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Classic Jewish Philosophers : from Saadia Through the Renaissance

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Classic Jewish Philosophers : from Saadia Through the Renaissance The Classic Jewish Philosophers SCHWEID_f1_i-xxxi.indd i 10/18/2007 4:04:44 PM Supplements to The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy Edited by Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University) Christian Wiese (University of Sussex) Elliot Wolfson (New York University) VOLUME 3 SCHWEID_f1_i-xxxi.indd ii 10/18/2007 4:04:44 PM The Classic Jewish Philosophers From Saadia through the Renaissance by Eliezer Schweid translated by Leonard Levin LEIDEN • BOSTON 2008 SCHWEID_f1_i-xxxi.indd iii 10/18/2007 4:04:44 PM This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on http://catalog.loc.gov. ISBN 1873-9008 ISBN 978 90 04 16213 6 © Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. Originally published as Ha-Filoso m ha-Gedolim Shelanu All rights reserved © Miskal/Yediot Aharonot Books, 1999, Tel-Aviv. Translations of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed are taken from Moses Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. by Shlomo Pines (Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 1963, reprinted in 2 volumes, 1974). Reprinted with kind permission of the University of Chicago Press. © 1963, 1974 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands SCHWEID_f1_i-xxxi.indd iv 10/18/2007 4:04:44 PM CONTENTS Acknowledgements ..................................................................... xix Translator’s Preface ..................................................................... xxi Introduction ................................................................................ xxvii PART ONE THE EARLY MASTERS: FROM SAADIA TO HALEVI Chapter One R. Saadia Gaon ............................................... 3 His Life ................................................................................ 3 His Fields of Productivity ........................................................ 3 Torah and Commentary ........................................................... 4 His Polemical Works ............................................................... 5 The Book of Doctrines and Beliefs .................................... 6 The Name of the Book ............................................................ 6 Three Sources of Knowledge: Sense, Reason and Inference ............ 7 What is Rationalism? ............................................................. 8 Tradition—The Fourth Source of Knowledge .............................. 9 What is the Role of Reliable Tradition? ..................................... 10 Seeking Agreement of Reason and Religion .................................. 10 Reason and Revelation Serve Each Other .................................... 11 The Order of Deliberation in the Book of Doctrines and Beliefs ..... 12 Prophecy and Commandments .............................................. 13 Rational and Positive (= Arbitrary) Imperatives .......................... 13 The Need for Prophecy ............................................................. 14 The Source and In uence of the “Manifestation” Doctrine ............ 15 Veri cation of Prophecy ........................................................... 15 Creation and God’s Existence ............................................. 16 Creation as a Foundational Theological Principle ......................... 16 Maimonides’s Criticism of Saadia’s Doctrine of Creation .............. 17 Kalam and Aristotelianism in Muslim Philosophy ........................ 18 Saadia’s Funamental Assumption: Cause Precedes Effect .............. 18 Proofs for Creation of the World ................................................ 19 Creation ex nihilo and God’s Existence ..................................... 21 SCHWEID_f1_i-xxxi.indd v 10/18/2007 4:04:44 PM vi contents God as Cause of the World ...................................................... 22 God Is Not Conceivable ............................................................ 22 Saadia’s Relation to Scripture ................................................... 23 God’s Positive Attributes and Conception of a Personal God ........... 24 The Good God ....................................................................... 25 Saadia’s Anthropology ........................................................ 26 Importance of the Terrestrial World ........................................... 27 The Righteous Suffer, the Wicked Prosper .................................... 27 The Role of Human Material Existence .................................... 28 Free Will and the Problem It Raises ........................................... 28 Physical Theory of the Soul ..................................................... 29 Saadia’s Ethics ....................................................................... 30 Man’s Obligation to God .......................................................... 33 The Ladder of Righteousness .................................................... 33 Repentance ............................................................................. 35 The Purpose of Serving God ..................................................... 35 The Middle Way .................................................................... 36 The Supremacy of Reason ........................................................ 37 Chapter Two R. Isaac ben Solomon Israeli ............................. 39 Israeli’s Status as Philosopher ................................................... 39 His Writings .......................................................................... 40 The Source of the Doctrine of Emanation ................................... 40 Israeli’s Doctrine of Emanation ................................................ 41 Israeli’s Picture of the World .................................................... 41 The Dif\ culty in Understanding the Transition from Spiritual to Material ............................................................................ 42 Prophecy ................................................................................ 43 Israeli’s Place in Jewish Philosophy ........................................... 44 Chapter Three R. Ba4ya ben Joseph Ibn Pakudah ................. 46 The Author ............................................................................ 47 The Book and Its Transmission ................................................. 47 Reliance on Saadia .................................................................. 47 Differences between Ba4ya and Saadia ........................................ 49 Intellectual Understanding as a Goal in Contrast to Popular Organized Religion .............................................................. 50 The Divine Attributes .............................................................. 51 The Meaning of the Mitzvot: “Duties of the Heart” versus “Duties of the Limbs” .................................................................... 54 SCHWEID_f1_i-xxxi.indd vi 10/18/2007 4:04:44 PM contents vii A Stranger in the World: The Opposition of Body and Soul .......... 56 The Way to Perfection ............................................................. 58 The Gate of Divine Service ...................................................... 58 The Gate of Trust .................................................................. 59 The Gate of Unifying One’s Deeds ............................................ 61 The Gate of Humility ............................................................. 62 The Gate of Repentance .......................................................... 63 The Gate of Abstinence ........................................................... 65 The Gate of Love of God ........................................................ 66 Summary ............................................................................... 66 Chapter 4 R. Solomon Ibn Gabirol ......................................... 68 Gabirol’s Philosophical Thought ................................................ 68 The FOUNTAIN OF LIFE ................................................................. 69 Gabirol’s Sources .................................................................... 70 The Structure of the Book ........................................................ 70 The General Truth: The Human Being as Microcosm ................. 71 The Three Domains of Knowledge ............................................ 72 The Threefold Division Embraces All Knowledge ......................... 73 The First Domain of Knowledge: Matter and Form .................... 74 The Difference between Gabirol and Aristotle ............................... 74 Levels of the Hierarchy ............................................................ 76 The Relation of Matter and Form ............................................. 78 Artistic Beauty—Philosophical Weakness ................................... 78 Theory of the Will ................................................................. 79 Religious Signi cance
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