Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 Texts and Contexts
- II Logic and Language
- III Natural Philosophy
- IV Epistemology and Psychology
- 14 Belief, Knowledge, and Certainty
- 15 Understanding Prophecy: Four Traditions
- 16 Soul and Intellect
- V Metaphysics and Philosophical Theology
- VI Practical Philosophy
- Biobibliographical Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
16 - Soul and Intellect
from IV - Epistemology and Psychology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 Texts and Contexts
- II Logic and Language
- III Natural Philosophy
- IV Epistemology and Psychology
- 14 Belief, Knowledge, and Certainty
- 15 Understanding Prophecy: Four Traditions
- 16 Soul and Intellect
- V Metaphysics and Philosophical Theology
- VI Practical Philosophy
- Biobibliographical Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Whether or not Judaism is carnal – as the ancient and medieval Christian polemicists would claim – already in antiquity Jews read out of and together with the Hebrew Bible a rich discourse on the soul. This is the case with Philo of Alexandria (first century ce), who produced a large corpus of philosophical-exegetical-allegorical texts uncovering the psychic and ethical underpinnings of Judaism. It is also true of rabbinic Judaism, which has much to say in Midrash and Talmud about the soul and its inner workings, even if its ideas and theories are presented mythically – as stories, parables, and homiletical exhortations – rather than straightforward scientific investigations.
During the Middle Ages, the biblical and rabbinic discussions of the soul combined with Greek, Arabic–Islamic, and scholastic philosophy to produce a complex and dynamic tradition of philosophical–theological psychology. This begins already with Saadia Gaon (882–942) – “the first to speak about every discipline of wisdom” – and continues into the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when Jewish thinkers were especially focused on the soul and intellect, in the midst of contemporary debates about action versus contemplation and the possibility of attaining “salvation.”
This chapter introduces and surveys the medieval tradition of Jewish philosophical–theological psychology, concentrating on the period from the ninth to the fifteenth century. It is divided into two parts: Judeo–Arabic philosophy in the Islamic–Arabic world (900–1200), and Hebrew philosophy in Christian Europe (1150–1500). In general, it presents first the philosophical background, identifying the main philosophical sources and traditions that influenced the Jews; it then details the Jewish responses to the non-Jewish traditions and challenges.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Jewish PhilosophyFrom Antiquity through the Seventeenth Century, pp. 524 - 558Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
References
(2002). The Arabic Plotinus: A Philosophical Study of the “Theology of Aristotle.”London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
and (1958). Isaac Israeli. A Neoplatonic Philosopher of the Early Tenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(1967). “The Ladder of Ascension,” in , and (eds.), Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom G. Scholem on his Seventieth Birthday by Pupils, Colleagues and Friends. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.Google Scholar
(1980). “The Quest for Liberty in Moses Mendelssohn’s Political Philosophy,” Da⼸at. 5:. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1987). “Maimonides on the Intellect and the Scope of Metaphysics,” in , Von der mittelalterlichen zur modernen Aufklärung. Tübingen: J.C. Mohr.Google Scholar
(1967). “Greek into Hebrew: Samuel ben Judah of Marseilles, Fourteenth Century Philosopher and Translator,” in (ed.), Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(1974). “Phédon en version Arabe et le Risālat al-Tuffāha,” in (ed.), Orientalia Hispanica. Leiden: E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
(1982a). The Epistle on the Possibility of Conjunction with the Active Intellect by Ibn Rushd, with the Commentary by Moses Narboni. New York: Jewish Theological Academy of America.Google Scholar
(1994). Aristotle’s De Anima Translated into Hebrew by Zeraḥyah ben Isaac ben Shealtiel Ḥen. Leiden: E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
(1995). The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200–1336. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
(1980). Aetius Arabus: Die Vorsokratiker in arabischer Überlieferung. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner.Google Scholar
(1963a). “Maimonides’ Shemonah Peraqim and Al-Fārābī’s Fusūl al-Madanī,” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 31:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1963b). The Philosophy of Abraham Shalom: A Fifteenth-Century Exposition and Defense of Maimonides. Berkeley: The University of California Press.Google Scholar
(1967). “Saadia’s List of Theories of the Soul,” in (ed.), Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(1972a). “The Active Intellect in the Cuzari and Hallevi’s Theory of Causality,” Révue des études juives. 131:.Google Scholar
(1988a). “Averrois Tractatus de Animae Beatitudine,” in (ed.), A Straight Path: Studies on Medieval Philosophy and Culture. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
(1988b). “Averroes’ Commentary on the De intellectu Attributed to Alexander,” Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought. 7:. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1992a). Al-Fārābī, Avicenna, and Averroes, on Intellect. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
A. (2000). “Further on a Problematic Passage in Guide of the Perplexed 2.24,” Maimonidean Studies. 4:.Google Scholar
(1998). Me-⼹emunah tammah le-⼹emunah ramah. Haguto ha-qdam-Maimonit shel ha-Rabad. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz hameuchad.Google Scholar
(1987). Perush ha-Millot ha-Zarot by Samuel Ibn Tibbon, appendix to Moreh ha-Nevukhim. Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook.Google Scholar
(1978). “Gersonides on the Possibility of Conjunction with the Agent Intellect,” Association of Jewish Studies Review. 3:.Google Scholar
(1992). “Platonic Themes in Gersonides’ Doctrine of the Active Intellect,” in Goodman 1992.Google Scholar
(1997). Philosophie et exégèse dans Le Jardin de la métaphore de Moïse Ibn ⼸Ezra, philosophe et poète andalou du XIIe siècle. Leiden/New York/Köln: E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
(1927), “An Eleventh-Century Source for the History of Jewish Scientists in Mohammedan Land.” The Jewish Quarterly Review. 18:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1956). “Texte arabe du Peri nou d⼹Alexandre d⼹Aphrodise,” Mélanges de l⼹Université Saint-Joseph. 33:.Google Scholar
(1990). In Defence of Judaism: Abraham Ibn Daud. Sources and Structure of ha-Emunah ha-Ramah. Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
(2000). “Judah b. Solomon ha-Cohen’s Midrash ha-Ḥokhmah: Its Sources and Use of Sources,” in S. Harvey 2000a.Google Scholar
(2005). “Abraham Ibn Daud’s Polemics against Muslims and Christians,” in , , (eds.), The Three Rings: Textual Studies in the Historical Trialogue of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
(2006). “Aristotle’s De Anima in a Hebrew Encyclopedia: The Case of the Midrash ha-Hokhmah,” in and (eds.), Intellect and Imagination in Medieval Philosophy. vol 1. Turnhout: Brepols.Google Scholar
(1989). “Human Felicity and Astronomy: Gersonides’ Revolt Against Ptolemy,” Da⼸at. 22:. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1993a). “Les sciences dans les communautés juives médiévales de Provence: Leur appropriation, leur rôle,” Revue des études juives. 152:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2002b). “Sefer ha-Sekhel we-ha-Muskalot alias Ketav ha-Da⼸at: The Medieval Hebrew Translations of al-Fārābī’s Risāla Fī al-⼹Aql. A Study in Text History and in the Evolution of Medieval Hebrew Philosophical Terminology,” Jewish Quarterly Review. 93:.Google Scholar
(1984). The Wars of the Lord, volume 1: Book One. (trans.). Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.Google Scholar
(1995). “Levi ben Gershom and the Study of Ibn Rushd in the Fourteenth Century,” The Jewish Quarterly Review. 86:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1908). The Targum to the Song of Songs; The Book of the Apple; The Ten Jewish Martyrs; A Dialogue on Games of Chance – translated from the Hebrew and Aramaic. London.Google Scholar
(1912). The Eight Chapters of Maimonides on Ethics. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
(1998). Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ⼸Abbāsid society (2nd-4th/8th-10th Centuries). London/New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1985). Crisis and Leadership: Epistles of Maimonides. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America.Google Scholar
(1950). “Ibn ⼸Aknin’s Commentary on the Song of Songs,” in . (ed.), Alexander Marx Jubilee Volume. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary.Google Scholar
(1964). Joseph Ibn ⼸Aqnin, Hitgalut ha-sodot ve-hofa⼸at ha-me⼹orot: Perush Shir ha-Shirim. Jerusalem: Mekitse Nirdamim.Google Scholar
(1973). “Studies in Kitāb ma⼸ānī al-nafs,” in . (ed.), Arabic and Islamic Studies. Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1992). “Did Maimonides’ Letter to Samuel Ibn Tibbon Determine which Philosophers would be Studied by Later Jewish Thinkers?” Jewish Quarterly Review. 83:.Google Scholar
(2002). “Falaquera’s Al-Fārābī: An Example of the Judaization of the Islamic Falāsifah,” Trumah. 12:.Google Scholar
(2007). “Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/falaquera/.Google Scholar
(1986). “Ḥasdai Crescas and Bernat Metge on the Soul,” Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought. 5:. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1988). “Crescas vs. Maimonides on Knowledge and Pleasure,” in , , and (eds.), A Straight Path: Studies in Medieval Philosophy and Culture, Essays in Honor of Arthur Hyman. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
(1998a). “Maimonides’ First Commandment, Physics, and Doubt,” in and . (eds.), Ḥazon Nahum: Studies in Jewish Law, Thought, and History Presented to Dr. Norman Lamm. New York: Yeshiva University Press.Google Scholar
(2006a). “De la notion d’intellect-intelligent-intelligible chez Maïmonide,” in Hamesse and Weijers 2006.Google Scholar
(2000). Avicenna’s De Anima in the Latin West: The Formation of a Peripatetic Philosophy of the Soul, 1160–1300. London/Turin: The Warburg Institute, Nino Aragno Editore.Google Scholar
(1869). Drei Abhandlungen über die Conjunction des seperaten Intellects mit dem Menschen von Averroes (Vater und Sohn). Berlin: H. G. Hermann.Google Scholar
(2002). Eschatological Themes in Medieval Jewish Philosophy. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press.Google Scholar
(1973a). The Book of Direction to the Duties of the Heart. (ed.). London: Routledge Press.Google Scholar
(1967). “Moses of Narbonne’s ‘Treatise on the Perfection of the Soul:’ A Methodological and Conceptual Analysis,” Jewish Quarterly Review. 57:.Google Scholar
(2002). Averroes, Middle Commentary on Aristotle’s De Anima. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press.Google Scholar
(2004). Averroes’ Middle Commentary on Aristotle’s De Anima, in the translation of Moses Ibn Tibbon. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.Google Scholar
(1852). Dialog über die Seele von Galenus: Aus dem Arabische in’s Hebräischee übersetzt von Jehuda ben Salomo Alcharisi. Leipzig.Google Scholar
(1988). Torah and Sophia: The Life and Thought of Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera. Cincinnati, OH: Hebrew Union College Press.Google Scholar
(1962). The Five Scrolls with Ancient Commentaries. Jerusalem [Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic].Google Scholar
(1885). Ha-Tapuaḥ: The Apple, A Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul by Aristotle the Stagyrite. New York.Google Scholar
(1994a). “Gersonides on the Song of Songs and the Nature of Science,” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy. 4:.Google Scholar
(1994b). “Gersonides on the Role of the Active Intellect in Human Cognition,” Hebrew Union College Annual. 65:.Google Scholar
(1995). “Gersonides on Imitatio Dei and the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge.” Jewish Quarterly Review. 85: ;.Google Scholar
(2003). Books of Definition in Islamic Philosophy: The Limits of Words. New York/London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2006). “How (Not) to Read the Guide of the Perplexed,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 32:.Google Scholar
(1996). Yemenite Midrash: Philosophical Commentaries on the Torah. London: International Sacred Literature Trust; Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press.Google Scholar
(1999a). The Jews and the Sciences in the Middle Ages. Aldershot, Hampshire, and Brookfield, VT: Ashgate.Google Scholar
(2001). “The Epistle of R. Samuel b. ⼸Eli on Resurrection of the Dead,” Qovets al Yad. 15:. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(2007). “David Ibn Shoshan on Spirit and Soul,” European Journal of Jewish Studies. 1:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1908). The Bustān al-Ukūl by Nathanael ibn al-Fayyumi. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
(1973). An Arabic Translation of Themistius’ Commentary on Aristotle’s De Anima. Oxford: Cassirer.Google Scholar
(1975). Ethical Writings of Maimonides. and (eds. and trans.). New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
(2003). “Conservative Tendencies in Gersonides’ Religious Philosophy,” in Frank and Leaman 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1940). “The Treatise De Anima of Dominicus Gundissalinus,” Mediaeval Studies. 2:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1944). The Arabic Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul by Sa⼸d ibn Mansūr ibn Kammūna (XIII Century). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
(1958). “Ibn Kammūna’s Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul,” in , , and . (eds.), Ignace Goldziher Memorial Volume. Jerusalem, vol. 2.Google Scholar
(1955). “A Tenth Century Philosophical Correspondence,” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 24:.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1979a). “The Limitations of Knowledge according to Al-Fārābī, Ibn Bājja, and Maimonides,” in (ed.), Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(1979b). Studies in Abū⼹l-Barakāt al-Baghdādi: Physics and Metaphysics. Jerusalem/Leiden: Magnes & E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
(1972–3). “The Intention of Kitāb ma⼸āni al-nafs attributed to Baḥya ibn Paquda and Its Place in the History of Jewish Thought.” Qiryat Sefer. 48:. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
and (2006). A Jewish Philosopher of Baghdad: ⼸Izz al-Dawla Ibn Kammūna (d. 683/1284) and His Writings. Leiden: E.J. Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1984). “The Anthropological Theory of Miracles in Medieval Jewish Philosophy,” in (ed.), Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature. vol. 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(1982). “Joseph b. Shem Tov’s Short Commentary on Averroes’ Epistle on the Possibility of Conjunction.” Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought. 2:. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1997). Hebrew Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library: A Description and Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(1982). “Manuscripts of Avicenna’s Canon in Hebrew Translation: A Revised and Up-to-Date List,” Koroth. 8:.Google Scholar
(1988c). “Judah Romano,” The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/J064)Google Scholar
(1993b). “Yehudah b. Mosheh Romano traduttore di Alberto Magno (commento al De Anima III, II, 16),” Henoch. 15:.Google Scholar
(1993c). “Le traduzioni dei commenti scolastici al De Anima eseguite da Yehudah b. Mosheh nella tradizione filosofica ebraico-italiana dei secoli XIII–XIV,” in (ed.), Atti della VII settimana (Roma, 25–30 novembre 1991): Sangue e antropologia nel Medioevo. Rome: Pia Umione Preziosissimo Sangue.Google Scholar
(1994). “Egidio Romano nella cultura ebraica: le versioni di Yehudah b. Mosheh Romano,” Documenti e studi sulla tradizione filosofica medievale. 5:.Google Scholar
(2000). “Gershom b. Solomon’s Sha⼸ar ha-Shamayim: Its Sources and Use of Sources,” in S. Harvey 2000a.Google Scholar
(2005). “The Ibn Tibbon Family: A Dynasty of Translators in Medieval Provence,” in (ed.), Be⼹erot Yitzhak: Studies in Memory of Isadore Twersky. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(2007). Samuel Ibn Tibbon’s Commentary on Ecclesiastes, The Book of the Soul of Man. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.Google Scholar
(2001). “Remarques sur la tradition manuscrite du glossaire hébreu-italien du commentaire de Moïse de Salerne au Guide des égarés (En appendices, note sur les glossaries médicaux hébreux; liste de manuscrits hébreux contenant des glossaries),” in and . (eds.), Lexiques bilingues dan les domains philosophique et scientifique. Turnhout: Brepols.Google Scholar
(1948). The Book of Beliefs and Opinions. (trans.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
(1980). Decoding the Rabbis: A Thirteenth-Century Commentary on the Aggadah. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(1982). Hispano-Jewish Culture in Transition: The Career and Controversies of Ramah. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(1974). “The Fall of the Angels,” in (ed.), Studies in Memory of Jacob Friedman. Jerusalem. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1984). “Prophecy in the Writings of R. Yehuda Romano,” in (ed.), Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, vol. 2.Google Scholar
(1990). “Thine Ointments Have a Goodly Fragrance: Rabbi Judah Romano and the Open Text Method,” Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought. 9:. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1994). “The Light – Its Definition and Function in the Commentary to the First Reading in Genesis by R. Yehudah ben Mosheh ben Daniel Romano,” in and (eds.), Massu⼹ot: Studies in Kabbalistic Literature and Jewish Philosophy in Memory of Prof. Ephraim Gottleib. Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1977). “Le Livre Rouah Ḥen,” in Proceedings of the Sixth World Congress of Jewish Studies. Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies. 3:. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(2004). “Maimonides on the Growth of Knowledge and the Limitations of the Intellect,” in and (eds.), Maïmonide: Philosophe et Savant. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
(1961). “Ibn Hasday’s Neoplatonist - A Neoplatonic Treatise and its Influence on Isaac Israeli and the Longer Version of the Theology of Aristotle,” Oriens. 13-14:.Google Scholar
(1993). “On the Maimonidean Controversy in the East: The Place of Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī,” in (ed.), Hebrew and Arabic Studies in Honor of Joshua Blau. Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
(1998a). “Twelfth-Century Concepts of Soul and Body: The Maimonidean Controversy in Baghdad,” in , , . (eds.), Self, Soul, and Body in Religious Experience. Leiden: E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
(1999). The Beginnings of the Maimonidean Controversy in the East: Yosef Ibn Shim⼹on’s Silencing Epistle concerning the Resurrection of the Dead. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute. [Hebrew]Google Scholar
and (1997). Aristoteles Hebraicus: versioni, commenti e compendi del Corpus Aristotelicum nei manoscritti ebraici delle bibilioteche italiane. Supernova.Google Scholar
(2002). The Contemplative Soul: Hebrew Poetry and Philosophical Theory in Medieval Spain. Leiden: E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
(1956). “The Latin-Hebrew School of Translators in Spain in the Twelfth Century,” in Homenaje a Millás-Vallicrosa. 2 vols. Barcelona: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 2: -44.Google Scholar
(1968). “Aspects of the Social and Cultural History of Provençal Jewry,” Journal of World History. 11:.Google Scholar
(1960b). Isaac Albalag – Averroiste juif, traducteur, et commentateur d⼹ al-Ghazālī. Paris: Vrin.Google Scholar
(2005). “Reincarnation and Theodicy: Traversing Philosophy, Psychology and Mysticism,” in (ed.), Be⼹erot Yitzhak: Studies in Memory of Isadore Twersky. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(2000). The Leaven of the Ancients: Suhrawardī and the Heritage of the Greeks. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
(1973a). Studies in the History of Philosophy and Religion. vol. 1, and (eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(1992a). La “Classificazione delle scienze” di Al-Fārābī nella tradizione ebraica. Torino.Google Scholar
(1996). La filosofia antica nel Medioevo ebraico: le traduzioni ebraiche medievali dei testi filosofici antichi. Brescia: Paideia.Google Scholar
(2000). “The Relationship of European Jewish philosophy to Islamic and Christian Philosophies in the Late Middle Ages,” Jewish Studies Quarterly. 7:.Google Scholar
(2001a). “La tradizione Giudeo-Araba ed Ebaica del De intellectu di Alessandro di Afrodisia e il testo originale del Commento di Averroe,” Annali di ca⼹ foscari. 40:.Google Scholar
(2001). “Did Maimonides Write Nonsense? Intellect, Sense and Sensibility in Ruach Chen,” in , , , , and . (eds.), Unless Some One Guide Me…Festschrift for Karel A. Deurloo. Maastricht: Uitgeverj Shaker Publishing.Google Scholar
- 1
- Cited by