. Ibid., 8a. 319, 325. Ibid., 8a-ioa. 322, 326. Ibid., ioa-i3b. 323, 327. Ibid., i3b-i9b. 324, 328. Ibid., 2oa-2ib. 326, 329. Ibid., 2ib-24b.
sophic auf das christUche Abendland, in
330. Ibid., 24.
"Moses ben Maimon,"
327, 331. Ibid., 25a-32. 328, 331a. See Heimann Auerbach,
vol. I, Leipzig,
1908.
308, 311. See Graetz, History of the " Maimunist s. v.,
Albalag und seine
Jews, index volume,
Makasid
Controversy."
p. vii
309, 312. Published by
M.
L. Bis-
hches, Pressbiu-g, 1837.
by W. Bacher under "Safer Musar," Berlin,
312a. Edited
the
1910
title
Uebersetzvmg des
al-GazzaHs,
Breslau,
1906,
Guttmann, Die Stellung des ben Zemach Duran in der
f.;
Simon
Geschichte
der
philosophie
in
jiidischen
Monatschrift
ReUgionsfiir
Ge-
imd Wissenschaft des Judenthums, vol. LVII (1913), p. 184 f. schichte
NOTES
446
328, 332. See Maywald, Die Lehre von der zweifachen Wahrheit, Berlin, 1871; Mandonnet, Siger de Brabant rAverroisme Latin au XIII™^ et Siecle,
Louvain, 1911,
148
vol. i, p.
The
Steinschneider, Leipzig, 1841.
364, 361. Ez Hayim, p. 4. 366, 362. E. H., pp. 3-5.
ff.
3291 333. First edition, Riva di Trento, 1560; modern edition, Leipzig, 1866.
359. Chs, 13-14, pp. 460-463.
363, 360. Published by DeHtzsch and
1.
334. See Husik,
Leyden, 1906,
368, 365. Ch.
Judah Messer Leon's
M.
Joel,
der Philosophie, Breslau, 1876).
1.
16.
378, 374. "Guide" III, 379, 375-
Ez Hayim,
24.
ch. 90, pp.
136-
144.
331, 338. Milhamot
I, ch.
376.
14, p. 91.
"Guide"
III, chs. 12, 13, 25 end.
380, 377. Ez Hayim, ch. 94, pp. 149-
339. Ibid., Introduction, p. 8. I, chs.
24.
1.
pp. 26-27.
377, 373- Ch. 89, pp. 133-136.
330> 33^- Introduction to Gersonides'
commentary on the Pentateuch. "Milhamot to 337. Introduction
336, 340.
18,
373, 370. Chs. 76-78, pp. 96-99. 375, 371- Chs. 79-81, pp. 100-107. 376, 372. Chs. 82-89, pp. 107-133.
Beitrage zur Geschichte
Adonai," pp. 6-7.
also p.
f.,
372, 368. Chs. 66-72, pp. 80-89. 369. Ch. 75, pp. 93-Q6.
als
Religionsphilosoph, Breslau, 1862, p. gf. (in
6
367- p. 33-
p. 11.
Lewi ben Gerson
9,
369, 366. p. 17,
the "Vetus Logica,"
335. See Joel,
1-
364. Ch. 4, pp. 12-13,
references in the sequel are
to the Leipzig edition.
Commentary on
367, 363- P- 15, 10 f.
1-4, pp. 12-35.
154-
337, 341. Ibid., ch. 5, pp. 35-3^339, 342. Ch. 6, pp. 36-48.
382, 378. Chs. 96-100, pp. 160-176. 379. Chs. 101-102, pp. 177-181.
340, 343. Ibid.,chs. 10-12, pp. 61-88.
380.
342, 344.
Milhamot
chs.
II,
pp. 92-98. 345. Ibid., chs. 3, 5 104, III
and
6,
pp. 98
p.
344, 346. Milhamot III, ch. 3, p. 132. 345, 347- ni, chs. 1-6, pp. 120-150. 349, 348. IV, chs. 1-7, pp. 151-187. 350, 349- V, 3, ch. 6, p. 264
351,350.
Ibid.,
chs.
4-6,
194
247-
264.
352, 351. Ch. 12, pp. 278-285. 354, 352. VI, I, chs. 1-9, pp. 293-
384. Chs. 107-108.
.
390, 387. "Or Adonai," Introduction, pp. 6-7 (not numbered). 391, 388. Book
I,
sections 1-2.
389. Ibid., section 3, ch.
353. Ibid., chs. 10-13, pp. 328-353;
392, 391. Ibid.
356 f. 355, 354. Ch.
393, 393- Book
2.
392. Ibid., ch. 4.
ch. 15, p.
16, pp. 359-361.
357, 355- Chs. 17-28, pp. 362-416. 356, VI, 2, ch. I, p. 4192,
chs.
1-8, pp.
418-
441.
360, 358. Ibid., chs. 9-12, pp. 441460.
ch. 109,
390. Ibid., ch. 3.
328.
358, 357- VI,
ff.;
ff.
387, 385. Chs. 110-112. 389, 386. Ed. Ferara, 1556 (no pagination)
f.
pp.
pp. 116-117.
385, 383. Ch. 106, p. 187
f.,
f.
Ez Hayim,
383, 381. Ch. 103, pp. 181-185. 384, 382. Chs. 104-105, pp. 185-187.
1-2,
II, section
395, 394- Ibid., section 395. Section 3.
L
2.
396. Section 4.
398, 397. Section 5. 398. See M. Joel, "Don Chasdai Creskas'
religionsphilosophische
Lehren,"
NOTES 1866
Breslau,
M.
Beitrage
into
zur Geschichte der Philosophic, Breslau,
tob.
1876), p. 54
(in
Joel,
II, section 6.
400. Ibid., Ill, introduction.
403, 401. Ibid., section 404, 402. Section 3. 406, 403a. Simon ben
He was a
and the author
409, 407. pp. 21-25. 408. In the introduction to his com-
Zemach Duran a
relative
Rabbinical
of
authority,
and
phil-
"Magen Abot."
Unlike his more distinguished relative,
Simon Duran was opposed to the extreme views adopted by such men as Albalag, Moses of Narbonne or Gersonides himself, and favored a return to the more moderate standpoint of Maimonides. Without laying any claim to originality his work shows wide reading and familiarity with the scientific and philosophic literature of the time. See Guttmann, " Die Stellung des Simon ben Zemach Duran in der
Geschichte
der
jiidischen
Reli-
gionsphilosophie," in Monatschrift
fiir
mentary on the eleventh chapter of the Mishnic treatise Sanhedrin (chapter Helek).
410, 409. Crescas; cf. above, p. 392. 410. Ikkarim, I, ch. 3, pp. 25-31. 411, 411. Chs. 4-7, pp. 31-39. 412, 412. Ch. 8, pp. 39-46. 413. Ch. 9, pp. 46-48.
413, 414. Chs. 10-11, pp. 48-58. 415. Ch. 12, pp. 58-60. 416. Chs. 13
53
(1909),
419. Ch. 18, pp. 76-78.
418, 421. Ch. 24, pp. 87-90. 422. Ch. 25, pp. 90-92.
419, 423. Ch. 26, p. 93.
46-97,
199-228.
420, 426. Chs. 8-10, pp. 1 18-125. 427. Chs. 11-13, pp. 125-140.
than the rest of the book. consider that though he owes
the central point of his contribution to
421, 429.
Slt3^3,
pub-
III, chs. 1-5, pp.
197-
425. 434- Chs. 7-15, pp. 294-313. 427, 435. Chs. 29-35, PP- 338-356. 429, 436. See Guttmann "Die Familie
schichte
D^VIjn npj;
Book
430. Chs. 6-7, pp. 214-218. 423, 431. Chs. 8-11, pp. 218-228. 424, 432. Chs. 13-20, pp. 229-246. 433. Book IV, chs. 1-6, pp. 279-294.
p. 407.
by Ephraim Deinard, Carney, N. The work was originally comJ., 1904. posed in Spanish, and was translated
pp.
214.
Schemtob
407, 404-
7,
428. Ch. 12, pp. 129-133.
Duran, Albo never mentions him, the charge of plagiarism brought against him is not far from justified. See below,
lished
4-5, pp. 107-114. 1 1 7-1 18.
425. Ibid., ch.
Guttmann's investigations it appears that Albo cannot claim any originality even for the reduction of the fundamental dogmas of Judaism to three. The first part of the "Ikkarim" turns out to be a compilation from Crescas and Duran, and is no more
When we
II, chs.
641-672,
From
original
Book
pp.
(1908),
pp.
60-61 and
416, 420. Ch. 23, pp. 84-86.
424.
vol.
15, pp.
414, 417. Ch. 14, pp. 61-64. 415, 418. Ch. 17, pp. 7 -76.
thums,
52
and
64-68.
Geschichte und Wissenschaf t des Judenvol.
Warsaw,
ed.
406. Ibid., pp. 14-17.
i.
of a scientific
osophical work, entitled
nnpyn ISD,
408, 405.
1877, pp. 13-14-
405, 403. Section 4.
Gersonides,
Hebrew by Joseph Ibn Shem-
404a. See also note 403a.
f.
402, 399. Or Adonai,
(1361-1444).
447
in
Philosophic,"
thums,
ihren
Beziehungen zur
Monatschrift
fur
Ge-
und Wissenschaft des Juden-
vol. 57 (1913), P- 177
437. See
Guttmann
ff-
as in preceding
note.
438. See preceding note.
NOTES
448 430, 439. See note 436. 440. See Jewish Encyclopedia 441. J. E.
s.
und s.
v.
431, 442. See Zimmels, "Leo Heein jiidischer Philosoph der Leipzig,
zeitgenossischen
Archiv
fiir
osophie, vol.
V.
braeus,
Renaissance,"
in
1886;
Appel,
"Leone Medigos Lehre vom Wei tall und ihr Verhaltniss zu griechischen
Anschauungen,"
Geschichte
XX,
der
Phil-
pp. 387-400, 496-
Munk, Melanges, pp. 522-528. "Judah Messer Leon's Commentary on the Vetus Logica," 520;
443. Husik,
Ley den,
1906.
444. Jewish Encyclopedia,
s.
v.
AND RABBINIC QUOTATIONS
LIST OF BIBLICAL
12, p. 208; 40, 26, p. 369; 43, I, p.
Bible Genesis: 120;
I, 3, p. 1,
no;
i, i, p.
118;
I, 6, p.
i, 2, p.
118;
122; 43,
121; 45, 18, p. 104; 59,
I, 9, p.
121;
Jeremiah:
II, p. 121; I, 21, p. 121; I, 25, p.
121;
I, 26,
121;
pp. 121, 268;
28, p. 121;
I,
27, pp. 94,
I,
121, 214;
2, 7, p.
102; II, 7, p. 268; 14, 22, p. 369; ch. 15, p. 280; 15, 4, p. 280; 15, 12 &., p. 225; 18, 10, p. 340; 27, 34-41, p.
74; 28, 13, p. 94; 28, 20, p. 105; s6, 31, P- 29513, p. 232; 2,
2,
3,
3,
14,
pp.
P-
95;
5,
2,
xiv,
42;
9,
12,
15, 26, p. 403;
p.
19,
160;
p.
216;
p.
19,
20, 2, pp. 194, 233;
109; 24, 10, p. 167; 32, II, P- 381; 33, 13, P- 243; 33, 23, p. 37; 34, 6, P- 233.
136, 6, p. 176;
94, 9, P- 293;
p.
139,
p. 205; 14s, 9, p. 376.
Proverbs:
8, 22, p.
109; 25, 16,
p. 244; 30, 4, p. 208.
Job: 10, 10,
p. 378; 19, 26, p. 116;
23, 13, P- xxvi; ch. 32, p. 349; 38,
19, 17, p. 83; 19, 18,
ECCLESIASTES:
I,
p. 83.
I4, p. 47; 2, 3,
p. 47. 10,
8,
p.
227;
12,
8,
Daniel:
p. 167; IS, 39, p. 83; 23, 10, p. 170.
Deuteronomy:
2,
30, p. xiv; 4,
Nehemiah:
Berakot
p. 83; 17, IS, p. 29s; 30, 15, P- 286; 1 7,
Berakot
Samuel: 23, 2, p. 34. Kings: 22, 20, p. xiv.
II.
227;
i,
a, p. 44;
(Jer. Tal.): I, p. 83. a, p. xxvi,
note 17.
Megillah: 25 b, p. xxvi, note 15. Hagigah: ch. 2, p. 244; 11 b, p. xvi, notes 2 and 3. Sanhedrin: 38 b, p. 268; 99 a,
386; 19, 20,
p. 226.
14, p.
(Bab. Tal.): 17
Pesaktm: 54
10, p. 360. 2, 6, p.
9, 5, p. 95.
33 b, p. xxvi, note 14, p. 41.
p. 348;
33, 4, P- 41; 34, 10, p. 416.
Joshua: ch. I. Samuel:
225; 10, 8, p. 278;
Mishna and Talmud
6, 4, P- 74; 13, I, PP- 382, 423; 15, 7,
30, 19, pp. xiv, 41, 286; 3 1,
7, i, p.
10, 17, p. 381; 12, 2, p. 404.
15, PP- 35, 95; 4, 39, PP- 84, IIS, 220;
i,
2,
36-37, p. 208.
Leviticus:
Isaiah:
19,
193; 19, 8, p. 411;
7, P-
19, 9-10, p. 412; 73, 11-13, p. 293;
74;
20, 11-12, p. 233; 20, 17, p. 83; 20,
I.
p.
17, p.
35, P- 409; 22, 26, p. 74; 23, 21, p.
Numbers:
I ff.,
Hosea: 4, 6, p. 348; 6, 3, p. 141. Amos: 3, 2, p. 164; 5, 6, p. 141. Micah: 6, 8, p. 168. Zephaniah: 2, 3, p. 148. Malachi: I, 9, p. 41. 193;
232;
234; 9, 22-23,
207:31, 33, P- 141Ezekiel: 8, 9, p. 109.
Psalms:
Exodus:
7, 22, p.
pp. 124, 148, 205, 299; 18,
121; 6, 6, p. 227; 8, 21, p.
2, 19, p.
7,
7, p.
19, p. 109.
p. 408; 106 b, p. 83.
11-17,
p. 82; 5, 20, p. 374; 6, I, 8, p. 280;
Makkot:
II, 1-4, p. 112; 26, 19, p. 386; 40,
Abot: 449
23 b, p. 416.
ch. 4, p. 44.
INDEX Aaron
ben
Elijah,
relation to
362-387;
xli,
Maimonides, 363
to
f.;
Albalia, Barun, 151
Al Basir, Joseph, xxv,
xlvii,
48-55;
48;
atomic
the Mu'tazila, 364; reason and
priority
364 f.; physics, 366 ff.; defends atomic theory, 367 f.; creation, ibid.; existence of God,
theory, 49; existence of God, 49
faith,
368
f.;
attributes, 369 God, 372; problem of f.;
f.;
wiU of
ibid,
evil,
373 f., reward
ibid,
Providence, 375
f.;
f.;
prophecy, 380
f.;
406
ff.;
i,
200, 306, 312,
406-427; standpoint,
1,
purpose of his work, 408;
icism of Maimonides's 13 articles,
409
ff.;
divine
Albo's
law
own
view, 410
distinguished
matter, ibid.; form, 117
ff.;
freedom, a principle, 41 2 creation,
114-124;
;
413, 415; existence of God, 419
f.;
intel-
attributes,
and nature, 119; ethics, f.; reward and punish-
revelation,
ff.;
f.;
from
natural and conventional, 408 xlvi,
standpoint, 115; physics, 116
119, 122
434
principles of rehgion, ibid.; crit-
304, 312, 328,
Abelard, 305
lect, soul
and foreknowledge,
f.;
reward and punishment, 55;
Albo, Joseph,
f.
430 Abarbanel, Judah Leo, 431 Abd Al Rahman III, 59
Abraham bar Hiyya,
51;
God's word, 52; ethics, problem of evil, 54;
200, 246, 363,
Aaron ben Joseph, 363
Don Isaac,
f.;
Albertus Magnus,
Law, 382; reason of commandments, ibid.; im-
Abarbanel,
eternity,
ibid.;
f.;
50;
56, 57, 81, 126, 127, 128, 141, 146,
immu-
mortality, 384; resurrection, 385
f.;
ibid.;
tability of the
the
will,
freedom, 54
and punishment, 379, 383; purpose of the world and of man, 379
attributes,
ibid.;
incorporeahty, unity, simplicity,
unity, ibid.; incorporeality,
ibid.;
376
creation,
divine
reason,
of
angels,
420;
420
f.;
f.;
ibid.;
prophecy, 421;
immutability of the Law, 423; God's knowledge, 424; and hu-
ment, 119, 122 ff.; immortality, 120 f.; problem of evil, 123 f.; 128, 139, 17s, 309, 435
man
freedom,
425;
reward
ibid.;
and
Providence,
punishment,
42s f.; 428, 430, 436, 447, note 403a
i^lsculapius, 155
Afer, Constantinus, i
Aher, 197 Akiba, Rabbi, xxvi
Alexander of Aphrodisias,
Al-Ashari, xxiii
336 Alexander the Great, xvii
xviii,
7,
60, 290, 313, 321, 332, 334, 335,
Albalag, Isaac, 328, 429, 430, 447, note 403a
Alexander of Hales, 306 451
INDEX
452 Alfadhil, 239
"Arugat Habosem," 184
Alfarabi, xx, xxi, xxxix, xlvi, 2, 26,
Ashariya,
60, 177, 178, 198, 199, 218, 223,
252, 253, 276, 281, 302, 312, 313,
249
362, 391, 392
246,
in Saadia, 25; in
f.;
Al Basir,
49; in Jeshua ben Judah, 56; in
Alfasi, 151
Algazali, xxxix, 80, 152, 153, 389,
392, 420, 443, note 230 Ali,
xxiii, xxvii, xlvii, 23,
251, 291, 362, 36s, 372, 378, 379 Atomic theory, in the Kalam, xxii,
Aaron ben
Elijah, 367
f.
Attributes, doctrine of, in the
86
xxvii,
xxiii,
Kalam,
xHv; in Saadia,
xl,
Mukammas,
Al-Kirkisani, Joseph Ha-Maor, 363 Almohades, 238 Alphonso VI, 151 Al-Mansur, i
xhv,
Almoravid, 151
f.;
Anatoli, Jacob, 302, 309
Levi ben Gerson, xlv, 344 f., 351 f.; in Aaron ben EUjah, 369 f.; in
Abraham
Angels, xlvi; in
ibn Ezra,
Ibn Daud, 221 f.; in Maimonides, 266 f.; in Albo, 420 Anthropomorphism, xxii, xxvi, xlv, 190
f.;
in
35, 95, 186, 260
f.
2)3
f-;
in
18
ff.;
Al Basir, 50; in Bahya, 93 f.; in Ibn Zaddik, 145 f.; in Judah in
Halevi, 161 in
ff.;
in
Maimonides,
Ibn Daud, 220 xlv, 262
ff.;
in
Crescas, 391 f.; in Albo, 420 Auerbach, Heimann, 445, note 331a
Augustine, xH, 51, 305, 445, note 307 Averroes (Ibn Roshd), xx, xxi, xxxix,
Appel, 448, note 442
xli, xlvi, xlvii, 7,
Aquinas, Thomas, 1,61,63, 200, 207,
199, 306, 309, 310, 312, 313, 318,
306, 307, 312, 313, 323, 331, 332,
321, 322, 323, 329, 332, 334, 335,
406
Arama,
336, 362, 392, 431 Isaac,
Archimedes,
xl,
ff.,
xvi,
Solomon
Avicenna (Ibn Sina), xx,
xxi, xxxix,
see
Ibn 150, 165, 246, 364,
365, 366, 368, 428 Aristotle,
Gabirol,
Avicebron,
430
xviii
AristoteUans,
xxix
60, 62, 125, 177,
xviii,
xlvi, 2, 26, 60, 62, 107, 108, 175,
xix,
xx,
xxxvii, xxxix, xl, xU,
xxi,
177, 178, 179, 198, 199, 207, 210,
xlii,
211, 213, 218, 223, 224, 253, 276,
xlv, xlvi, 7, 8, 9, 13, 20, 26, 60, 62,
281, 302, 312, 313, 362, 391, 392,
64, 72, 89, 92, 107, III, 126, 132,
420
138, 139, 155, 157, 173, 175, 177, 178, 179, 181, 182, 184, 185, 199, 200, 206, 207, 210, 213, 216, 217,
Bacher, W., 437, 443, notes 212 and 214; 445, note 312a
271, 273, 274, 275, 276, 290, 291,
Back, Samuel, 436 Baeumker, Clemens, 440, note 84; 441, notes 86 and 89
299, 300, 303, 305, 306, 307, 309,
Bahya,
218, 236, 240, 247, 252, 253, 254,
256, 258, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270,
Ibn
Pakuda,
xix,
xxviii,
80-105; duties of the
312, 313, 315, 316, 321, 329, 331,
xxxix,
332, 333, 334, 338, 346, 347, 35°,
limbs and duties of the heart,
352, 353, 354, 366, 367, 375, 378,
82
388, 389, 390, 395, 402, 408, 412,
creation, 86
425, 429, 430, 431
butes, 93
f.;
xlii, 1,
sources of knowledge, 83;
f.;
ff.; unity, 89 f.; attristudy of nature, 96 f.;
INDEX gratitude to God, 97
submis-
f.;
sion to God, 98; freedom, ibid.;
the laws, 98
f.;
trust in
God, 99
"vmity of conduct," loi ity,
ibid.;
repentance, 102;
examination, 104;
self-
temperance,
103;
asceticism,
f.;
humil-
f.;
love
ibid.;
of
453
Creizenach, M., 443, note 214 Crescas, Hasdai, xv, xix, xxvii, xxxix, xl,
xlii, xlix, 1,
173, 200, 312,
388-405; standpoint, 389; existence of God, 389 f.; imity, 391 f.;
fundamental
attributes, ibid.;
dogmas
of Judaism, 392
ff.;
God's
God, 105; 106, 126, 128, 146, 147,
knowledge,
162, 167, 168, 195, 200, 201, 217,
of evil, 394; 393 f.; prophecy, 395; freedom, 396 f.; influence on Spinoza, 398 f.; pur-
241, 246, 252, 309, 362, 428, 434
Baradaeus, Jacob, 34 Bardenhewer, 439, note 7 Bardesanes, 375
Bisliches,
M.
viii,
Providence,
f.;
pose of the Law, 399
f.
;
immortal-
400; creation, 402; criticism of
ity,
Becker, C. H., xxvi, xxvii Beer, 433 Bernfeld, Simon,
392 problem
Maimonides's 13 articles of the creed, 402, 404; reward and punishment, 403
433
L., 445, notes 312
and
315
f.;
f.;
resurrection,
404
406, 407, 408, 409, 414, 416,
419, 420, 421, 424, 426, 428, 430, 436, 447, notes 403a and 409
Bloch, Philipp, 436
Brahmins, 380 Brethren of Purity, xxxix, 60, 107,
'Cusari," see "Kusari"
Daud, Abraham Ibn,
125, 126, 128, 139, 187, 199
Broyde, Isaac, 106, 441, note 131
xxxix,
xlii,
xliii,
xix, xx, xxvii,
xlv, xlvi, xlvii,
xlviii, xlix, 61, 62, 62>, 71, 79,
125,
Cicero, 431
166, 197-235; standpoint, 197
Clement VI, Pope, 329 Clement of Alexandria, 302
Ibn Daud neglected, 201 purpose of his book, 201 f.; duty to study
Chazars, 153 Crawford, J. P. W., 436 Creation, in Kalam, xxii,
philosophy, 202; relative value of
247, 252; in Saadia,
IsraeK, 5
the sciences, xlii,
xlii,
24,
24; in
in Al Basir, 49
ff.;
f.;
in
Jeshua ben Judah, 56; in Gabirol, 68; in Bahya, xlii, 86 ff.; in Pseudo
Bahya, no; in Abraham bar Hiyya, 116 ff.; in Ibn Zaddik, xlii,
143; in
Abraham
Judah Halevi, Ezra,
ibn
Maimonides, 269 Gerson,
352
Elijah, 367
f.;
f.;
Creed, articles of,
409
f.;
in
Albo, 410
f.
ff.;
in
157; in
190;
in
ben Aaron ben
in Levi
in Albo, 413, 415 1;
in
Crescas,
f.;
;
Maimonides, 392
ff.;
in
203
205; physics, 205
categories,
f.;
matter and
ff.;
form, ibid.; motion, 207; infinity, 208; psychology, 209
212
soul,
intellect,
ff.;
rational
the three kinds of
ff.;
214; immortality,
215;
metempsychosis, 215
f.;
enly
existence
spheres,
God, 217 luiity,
216;
219
of
incorporeality, 217;
ff.;
angels, 221
the heav-
f.; f.;
attributes, 220
f.;
active intellect, 222;
emanation of Intelligences, 223; f.; prophecy, 224 f.;
tradition, 223
abrogation of the Law, 226
freedom, 201 evil,
228
f.;
f.,
229
ff.;
f.;
problem of
and foreknowledge,
INDEX
454 229
f.;
ethics, 231
reason of
£f.;
virtues, 232;
commandments, 233
f.*
237, 240, 241, 246, 248, 253, 254,
231
ff.,
ff.;
in Hillel
ff.;
in Maimonides, 281 ben Samuel, 325. See
also "Virtue."
257, 266, 267, 276, 281, 302, 307,
Euclid, xviii, 90
309, 317, 332, 350, 362, 366, 388,
Evil,
428, 435 De Boer, 439, note 5 "Definitions, Book of,"
Problem
AI Basir, 54; in
of, in
Abraham bar Hiyya, 123 f.; in Ibn Zaddik, 148; in Abraham ibn 2, 4,
Ezra, 19s; in Ibn Daud, 228 f.; in Maimonides, 288 f.; in Aaron
60
Deinard, E., 447, note 404 Delitzsch, 446, note 360
ben Elijah, 373 Exegesis,
Delmedigo, Elijah, 431 Delmedigo, Joseph Solomon, 431 Democritus, xxii, 3
in Crescas,
f.;
Biblical,
Saadia, 35; in Gabirol, 78
Abraham
Ezra,
ibn
Dieterici, 439, note 6
Maimonides, 302
Doctor, Max, 435, 442, note 162 Dominicus Gundissalinus, 61, 63
Gerson, 3S7f.;437
"Ez Hayim,"
Duns
xvii,
187
in
f.;
in Levi
in
in
f.;
ben
363
Vision of divine chariot,
Ezekiel,
Dukes, 443, note 213 Dunash ben Labrat, 59
ff.;
394
xxxvii;
xvi,
303
Scotus, 61, 63, 200, 307
Duran, Simon, 406, 447, note 403a "Duties of the Hearts," 80, 81 Duval, 439, note 5
Falaquera,
Shem Tob,
"Pons
Vitae," 60, 61, 72, 80, etc.
"Fountain
"Eight Chapters," 239
Life,"
of
see
2, 3, 4, 10,
60
Frankl, P. P., 434, 440, note 80 Prankl-Griin, Ad., 435
Freedom
Elias of Nisibis, 34
of the Will, xiv, xlvii; in
EHsha ben Abuya, 197
Saadia, 41
Empedocles, 60, 61, 64, 126, 127,
in
in
Al Basir, 54
in
171
in
xlviii,
145, 179, 184
f.;
Bahya, 98; ff.;
Abraham
Ezra, 193; in Ibn Daud,
Engelkemper, D.
ff.;
229
434
f.;
in
f.;
Judah Halevi,
"Emunah Ramah," 198 "Emunot ve-Deot," 24 J.,
"Pons
Vitffi"
Eisler, Moritz,
433 "Elements, Book of,"
61, 63, 64,
309, 328, 441, note 86
Maimonides,
xlviii,
in Crescas, xlviii, 396
ibn
xlviii,
285
ff.;
in
Albo, 412, 424 Freimann, 442, note 148
Entelechy, xxxv, 209
Ephodi, 328
Pried, S., 439, note 30; 440, note 34
Epicurus, 290, 367 Eriugena, 200
Priedlander, M., 444, note 250
Ethics, in Jewish Philosophy, xlvii,
46 f.; in Al Basir, Jeshua ben Judah, 57; in Gabirol, 71 £f.; in Abraham bar f.;
in Saadia,
52
f.;
in
Hiyya, 119 in
ff.;
in
Ibn Zaddik, 148;
Judah Halevi, 168;
in
Abraham
ibn Ezra, 195; in Ibn Daud, 228
Gabirol,
xM,
Solomon Ibn,
xix,
xxxix,
59-79; fate of G. in Jewish
Literature, 60
work, 63
f.;
f.;
tendency of his
G. a Neo-Platonist,
64; his doctrine, 64
ff.;
emanation,
65; matter in spiritual substances,
INDEX man typical of the universe,
65,67;
455
standpoint, 150, 152, 157
his
f.;
philosophy and
65; Intelligence, Soul, Nature, 66;
life,
matter, 66
gion, 152; influence of Algazali,
68
creation, 68; will,
f.;
70; mystic knowledge, 69
f.,
ethics, 71
the "Royal kut), 75
f.;
the virtues, 72
ff.;
Crown"
f.;
the "Kusari," 153
f.;
152
f.;
"philosopher's"
(Keter Mal-
Bibhcal exegesis, 78
151
f.;
f.;
creed,
the Christian's, 155
reli-
the
ff.;
154 the
f.;
f.;
Mo-
hammedan's, 156; the Jew's, 156
influence on Jewish Philosophy, 79;
ff.;
on Kabbala,
God, 158; wiU, 159; motives of philosopher and beUever, 159 f.; meaning of the name of "Jhvh," 159 f., 165; of "Elohim," 160,
ibid.; 80, 81, 89, 91,
107, 126, 127, 131, 151, 184, 185, 187, 188, 198, 200, 206, 237, 246,
307, 309, 328, 428, 434
Galen,
xviii, 2, 3, 72, 209,
creation,
157;
existence
165; mysticism in H., 160; attri-
252
Genesis, creation story, xvii, xxix,
butes, 161
303 Gersonides, see Levi ben Gerson
superiority of Israel, 162
Palestine,
God,
among
in Aristotle, xxxiii; existence of
G.
in
Kalam, xlii,
xlii,
28
£f.;
24,
in
247;
in
Al Basir,
49 f.; in Jeshua ben Judah, 57; in Bahya, xlii, 86 ff.; in Ibn Zaddik, xlii,
143;
217
ff.;
257
ff.;
in
in
Ibn Daud, xlii f., Maimonides, xliii, 248, in
in Levi
ben Gerson, 350
Aaron ben
Crescas, 389
in Albo,
I.,
f.;
need
164; Israel the heart
ity of the
Hebrew language, 164
prophecy, 165 165
lect,
167
169
f.;
181
f.,
f.;
and
reward
f.;
in
edge,
f.
172
f.;
punishment, ff.;
f.;
knew the
170;
and foreknowl-
interpretation f.;
of
the Rab-
sciences, 174; exposi-
the current philosophy,
tion of i74ff.;
immortahty,
future world and
"Sefer Yezirah," 173 bis
f.
the active Intel-
the ceremonial law,
f.;
419
444, note 251
f.;
ethics, 168
freedom, 171
Goldenthal, 445, note 318 Goldziher, Ignaz, 106, 433, 439, notes 10 and 23; 442, note 132 Gorfinkle, Joseph
incorporeality, 162;
the nations, 164; superior-
f.;
Elijah, 368
ff.;
ff.;
of revelation, 163; superiority of
Ginzberg, L., 439, note 13
Saadia,
of
H. understands
Aristotle's
definition of the soul, 175; physics,
Graetz, H., 445, note 311
175
Graf, 44c, note 64
176
Gugenheimer, 435 " Guide of the Perplexed," 239
179
ff.;
f.;
matter,
178; criticism, 178 f.;
175;
criticism,
emanation of Intelligences, f.;
criticism, 181
psychology, f.;
197, 198,
Guttmann, Jacob, 434, 435, 436, 439, note 27; 440, notes 2>i, 41 and
200, 201, 210, 211, 216, 223, 224,
83; 442, note 133; 443, notes 230
332, 362, 389, 392, 396, 414, 420,
and 245; 445, notes 310 and 331a; 447, notes 403a, 436 and 437 Guttmann, Julius, 435 Halevi, Judah, xix, xxxix, xlvi, xlviii, xlix, 125,
xl,
xlv,
150-183; his
226, 230, 231, 246, 248, 281, 309,
421, 426, 429, 435 Harizi, Judah, 125, 184
Harkavy, Abraham, 17, 433 Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, 59, 153, 308 Hayyuj, 187, 309 Hefez ben YazHah, 84
INDEX
456
"Hegyon ha-Nefesh," 114 Hermes,
Ibn Ezra, Moses, xxxix,
Hertz, J. H., 434 Hillel
xlvi,
312-327;
standpoint, 314; the soul, 314 of
intellect,
317
soul, fif.;
ishment, 323 ethics,
ff.;
reward and punprophecy, 325;
resurrection,
ibid.;
£f.;
active
317;
326;
interpretation of Rabbinic writ-
326
ings,
332
f.,
Hippocrates,
186; 200, 246
lect,
Ibn Migash, Joseph, 151 Ibn Janah, 84, 309 Ibn Roshd, see Averroes Ibn Sina, see Avicenna Ibn Zaddik, Joseph, xix, xxxix,
Hirschfeld, 440, note 31; 442, note
book,
his
"Hobot ha-Lebabot,"
see
"Duties
of the Hearts"
Homonym,
purpose,
129; 129;
and sources
process edge,
of
129
Horovitz,
S., 433, 442, notes 162, 163 and 165; 443, note 226 Husik, Isaac, 436, 439, note 9; 445, note 308; 446, note 334; 448,
ibid.
131; the sphere, 131
elements, 132
133
f.;
f.;
the
knowl-
of
physics,
f.;
matter and form,
240, 351, 371
division of
f.;
philosophy,
128;
definition
178
125-
xlv, xlvi, xlix, 60, 79,
149; standpoint, 125
209
185;
unity of God, ibid.; active intel-
xlii,
xviii, 2, 3, 72,
xlvi, 79, 125, a microcosm, 185;
philosophy,
of
definition
ben Samuel,
definition
man
184-187;
60, 155, 184
;
130
ff.;
substance,
f.;
the four
human body,
the soul, 134
f.;
the three
souls, ibid.; the emotions, ibid.;
note 443 Hj^ostasis, xxxviii, 6, 91, 115
life,
Ibn Ibn Ibn Ibn Idn
tellect, 139;
136; death, ibid.; sleep
waking,
ibid.;
and
the rational soul,
137; definition of soul,
138; in-
world soul, 140; duty
Aknin, Joseph, 302 Badja, 60
to use the reason, ibid.; criticism
Caspi, Joseph, 302, 310, 329
of the
Daud (Aven
143;
Death), 61
Daud, Abraham,
see
Daud,
Abraham Ibn Ibn Ezra, Abraham, xxxix,
79, 80,
81,
114,
184,
exegesis, 187
f.;
Kalam, 141
existence
187-196; Bibhcal
creation,
God,
ibid.;
unity, ibid.; self-sufficiency, 144;
wiU of God,
unity of God, 189;
f.;
of
ibid.; attributes,
145
commandments, 147; rational and traditional, ibid. the virtues, 148; reward and punishment, 148; f.;
;
Messiah, 149; 162, 175,
in corporeality, ibid.; creation, 190;
evil,
matter, ibid.; the universe, 190
184, 200, 206, 209; 211, 237, 246,
f.;
Intelligences, ibid.; angels, ibid.; soul, 191
f.;
reward and punish-
ment, 192; transmigration, 192; freedom, 193; and foreknowledge, ibid.;
knowledge of God, 193
prophecy,
194;
classification
the laws, 194; problem of
f.;
of
evil,
19s; ethics, ibid.; 200, 246, 309,
310, 429, 435
148
f.;
309,317,362,435 'Ikkarim," 406
Immortality, in Pseudo-Bahya, 112 f.;
in
Abraham bar Hiyya, 120
f.;
Judah Halevi, 169 f., 181 f. in Ibn Daud, 215; in Levi ben Gerson, 339 ff.; in Aaron ben in
Elijah, 384; in Crescas, 400 Incorporeahty, in Kalam, xliv, 253;
INDEX Al Basir, 51; in
in Saadia, 32; in
Jeshua ben Judah, 57; in Judah Halevi,
162;
Ezra, 189
f.;
Maimonides,
in
Abraham
in
in
ibn
Ibn Daud, 217; xliv,
257
ff.,
260
Aaron ben Elijah, 368 f. Kalam, 251 f.; in Saadia, 25, 30; in Bahya, 86, 87; in Ibn Daud, 208; in Maimonides, 251 f., in
flf.;
Infinity, in
254, 256
f.;
in Crescas,
active,
Intellect,
Philosophy, xlvi xlvii; active
390 Jewish
in
xli;
acquired
f.;
109; in Ibn Zaddik, 139; in
Halevi,
162,
155,
i.,
in prophecy, xlix,
i.
Judah in
181;
165,
Moses ibn Ezra, 186; in Ibn Daud, 222; in Maimonides, 268, 277; in Hillel ben Samuel, 317 in
Levi ben Gerson, 337
also "Intelligence,"
ff.;
See
£f.
f.;
in
Gabirol, 65, 66; in Pseudo-Bahya,
Abraham bar Hiyya, 119; Abraham ibn Ezra, 190 f.; in
109; in
Maimonides, 266
2;
his
1-16;
I., i f.;
his works,
ibid.;
theory of
sources,
the elements, 3, 12; definition of
philosophy,
creation,
4;
Intelhgence, 6
f.;
kinds of soul, 10 principle, 12
f.;
ibid.;
200,
Jesus, xxvii, 86, 91
Job, XV, xxvi, 304, 346, 377
f.
M., 398, 435, 436, 445, note 310; 446, notes 335 and 398; 447, note 398 end
Joel,
Johannes Hispanus, 61 Joseph ben Shemtob, 429, 430, 447, note 404 Joseph ibn Zaddik, see Ibn Zaddik, Joseph Jourdain,
A.,
63,
441,
note
85;
445, note 306
Judah Judah Judah Judah
ben
Barzilai, 17 Hadassi, 363 Halevi, see Halevi, Judah
Messer Leon, 431
Justinian, xvii
Kabbala, 79, 429, 430 Kadariya, xxi, xxii, xxiii, 23
Kalam,
xxiv, xxvii, 16, 17, 48, 50, 52,
55, 86, 106, 125, 128, 141
146,
f.,
ff.;
362,
366,
428,
433,
439,
ff.,
note
10 Kalisch, Isidor, 433 Karaites, xiii, xxiv, xxv,
xli, xlvii,
23,
24, 48, 55, 59, 108, 125, 126, 146,
three
154, 174, 183, 200, 245, 246, 362,
element and
363, 364, 365, 370, 2>7S, 377, 378,
Soul, 8 ff.;
5
ff.;
prophecy, 15; 17,
24, 31, 60, 72, 91, 127, 175, 224,
428
Kaufmann, David,
152,
153, 433,
434, 435, 436, 441, note 88; 442, note 181; 444, notes 250 and 305
434
Kellermann, Benzion, 436 "Keter Malkut," see
Jabariya, xxi, xlvii
Jacob ben Machir, 309, 310
"Royal
Crown"
Jacobites, xviii, 34
Kindi, Al, xxxix
Jaulus, 437
Jeshua ben Judah, xxv, priority
evil,
246, 363, 434
154, 171, 183, 200, 245, 246
f.
Israeli, Isaac, xix, xlvi, xlix,
Maimonides on
good and
ibid.;
"Soul"
Intelligence, xlvi; in Israeli, 6
in
457
of
reason,
xlvii,
56;
55-58;
atomic
Klein, Miksa, 434 Knowledge, sources of, xl; in Saadia,
theory, ibid.; creation, ibid.; exist-
27
ence of God, 57; incorporeality.
129
f.; f.
in
Bahya, 83;
in
Ibn Zaddik,
INDEX
4S8 Koran,
xxi, xxii, xxiii, xxvi, xxvii,
xxix, xliv, 34, 156
"Maase Merkaba,"
xvi,
430 Maimonides, Moses,
Krochmal, Nahman, 189, 435 "Kusari," 153
242, 303,
xvi,
xlv, xlvi, xlvii, xlix,
xliii,
Lactantius, 431
Landauer, Saadia, in
T)?>
f.;
Abraham
traditional,
1;
in
Ibn Zaddik, 147;
in
ibn Ezra, 194; in Ibn
Daud, 233 f.; in Maimonides, 294 in Aaron ben Elijah, 382
£f
xlii,
i, 2, 16,
1,
25, 60, 62, 63, 79, 88, 95, 96, 114,
440, note 37
S., 175,
Laws, rational and
xx,
xix,
xxiv, XXV, xxvii, xxxix, xh,
125, 126, 146, 153, 158, 166, 167,
198, 199, 200, 201, 207, 218, 221,
235, 236-311; his
239
chef d'ceuvre,
life, f.;
238
his
f.;
his
method,
240; his standpoint, 240
ff.;
im-
;
.
Lebid ibn Al-A'sam, xxvi Leibnitz, 307
portance of science, 243 f.; difficulty of metaphysics, 244 f.; sketch of Jewish Philosophy,
Leverrier, 275
Levi ben Gerson,
xix, xx, xxxix, xli,
245
246 xliii,
xlvii,
235,
302,
xlix,
standpoint,
329
authority, 330
16,
166, 217,
313,
328-361;
7,
312,
f.;
f.;
method, 331 the passive ;
332
ff.;
and and
reason
his style
340 flf.; and the contingent, God's knowledge, 342 flf.; 346
fl.;
351
f.;
339
f.;
f.
;
meaning
existence of God,
flf.;
attributes, 262
ff.;
"Jhvh," 265; angels,
of
f.;
f
; .
origin of the world, 269
emanation of Intelligences, 272 criticism
ff.
of
Aristotle,
271
f.; ff.;
psychology, 281
ff.;
freedom, 285
and foreknowlproblem of evil,
edge,
288
287
ff.;
reason
virtue, 282
ff.;
ff.;
f.;
God's knowledge, 289 of
the
ff.;
commandments,
f.;
eter-
294
ff.;
influence
Bible exegesis, 302 of
interpretation Scholasticism,
of creation story in Genesis, 357;
miracles, 358
260
ibid.,
ff.;
unity, ibid.; incorporeality,
attri-
existence of God, 350
nal matter, 355
ff.;
ibid.;
Providence,
origin of the world, 352
257
ff.;
prognostication and prophecy,
f.,
ophers," 254
266
definition, 339; immortality,
butes, 344
propositions of the "philos-
intellect,
active intellect, 337
problem of knowledge, 338; of f.;
;
Kalam,
exposition of the
f.; ff.
362, 363, 369, 384,
388, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 398,
399, 401, 402, 406, 419, 420, 421,
428, 429, 430, 436, 447, note 403a
Levy, Louis-Germain, 436 "Liber de Causis," xx, 2, 64, 317 Lippmann, 443, note 214 Logos, xxvii, xH, 52, 71, 91
M.,
305
305-307;
ff.;
on on Juff.;
daism, 307-311; 312, 313, 314, 317, 323, 325, 329, 332, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 350, 352, 353, 357, 358, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 382, 383, 384,
388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 398, 399, 400, 402, 403, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 412, 416,
"Ma'amar Yikkawu ha-Mayim," 309
"Maase 430
417, 419, 420, 421, 423, 424, 425, 426, 428, 429, 430, 431, 435, 447,
Bereshit," xvi,
242, 303,
note 403 a " Malmad Hatalmidim," 309
INDEX Malter, H.,
vii,
Mandonnet,
P., 445, note 308; 446,
445, note 316
21
ff.;
doctrine of, in Aristotle, xxix
in Plotinus, xxxviii; as source
of evil, 38; in Gabirol, 66
in
f.;
Pseudo-Bahya, 109; in Abraham bar Hiyya, 117; in Ibn Zaddik, 130
fif.;
in
Abraham Daud, 205
f.;
34, 52, 81, 84, 95, 200, 246,
434
Munk, Solomon,
note 332
Manicheans, 375 Matter, rejected by Mutakallimun, xrii;
459
Judah Halevi,
63, 304, 328, 433, 434, 440, note 83; 441, notes 86,
87 and 105; 444, notes 250, 280 and 302; 445, notes 314 and 316; 448, note 442
Miinz,
J., 436 Mutakallimun, xxi
f.,
175; in
106, 125, 126, 127, 128, 139, 142,
ibn Ezra, 190; in Ibn
145, 149, 158, 182, 183, 199, 240,
f.;
in
Maimonides, 256,
270; in Levi ben Gerson, 355
f.
Maywald, 446, note 332 "Mekize Nirdamim," 445, notes 313 and 321 " Mekor Hayyim," see " Fons Vitae "
Menahem ben
Saruk, 59 Messiah, in Saadia, 45; in Ibn Zad-
246-253; 362, 366
256,
27s,
ff.,
xxvii, xlvii, 3, 17,
21, 23, 24, 26, 48, 108, 171, 246,
251, 291, 292, 362, 36s, 366, 375,
377
Nachmanides, 426, 429 Nature,
see
Transmigra-
tion
in
Plotinus,
xxxviii;
in
Gabirol, 65, 66; in Pseudo-Bahya, 109; in
"Microcosmus," 60, 125 "Milhamot Adonai," 329 Miracles, in Levi ben
353,
428 Mu'tazila, xxii
dik, 149; in Crescas, 402, 404; in
Metempsychosis,
352,
369, 372, 382, 406,
f.,
Albo, 408
358
xl, xli, xlvii,
9, II, 24, 25, 26, 48, 81, 88, 96,
Abraham bar
Hi37ya, 119
Neo-Platonic, xx, xxviii, xxxix, xlvi, 2, 6, 13, 24,
Gerson,
90, 92,
38, 64, 79, 81, 86, 89,
106, 107, 114, 115, 125,
126, 127, 129, 138, 139, 177, 178,
f.
Mohammed,
xxv, 86
Monophysites,
xviii,
199, 200, 266, 305, 317, 319
Neo-Platonism, xxix, 17, 64, 70, 79,
34
"More Ha-moreh," 310 "More Nebiikim," 238
91, 114, 150, 187, 200, 266, 288,
317,428
Morgenstern, Erno, 434 Moses ben Enoch, 59
Neo-Platonists,
Moses ben Maimon, see Maimonides Moses of Narbonne, 309, 310, 328,
Neo-Pythagoreans, 188
Motion, in Aristotle, xxvi; in Ibn in
31, 64, 91, 106,
Nestorians, xvui, 34
Neumark, David,
430, 447, note 403a
Daud, 207;
xl,
184, 199
Maimonides, 254,
viii,
433,
435,
436, 441, note 107
"Nous,"
xxxviii, 7, 91
269
Mukammas, David ophy,
17
f.;
2,
17-22;
and
philos-
Al,
definition of science
attributes,
unity, 18; reward
18
ff.;
and punishment,
"01am Katon," see "Microcosmus" "Or Adonai," 389 Origen, 288, 302
Orschansky, G., 435
INDEX
460
Perles, J., 445, note 309 Philo, xvi, xxvii, xxxviii, xli, 23, 91,
95, 188, 240, 266, 268, 288, 302
Philoponus, 247, 353 Philosophy, and religion,
xiii;
con-
by
tent of Jewish P., xl-1; defined
by Ibn Zaddik,
IsraeH, 4;
129;
by Moses Ibn Ezra, 185 in Kalam, xxii, xh;
in
Physics,
Aristotle, xxx; in Israeli, 3, 5, 12;
xH;
Saadia,
in
130
xlii,
fif.;
Ibn Zaddik,
in
Judah Halevi, 175
in
Ibn Daud, xlii, 205 ff.; in Maimonides, xlii, 254 ff., 269 ff.; in Levi ben Gerson, 352 f., 355 f.; in Aaron ben Elijah, xli, 366 ff. in ff.;
in
;
Crescas,
xlii,
Plato, xxix,
389 xlv, 5, 7, 8, 37, 47,
xli,
138, iss, 179, 181,
90, 91, 122,
182, 184, 195, 231, 268, 269, 288,
mortality, II 2
Plato of Tivoli, 114
317, 434 Ptolemy, xviii, 273, 309 Pythagoras, 60, 179, 184, 185 Pythagoreans, 9
Rashi, 187
Raymond, Bishop
xxxix, 6, 64,
65, 91, 107, IIS, 126, 139, 178, 431
sive,
r.
xxxvi
and authority
330 "Soul"
son,
224
in
15; in Saadia, 40; in
Ezra,
194;
ff.;
in
Israeli,
Judah
Abraham
ibn
in Ibn Daud, xlix, Maimonides, xlix, 276
ben Samuel, 325; in Levi ben Gerson, xlix, 340 ff.; in Aaron ben EUjah, 380 f.; in
ff.;
in Hillel
Crescas, 395; in Albo, 421 Providence, xl; in Maimonides, 290 ff.
;
ben Gerson, 346 ff ben EUjah, 375 f.;
in Levi
Aaron
Crescas, 393
Pseudo-Bahya,
f.;
standpoint, 106 ff..
Ill
ff.;
Nature, 108
in Albo,
xlvi,
xlix,
f.;
no;
.
;
Hillel
1; in Saadia, 44 f.; in ben Samuel, 326; in Aaron
ben Elijah, 385 f in Crescas, 404 and Pimishment, xlvii, .
1;
;
Mukammas,
in
Saadia, 42
in
f.;
Judah Halevi,
in
in
in
ff.;
Aaron ben
in
f.;
Rose, Valentinus, 439, note 8 Rosin, David, 189, 192, 435
"Royal Crown,"
the, 75
Saadia, xix, xxv, xlix,
I,
xli,
f.
xUi, xlv, xlvi,
17, 23-47; his
Kalam,
matter, 109;
170;
EUjah, 379, 383; in Crescas, 403 in Albo, 425 f. RosceUinus of Compiegne, 305
in
Soul,
f.;
Ezra, 192; in Hillel
ben Samuel, 323
ve-Deot," 24
the soul, 108
21
Al Basir, 55; in
Pseudo-Bahya, 113; in Abraham ff.; in Ibn Zaddik,
in
425 106-113;
Intelligence, f.,
Levi ben Ger-
Resurrection,
148;
Halevi, xlix, 165; in
in
See also "Intellect,"
f.
Abraham Ibn f.;
in
in Plotinus, xxxviii;
f.;
Proclus, XX, 3 xlix
r.
and pas-
as a source of knowledge, xl;
r.
J., 433 Porphyry, 60
xlvi,
xiii;
Aristotle, xxxvi; active
bar Hiyya, 119
xlix,
of Toledo, 61
Reason, and authority,
Pollak,
Prophecy,
im-
112;
reward and pim-
;
ishment, 113; 122, 126, 139, 148,
xlviii, f.,
virtue, f.
Reward
304, 30s, 353, 413, 431
Plotinus, XX, xxxvii
no;
creation,
ibid.;
f.;
atomic theory, 25;
reason for writing, 26 of truth,
27
"Emunot
modeUed on the
f.;
f.;
sources
speculation not
forbidden, 28; necessity of revelation,
28
ff.;
ibid.;
existence
of
God,
incorporeaUty, 32; imity,
INDEX 32
attributes,
f.;
^v categories
2,2>
God, 35
inapplicable to
the-
f.;
f.; laws and commandments, 38 f.; rational and traditional, ibid.; prophecy, 40; written and oral law, 40; abrogation of Law, 40 f.; freedom, 41 f.; and foreknowledge, ibid.; reward and punishment, 42 f., 46;
ophanies, 36; soul, 37
future world, 43
44
f.;
ethics,
46
f.;
f.;
resurrection,
48, 50, 52, 59,
461
Abraham Ibn Ezra, Ibn Daud, 209 281
ff.;
in
ff.;
in
Crescas,
Steinschneider,
St.
Ephrem
Syrians, xvii
428, 434
f.;
439,
86, 153
199, 246
ff.,
"Tagmule ha-Nefesh," 314 Tanzer, A., 437 Themistius, 7, 60, 313, 321, 332, Z3i,
Theophrastus,
Scheyer, Simon B., 435 Schmiedl, A., 433 Schreiner, M., xxv, xxvii, 433, 434, 439, notes 12, 16, 18 and 20; 440,
xviii
Tibbon, Judah Ibn, 71, 309, 310 Tibbon, Moses Ibn, 309, 440, note 37 Tibbon, Samuel Ibn, 2, 60, 125, 239, 302, 309
note 81
"Tikkun Midot ha-Nefesh,"
"SeferHa-Kabbala," 198 62,,
434, 441, note 86
429
Soul, in Aristotle, xxxv; world soul
f.;
IsraeU, 5, 8
Gabirol,
Bahya, 108
ff.;
65, £f.;
in Jewish
world-soul in
Jewish Neo-Platonists,
s.
in
in Saadia, 37
f.;
66; in
xlvi;
in
Pseudo-
Abraham bar
Hiyya, 119; in Ibn Zaddik, 134 f., 137 f.; world-soul in Ibn Zaddik, in
xH, 28, 223
f.
f.
"Twenty Chapters,"
Sophists, xxix
philosophy, xlv
xiii,
Transmigration, in Saadia, 44; in Abraham ibn Ezra, 192; in Ibn Trinity, xliv, 33, 34, 7i, Qi Truth, twofold, 328
Solomon ben Adret, 430 Solomon ben Yeroham, 363
s.
Tradition,
Daud, 215
Socrates, xxix, 155, 184, 185
in Plotinus, xxxviii;
71
"Torot ha-Nefesh," 106
Shemtob ben Joseph, 430 Shemtob ben Joseph ibn Shemtob,
s.
311,
64, 266
Scahger, 307
140;
of," 5
"Theology of Aristotle," xx, xxxix,
Samuel, 197
in
Book
Moritz,
334, 335
Saladin, 239
Seyerlen,
also
of Nisibis, xviii
95, 96, 126, 127, 128, 146, 147, 167,
Sabeans, 296
See
400.
note 26; 440, notes 31 and 33; 443, note 247; 446, note 360 Sufis, xxvii
252, 253, 302, 309, 362, 363, 388,
in
f.
"Spirit and Soul,
81, 82, 83, 84, 87, 88, 89, 92, 94,
17s, 186, 19s, 200, 237, 241, 246,
f.;
in
"Reason"
"InteUect," Spinoza, 398
191
Maimonides, HUlel ben Samuel, 314 ff.;
Judah Halevi, 179
ff.;
in
17
Ueberweg-Baumgartner, 433 Unity of God, in Kalam, xxii, in
252;
Saadia, 32
Bahya, 89 in
f.; f.;
xliii f.,
18;
in
Al Basir, 51; in in Ibn Zaddik, 143; in
Moses ibn Ezra,
ham
185; in Abra-
ibn Ezra, 189; in Ibn Daud,
f. in Maimonides, xliv, 2575.; Aaron ben Elijah, 368 f.; in
219 in
Mukammas,
;
Crescas, 391
f.
INDEX
462 Vincent of Beauvais,
William of Occam, 200
i
Virtue, xlix; in Gabirol,
Pseudo-Bahya, 112; dik, 148; in
in
72
f.;
in
Ibn Zad-
Ibn Daud, 232; in
Maimonides, 282
Wise, Stephen
S., 71,
441, note 103
M., 444, note 251 Wolfsohn, Julius, 436 WolflF,
ff.
Yahuda,
80, 86, 439, note 24; 441, notes 106, 108, 109 and 112
Weil, Isidore, 436 Weil, Simson, 198, 443, note 221
Weinsberg, Leopold, 435 Wenrich, 439, note 5
Werbluner, 445, note 317 Will of God, in Al Basir, 50; in Gabirol, 68
f.;
in
Ibn Zaddik, 144;
Bahya, 90; in in Aaron ben
Zeller, 439,
note 4; 441, note 86
Zeno, 25
Zimmels, 448, note 442
Elijah, 372 William of Auvergne, 71, 306
Printed in the
Yahya ben Adi, 247 Yefet Ha-Levi, 363 "Yezirah, Sefer" 17, 94, 173, 179 Yohanan ben Zakkai, 197
Zunz, Leopold, 184
Umted
States of Amerioa.
