Language:
English
Year of publication:
2018
Titel der Quelle:
AJS Review
Angaben zur Quelle:
42,2 (2018) 351-379
Keywords:
Maimonides, Moses,
;
Maimonides, Moses,
;
Judaism and philosophy
Abstract:
In one passage of the "Mishneh Torah", Maimonides explicitly forbids Jews from philosophical inquiry or even freethinking. This prohibition apparently includes a ban on reading or thinking about the topics of the "Guide of the Perplexed". This paper argues that Maimonides's "Mishneh Torah" presents a consistent rejection of open philosophical inquiry. However, what is prohibited in the "Mishneh Torah" is not only permitted in the "Guide", but the terms of the prohibition can be used as an outline of the structure of the "Guide". That is to say, the "Guide" in a sense covers precisely the topics whose inquiry is forbidden to Jews in the "Mishneh Torah". In the "Mishneh Torah" Maimonides does not suggest a punishment in this world for freethinkers, but in the "Guide" he punishes freethinkers with more study, especially metaphysical inquiry. It is possible that the "Guide" itself is the punishment for freethinking as defined by the "Mishneh Torah". This kind of intellectual punishment has a parallel in Plato's laws, where freethinkers are sentenced to spend five years living in the center of the city, studying physics and metaphysics with city elders.
DOI:
10.1017/S0364009418000508
URL:
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