Before Maimonides: A New Philosophical Dialogue in Hebrew (Études sur le Judaïsme Médiéval, 96)

A recently discovered Hebrew dialogue, most likely written in Iberia, affords a concise and lively glimpse of the state of philosophy and science before the great achievement of Moses Maimonides. The text is edited, translated, and analysed from the perspectives of historical and philosophical contexts as well as linguistic innovation. ‎Contents 6 ‎Acknowledgements 8 ‎Chapter 1. Introduction: Situating Pre-Maimonidean Jewish Philosophy 10 ‎1. The Manuscript 12 ‎2. The Dialogue between Intellect and Soul 15 ‎Chapter 2. Conspectus 18 ‎Chapter 3. The Historical-Philosophical Context: Pre-Maimonidean Jewish Thought in the Iberian Peninsula 27 ‎1. Contemporaneous Jewish Sources 32 ‎2. Pairs of Opposites as a Fundamental Feature of the Created Universe 43 ‎3. The Mystical Death Wish 45 ‎4. Greek Sources 48 ‎5. Islamic Sources: The Kalam 55 ‎6. Polemical Targets 62 ‎7. Conclusions 65 ‎Chapter 4. Transcription, Translation, Innovation 67 ‎1. Transcriptions 67 ‎2. New Translations Announced by the Dialogue 69 ‎3. Din and ḥoq 73 ‎4. Innovative or Unusual Usages of Hebrew Word Forms 76 ‎5. Yesh: Issues of Syntax and Meaning 78 ‎Text and Translation 82 ‎Introduction 84 ‎Bibliography 138 ‎Index of Ancient and Medieval Texts 148 ‎Index of Modern Authors 150 ‎General Index 153 "All can agree that the achievement of Moses Maimonides (d. 1204) set the standard for subsequent works of "Jewish philosophy". But just what were the contours of philosophical-scientific inquiry that Maimonides replaced? A fairly large array of diverse texts have been studied, but no comprehensive picture has yet emerged. The newly discovered Hebrew dialogue published here has points of contact of various depth with most of the major works of pre-Maimonidean thought. It shares as well influences from without, especially from the Islamic kalam. The dialogue thus presents, in an engaging literary form, a clear and detailed snapshot of pre-Maimonidean philosophy and science"-- Provided by publisher