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Marsilius of Padua and Moses Maimonides on the Political Utility of Religion

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Marsilius of Padua and Moses Maimonides on the Political Utility of Religion Vasileios SYROS University of Chicago DID THE PHYSICIAN FROM PADUA MEET THE RABBI FROM CORDOBA? MARSILIUS OF PADUA AND MOSES MAIMONIDES ON THE POLITICAL UTILITY OF RELIGION RÉSUMÉ Cet article représente une contribution à l’étude de la réception du Guide des égarés de Moïse Maimonide dans l’Europe du Moyen Age tardif, et a pour but de souligner les affinités entre les idées de Maïmonide et de Marsile de Padoue concernant la fonction politique de la religion. Aussi bien Marsile que Maïmonide identifient dans la recherche des moyens visant à satisfaire les besoins fondamentaux de la vie humaine la cause principale de la formation des associations politiques. Ils pensent également qu’en raison de la diversité de ses membres, toute communauté politique souffre de conflits, et a ainsi besoin de lois et d’une autorité en mesure de les faire respecter, afin de contrôler les actions de ses membres. Sur la base de ces considé- rations, Marsile et Maïmonide conçoivent la religion comme un agent réglementant les rapports entre les membres de la société. En affirmant la dimension politique de la religion, Marsile aussi bien que Maïmonide s’appuient sur des exemples emprun- tés à des traditions païennes (les Sabéens dans le Guide, Hésiode, Pythagore et d’autres philosophes antiques dans le Défenseur de la paix), lesquels sont les points de départ d’une analyse des causes rationnelles de l’existence de la religion et des mythes. Les discussions de Marsile et Maïmonide sur les religions païennes sont partie intégrante de leurs raisonnements sur l’importance politique de la religion et des mythes comme moyens de garantir la durabilité de la vie sociale. SUMMARY This paper is intended as a contribution to the study of the fortune of Moses Mai- monides’ Guide of the Perplexed in late medieval Europe and offers a comparative study of Maimonides’ and Marsilius of Padua’s views on the political function of religion. I argue that both Marsilius and Maimonides identify the need to secure the means conducive to human life as the prime cause of the creation of human asso- ciations. Due to the diversity of their members, human communities suffer from strife and dissension and thus need laws and an authority to enforce them and exer- cise control on human conduct. On the basis of these considerations, both thinkers advance the notion of religion as the factor regulating the relations of the members of society. In asserting the political dimension of religious belief and practices, Revue des études juives, 170 (1-2), janvier-juin 2011, pp. 51-71. doi: 10.2143/REJ.170.1.2126640 994323_REJ_2011-1-2_04_Syros.indd4323_REJ_2011-1-2_04_Syros.indd 5151 331/08/111/08/11 113:363:36 52 DID THE PHYSICIAN FROM PADUA MEET THE RABBI FROM CORDOBA? Marsilius and Maimonides rely on examples drawn from pagan traditions (the Sabi- ans in the Guide of the Perplexed and Hesiod, Pythagoras, and other ancient phi- losophers in the Defensor pacis) to illustrate the rational causes for the existence of religion and myths. Marsilius’ and Maimonides’ discussions of pagan religions are an integral aspect of their reasoning for the political importance of religion as a means to guarantee the durability of an orderly political community. An intricate question related to Marsilius of Padua’s (1270/1290–ca. 1342) political thought concerns its potential ties to the medieval Islamic philosophical tradition, especially Averroes’ (Ibn Rushd, 1126–1198) philo- sophy. Given that Marsilius seldom cites any thinkers other than Aristotle, Augustine, Cicero, Sallust, and Seneca, there remains a genuine need to cast further light on the way Marsilius draws on non-Christian sources.1 As is well known, Averroes’ works enjoyed a broad reception in thirteenth-cen- tury Paris and had an important influence on such major medieval thinkers as Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus, ca. 1200–1280) and Thomas Aquinas (1224/25–1274). Marsilius studied medicine in Paris and served as rector of the University of Paris from December 1312 to March 1313, and taught medicine as a Master of Arts in the French capital until 1326.2 It is possible that Marsilius was exposed to Averroes’ ideas through various channels during his stay in Paris. Past research assumed that Averroes’ philosophy was particularly influential on Peter of Abano (ca. 1250–1316), a seminal natural and medical philosopher who taught in Paris and from 1307 in Padua.3 Most likely Marsilius studied under Peter in Padua before moving 1. A special note of appreciation is due to Bernardo Bayona, Tony Black, Zeev Harvey, Roberto Lambertini, Jürgen Miethke, Cary Nederman, Jean-Pierre Rothschild, and Bernard Septimus for earlier discussions and valuable comments. I am also grateful to the Yad Hanadiv/Beracha Foundation for awarding me a Visiting Fellowship in Jewish Studies that enabled me to pursue my research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during the academic year 2006/2007. See MARSILIUS OF PADUA, The Defender of the Peace, ed. and trans. Annabel BRETT (Cam- bridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), lii–lv; Charles W. PREVITÉ-ORTON, “The Authors Cited in the Defensor pacis,” in Essays in History Presented to Reginald Lane Poole, ed. Henry W. C. DAVIS (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1927), 405–20. 2. For further details on Marsilius’ life, see Vasileios SYROS, Die Rezeption der aristo- telischen politischen Philosophie bei Marsilius von Padua: Eine Untersuchung zur ersten Diktion des Defensor pacis (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2007), 17–27; Jürgen MIETHKE, De potestate papae. Die päpstliche Amtskompetenz im Widerstreit der politischen Theorie von Thomas von Aquin bis Wilhelm von Ockham (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000), 204–47; and Carlo PINCIN, Marsilio (Turin: Giapichelli, 1967), 21–54. 3. On Peter of Abano’s life and works, see Eugenia PASCHETTO, Pietro d’Abano, medico e filosofo (Florence: Nuovedizioni E. Vallecchi, 1984); Luigi OLIVIERI, Pietro d’Abano e il pensiero neolatino. Filosofia, scienza e ricerca dell’Aristotele greco tra i secoli XIII e XIV (Padua: Antenore, 1988); Nancy G. SIRAISI, “Pietro d’Abano e Taddeo Alderotti, Two Mod- 994323_REJ_2011-1-2_04_Syros.indd4323_REJ_2011-1-2_04_Syros.indd 5252 331/08/111/08/11 113:363:36 DID THE PHYSICIAN FROM PADUA MEET THE RABBI FROM CORDOBA? 53 to Paris4 and maintained contact with him over time; this is supported by the fact that in 1315 he was present as a witness in Peter’s will.5 As is the case with other medieval thinkers who belonged to the Parisian university milieu, Peter was well grounded in Averroes’ natural philosophy and medi- cal thought. The assumption, however, that he was the founder of a distinct “Averroist” trend at the University of Padua has proved problematic.6 What is more important is Marsilius’ personal connection to John of Jandun (d. 1328), Master of Arts at the Collège de Navarre and a leading commentator on Aristotle and Averroes, with whom Marsilius fled in 1326 to the court of Louis IV of Bavaria (1287–1347). John was long considered the fountainhead of the Parisian “Averroists” and the co-author of Marsil- ius’ opus magnum, the Defensor pacis (Defender of Peace, 1324).7 Yet a number of studies have pointed to striking differences between Marsilius’ and John of Jandun’s political ideas and adduced compelling evidence against the co-authorship of the Defensor pacis by Marsilius and Jandun,8 as well as, more broadly, the existence of “Political Averroism” as a move- ment that sought to propagate Averroes’ political ideas in the medieval West.9 els of Medical Culture,” Medioevo 11 (1985): 139–62 – repr. in EADEM, Medicine in the Italian Universities, 1250–1600 (Leiden: Brill, 2001), 79–99. 4. MIETHKE, De potestate, 209; and PINCIN, Marsilio, 23–24. 5. Tiziana PESENTI, “Per la tradizione del testamento di Pietro d’Abano,” in Atti del con- vegno internazionale su Marsilio da Padova [= Medioevo 5–6 (1979/80)], 533–42. 6. See, e.g., the following studies by Bruno NARDI: “Dante e Pietro d’Abano,” in IDEM, Saggi di filosofia dantesca (Florence: La Nuova Italia 1967), 41–65; “La teoria dell’anima e la generazione delle forme secondo Pietro d’Abano” and “Intorno alle dottrine filosofiche di Pietro d’Abano,” in IDEM, Saggi sull’aristotelismo padovano dal secolo XIV al XVI (Florence: Sansoni 1958), 1–17 and 19–74, respectively. 7. The thesis about the co-authorship of the Defensor pacis was advanced by Noël VALOIS, “Jean de Jandun et Marsile de Padoue auteurs du Defensor pacis,” Histoire littéraire de France 33 (1906): 528–623. 8. Alan GEWIRTH, “John of Jandun and the Defensor pacis,” Speculum 23 (1948): 267–72; Ludwig SCHMUGGE, Johannes von Jandun (1285/89–1328). Untersuchungen zur Biographie und Sozialtheorie eines lateinischen Averroisten (Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1966), 95–119; and Carlo DOLCINI, “Marsilio da Padova e Giovanni di Jandun,” in Storia della chiesa vol. 9: La crisi del Trecento e il papato avignonese, 1274–1378, ed. Diego QUAGLIONI (Cinisello Bal- samo: San Paolo, 1994), 435–46. On John of Jandun’s philosophy, see Jean-Baptiste Brenet, Transferts du sujet: la noétique d’Averroès selon Jean de Jandun (Paris: Vrin, 2003); IDEM, “Perfection de la philosophie ou philosophe parfait? Jean de Jandun, lecteur d’Averroès,” Recherches de théologie et philosophie médiévales 68 (2001): 310–48; Roberto LAMBERTINI, “Felicitas’ politica und ‘speculatio.’ Die Idee der Philosophie in ihrem Verhältnis zur Politik nach Johannes Jandun,” in Was ist Philosophie im Mittelalter? ed. Jan A. AERTSEN and Andreas SPEER (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1998), 984–90; SCHMUGGE, Johannes von Jandun (1285/89–1328); Stuart MacClintock, Perversity and Error: Studies on the “Aver- roist” John of Jandun (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1956). 9. See, for instance, Bernardo BAYONA AZNAR, “La incongruencia de la denominación ‘averroísmo político,’” in Maimónides y el pensamiento medieval, ed.
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