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(Fons Vitae) of Solomon Ibn Gabirol The Fountain of Life (Fons Vitae) by SOLOMON BEN JUDAH IBN GABIROL (Avicebron) Originally translated by Alfred B. Jacob Revised by Leonard Levin THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY New York, NY 2005 FOUNTAIN OF LIFE Original draft copyright 1987 by Alfred B. Jacob, published by the Sabian Publishing Society, Stanwood Washingto and printed by The Aries Press, Chicago, Illinois, LCC 87-62434, ISBN 0-87878-020-3. Revisions and additional notes copyright 2005 by Leonard S. Levin. Originally translated by Alfred B. Jacob and revised by Leonard Levin, from Clemens Baeumker’s edition of the Latin version of Johannes Hispanus and Dominicus Gundissalinus published in Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters (Münster, 1895). References to Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera’s Hebrew epitome and introductory essay by Joseph Klausner based on edition included in Hebrew translation of Solomon Ibn Gabirol’s Meqor Hayyim, translated by Dr. Jacob Blaustein and edited by Dr. Abraham Zifroni, Mossad Harav Kook, Tel Aviv 1950. Published electronically in 2005 by Leonard Levin, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, NY with permission from the estate of Alfred B. Jacob ii CONTENTS CONTENTS................................................................................................................................ I PREFACE TO THE 2005 REVISED TRANSLATION............................................................... I NOTE ON FALAQUERA’S EPITOME .................................................................................... III PREFACE TO THE 1987 TRANSLATION .............................................................................. IV THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE FONS VITAE: JEWISH PANTHEISM (BY JOSEPH KLAUSNER).................. V B O O K O N E ............................................................................................................................. 3 PRELIMINARIES TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF UNIVERSAL .......................................... 3 MATTER AND FORM AND TO THE IDENTIFICATION....................................................... 3 OF MATTER AND FORM IN COMPOUND SUBSTANCES................................................... 3 1 The validity of dialectic ................................................................................................ 3 2 The goal of life.............................................................................................................. 4 3 The development of man’s knowledge. ......................................................................... 6 4 The possibility of knowing the primary Existent........................................................... 7 5 The nature of universal being....................................................................................... 7 6 A single substance but a dual foundation of being ....................................................... 9 7 The three divisions of philosophy ............................................................................... 10 8 The nature of the soul................................................................................................. 12 9 The fivefold distribution of the present work.............................................................. 13 10 The properties of universal matter ............................................................................. 14 11 The chain of discovery of the unmanifest ultimate...................................................... 15 12 Diversity arises from form, not from matter............................................................... 16 13 The properties of universal form ................................................................................ 17 14 Universal matter and form taken together.................................................................. 18 15 The primordial substratum ......................................................................................... 20 16 The substratum for universal and for particular forms .............................................. 21 17 The difference between the substance of the celestial sphere and that of the elements; and summary 22 B O O K T W O........................................................................................................................ 27 THE SUBSTANCE THAT UNDERLIES THE PHYSICAL .................................................... 27 BODY OF THE UNIVERSE..................................................................................................... 27 1 The identification of primary universal matter........................................................... 27 2 The chain of sequence of matters and forms............................................................... 30 3 The form of reason, and of the forms it apprehends................................................... 32 4 The separateness of reason-apprehended forms ........................................................ 35 5 Quantity as an example of separateness..................................................................... 36 6 Universal matter, the key to all rational realities....................................................... 38 7 The manifest lower is the counterpart of the unmanifest higher................................. 39 8 Correspondences between reason and quantity ......................................................... 40 9 The nature of the substance that supports the categories........................................... 42 10 Both quantity and remoteness determine the passivity of the substance of the categories .......................................................................................................... 44 11 Matter, substance and hyle described ........................................................................ 45 12 Nature as the source of the underlying substance ...................................................... 46 13 The Quality and cause of substance; the rule of will.................................................. 48 14 Higher and lower place .............................................................................................. 50 15 Division of complex and of elemental substance ........................................................ 52 16 Substance as divisible quantity or indivisible point.................................................... 53 17 The parts of quantity................................................................................................... 55 18 Divisibility of the smallest part................................................................................... 58 19 Substance permeates the whole of quantity ................................................................ 60 FOUNTAIN OF LIFE 20 Unity as the source of form and of reason.................................................................. 62 21 From unity to diversity ............................................................................................... 63 22 Quantity as an aggregation of unities ........................................................................ 65 23 The cause of diversity and of body ............................................................................. 67 24 In all substance whether perceptible or rational, there is only matter and form ....... 69 B O O K T H R E E................................................................................................................... 73 THE AFFIRMATION OF ELEMENTAL SUBSTANCES....................................................... 73 1 The Creator, the intermediates, and the final creature..................................................... 73 2 to 10 Fifty-six proofs for an intermediate substance ....................................................... 75 2 Proofs 1-11................................................................................................................. 75 3 Proofs 12-23............................................................................................................... 77 4 Proofs 24-27............................................................................................................... 80 5 Proofs 28-33............................................................................................................... 83 6 Proofs 34-37............................................................................................................... 86 7 Proofs 38-43............................................................................................................... 88 8 Proofs 44-48............................................................................................................... 90 9 Proofs 49-53............................................................................................................... 92 10 Proofs 54-56............................................................................................................... 94 11 The twofold proof of intermediate substance.............................................................. 96 12 The validity of supernal proof .................................................................................... 98 13 The activity and effects of supreme universal cause................................................... 99 14 Some characteristics of form .................................................................................... 101 15 Characteristic activity of elemental substances........................................................ 102 16 The source of the forms of the physical world.........................................................
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