Speech
Jewish Philosophy - Class 4 and 5 (1960)
The Jewish philosophical movement of the Middle Ages became a legitimate, acceptable part of Judaism with Saadia in the 9th century – he was a Torah scholar, while Philo was not. Three causes contributed to the growth of philosophy among Jews at this time: (A) inner – with the close of the Talmud came the need for classification, systematic organization, and inquiry into origins and fundamentals; (B) outer – the scientific renaissance of Islam, which included diverse cultural elements, especially Greek thought; (C) as a result – an intellectual ferment in both Arabic and Jewish worlds, stemming from skepticism introduced by science and new knowledge. Philosophy became an integral part of Jewish life and culture, even introduced into the Halakhah, as in Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah of Maimonides. However, there was also strong opposition – to this day – to the absorption of alien modes such as philosophy. Thus, Abravanel sharply reacted against the dogmatological experiment of Maimonides and others (“everything in Torah is a fundamental”); Halevi created a dichotomy between philosophy and Judaism – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob vs. the God of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; Luzzato (Shadal) objected to philosophy and all systematization as a paralysis of the creative spirit – Henri Bergson complained similarly. A bird’s-eye view shows diversity and dramatic tension in medieval Jewish philosophy: Saadia – rationalism, optimism, complete equation of religion and intellect, Torah and science; Bachya – Neoplatonistic, with emanations, intermediary forms, religious pessimism, and asceticism; Ibn Gabirol – the greatest Neoplatonist, followed by Bar Chiyya and Ibn Ezra; Aristotelianism – eternity of matter instead of creation, nature in place of providence, knowledge rather than communion, represented by Ibn Daud, Maimonides, and Gersonides; anti-Aristotelians – Halevi with his historiosophy (the religio-historical experience of the folk) and Crescas, the greatest oppo…
