Maimonides

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Hebrew: ??? ??? ?? ??????; Arabic: Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdallah al-Kurtubi al-Israili; March 30, 1135—December 13, 1204), commonly known by his Greek name (Moses) Maimonides, was a Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher. Many Jewish works refer to him by the acronym of his title and name, RaMBaM (????"? in Hebrew). As such, he is frequently referred to as "the Rambam". His Greek appellation means "Son of Maimon," and is a literal rendition of "ben Maimon."

Influence

Maimonides was one of the few medieval Jewish philosophers who also influenced the non-Jewish world. Even today he is among the most respected of all Jewish philosophers. A popular medieval saying that also served as his epitaph stated that From Moses to Moses there has not been such a Moses.

Related Topics:
Jewish - Epitaph - Moses

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Maimonides was by far the most influential figure in medieval Jewish philosophy. Radical Jewish scholars in the centuries that followed can be characterised as Maimonideans or anti-Maimonideans. Moderate scholars were eclectics who largely accepted Maimonides' Aristotelian world-view, but rejected those elements of it which they considered to contradict the religious tradition. Such eclecticism reached its height in the 14th-15th centuries.

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The most rigorous medieval critique of Maimonides is Hasdai Crescas' Or Hashem. Crescas bucked the eclectic trend by demolishing the certainty of the Aristotelian world view not only in religious matters, but even in the most basic areas of medieval science (such as physics and geometry). Crescas' critique provoked a number of 15th century scholars to write defenses of Maimonides. A translation of Crescas was produced by Harry Austryn Wolfson of Harvard University in 1929.

Related Topics:
Hasdai Crescas - Or Hashem - Aristotelian - Science - Harry Austryn Wolfson - Harvard University

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