Maimonides
Understand the Law without betraying reason.
Moses Maimonides, born in Córdoba and active as a physician and communal leader in Fustat, was both the foremost codifier of Jewish law and a philosopher formed by the Aristotelian tradition of the Islamic world. Through his Commentary on the Mishnah, his Hebrew code and his Arabic Guide of the Perplexed, he sought to show that the Law, rightly interpreted, can be lived together with demonstrative knowledge of God and nature.
How can one remain faithful to a revealed Law while following reason as far as it can go?
Biography
Moses Maimonides, born in Córdoba and active as a physician and communal leader in Fustat, was both the foremost codifier of Jewish law and a philosopher formed by the Aristotelian tradition of the Islamic world. Through his Commentary on the Mishnah, his Hebrew code and his Arabic Guide of the Perplexed, he sought to show that the Law, rightly interpreted, can be lived together with demonstrative knowledge of God and nature.
02 /Philosophy
Because God is absolutely one and beyond comparison, positive attributes cannot describe the divine essence; God is known through negations and through attributes of action that name effects in the world.
03 /Reading guides
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
04 /Bibliography
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
A first reading.
Reason and revelation
Follow how the Guide reads biblical language, speaks of God by negation and weighs creation against eternity.
The Guide of the PerplexedOrdering the Law
Examine how the Mishneh Torah arranges the whole of Jewish law and why it opens with the knowledge of God.
Mishneh TorahVirtue as a remedy
Study the Eight Chapters on the faculties of the soul, the mean and free will, and compare them with Aristotle.
Eight Chapters