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100 Aristotle in Jewish Literature

in their sect (see Pollak,

"Orient," 1847, pp. 630 "

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

"Halikot Kedem,"

e t seq.

and judah

p. 73;

Barzilai,

Yezirah-Commentar, "

ed. Berlin, pp. 65 el seq. ). For as also for Isaac Israeli (who died about 950), Aristotle is always " the philosopher " par c.rcel-

Mokammez,

hnee (Steinsclmeider,"Hebr. Uebers." p. 391). Saadia Gaon (933) displays a minute acquaintance with the

though the name of Aristotle is But it is not his custom mention his authorities, and he is

Stagirite's writings,

not to be found in his works. to

Saadia

and

familiar, for example, with Aristotle's

and adopts it. In the third chapter of the first book of the " Emunot " he protests vehemently against the Aristotelian cosmology. He here omits the name of the Stagirite with evident intention, being unwilling to give the name of the philosopher who, claiming the existence of the world from eternity, opposes the Biblical account of Creation. In order to counteract the spreading influence of the Aristotelian theory of Creation, he is most careful to elucidate its weak points. But all these polemics do not hinder Saadia, whose philosophy is indeed of an eclectic nature, from accepting the Aristotelian definition of the soul as his own ("Emunot," iii. 5); his indebtedness to Aristotle's book, Tlepl fvxvs, betraying itself clearly in his "Treatise on the Soul." It can be shown that Saadia does not disclose a very accurate knowledge of Aristotle in those works that precede his "Emunot," traces of Aristotelian methods appearing in his great work only. The Arab philosopher Alfarabi (died 950) popularized the Greek philosopher by his translation and commentaries, the reputation of which soon extended to Spain. The first representative of Arabian philosophy in Spain, and indeed in western countries in general, was not an Arab, but a Jew, Solomon ibn Gabirol. His " Mckor Hayyim" shows a consistent amalgamation of Aristotelian principles with NeoPlatonic conceptions of the universe. But in spite of the unmistakable traces of Aristotelian philosophy in the "Mekor Hayyim," the Greek's name is not definition of space

Gabirol.

mentioned. Gabirol's

Aristotle

is

mentioned, however, in

"Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh."

When the Stagirite's scientific works were prepared for Western readers, it was held necessary to popularize them. There is a work, written in Arabic, containing many moral maxims collected from Greek philosophers. This book, " The Dicta of the Philosophers," by the above-mentioned translator, Honein ibn Ishak, afforded those to whom the study of exact philosophy was too difficult the possibility of familiarizing themselves with the best thoughts of the Greek philosophers, and it thus contributed much to Aristotle's popularity in Jewish circles. (Concerning this work and its influence upon literaSinnture, see LOwenthal, "Honein ibn Ishak's sprilche der Philosophen,' " Berlin, 1896.) Unquestionably, it was from this book that Gabirol took the aphorisms that are quoted in the "Tikkun" as by Aristotle. In the Tikkun also, without mention of the author, are found several passages on the Aristotelian doctrine of the "ethical mean." In the period following Gabirol, the writings of Avicenna, a commentator upon Aristotle, became widely known throughout Europe, leading to the '

100

displacement of the older philosophy based upon Plato and Neo-Platonism. The Arabic expounders of Aristotle leavened his views more and more with monotheism and thus through new interpretations and constructions the heathen character of his philosophy was gradually refined away. Then, too, many works passed under Aristotle's name that a more critical age would immediately Pseudohave detected as spurious. But the Arislack of all critical sense in the Middle totelian Ages, and the general prejudice in Writing's, favor of Aristotle, whose genuine writings contain many passages in which he rises from heathenism to almost pure monotheism, blinded even the most discerning to the fact that many of the works ascribed to him could not The most important works possibly have been his.

of this character are "Aristotle's Theology Dicterici)

hewer).

" (ed. by and " Liber de Causis " (ed. by BardenModern scholars have discovered the be a mere collection of extracts from the

former to "Enneacles" of Plotinus; in the Arabic version of which passages antagonistic to monotheism are paraphrased or entirely omitted. Similarly the " Liber de Causis " is nothing but an extract from the Stoi-

by Proclus. of the consequences of the false ascription of these works to Aristotle was that real Aristotelianism never prevailed lastingly with Arabs and Jews. Only isolated doctrines of Aristotle were of preponderating significance in the Arabic and Jewish thought of the Middle Ages. The first reaction against the influence of the Sage of Judah. Stagira is noticed toward the middle XtiuciC deuXnytKy

One

ha-Levi Against Aristotle.

of the twelfth century, when Judah ha-Levi admonished his contemporaries with all the fervor of his ardent religious soul, not to be ensnared by

the wisdom of the Greek at the cost of their own True to his Arabic prototype, hereditary faith. Ghazzali, he showed that Aristotle was not to be Ha-Levi berelied on in his scientific statements. trayed a curiously vacillating mind, distracted between veneration for the great sage and abhorrence for the false doctrines of his mighty intellect. He can not forbear maintaining that if Aristotle had, like the Jews, been possessed of tradition, he would not have set forth the impossibility of the creation of the world. Ha-Levi warns his readers against Aristotle's recognition of the unity of God for the God for whom the spirit longs is a very different God from the one attained by cold speculative thought. Twenty years after the completion of the " Cuzari," Abraham ibn Daud wrote his " Ha-Emunah Ramah "

A

(The Exalted Faith). dauntless philosopher, he controverted in fullestmeasureHa-Levi's standpoint: " The study of the philosophy of religion is very detrimental to the true faith" ("Cuzari," v. 16). Abraham believed just the contrary that the thoughtful one would find his faith strengthened by the study of philosophy. He is a rigid Aristotelian, following in the footsteps of Avicenna, and protesting with all his might against the disparagement of philosophy by Ghazzali. His book, published in 1160, is one of the first attempts at a compromise between Judaism and the Peripatetic philosophy of the Arabs.