Maimonides
For Maimonides, the Torah and reason agree when the Torah is read rightly – and we can say only what God is not, never what he is.
Placement
Philosopher, legal scholar and physician in Fustat (Cairo), a central figure of medieval Jewish philosophy and law: he sought to reconcile the Torah with Aristotelian reason.
Key ideas
- Negative theology
- Figurative reading of scripture
- Creation and eternity both undemonstrated
Influence
Influenced by 4
Aristotle
influenced by ✓
Maimonides accepted Aristotle’s account of the sublunary world as demonstrated, but held his arguments for the world’s eternity to be inconclusive (Guide of the Perplexed, c. 1190). Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed (c. 1190), tr. S. Pines (1963); SEP “Maimonides”
Aristotle › 384–322 BCE
al-Farabi
influenced by ✓
In his letter to the translator Samuel ibn Tibbon (1199) Maimonides advised studying logic only in al-Farabi’s works and praised all his writings as flawless. Maimonides, letter to Samuel ibn Tibbon (1199), ed. I. Shailat, Iggerot ha-Rambam; S. Pines, “The Philosophic Sources of The Guide of the Perplexed” (1963); SEP “Maimonides”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
al-Farabi › c. 872–950
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
influenced by ✓
Maimonides took over Avicenna’s distinction between necessary and possible existence for a proof of God and held that existence is an accident of essence (Guide, c. 1190). Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed (c. 1190), tr. S. Pines (1963), with Pines’s introduction; SEP “Maimonides”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) › 980–1037
Ibn Bajja (Avempace)
influenced by ✓
Maimonides cited Ibn Bajja (Abu Bakr ibn al-Saigh) in the Guide on astronomy and the intellect, and in his letter to Ibn Tibbon praised him as a philosopher. Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed (c. 1190); letter to Samuel ibn Tibbon (1199); S. Pines, “The Philosophic Sources of The Guide of the Perplexed” (1963)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Ibn Bajja (Avempace) › c. 1085–1138
Influenced 5
Thomas Aquinas
influenced ✓
Aquinas engaged ‘Rabbi Moses’ on the divine names (Summa theologiae I q. 13) and agreed with him that the world’s beginning cannot be demonstrated (I q. 46). Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae I q. 13 a. 2, q. 46 aa. 1–2; Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed I.51–60, II.13–25; SEP “Maimonides”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Thomas Aquinas › c. 1225–1274
Meister Eckhart
influenced
Eckhart often cited ‘Rabbi Moses’ in his Latin works, taking up Maimonides’ negative theology of divine names, notably in his commentary on Exodus. Meister Eckhart, Expositio libri Exodi; SEP “Meister Eckhart”; SEP “Maimonides”
Evidence: AI draft
Meister Eckhart › c. 1260–1328
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
influenced ✓
Leibniz excerpted and annotated Buxtorf’s Latin translation of Maimonides’ Guide, remarking that it was more philosophical than he had expected, and cited its reckoning of good and evil (Guide III.12) in the Theodicy (1710, §§262–263). Leibniz, notes on Doctor perplexorum (between 1677 and 1691), A VI 4, 2484–2497; Theodicy (1710), §§262–263; L. Strickland, Leibniz’ Anthology of Maimonides’ Guide (2022)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz › 1646–1716
Moses Mendelssohn
influenced
Mendelssohn studied Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed from his youth and wrote a Hebrew commentary on Maimonides’ Treatise on Logic (Be’ur Millot ha-Higgayon, 1761). M. Mendelssohn, Be’ur Millot ha-Higgayon (1761); A. Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study (1973); SEP “Moses Mendelssohn”
Evidence: AI draft
Moses Mendelssohn › 1729–1786
Hermann Cohen
influenced
Cohen read Maimonides as the rationalist of Jewish ethics (‘Characteristics of Maimonides’ Ethics’, 1908) and drew on him throughout Religion of Reason (1919). H. Cohen, “Charakteristik der Ethik Maimunis”, in W. Bacher et al. (eds.), Moses ben Maimon I (1908); Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des Judentums (1919); SEP “Hermann Cohen”
Evidence: AI draft
Hermann Cohen › 1842–1918
Criticism
Criticized by 3
Gersonides (Levi ben Gershom) influenced
influenced
Gersonides took up questions Maimonides had placed beyond demonstration, such as creation and God’s knowledge of particulars, and argued them philosophically (The Wars of the Lord, 1329). Gersonides, Milhamot ha-Shem (1329); SEP “Gersonides”
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
Gersonides rejected Maimonides’ view that terms said of God and creatures are wholly equivocal: they apply first to God, derivatively to creatures (Wars of the Lord III.3). Gersonides, Milḥamot ha-Shem (1329) III.3; SEP “Gersonides”
Evidence: AI draft
Gersonides (Levi ben Gershom) › 1288–1344
Hasdai Crescas
criticised by
Crescas held against Maimonides’ intellectualism that the soul’s end is the love of God rather than knowledge, and criticised his Aristotelian proofs of God (Or Adonai, 1410). Ḥasdai Crescas, Or Adonai (1410) I–II; SEP “Hasdai Crescas”
Evidence: AI draft
Hasdai Crescas › c. 1340–1411
Baruch de Spinoza influenced
influenced ✓
Spinoza knew Maimonides’ Guide closely; H. A. Wolfson (1934) traced much of the Ethics’ vocabulary of God and the intellect to it and other medieval Jewish sources. H. A. Wolfson, The Philosophy of Spinoza (1934); SEP “Baruch Spinoza”
criticised by
Spinoza rejected Maimonides’ rule that Scripture must be read allegorically wherever it conflicts with reason, which bent the Bible to Aristotle (Theological-Political Treatise, 1670, ch. 7). B. Spinoza, Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670), ch. 7; Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed II.25; SEP “Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise”
Evidence: AI draft
Baruch de Spinoza › 1632–1677
Criticizes 3
Isaac Israeli
criticised
Maimonides wrote to his translator Samuel ibn Tibbon (1199) that Isaac Israeli’s Book of Definitions and Book of Elements were idle fancies, since Isaac had been only a physician. Maimonides, letter to Samuel ibn Tibbon (1199), ed. A. Marx, JQR 25 (1935); Altmann and Stern 1958, introduction
Evidence: AI draft
Isaac Israeli › c. 855–955
al-Ashari
criticised
Maimonides criticised the premises of the Asharite mutakallimun – atoms, accidents re-created at every instant, anything imaginable as possible – as distorting nature (Guide I.71–76). Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed I.71–76, tr. S. Pines, 1963; SEP “Maimonides”
Evidence: AI draft
al-Ashari › c. 874–936
Saadia Gaon
criticised
Maimonides criticised the Geonim who took over the Kalam proofs of creation – a group usually taken to include Saadia, whom he does not name (Guide I.71). Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed I.71; H. A. Davidson, Proofs for Eternity, Creation and the Existence of God, 1987
Evidence: AI draft
Saadia Gaon › 882–942
Works
- c. 1190The Guide for the Perplexed
Written in Judeo-Arabic for a student perplexed by the clash between the literal sense of the Torah and philosophy: scripture is to be read figuratively and God described only negatively; that the world is eternal, Aristotle has not proved.
Position
Maimonides wrote his Guide for the Perplexed for readers torn between the Torah and Aristotelian philosophy. He showed that biblical language about God – that he sits, sees or is angry – must be read figuratively. Of God we can say only what he is not: his negative theology holds that every positive attribute would limit the one God. On whether the world is eternal, he argued that neither side can be strictly proven and chose creation, which leaves room for a free God and for miracles. His codification of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah, remains authoritative, and his philosophy influenced Aquinas, Spinoza and Jewish thought to this day.
Life & context
Moses ben Maimon was born in Córdoba in 1138. Fleeing Almohad persecution, his family moved through Spain and North Africa before settling around 1166 in Fustat near Cairo. There he became the leader of the Jewish community and a physician at the court of Saladin’s vizier, while writing major works of law and philosophy. He died in 1204.
Further main works
- Commentary on the Mishnah (1168)
- Mishneh Torah (c. 1180)
Appears in
- Journey ‘The Journey of Aristotle’ · Stop 7 of 9
As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made