Judaism as Philosophy Studies in Maimonides and the Medieval Jewish Philosophers of Provence EMUNOT: JEWISH PHILOSOPHY AND KABBALAH SERIES EDITOR: DOV SCHWARTZ (BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY, RAMAT GAN) EDITORIAL BOARD ADA RAPOPORT ALBERT (UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON) GAD FREUDENTHAL (CNRS, PARIS) GIDEON FREUDENTHAL (TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY, RAMAT AVIV) MOSHE IDEL (HEBREW UNIVERSITY, JERUSALEM) RAPHAEL JOSPE (BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY, RAMAT GAN) EPHRAIM KANARFOGEL (YESHIVA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK) MENACHEM KELLNER (HAIFA UNIVERSITY, HAIFA) DANIEL LASKER (BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY, BEER SHEVA) Judaism as Philosophy Studies in Maimonides and the Medieval Jewish Philosophers of Provence HOWARD KREISEL BOSTON / 2015 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: A catalog record for this book as available from the Library of Congress. Copyright © 2015 Academic Studies Press All rights reserved Effective February 13, 2018 this book will be subject to a CC-BY-NC license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Other than as provided by these licenses, no part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or displayed by any electronic or mechanical means without permission from the publisher or as permitted by law. Open Access publication is supported by: Cover design by Ivan Grave ISBN 978-1-61811-179-1 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-61811-201-9 (electronic) ISBN 978-1-61811-789-2 (open access) Published by Academic Studies Press in 2015 28 Montfern Avenue Brighton, MA 02135, USA
[email protected] www.academicstudiespress.com To the memory of my mother, Helen Kreisel [née Saremsky] Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................ ix Section I Maimonides 1. Maimonides’ God: The God of Abraham or the God of Aristotle? .......................................................