Ivry - Maimonides Guide of the perplexed: a philosophical guide

Maimonides Guide of the Perplexed is recognized as a classic of medieval Jewish philosophy, its author celebrated for his extensive influence on subsequent thinkers, an influence that extends to the present. Yet for all its acclaim, the Guide has been terra incognita for all but a few in every generation. This is as Maimonides would have wanted it, as he wrote the book for a very select audience, one familiar with the science and philosophy of his day. He knew that the unprepared reader would resist his bold reformulation of Gods being and of His relation to mankind in general and to the Jewish people in particular. Accordingly, Maimonides deliberately wrote in a guarded and dissembling manner, rendering the Guide difficult and exasperating to most readers.

Scholars have worked assiduously over the centuries to plumb the secrets of the Guide, creating commentaries and supercommentaries to it. However, these studies of the Guide, mostly in Hebrew, remained the province of a select few. Modern translations of the Guide into Western languages spurred scholars in the last half-century to reach out to a larger audience with their analyses of the text. As had their predecessors, the more recent commentators on the Guide mostly approached it with one eye on Maimonides great rabbinic compositions, his Commentary on the Mishnah and his code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah. The authors of these studies generally search to find a unifying ideology and perspective in Maimonides writings, one that can be accommodated ultimately to traditional Jewish beliefs. These studies at best quote key passages of the Guide, not requiring or expecting the reader to consult the text itself.

The book before you is not for the few alone, and not meant to substitute for engaging with Maimonides text itself. It is centered on the Guide and abstains mostly from referring to his other work. It provides what is close to Pines wrote a lengthy introduction to his translation but provided very few explanatory notes to it. Moreover, he apparently felt bound to honor Maimonides wishes to keep his views secret, the translation retaining the ambiguities and ambivalences of Maimonides writing.

While not wishing to disrespect Maimonides, I feel the time has come to respect the maturity of contemporary readers and their ability to appreciate an unapologetic presentation of his views. My paraphrases are intended to allow the reader to engage with the Guide directly and to make his or her own assessment of Maimonides achievement. At the same time, I offer the reader one persons evaluation of the Guide, an evaluation that sees its author as a deeply conflicted and brave figure. This is an interpretation of the Guide that should, in the analysis section of each chapter, challenge scholars and nonscholars alike. It shows the extent to which Maimonides was indebted to a philosophical tradition that contradicted his inherited faith, and the extraordinary attempts he made to subvert that impasse.

I assess Pines translation against the Judaeo-Arabic original of the text, which can offer alternative understandings of Maimonides intentions. I have strived to present Maimonides text objectively, though I realize any explication has some degree of interpretation, expressed even merely by relating a particular passage in the Guide to other places that either confirm or contradict it. This should, however, help the reader appreciate the subtleties of Maimonides composition. Extended critiques of major issues in each section of the book are reserved for the analyses that follow the paraphrases given in each unit of chapters.

Among the issues tackled in this book are Maimonides allegorization of the Bible; his arguments for Gods existence, nature, and relation to the world, with particular attention to the issue of creation; the nature of evil and of divine providence; political theory and prophecy; immortality and the attainment of happiness. The secondary literature analyzing these issues is huge, and I draw the readers attention to the best of it, avoiding duplication of efforts. The references are mainly to works written in English, to enable the intended reader to access them.

This volume is an inquiry into Maimonides philosophy and theology, an investigation of both separately and together, for they are intertwined in his thought. One of the major goals of this study is to determine Maimonides priorities, whether his philosophy is handmaiden to his theology, or vice versa.Put another way, in the conflict between reason and faith, we shall question which takes precedence in Maimonides mindand which in his heart.

As this last sentence intimates, I see Maimonides as torn in his loyalties, seeking guidance as much as offering it. In my reading, The Guide of the Perplexed is the mature Maimonides spiritual as well as intellectual autobiography, his discovery of a truth about the nature of God and humanity that he could not fully admit and could not completely deny.

This is not to say that Maimonides held to this position consistently throughout his life, precariously balanced as it is in the Guide itself. His adherence to and advocacy of rabbinic law and lore were consistent throughout his life and integral to his personality, the source of most of his creative energy and achievements. Still, the Guide stands in marked contrast to most of his rabbinic writings, and should be taken as his definitive position on philosophical issues. This is not to deny that Maimonides delivers significant philosophical pronouncements in his two major rabbinical writings, as well as in his lesser compositions, as we shall see; but he does not argue for them as a philosopher, as he does in the Guide. I have therefore kept comparisons with Maimonides other writings to a minimum, believing that circumstances in his life created a gulf that makes such comparisons conjectural, particularly where he breaks with earlier statements. The