Maimonides (Blackwell Great Minds)

Title page......Page 3
Contents......Page 5
Preface......Page 6
notes......Page 11
Maimonides’ Life......Page 14
Philosophical Influences......Page 18
Early Works......Page 22
Mishneh Torah......Page 23
The Guide of the Perplexed......Page 24
Letters and essays......Page 25
Medical writings......Page 27
Reception of Maimonides’ Works......Page 28
further reading......Page 30
Introduction......Page 32
On the purpose of the Guide of the Perplexed......Page 33
Esoteric and exoteric levels of meaning in the Guide......Page 35
Belief and Articles of Faith......Page 37
The Art of Biblical Exegesis: Harvesting “Apples of Gold”......Page 39
Language and Logic......Page 41
Demonstration and scientific knowledge......Page 42
The limits of human knowledge......Page 43
Conclusion: Implications of Maimonides’ Views......Page 44
notes......Page 46
further reading......Page 48
3. What we can say about God......Page 49
The Unity and Incorporeality of the Deity......Page 50
Rejection of affirmation attributes......Page 52
Can relational attributes be predicated of God?......Page 53
Attributes of action......Page 54
Homonymous predication......Page 56
On essence and existence......Page 57
Maimonides’ Negative Theology......Page 59
Preliminary considerations......Page 61
On the logical status of arguments for God’s existence......Page 62
Underlying Aristotelian premises of the arguments......Page 63
Proofs for God’s existence......Page 64
Maimonides’ cosmological argument......Page 65
The argument from particularization......Page 67
Conclusion: Implications of Maimonides’ Negative Theology......Page 69
notes......Page 71
further reading......Page 72
Introduction......Page 74
Kalâm premises summarized......Page 75
Maimonides’ critique of Kalâm atomism......Page 77
Cosmology and Creation......Page 78
Creation models in Maimonides......Page 79
Maimonides’ esoteric position on creation......Page 81
Time and creation......Page 83
Scripture, philosophy, and the first instant of creation......Page 85
Maimonides’ “real” view of creation......Page 86
Guide 2.24: the perplexity stated......Page 87
Maimonidean cosmology and astronomy......Page 88
Maimonides’ epistemological skepticism......Page 90
Conclusion......Page 93
notes......Page 95
further reading......Page 97
5. Philosophical anthropology......Page 98
The Status of Humans in Maimonides’ Ontology......Page 99
Matter, Privation, and Evil......Page 100
Particularization and individuation......Page 103
Maimonides’ psycho-physical determinism......Page 105
Maimonides and astrological determinism......Page 106
The nature of the soul......Page 108
The body and its relation to the soul......Page 110
On asceticism and corporeality......Page 112
The immortal soul characterized......Page 114
Immortality: personal or general?......Page 115
Resurrection of the body......Page 118
Conclusion......Page 119
notes......Page 120
further reading......Page 122
Introduction......Page 123
Supernatural vs. Naturalistic Prophecy: Historical and\rPhilosophical Precedents......Page 124
Prophecy in Maimonides’ Halakhic Works......Page 126
Prophecy described......Page 127
Prophecy and creation: A tripartite comparison......Page 129
Prophecy and the imaginative faculty......Page 131
Philosophers, statesmen, and prophets compared......Page 133
Moses: prophet or philosopher?......Page 135
Divine Will and the withholding of prophecy......Page 136
Is prophecy natural or miraculous?......Page 137
Miracles: natural or supernatural?......Page 139
Miracles and divine possibility in the Guide......Page 142
How to naturalize miracles in Scripture......Page 144
Conclusion......Page 146
notes......Page 147
further reading......Page 149
Introduction......Page 150
Evil and the material principle......Page 151
Typology of evil......Page 153
Divine omnipotence and metaphysical evil......Page 155
Providence and the existence of evil......Page 156
The Book of Job: theodicy and providence in action......Page 159
A second theory of divine providence?......Page 161
Compatibilism and incompatibilism defined......Page 163
Divine omniscience and human choice......Page 165
Does God’s foreknowledge affect human choice?......Page 167
Conclusion: Maimonides’ Legacy......Page 169
notes......Page 171
further reading......Page 172
Introduction......Page 174
Maimonides and classical virtue morality......Page 175
Virtue as a disposition of character......Page 177
Virtue and the mean: Aristotle and Torah contrasted......Page 178
Saintliness, Asceticism, and the Mean: Is the Hasid a Sinner?......Page 180
On Knowing the Good and Doing the Good......Page 183
Morality and Law: The Purpose of the Commandments......Page 187
Maimonides’ Moral Theory: Universalist or Particularist?......Page 191
Conclusion......Page 192
notes......Page 193
further reading......Page 195
Introduction......Page 197
The Parable of the King’s Palace......Page 198
Intellectual Perfection, Immortality, and Matter......Page 201
Achieving Ultimate Happiness: Four Types of Perfection......Page 204
The Fifth Perfection: Teacher, Leader, or Scholar?......Page 206
Conclusion......Page 207
further reading......Page 209
works by Maimonides......Page 211
other primary sources......Page 212
secondary sources......Page 213
Index......Page 232