Difference between revisions of "Maimonides" - New World Encyclopedia

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'''Moshe ben Maimon''' ([[March 30]], [[1135]]–[[December 13]], [[1204]]) was a [[Jew]]ish [[rabbi]], [[physician]], and [[philosopher]].  
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[[Image:Maimonides-2.jpg|thumb|200px|An artist's conception of Maimonides' appearance]]
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'''Moshe ben Maimon''' (March 30, 1135 – December 13, 1204) was a Jewish [[rabbi]], physician, and philosopher. Moshe ben Maimon's Hebrew name is רבי משה בן מיימון and his Arabic name is موسى بن ميمون بن عبد الله القرطبي الإسرائيلي, '''Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdallah al-Kurtubi al-Israili'''. However, he is most commonly known by his Greek name, '''Moses Maimonides''' (Μωησής Μαϊμονίδης), and many Jewish works refer to him by the acronym of his title and name, '''RaMBaM''' or '''Rambam''' (רמב"ם).
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Moshe ben Maimon's [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] name is רבי משה בן מיימון and his [[Arabic language|Arabic]] name is موسى بن ميمون بن عبد الله القرطبي الإسرائيلي, ''Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdallah al-Kurtubi al-Israili''. However, he is most commonly known by his [[Greek language|Greek]] name, '''Moses Maimonides''' (Μωησής Μαϊμονίδης), and many Jewish works refer to him by the acronym of his title and name, '''RaMBaM''' or '''Rambam''' (רמב"ם). The Greek appellation means "son of Maimon," and is a literal rendition of "ben Maimon."
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Maimonides is typically regarded as the greatest of the medieval Jewish philosophers. His work is unhesitatingly rationalist in spirit, both in his attempts to provide rational grounds for traditional Jewish law and in his picture of philosophy and rational inquiry as constitutive of the end of the perfection of the soul. Much of this stems from Maimonides' being heavily influenced by the work of [[Aristotle]]. His influence has been vast, both on the Jewish and Christian traditions (ranging from [[Thomas Aquinas|Aquinas]] to [[Baruch_Spinoza|Spinoza]]). By achieving a synthesis between Hebraism and Hellenism, revelation and reason, Maimonides laid the foundation for the extraordinary contribution that Jews made to Western literature, music, science, technology, law, politics, cinema, academia, commerce, finance, medicine, and art.
  
 
==Biography==
 
==Biography==
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[[Image:Maimonides-Statue.jpg|thumb|Statue of Maimonides in Córdoba, Spain]]
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[[Image:Maimonides-Statue.jpg|thumb|200px|Statue of Maimonides in Córdoba, Spain]]
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Maimonides was born in [[1135]] in [[Córdoba, Spain]], then under Muslim rule during what some scholars consider to be the end of the [[golden age of Jewish culture in Spain]]. Maimonides [[Torah study|studied Torah]] under his father Maimon who had in turn studied under [[Rabbi]] [[Joseph ibn Migash]]. The [[Almohades]] conquered Córdoba in 1148, and offered the Jewish community the choice of [[conversion to Islam]], [[martyrdom|death]], or [[exile]]. Maimonides's family, along with most other Jews, chose exile. For the next ten years they moved about in southern Spain, avoiding the conquering Almohades, but eventually settled in [[Fes]] in [[Morocco]], where Maimonides acquired most of his secular knowledge, studying at the [[University of Karueein|University of Fes]]. During this time, he composed his acclaimed [[commentary]] on the [[Mishnah]].
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Maimonides was born in 1135 in Córdoba, [[Spain]], then under Muslim rule. Maimonides studied [[Torah]] under his father Maimon. The [[Almohades]] conquered Córdoba in 1148, and offered the Jewish community the choice of conversion to Islam, death, or exile. Maimonides's family, along with most other Jews, chose exile. For the next ten years they moved about in southern Spain, eventually settling in Fez, [[Morocco]]. While there, Maimonides wrote his first significant philosophical work (the ''Treatise on the Art of Logic'') and began on his ''Commentary on the [[Mishnah]]''.
  
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Following this sojourn in Morocco, he briefly lived in the Holy Land, spending time in [[Jerusalem]], and finally settled in [[Fostat]], [[Egypt]]; where he was doctor of the [[Grand Vizier]] Alfadhil and also possibly  the doctor of [[Sultan]] [[Saladin]] of Egypt. In Egypt, he composed most of his ''oeuvre'', including the [[Mishneh Torah]]. He died in Fostat, and was buried in [[Tiberias]] (today in [[land of Israel|Israel]]). His son [[Avraham son of Rambam|Avraham]], recognized as a great scholar, succeeded him as ''[[Nagid]]'' (head of the [[Egypt|Egyptian]] Jewish Community), as well as in the office of court [[physician]], at the age of only eighteen. He greatly honored the memory of his father, and throughout his career defended his father's writings against all critics.  The office of ''Nagid'' was held by the Maimonides family for four successive generations until the end of the 14th century.
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Following this sojourn in Morocco, he briefly lived in the [[Holy Land]], spending time in [[Jerusalem]], and finally settled in Fostat, [[Egypt]]. There, he worked as a physician and jurist, and became a leader of the Egyptian Jewish community. While there, he completed and published (around 1185) the 14-volume ''Mishneh Torah'', which remains a central work in Jewish law. The work aimed to find a systematic philosophical basis for traditional Jewish law, arguing that even the most particular laws were specifically aimed at promoting the perfection of the [[soul]] so that the soul can properly love God.
  
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He is widely respected in Spain and a statue of him was erected in Córdoba alongside his synagogue, which is no longer functioning as a Jewish house of worship but is open to the public.  There is no Jewish community in Córdoba now, but the city is proud of its historical connection to Rambam. 
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Maimonides' major philosophical work is the ''Guide for the Perplexed'', finished in 1190. The book is posed as an extended letter on the apparent conflict between religion and philosophy (primarily, [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian philosophy]]). Maimonides considers a broad set of issues, often showing much more sympathy for the philosophical side of debates than many of his readers would find appropriate (the book was condemned and burned at Montpellier several decades after Maimonides' death).
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:See: ''[[History of the Jews in Egypt#Arab Rule .28641 C.E. - 1250 CE.29|History of the Jews in
 
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Egypt]]''.
 
  
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==Works and bibliography==
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The last parts of Maimonides' life were spent defending his views and pursuing issues in natural philosophy. He died in 1204, at which time his son Abraham became the head of the Egyptian Jewish community.
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[[Image:Manuscript page by Maimonides Arabic in Hebrew letters.jpg|thumb|150px|Manuscript page by Maimonides. [[Judeo-Arabic language]] in [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] letters.]]
 
  
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Maimonides composed both works of Jewish scholarship, and medical texts. Most of Maimonides' works were written in [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. However, the ''Mishneh Torah'' was written in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]. His Jewish texts were:
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== Philosophy ==
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* ''The Commentary on the Mishna'',  written in Arabic. This text was one of the first commentaries of its kind; its introductory sections are widely-quoted. See [[Mishnah#Commentaries|Mishnah Commentaries]] for details;
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[[Image:Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides.jpg|thumb|200px|The title page of ''The Guide for the Perplexed'']]
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* ''[[Sefer Hamitzvot]]'' ("The Book of Commandments"). See ''[[613 mitzvot]]'' for details;
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Through the ''Guide for the Perplexed'' and the philosophical introductions to sections of his commentaries on the Mishnah, Maimonides exerted an important influence on the [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] philosophers, especially on [[Albertus Magnus|Albert the Great]], [[Thomas Aquinas]] and [[Duns Scotus]]. He himself was a Jewish Scholastic. Educated more by reading the works of Arab Muslim philosophers than by personal contact with Arab teachers, he acquired an intimate acquaintance not only with Arab Muslim philosophy, but also with the doctrines of [[Aristotle]]. Maimonides strove to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and science, with the teachings of the Torah. The project of reconciliation had a specific motivation, for Maimonides believed that a single body of philosophical wisdom had influenced the Jewish patriarchs and the [[Greek philosophy|Greek philosophers]].
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* ''The [[Mishneh Torah]]'' (also known as " Sefer Yad ha-Chazaka"), a comprehensive code of Jewish law;
 
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* ''The [[Guide for the Perplexed]]'', a philosophical work harmonising and differentiating [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] philosophy and Jewish theology;
 
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* ''Teshuvot'', collected correspondence and [[responsa]], including a number of public letters (on resurrection and the [[after-life]], on conversion to other faiths, and ''[[The Yemen Epistle|Iggereth Teiman]]'' - addressed to the oppressed Jewry of [[Yemen]]).
 
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Maimonides also wrote a number of medical texts; some of which are still in existence. The best known is his collection of [[medical]] [[aphorism]]s, titled ''Fusul Musa'' in Arabic ("Chapters of Moses", ''Pirkei Moshe'' in Hebrew).
 
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==Influence==
 
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[[Image:Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides.jpg|thumb|The title page of ''The Guide for the Perplexed'']]
 
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Maimonides was one of the few medieval [[Judaism|Jewish]] philosophers who also influenced the non-Jewish world. Even today, he is among the most respected of all Jewish philosophers. A popular medieval saying that also served as his [[epitaph]], stated that ''From [[Moses|Moshe]] (of the Torah) to Moshe (Maimonides) there was none like Moshe.''
 
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Maimonides was by far the most influential figure in medieval Jewish philosophy.  Radical Jewish scholars in the centuries that followed can be characterised as "Maimonideans" or "anti-Maimonideans".  Moderate scholars were eclectics, who largely accepted Maimonides' Aristotelian world-view, but rejected those elements of it which they considered to contradict the religious tradition.  Such eclecticism reached its height in the 14th-15th centuries.
 
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The most rigorous medieval critique of Maimonides is [[Crescas|Hasdai Crescas]]' ''[[Or Hashem]]''. Crescas bucked the eclectic trend, by demolishing the certainty of the [[aristotle|Aristotelian]] world-view, not only in religious matters, but even in the most basic areas of medieval [[science]] (such as physics and geometry). [[Crescas]]' critique provoked a number of 15th century scholars to write defenses of Maimonides. A translation of Crescas was produced by [[Harry Austryn Wolfson]] of [[Harvard University]], in 1929.
 
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:''See also [[Maimonides School]]''
 
  
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==The 13 principles of faith==
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===The 13 principles of faith===
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''See also the main article [[Jewish principles of faith]]''
 
  
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In his commentary on the Mishna (tractate Sanhedrin, chapter 10), Maimonides formulates his '''13 principles of faith'''. They described his views on:
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In his commentary on the Mishna (tractate Sanhedrin, chapter 10), Maimonides formulates his '''13 principles of faith'''. They summarized what he viewed as the required beliefs of Judaism with regards to:
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# The existence of God
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# The existence of [[God]]
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# God's unity
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# [[God]]'s unity
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# God's [[spirituality]] and [[incorporeality]]
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# God's [[spirituality]] and [[incorporeal]]ity
 
# God's [[eternity]]
 
# God's [[eternity]]
 
# God alone should be the object of [[worship]]
 
# God alone should be the object of [[worship]]
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# [[Revelation]] through God's [[Prophet|prophets]]
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# [[Revelation]] through [[God]]'s [[prophet]]s
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# The preeminence of [[Moses]] among the prophets
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# The preeminence of [[Moses]] among the [[prophet]]s
 
# God's law given on [[Mount Sinai]]
 
# God's law given on [[Mount Sinai]]
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# The immutability of the [[Torah]] as God's Law
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# The immutability of the [[Torah]] as [[God]]'s Law
 
# God's foreknowledge of human actions
 
# God's foreknowledge of human actions
 
# Reward of good and [[retributive justice|retribution]] of evil
 
# Reward of good and [[retributive justice|retribution]] of evil
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# The coming of the Jewish [[Messiah]]
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# The coming of the [[Jewish Messiah]]
 
# The [[resurrection]] of the dead
 
# The [[resurrection]] of the dead
  
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These principles were controversial when first proposed, evoking criticism by [[Hasdai Crescas]] and [[Joseph Albo]], and were effectively ignored by much of the Jewish community for the next few centuries. ("Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought", Menachem Kellner). However, these principles became widely-held; today, [[Orthodox Judaism]] holds these beliefs to be obligatory. Two poetic restatements of these principles (''Ani Ma'amin'' and ''Yigdal'') eventually became canonized in the "[[siddur]]" (Jewish prayer book).
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These principles were controversial when first proposed, evoking criticism by [[Hasdai Crescas|Rabbi Hasdai Crescas]] and [[Joseph Albo|Rabbi Joseph Albo]], and were effectively ignored by much of the [[Judaism|Jewish]] community for the next few centuries.<ref>Menachem Kellner, ''Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought'' (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004, ISBN 978-1904113218).</ref> However, these principles became widely held; today, [[Orthodox Judaism]] holds these beliefs to be obligatory. Two poetic restatements of these principles (''[[Ani Ma'amin]]'' and ''[[Yigdal]]'') eventually became canonized in the [[Siddur]] ([[Judaism|Jewish]] prayer book).
  
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==Halakhic works==
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Given the scope of Maimonides' work, a proper survey would be beyond the scope of this article. We can therefore focus on three philosophical topics which were of special importance to Maimonides, and which exerted the greatest influence on later thinkers.
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''See also [[Mishneh Torah]] on his influence in [[halakha]]''
 
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With Mishneh Torah, Maimonides composed a code of Jewish law with the widest-possible scope and depth. The work gathers all the binding laws from the [[Talmud]], and incorporates the positions of the [[Geonim]] (post-Talmudic early Medieval scholars, mainly from Mesopotamia). It is a highly-systematised work, and employs a very clear Hebrew, reminiscent of the style of the [[Mishna]].
 
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While Mishneh Torah is now considered the fore-runner of the [[Arbaah Turim]] and the [[Shulkhan Arukh]] (two later codes), it met initially with a lot of opposition. There were two main reasons for this opposition. Firstly, Maimonides had refrained from adding references to his work, for brevity. Secondly, in the introduction, he gave the impression of wanting to "cut out" study of the Talmud, to arrive at a conclusion in Jewish law. His most forceful opponents were the rabbis of the [[Provence]] (Southern France), and a running critique by Rabbi [[Abraham ibn Daud]] (Raavad III) is printed in virtually all editions of Mishneh Torah.
 
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== Philosophy ==
 
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Through the [[Guide for the Perplexed]] and the philosophical introductions to sections of his commentaries on the Mishna, Maimonides exerted an important influence on the [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] philosophers, especially on [[Albertus Magnus|Albert the Great]], [[Thomas Aquinas]], and [[Duns Scotus]]. He was himself a Jewish Scholastic. Educated more by reading the works of Arab Muslim philosophers than by personal contact with Arabian teachers, he acquired an intimate acquaintance not only with Arab Muslim philosophy, but with the doctrines of [[Aristotle]]. Maimonides strove to reconcile [[Wiktionary:Aristotelian|Aristotelian]] [[philosophy]] and science, with the teachings of the [[Bible|Torah]].
 
  
 
===Negative theology===
 
===Negative theology===
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The principle which inspired his philosophical activity was identical with the fundamental tenet of Scholasticism: there can be no contradiction between the truths which [[God]] has revealed, and the findings of the human mind in science and philosophy. Maimonides primarily relied upon the science of [[Aristotle]] and the philosophies of the [[Talmud]] and [[Aristotle]], commonly finding basis in the former for the latter. In some important points, however, he departed from the teaching of Aristotle; for instance, he rejected the Aristotelian doctrine that God's provident care extends only to humanity, and not to the individual.
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Maimonides was led by his admiration for the [[neoplatonism|neo-Platonic]] commentators to maintain many doctrines which the [[Scholasticism|Scholastics]] could not accept. For instance, Maimonides was an adherent of "[[negative theology]]." This approach to theology claims that we are incapable of positively characterizing God. For instance, a claim such as "God is wise" applies a predicate ('wise') to God which can also be applied to humans. This, however, implies that God's essence is of a kind with finite beings.
  
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Maimonides was led by his admiration for the [[neo-Platonism|neo-Platonic]] commentators to maintain many doctrines which the Scholastics could not accept. For instance, Maimonides was an adherent of "[[negative theology]]" (also known as "Apophatic theology".) In this theology, one attempts to describe God through negative attributes. For instance, one should not say that God exists in the usual sense of the term; all we can safely say is that God is not non-existent. We should not say that "God is wise"; but we can say that "God is not ignorant", i.e. in some way, God has some properties of knowledge. We should not say that "God is One", but we can state that "there is no multiplicity in God's being". In brief, the attempt is to gain and express knowledge of God by describing what God is not; rather than by describing what God "is".
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Seeing such an implication as entirely unacceptable, Maimonides argued that such claims should be replaced with (e.g.) "God is not ignorant." In this latter claim, there is no implication that there is any positive characteristic that applies both the humans and to God; instead, the claim merely asserts that a certain predicate (one which is applicable to humans) is ''not'' applicable to God. These distinctions are for the most part foreign to contemporary discussions of [[logic]], though they can be found well into the eighteenth century (see, for instance, [[Immanuel Kant]]'s discussion of 'infinite' judgments).
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[[Image:Manuscript page by Maimonides Arabic in Hebrew letters.jpg|thumb|200px|Manuscript page by Maimonides; Judeo-Arabic language in [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] letters]]
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In connection with this, Maimonides argued extensively against [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] conceptions of God. Biblical descriptions of God which ascribe him a body or voice, he claimed, must be seen as metaphorical and as intended to instruct the unphilosophical. This anti-anthropomorphic approach to God doubtless had a strong influence on [[Baruch Spinoza]], though Spinoza's extreme [[rationalism]] and [[naturalism]] led him to reject negative theology.
  
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The Scholastics agreed with him that no predicate is adequate to express the nature of God; but they did not go so far as to say that no term can be applied to God in the affirmative sense. They admitted that while "eternal", "omnipotent", etc., as we apply them to God, are inadequate, at the same time we may say "God is eternal" etc., and need not stop, as Moses did, with the negative "God is not not-eternal", etc.  In essence what Maimonides wanted to express is that when people give God anthropomorphic qualities they do not do justice to His greatness.
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===Creation===
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One of the most notable points in Maimonides' attempt to balance conflicting Jewish and Greek claims concerns the creation of the universe. Though he understood much of the [[Pentateuch]] as metaphorical, Maimonides regarded ''Genesis'' as a clear statement that the universe was created by God at some time the past. By contrast, the view of the Aristotelians (stemming from Aristotle's ''Physics'') was that the universe was eternal, and that God's influence was unchanging and eternal.
  
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===Prophecy===
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Maimonides weighs these two views carefully, and though he appears to favor the view in ''Genesis'', the lack of a definitive rejection of Aristotle's view has led some (such as [[Leo Strauss]]) to interpret his defense of the Biblical view as less than whole-hearted. Nevertheless, the argumentative force of the discussion is clearly aimed at showing the philosophical defensibility of the non-eternal view. Aristotle had argued in favor of an unchanging 'Prime Mover' on the basis of the apparently unchanging and necessary movements of the stars and planets. Unchanging motion, he thought, must have an unchanging source. Maimonides responded by challenging the necessity of celestial motions. Taking necessity to imply perfect order, he argued that the order of celestial bodies was far from perfect. For instance, perfect order would (he thought) require a proportional relation between the speed at which a body moved and its distance from the earth, yet no such relation existed. The lack of a perfect order meant a lack of necessity, and so the lack of an eternal source. In offering this argument, Maimonides was clear that he was merely making room for the Biblical account, not establishing it conclusively.
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He agrees with "the philosophers" in teaching that, man's intelligence being one in the series of intelligences emanating from God, the prophet must, by study and meditation, lift himself up to the degree of perfection required in the prophetic state. But here, he invokes the authority of "the Law", which teaches that, after that perfection is reached, there is required the "free act of God", before the man actually becomes a prophet.
 
  
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===The problem of evil===
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===Practical Philosophy===
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Maimonides wrote on [[theodicy]], the attempt to reconcile the existence of evil, with the premise that an omnipotent and good God exists. He follows the neo-Platonists in laying stress on matter as the source of all evil and imperfection.
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For Maimonides, the central duties for all humans are to love God and avoid idolatry. Properly loving God requires the perfection of the soul, and since the soul is bound to the body, the body must be perfected as well. In his works on Jewish law, Maimonides argued that all traditional law was constructed with these aims. The role of the [[Messiah]], Maimonides claimed, would not be to perform [[miracles]], but rather to re-establish the state of [[Israel]] and make it a focal point of science and philosophy, whose purpose in turn would be the perfection of the soul.
  
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===Astrology===
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Maimonides carefully considers the Aristotelian doctrine of the mean as a guide to proper living. He generally agrees with Aristotle that the health of the body (and so the health of the soul) requires avoiding excesses of both kinds. The agreement, however, is limited. Whereas Aristotle believed that a measured amount of control by our passions is part of living well, Maimonides rejects any practical tenets that would compromise the centrality of the intellect. Most people, he believed, will always be governed by their emotions, and for them the doctrine of the mean and the influence of external controls will be necessary. Yet those who can properly pursue the perfection of their souls through philosophy will not be controlled at all by their passions.
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Maimonides answered an inquiry concerning [[astrology]], addressed to him from [[Marseille]]. He responded that man should believe only what can be supported either by rational proof, by the evidence of the senses, or by trustworthy authority. He affirms that he had studied astrology, and that it does not deserve to be described as a science. The supposition that the fate of a man could be dependent upon the constellations is ridiculed by him; he argues that such a theory would rob life of purpose, and would make man a slave of destiny. (See also [[fatalism]], [[predestination]].)
 
  
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===True beliefs versus necessary beliefs===
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==Notes==
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In "[[Guide for the Perplexed]]" Book III, Chapter 28, Maimonides explicitly draws a distinction between "true beliefs", which were beliefs about God which produced intellectual perfection, and "necessary beliefs", which were conducive to improving social order. Maimonides places anthropomorphic statements about God in the latter class.  He uses as an example, the notion that God becomes "angry" with people who do wrong.  In the view of Maimonides, God does not actually become angry with people; but it is important for them to believe God does, so that they desist from sinning.
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<references/>
  
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=== Resurrection, acquired immortality, and the afterlife ===
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==References==
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Maimonides distinguishes two kinds of intelligence in man, the one material in the sense of being dependent on, and influenced by, the body, and the other immaterial, that is, independent of the bodily organism. The latter is a direct emanation from the universal active intellect; this is his interpretation of the ''noûs poietikós'' of [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] philosophy. It is acquired as the result of the efforts of the soul to attain a correct knowledge of the absolute, pure intelligence of [[God]].
 
  
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The knowledge of God is a form of knowledge which develops in us the immaterial intelligence, and thus confers on man an immaterial, spiritual nature. This confers on the soul that perfection in which human happiness consists, and endows the soul with immortality. One who has attained a correct knowledge of God has reached a condition of existence which renders him immune from all the accidents of fortune, from all the allurements of sin, and even from death itself. Man, therefore is in a position not only to work out his own salvation and immortality.  
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===Primary sources===
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* Hyamson, M. (trans.). ''Maimonides: The Book of Knowledge''. Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1974. ISBN 0854050388
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* Pines, S. (ed.). ''Dalalat al-Ha’irin (Moreh Nevukhim, Guide to the Perplexed)''. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1969. ISBN 1852428260
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* Satnov, Y. (ed.). ''Millot ha-Higgayon (On Logic)''. Berlin: B. Cohen, 1927.
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* Twersky, I. (ed.). ''A Maimonides Reader''. West Orange, NJ: Behrman House, 1972. ISBN 0874412064
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* Weis, R. and C. Butterworth (eds.). ''The Ethical Writings of Maimonides.'' New York: Butterworth, 1975. ISBN 0486245225
  
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The resemblance between this doctrine and [[Baruch Spinoza|Spinoza]]'s doctrine of immortality is so striking as to warrant the hypothesis that there is a causal dependence of the later on the earlier doctrine. The differences between the two Jewish thinkers are, however, as remarkable as the resemblance. While Spinoza teaches that the way to attain the knowledge which confers immortality is the progress from sense-knowledge through scientific knowledge to philosophical intuition of all things ''sub specie æternitatis'', Maimonides holds that the road to perfection and immortality is the path of duty as described in the [[Torah]] and the rabbinic understanding of the [[oral law]].
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===Secondary sources===
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* Buijs, J. ''Maimonides: A Collection of Critical Essays''. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 1988. ISBN 0268013675
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* Davidson, Herbert. ''Moses Maimonides''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 019517321X
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* Fox, Marvin. ''Interpreting Maimonides''. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1990. ISBN 0226259420
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* Kellner, Menachem. ''Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought''. Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004. ISBN 978-1904113218
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* Seeskin, Kenneth. ''Maimonides on the Origin of the World''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 052184553X
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* Seeskin, Kenneth (ed.). ''The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0521525780
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* Strauss, Leo. "The Literary Character of the ''Guide to the Perplexed''," in ''Persecution and the Art of Writing''. Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1952. ISBN 0029320305
  
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Religious Jews not only believed in immortality in some spiritual sense, but most believed that there would at some point in the future be a messianic era, and a resurrection of the dead. This is the subject of [[Jewish eschatology]]. Maimonides wrote much on this topic, but in most cases he wrote about the immortality of the soul for people of perfected intellect; his writings were usually ''not'' about the resurrection of dead bodies.  This prompted hostile criticism from the rabbis of his day, and sparked a controversy over his true views.
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==External links==
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All links retrieved November 5, 2022.
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Rabbinic works usually refer to this afterlife as "Olam Haba" (the World to Come).  Some rabbinic works use this phrase to refer to a messianic era, an era of history right here on Earth; in other rabbinic works this phrase refers to a purely spiritual realm.  It was during Maimonides's lifetime that this lack of agreement flared into a full blown controversy, with Maimonides charged as a [[heresy|heretic]] by some Jewish leaders.
 
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Some Jews at this time taught that [[Judaism]] did not require a belief in the physical resurrection of the dead, as the afterlife would be a purely spiritual realm.  They used Maimonides' works on this subject to back up their position.  In return, their opponents claimed that this was outright heresy;  for them the afterlife was right here on Earth, where God would raise dead bodies from the grave so that the resurrected could live eternally. Maimonides was brought into this dispute by both sides, as the first group stated that his writings agreed with them, and the second group portrayed him as a heretic for writing that the afterlife is for the immaterial spirit alone. Eventually, Maimonides felt pressured to write a treatise on the subject, the "''Ma'amar Tehiyyat Hametim''" "The Treatise on Resurrection."
 
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Chapter two of the treatise on resurrection refers to those who believe that the world to come involves physically resurrected bodies. Maimonides refers to one with such beliefs as being an "utter fool" whose belief is "folly".
 
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:If one of the multitude refuses to believe [that angels are incorporeal] and prefers to believe that angels have bodies and even that they eat, since it is written (Genesis 18:8) 'they ate', or that those who exist in the World to Come will also have bodies&mdash;we won't hold it against him or consider him a heretic, and we will not distance ourselves from him.  May there not be many who profess this folly, and let us hope that he will go farther than this in his folly and believe that the Creator is corporeal.
 
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However, Maimonides also writes that those who claimed that he altogether believed the verses of the [[Tanakh|Hebrew Bible]] referring to the resurrection were only allegorical were spreading falsehoods and "revolting" statements.  Maimonides asserts that belief in resurrection is a fundamental truth of Judaism about which there is no disagreement, and that it is not permissible for a Jew to support anyone who believes differently. He cites [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]] 12:2 and 12:13 as definitive proofs of physical resurrection of the dead when they state "many of them that sleep in the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence" and "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days."
 
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While these two positions may be seen as in contradiction (non-corporeal eternal life, versus a bodily resurrection), Maimonides resolves them with a then unique solution: Maimonides believed that the resurrection was not permanent or general. In his view, God never violates the laws of nature. Rather, divine interaction is by way of [[angel]]s, which Maimonides holds to be metaphors for the laws of nature, the principles by which the physical universe operates, or Platonic eternal forms. Thus, if a unique event actually occurs, even it is perceived as a miracle, it is not a violation of the world's order (Commentary on the Mishna, Avot 5:6.)
 
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In this view, any dead who are resurrected must eventually die again. In his discussion of the 13 principles of faith, the first five deal with knowledge of God, the next four deal with prophecy and the Torah, while the last four deal with reward, punishment and the ultimate redemption. In this discussion Maimonides says nothing of a universal resurrection. All he says it is that whatever resurrection does take place, it will occur at an indeterminate time before the world to come, which he repeatedly states will be purely spiritual.
 
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He writes "It appears to us on the basis of these verses (Daniel 12:2,13) that those people who will return to those bodies will eat, drink, copulate, beget, and die after a very long life, like the lives of those who will live in the Days of the Messiah." Maimonides thus disassociated the resurrection of the dead from both the World to Come and the Messianic era.
 
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In his time, many Jews believed that the physical resurrection was identical to the world to come; thus denial of a permanent and universal resurrection was considered tantamount to denying the words of the Talmudic sages. However, instead of denying the resurrection, or maintaining the current dogma, Maimonides posited a third way: That resurrection had nothing to do with the messianic era (here in this world) nor to do with Olam Haba (the purely spiritual afterlife). Rather, he considered resurrection to be a miracle that the book of Daniel predicted; thus at some point in time we could expect some instances of resurrection to occur temporarily, which would have no place in the final eternal life of the righteous.
 
  
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+
*[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides/ Maimonides] &ndash; The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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== Maimonides and the Modern ==
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*[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Maimonides.html Moses Maimonides/Rambam] &ndash; The Jewish Virtual Library
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Maimonides remains the most widely debated and controversial Jewish thinker among modern scholars.  He has been adopted as a symbol and an intellectual hero by almost all major movements in modern Judaism, and has proven immensely important to modern Jewish philosophers such as [[Leo Strauss]].  Maimonides's importance to diverse systems of thought lies in the philosopher's embrace of paradoxical and often contradictory ideas.  The Reform movement, for instance, pointed out Maimonides's argument that Jewish ritual has developed over time as justification for its proposed changes to Jewish tradition.  Orthodoxy, on the other hand, has pointed to the Maimonidean argument that the Oral Law (Halacha) and the Principles of Faith are inviolate and must be scrupulously observed even if they are not fully understood.  Maimonides's reconciliation of the philosophical and the traditional has given his legacy an extremely diverse and dynamic quality.  He is one of the few figures in Jewish history who is universally embraced by all strains of modern Judaism.  Jewish historian Yosef Yerushalmi has noted that every generation creates the Maimonides it needs or desires.
 
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One of the major issues regarding Maimonides' work is the obscure nature of ''[[Guide for the Perplexed]]''.  Leo Strauss, who held that Maimonides was the most important philosopher who ever lived, has theorized that Maimonides deliberately intended his book to have two meanings.  The first, obvious meaning, was intended for his average readers.  The second, hidden meaning, was intended for his elite readers who would understand it due to their intellectual sophistication.  Strauss believed that Maimonides telegraphed his real meaning by using codes, numerological indications, and deliberate contradictions within [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226777111 the text.] Strauss's writings remain controversial, although he is now accepted as one of the most important modern scholars of Maimonides's philosophy.
 
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Modern scholars tend to fall into two camps: those who believe that Maimonides was attempting a synthesis between Judaism and Aristotelian philosophy, and those who hold that Maimonides was, in fact, a secret Aristotelian who saw Jewish tradition as an allegorical system which was intended to maintain the Jewish community, but was not philosophically accurate.  This debate appears unlikely to ever be resolved, since it is based in differing exegetical readings of Maimonides's obscure and difficult philosophical works.
 
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==References==
 
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* Marvin Fox ''Interpreting Maimonides'', Univ. of Chicago Press 1990.
 
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* Julius Guttman, ''Philosophies of Judaism'' Translated by David Silverman, JPS, 1964
 
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* ''Maimonides' Principles: The Fundamentals of Jewish Faith'', in "The Aryeh Kaplan Anthology, Volume I", Mesorah Publications 1994
 
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* ''Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought'', Menachem Kellner, Oxford University press, 1986
 
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* ''Maimonides Thirteen Principles: The Last Word in Jewish Theology?'' Marc. B. Shapiro, ''The Torah U-Maddah Journal'', Vol. 4, 1993, Yeshiva University
 
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* ''A History of Jewish Philosophy'', Isaac Husik, Dover Publications, Inc., 2002. Originally published in 1941 by the Jewish Publication of America, Philadelphia, pp. 236-311
 
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* ''Persecution and the Art of Writing'', Leo Strauss, University of Chicago Press, 1988 reprint
 
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* "How to Begin to Study ''the Guide''", Leo Strauss, from ''The Guide of the Perplexed, Vol. 1'', Maimonides, translated from the Arabic by Shlomo Pines, University of Chicago Press, 1974
 
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== See also ==
 
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* [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain]]
 
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==External links==
 
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{{wikiquote}}
 
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*[http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=107769 A brief Biography of Maimonides]
 
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*[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Maimonides.html Maimonides/Rambam] from the Jewish Virtual Library
 
 
*[http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/m/maimonidean_controversy.html Maimonidean controversy]
 
*[http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/m/maimonidean_controversy.html Maimonidean controversy]
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*[http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/mss/html/rambam_l.htm Writings of Maimonides (Manuscripts and Early Print Editions)]
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*[http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/rambam.html Maimonides Page] &ndash; Links to online resources
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*[http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/rambam.html Maimonides Page: links to online resources]
 
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*[http://members.aol.com/LazerA/13yesodos.html The Foundations of Jewish Belief]
 
 
*[http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/e0000.htm Rambam's introduction to the Mishnah Torah (English translation])
 
*[http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/e0000.htm Rambam's introduction to the Mishnah Torah (English translation])
 
*[http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/hakdama/tohen-m-2.htm Rambam's introduction to the Commentary on the Mishnah (Hebrew Fulltext)]
 
*[http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/hakdama/tohen-m-2.htm Rambam's introduction to the Commentary on the Mishnah (Hebrew Fulltext)]
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*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/gfp.htm The Guide For the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides translated into English by Michael Friedländer]
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*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/index.htm The Guide For the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides translated into English by Michael Friedländer]
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*[http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=107769 Maimonides Mishneh (or Mishnah) Torah or Rambam - the codified laws compiled by Maimonides]
 
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*[http://www.library.dal.ca/kellogg/Bioethics/codes/maimonides.htm Oath and Prayer of Maimonides, as a choice instead of the Hippocratic Oath in medical profession.]
 
  
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{{JewishEncyclopedia}}
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===General Philosophy Sources===
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*[http://plato.stanford.edu/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
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*[http://www.iep.utm.edu/ The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
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*[http://www.bu.edu/wcp/PaidArch.html Paideia Project Online]
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*[http://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg]
  
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[[Category:Medieval philosophers|Maimonides]]
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[[category:Philosophy and religion]]
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[[Category:Middle Ages rabbis|Maimonides]]
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[[Category:Biography]]
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[[Category:Philosophers of Judaism|Maimonides]]
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[[Category:Religion]]
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[[Category:Spanish philosophers|Maimonides]]
 
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[[Category:Ancient and medieval physicians]]
 
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[[Category:Philosophy and religion]]
 
  
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{{Credit2|Maimonides|54991473|Maimonides|106225691}}

Latest revision as of 05:30, 5 November 2022

An artist's conception of Maimonides' appearance

Moshe ben Maimon (March 30, 1135 – December 13, 1204) was a Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher. Moshe ben Maimon's Hebrew name is רבי משה בן מיימון and his Arabic name is موسى بن ميمون بن عبد الله القرطبي الإسرائيلي, Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdallah al-Kurtubi al-Israili. However, he is most commonly known by his Greek name, Moses Maimonides (Μωησής Μαϊμονίδης), and many Jewish works refer to him by the acronym of his title and name, RaMBaM or Rambam (רמב"ם).

Maimonides is typically regarded as the greatest of the medieval Jewish philosophers. His work is unhesitatingly rationalist in spirit, both in his attempts to provide rational grounds for traditional Jewish law and in his picture of philosophy and rational inquiry as constitutive of the end of the perfection of the soul. Much of this stems from Maimonides' being heavily influenced by the work of Aristotle. His influence has been vast, both on the Jewish and Christian traditions (ranging from Aquinas to Spinoza). By achieving a synthesis between Hebraism and Hellenism, revelation and reason, Maimonides laid the foundation for the extraordinary contribution that Jews made to Western literature, music, science, technology, law, politics, cinema, academia, commerce, finance, medicine, and art.

Biography

Statue of Maimonides in Córdoba, Spain

Maimonides was born in 1135 in Córdoba, Spain, then under Muslim rule. Maimonides studied Torah under his father Maimon. The Almohades conquered Córdoba in 1148, and offered the Jewish community the choice of conversion to Islam, death, or exile. Maimonides's family, along with most other Jews, chose exile. For the next ten years they moved about in southern Spain, eventually settling in Fez, Morocco. While there, Maimonides wrote his first significant philosophical work (the Treatise on the Art of Logic) and began on his Commentary on the Mishnah.

Following this sojourn in Morocco, he briefly lived in the Holy Land, spending time in Jerusalem, and finally settled in Fostat, Egypt. There, he worked as a physician and jurist, and became a leader of the Egyptian Jewish community. While there, he completed and published (around 1185) the 14-volume Mishneh Torah, which remains a central work in Jewish law. The work aimed to find a systematic philosophical basis for traditional Jewish law, arguing that even the most particular laws were specifically aimed at promoting the perfection of the soul so that the soul can properly love God.

Maimonides' major philosophical work is the Guide for the Perplexed, finished in 1190. The book is posed as an extended letter on the apparent conflict between religion and philosophy (primarily, Aristotelian philosophy). Maimonides considers a broad set of issues, often showing much more sympathy for the philosophical side of debates than many of his readers would find appropriate (the book was condemned and burned at Montpellier several decades after Maimonides' death).

The last parts of Maimonides' life were spent defending his views and pursuing issues in natural philosophy. He died in 1204, at which time his son Abraham became the head of the Egyptian Jewish community.

Philosophy

The title page of The Guide for the Perplexed

Through the Guide for the Perplexed and the philosophical introductions to sections of his commentaries on the Mishnah, Maimonides exerted an important influence on the Scholastic philosophers, especially on Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus. He himself was a Jewish Scholastic. Educated more by reading the works of Arab Muslim philosophers than by personal contact with Arab teachers, he acquired an intimate acquaintance not only with Arab Muslim philosophy, but also with the doctrines of Aristotle. Maimonides strove to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and science, with the teachings of the Torah. The project of reconciliation had a specific motivation, for Maimonides believed that a single body of philosophical wisdom had influenced the Jewish patriarchs and the Greek philosophers.

The 13 principles of faith

In his commentary on the Mishna (tractate Sanhedrin, chapter 10), Maimonides formulates his 13 principles of faith. They summarized what he viewed as the required beliefs of Judaism with regards to:

  1. The existence of God
  2. God's unity
  3. God's spirituality and incorporeality
  4. God's eternity
  5. God alone should be the object of worship
  6. Revelation through God's prophets
  7. The preeminence of Moses among the prophets
  8. God's law given on Mount Sinai
  9. The immutability of the Torah as God's Law
  10. God's foreknowledge of human actions
  11. Reward of good and retribution of evil
  12. The coming of the Jewish Messiah
  13. The resurrection of the dead

These principles were controversial when first proposed, evoking criticism by Rabbi Hasdai Crescas and Rabbi Joseph Albo, and were effectively ignored by much of the Jewish community for the next few centuries.[1] However, these principles became widely held; today, Orthodox Judaism holds these beliefs to be obligatory. Two poetic restatements of these principles (Ani Ma'amin and Yigdal) eventually became canonized in the Siddur (Jewish prayer book).

Given the scope of Maimonides' work, a proper survey would be beyond the scope of this article. We can therefore focus on three philosophical topics which were of special importance to Maimonides, and which exerted the greatest influence on later thinkers.

Negative theology

Maimonides was led by his admiration for the neo-Platonic commentators to maintain many doctrines which the Scholastics could not accept. For instance, Maimonides was an adherent of "negative theology." This approach to theology claims that we are incapable of positively characterizing God. For instance, a claim such as "God is wise" applies a predicate ('wise') to God which can also be applied to humans. This, however, implies that God's essence is of a kind with finite beings.

Seeing such an implication as entirely unacceptable, Maimonides argued that such claims should be replaced with (e.g.) "God is not ignorant." In this latter claim, there is no implication that there is any positive characteristic that applies both the humans and to God; instead, the claim merely asserts that a certain predicate (one which is applicable to humans) is not applicable to God. These distinctions are for the most part foreign to contemporary discussions of logic, though they can be found well into the eighteenth century (see, for instance, Immanuel Kant's discussion of 'infinite' judgments).

Manuscript page by Maimonides; Judeo-Arabic language in Hebrew letters

In connection with this, Maimonides argued extensively against anthropomorphic conceptions of God. Biblical descriptions of God which ascribe him a body or voice, he claimed, must be seen as metaphorical and as intended to instruct the unphilosophical. This anti-anthropomorphic approach to God doubtless had a strong influence on Baruch Spinoza, though Spinoza's extreme rationalism and naturalism led him to reject negative theology.

Creation

One of the most notable points in Maimonides' attempt to balance conflicting Jewish and Greek claims concerns the creation of the universe. Though he understood much of the Pentateuch as metaphorical, Maimonides regarded Genesis as a clear statement that the universe was created by God at some time the past. By contrast, the view of the Aristotelians (stemming from Aristotle's Physics) was that the universe was eternal, and that God's influence was unchanging and eternal.

Maimonides weighs these two views carefully, and though he appears to favor the view in Genesis, the lack of a definitive rejection of Aristotle's view has led some (such as Leo Strauss) to interpret his defense of the Biblical view as less than whole-hearted. Nevertheless, the argumentative force of the discussion is clearly aimed at showing the philosophical defensibility of the non-eternal view. Aristotle had argued in favor of an unchanging 'Prime Mover' on the basis of the apparently unchanging and necessary movements of the stars and planets. Unchanging motion, he thought, must have an unchanging source. Maimonides responded by challenging the necessity of celestial motions. Taking necessity to imply perfect order, he argued that the order of celestial bodies was far from perfect. For instance, perfect order would (he thought) require a proportional relation between the speed at which a body moved and its distance from the earth, yet no such relation existed. The lack of a perfect order meant a lack of necessity, and so the lack of an eternal source. In offering this argument, Maimonides was clear that he was merely making room for the Biblical account, not establishing it conclusively.

Practical Philosophy

For Maimonides, the central duties for all humans are to love God and avoid idolatry. Properly loving God requires the perfection of the soul, and since the soul is bound to the body, the body must be perfected as well. In his works on Jewish law, Maimonides argued that all traditional law was constructed with these aims. The role of the Messiah, Maimonides claimed, would not be to perform miracles, but rather to re-establish the state of Israel and make it a focal point of science and philosophy, whose purpose in turn would be the perfection of the soul.

Maimonides carefully considers the Aristotelian doctrine of the mean as a guide to proper living. He generally agrees with Aristotle that the health of the body (and so the health of the soul) requires avoiding excesses of both kinds. The agreement, however, is limited. Whereas Aristotle believed that a measured amount of control by our passions is part of living well, Maimonides rejects any practical tenets that would compromise the centrality of the intellect. Most people, he believed, will always be governed by their emotions, and for them the doctrine of the mean and the influence of external controls will be necessary. Yet those who can properly pursue the perfection of their souls through philosophy will not be controlled at all by their passions.

Notes

  1. ↑ Menachem Kellner, Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004, ISBN 978-1904113218).

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Primary sources

  • Hyamson, M. (trans.). Maimonides: The Book of Knowledge. Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1974. ISBN 0854050388
  • Pines, S. (ed.). Dalalat al-Ha’irin (Moreh Nevukhim, Guide to the Perplexed). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1969. ISBN 1852428260
  • Satnov, Y. (ed.). Millot ha-Higgayon (On Logic). Berlin: B. Cohen, 1927.
  • Twersky, I. (ed.). A Maimonides Reader. West Orange, NJ: Behrman House, 1972. ISBN 0874412064
  • Weis, R. and C. Butterworth (eds.). The Ethical Writings of Maimonides. New York: Butterworth, 1975. ISBN 0486245225

Secondary sources

  • Buijs, J. Maimonides: A Collection of Critical Essays. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 1988. ISBN 0268013675
  • Davidson, Herbert. Moses Maimonides. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 019517321X
  • Fox, Marvin. Interpreting Maimonides. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1990. ISBN 0226259420
  • Kellner, Menachem. Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought. Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004. ISBN 978-1904113218
  • Seeskin, Kenneth. Maimonides on the Origin of the World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 052184553X
  • Seeskin, Kenneth (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0521525780
  • Strauss, Leo. "The Literary Character of the Guide to the Perplexed," in Persecution and the Art of Writing. Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1952. ISBN 0029320305

External links

All links retrieved November 5, 2022.

General Philosophy Sources

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