Maimonides' Ethics: The Encounter of Philosophic and Religious MoralityIn this book Raymond L. Weiss examines how a seminal Jewish thinker negotiates the philosophical conflict between Athens and Jerusalem in the crucial area of ethics. Maimonides, a master of both the classical and the biblical-rabbinic traditions, reconciled their differing views of morality primarily in the context of Jewish jurisprudence. Taking into consideration the entire corpus of Maimonides' writings, Weiss focuses on the ethical sections of the Commentary on the Mishnah and the Mishneh Torah, but also discusses the Guide of the Perplexed, the letters of Maimonides, and his medical works. The gulf between classical philosophy and the Torah made the task of Maimonides extraordinarily difficult. Weiss shows that Maimonides subtly preserves the tension between those traditions while producing a practical accommodation between them. To explain how Maimonides was able to accomplish this twofold goal, Weiss takes seriously the multilevel character of Maimonides' works. Weiss interprets Maimonides as a heterodox thinker who, with utter integrity, faces the Law's encounter with philosophy and gives both the Torah and philosophy their due. |
Contents
Introduction to the Ethics of the Code | 85 |
Some Ethical Issues in the Guide | 163 |
Theoria and Praxis | 177 |
The Noahidic Commandments | 204 |
213 | |
Common terms and phrases
613 commandments accepted opinions Alfarabi anger Aristotelian Aristotle Aristotle's attaining biblical verse bodily chap chapter character traits Code commandments Commentary on Avot conduct contemplative context de'ah De'ot discussion distinct Edited endoxa Epistle to Yemen Ethical Writings evil example Exile extreme forbidden God's Guide ha-Rambam halakhah harm hasidut honor human humility ibid incline instance intellect interpretation Isadore Twersky Israel Jewish law Jewish tradition Jews Judeo-Arabic knowledge Laws Concerning Maimonidean Maimonides cites Maimonides refers Maimonides says Maimonides takes man's rational nature mandments matters mean ment middle Mishnah Mishneh Torah mitsvah mitsvot monides moral virtues Moses neighbor Nicomachean Ethics one's Oral Law person philosophic ethics piety pious political practical wisdom precept prohibition prophet qiddush ha-shem regarding requires sages Sanhedrin self-abasement shame simply someone soul soul's speak speech statement Sufi Talmud Torah teaching Teshuvah theoretical theoria things tion vice virtuous Yesodei ha-Torah