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Maimonides

Full Name: Moses Maimonides

Nickname/Alias: born: Rabbi Moses ben Maimon Maimonides

Achievements: Foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism

Born: March 30, 1135; Cordoba, Spain 

Died: December 13, 1204; near Cairo, Egypt (Aged 69)

Field & Discipline: Medicine; Philosophy

Language: Hebrew/Spanish

Father: Unknown

Mother: Unknown

Siblings: David; possibly others

Spouse: Married twice, wives' names unknown

Children: Abraham

Education: Private tutors in Cordoba, Spain, and Fez, Morocco

Major Work:

"Commentary on the Mishna"

"Guide to the Perplexed"

Life & Times:

When Maimonides was 13, the Almohades -- a revolutionary and fanatical Muslim sect -- invaded Spain and decreed that all non-Muslims must convert or die.  Maimonides's family practiced their Judaism at home, but disguised it in public.   Despite the situation,  Maimonides continued his education in Judaic studies and was taught the scientific disciplines.  He studied law and philosophy and read the works of Greek philosophers [influenced by] Aristotle* and [influenced by] Plato*, and Muslim philosophers al-Farabi, Ibn Bajja, [influenced by] al Battani*and [influenced by] Avicenna*.

When Maimonides was 16, he wrote the "Millot ha-Higgayon" ("Treatise on Logical Terminology"), a study of various technical terms used in logic and metaphysics, and the "Essay on the Calendar" (Hebrew title, "Ma`amar ha"ibur").  (These works were written in Arabic, as were all his major works, except for "Mishnah Torah", which was written in Hebrew.)   With persecution steadily increasing, Maimonides's family left Cordoba in the mid-1150s.  After living a nomadic existence in southern Spain and northern Africa, they settled in Fez, Morocco, in 1159.  Although the Fez area, like Andalusia, was ruled by the Almohades, the Maimonides family kept a low profile,  and was left unharmed. Maimonides continued n his studies of rabbinics and Greek philosophy and began to study medicine.

At 23, Maimonides began a treatise that he would not finish for 10 years.  The work dealt with the "Mishna", an authoritative collection of oral laws containing all the decisions in Jewish law dating from earliest times to the 3rd century.   In the treatise -- which would become known as "Commentary on the Mishna" -- Maimonides clarified individual words and phrases of the Mishna, frequently citing relevant information from archaeology, theology, and science.  He also included a series of introductory essays dealing with general philosophical issues alluded to in the "Mishna".  One famous essay summarized the teachings of Judaism in a creed of "Thirteen Articles of Faith".

In 1166, after a few months living in Palestine, the Maimonides family moved to Egypt, and settled in Fostat, near Cairo, where Jews were free to practice their faith openly.  In 1168, after finishing "Commentary on the Mishna", Maimonides, now 33, began work on his great codification of Jewish law (Halakah) in Hebrew, known as the "Mishna Torah (The Torah Reviewed"). A massive undertaking, the work established Maimonides as a scholar of the first rank.

After the death of his father and brother, Maimonides became head of the family and started to practice medicine.  Within a short time he gained a reputation as being an extremely talented medical practitioner.  He was invited to become court physician to Sultan Saladin, the famous Muslim military leader.  Maimonides married late in life and was the father of a son, Abraham, who also became a respected Jewish scholar.

In 1176, Maimonides began work on his last major work, the "Dalalat al-ha`irin (Guide to the Perplexed"), written in Arabic, but later becoming better known by its Hebrew title, "More nevukhim".  This important work of religious philosophy, which took 15 years to complete, called for a rational philosophy of Judaism, and offered a philosophical method for reconciliating science, philosophy, and religion.  The work was sent as a private communication to his favorite disciple, Joseph ibn Aknin.  It was translated into Hebrew during Maimonides's lifetime, and then into Latin and most European languages, and has exerted a marked influence on the history of religious thought. 

It exerted a major influence on the 13th-century Scholastic philosophers, especially [influenced] Albertus Magnus*, [influenced] Aquinas*, and [influenced]  Duns Scotus*.  Inevitably, it had an important effect on the Jewish intellectual world, and its influence can be traced through the works of the 13th-century Jewish visionary [influenced] Abulafia* to those of the 14th-century Jewish philosophers [influenced] ben Gershom* and [influenced] Crescas*.

The principle that inspired all Maimonides's philosophical activity was identical with the fundamental tenet of later Scholasticism: that there can be no contradiction between the truths which God has revealed and the findings of the human mind in science and philosophy. 

Typical of Maimonides's philosophical doctrines was the one on "acquired immortality".  He distinguished two kinds of intelligence in man: one material -- that is, dependent on, and influenced by, the body;  the other immaterial -- independent of the body.  In his view, immaterial intelligence is acquired through the efforts of the soul to attain a knowledge of the absolute, pure intelligence of God. 

Once the soul acquires a knowledge of God's intelligence, this knowledge develops in man an immaterial, or spiritual nature.  This immateriality then endows the soul with immortality. 

Maimonides believed that those who attain a knowledge of God have reached a state that renders them immune from all accidents of fortune, from all allurements of sin, and even from death itself.   He wrote that since humans have the power to attain this salutary knowledge, they are in a position not only to work out their own salvation, but to work out their own immortality.

The resemblance between this doctrine and the doctrine of immortality of Dutch philosopher [influenced] Spinoza* is so striking as to suggest Spinoza likely borrowed some of Maimonides's idea. 

On the other hand, the difference between the two Jewish thinkers,  is as remarkable as the resemblance.  While Spinoza taught that the way to attain the knowledge which conferred immortality was the progress from sense-knowledge through scientific knowledge to philosophical intuition of all things, Maimonides held that the road to perfection and immortality was the path of duty as described in the Law of God.

Extra Connections: Averroes*?

A follower was [follower was] de Leon*

Assessment: The foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism, and the chief representative of the "Jewish Aristotelianism" school of thought.

Oneliner: Moses Maimonides, major medieval Jewish intellectual

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