Central Problems of Medieval Jewish Philosophy (The Brill Reference Library of Judaism) (The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, 26)

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1. God
	Introduction
	Divine Knowledge and Immanence—Averroes’ Influence
		Avicenna and Averroes
		Objections to “Homonymy”—Gersonides
		God is the Totality of Existents—Moses Narboni, Prat Maimon
		Two Kinds of Existence—Joseph ibn Shem Tov
		God as the Perfect Existence—Samuel ibn Zarza and Abraham Bibago
	The Power of Terminology—Ibn Ezra and After
	The Last Phase
Chapter 2. Teleology
	Final Cause and Creation
		The Aristotelian Sources
		The Final Cause of All that Exists and of the Species
		Defense of the Argument against the Purposiveness of Reality
		Man as the Goal of the Material World
		Volition and Wisdom
		Implications
	God as a Final Cause
		Maimonidean Sources
		Faith and Heresy
Chapter 3. The Intellect
	Al-Kindi and al-Farabi
	Isaac Israeli and Shem Tov Falaquera
	Hayyim Israeli and Shem Tov ibn Mayor
Chapter 4. Miracles
	Stages
	First Steps: The Debate up to the Twelfth Century
	Ibn Ezra and Maimonides: Ambiguity
	The Power of Clarity: Gersonides and His Influence
	Consequences of Ambiguity: (1) Interpretations of the Guide of the Perplexed
	Consequences of Ambiguity: (2) Polemics over the Guide of the Perplexed
	Natural Interpretation: Ibn Ezra’s Allusions
	Partial Miracle, Double, and Triple: The Non-radical Positions
	Conclusion
Chapter 5. Polemics
	Science
		The Value of Science
		The Debate over the Implications of Science
		Conclusion
	Providence
		Two Thirteenth-Century Interpretations of the Maimonidean Notion of Providence
		The Traditionalist Interpretation
		Defence of Maimonides’ Theory of Providence
		Conclusion
Chapter 6. Esotericism
	Introduction
		Types of Contradiction
		Motives
		Judaism vs. Other Religions
	Judah Halevi
		Intention and Action
		Refutation of the Philosopher and the Philosophers
		Attributes and Creation
		Conclusion
	Gersonides
		The Sages of the Torah vs. the Philosopher
		Avicenna and Averroes
		Equivalence (1): Contra “Absolute Homonymy”
		Equivalence (2): Active Cause
		Maimonides’ View as a Didactic Tool
		Providence and Knowledge: Book Four
		Knowledge and Ontology: Book Five
		Multiplicity in Divine Knowledge: The Argument with Averroes
		Conclusion
Chapter 7. Circles
	Spanish vs. Provençal Culture
	What is a “Circle”?
	Rashba’s Philosophically Inclined Disciples in the 14th Century
	The Circle of Commentators on Kuzari at the Beginning of the 15th Century
	A 14th-Century, Radically Inclined Neoplatonist Circle
	Conclusion
Epilogue. Is It Possible to Write a History of Jewish Thought?
	Criteria
	The Status of Reason
	Opposite Symmetries
	Prospective Audiences
	Developments
	Philosophical Circles
	Toward Open Writing
References
Index