Guide for the Perplexed - Couverture souple

Maimonides, Moses; Pollens, Stewart

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0486203514 ISBN 13 : 9780486203515

Editeur : Dover Publications Inc., 2000

Synopsis

The Guide for the Perplexed Complete text of crucial medieval work of philosophy: reconciliation of Aristotle and Scripture. Includes "Life of Maimonides, " analysis of "The Guide, " indexes of quotations from Scripture, Talmud. Maimonides, brilliant forerunner of Aquinas. Full description

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Book Description:

"There is a saying that the history of Jewish doctrine goes runs from 'Moses to Moses'; the second of which is Moses Maimonides. Maimonides (1120-1190) was a brilliant Hispanic Jewish scholar who lived in Spain and Egypt in the 12th century. In addition to being a philosopher, Maimonides also worked as a medical doctor. The Guide for the Perplexed, originally written in Arabic, and soon translated into Hebrew and widely read, is his best known work. The framing story is that it is a letter written to one of his students, to prepare him to understand the background of the Merkabah (the Chariot of Ezekiel) narrative. In the course of this, Maimonides delves into the most difficult questions of theology and reality itself, many of which are still controversial today. Did the universe have a beginning? Will it ever end? What is the nature of evil? Does the complexity of organic life imply some kind of rational design?

The Guide consists of three books. The first book deals with the nature of God, concluding that God cannot be described in positive terms. He uses this argument to systematically deconstruct the Islamic Kalam literalist school of thought, which anthropomorphized God. The second book examines natural philosophy, particularly Aristotle's system of concentric spheres, and theories of the creation and duration of the universe, and the theory of angels and prophecy. In the last Book, he expounds the mystical Merkabah section of Ezekiel, skirting the traditional prohibition of direct explanation of this passage. After this he covers the 613 laws of the Pentateuch, organized into 14 branches, attempting to present rational explanations for each law. Throughout, Maimonides stresses that the student needs to consider all theories.

He draws from Jewish, Islamic and ancient Greek philosophers, and evaluates each one on their merits. Most notably, he scrutinizes Aristotle's natural science in the light of scripture and physcial evidence--sometimes critically, foreshadowing the spirit of the Renaissance. The seed of the scientific method is also present in his discussion of permitted cures, reflecting his medical background: "the Law permits as medicine everything that has been verified by experiment." Controversial when it was written, the Guide continues to be a key reference point in the evolution of philosophy, and will be a rewarding journey for the modern reader. " (Quote from sacred-texts.com)

Table of Contents:

Publisher's Preface; Preface; Preface To Volume One Of The First Edition; The Life Of Moses Maimonides; The Moreh Nebuchim Literature; Analysis Of The Guide For The Perplexed; Introduction; Letter Of The Author To His Pupil, R. Joseph Ibn Aknin; Prefatory Remarks; Directions For The Study Of This Work; Introductory Remarks; Part I.; Chapter I.; Chapter ii.; Chapter iii.; Chapter iv.; Chapter V.; Chapter vi.; Chapter vii.; Chapter viii.; Chapter ix.; Chapter X.; Chapter xi.; Chapter xii.; Chapter xiii.; Chapter xiv.; Chapter xv.; Chapter xvi.; Chapter xvii.; Chapter xviii.; Chapter xix.; Chapter xx.; Chapter xxi.; Chapter xxii.; Chapter xxiii.; Chapter xxiv.; Chapter xxv.; Chapter xxvi.; Chapter xxvii.; Chapter xxviii.; Chapter xxix.; Chapter xxx.; Chapter xxxi.; Chapter xxxii.; Chapter xxxiii.; Chapter xxxiv.; Chapter xxxv.; Chapter xxxvi.; Chapter xxxvii.; Chapter xxxviii.; Chapter xxxix.; Chapter Xl.; Chapter Xli.; Chapter Xlii.; Chapter Xliii.; Chapter Xliv.; Chapter Xlv.; Chapter Xlvi.; Chapter Xlvii.; Chapter Xlviii.; Chapter Xlix.; Chapter L.; Chapter Li.; Chapter Lii.; Chapter Liii.; Chapter Liv.; Chapter Lv.; Chapter Lvi.; Chapter Lvii.; Chapter Lviii.; Chapter Lix.; Chapter Lx.; Chapter Lxi.; Chapter Lxii.; Chapter Lxiii.; Chapter Lxiv.; Chapter Lxv.; Chapter Lxvi.; Chapter Lxvii.; Chapter Lxviii.; Chapter Lxix.; Chapter Lxx.; Chapter Lx

Présentation de l'éditeur

This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Dover Publications Inc.
• Date d'édition: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0486203514
• ISBN 13: 9780486203515
• Reliure: Broché
• Langue: anglais
• Nombre de pages: 473