Maimonides
MedievalScholastic
The great Jewish philosopher who tried to reconcile Aristotle with the Torah, and faith with a thinking mind.
Born in Cordoba and driven by persecution across North Africa to Cairo, Maimonides served as physician to the court of Saladin while becoming the foremost legal and philosophical authority of medieval Judaism. His Guide for the Perplexed is written for the believer who has also studied philosophy and feels the two pulling apart. Scripture's human images of God, he argues, must be read as accommodations to ordinary minds; the truth is a God beyond all description, approached more safely by saying what He is not. His careful negotiation of reason and revelation shaped Aquinas and Spinoza alike.
Places
Ideas
Words
“Teach thy tongue to say I do not know, and thou shalt progress.”
Works
Life & Moments
Born in Cordoba
Born into the Jewish community of Cordoba, then driven by persecution across North Africa.
The Guide for the Perplexed
Serving as physician at Saladin's court, he wrote his great reconciliation of Aristotle with the Torah.
Influence
Influenced by
- Aristotle
Maimonides took Aristotle as the measure of reason and labored to reconcile him with the Torah.
Influenced
- Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas cites Rabbi Moses often; Maimonides showed the Latin world how Aristotle and scripture might be reconciled.
