Maimonides on the Origin of the World

Erscheinungsjahr 2010
ISBN: 978-0-521-84553-3
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 521 g

Although Maimonides' discussion of creation is one of his greatest contributions - he himself claims that belief in creation is second in importance only to belief in God - there is still considerable debate on what that contribution was. Kenneth Seeskin takes a close look at the problems Maimonides faced and the sources from which he drew. He argues that Maimonides meant exactly what he said: the world was created by a free act of God so that the existence of everything other than God is contingent. In religious terms, existence is a gift. In order to reach this conclusion, Seeskin examines Maimonides' view of God, miracles, the limits of human knowledge, and the claims of astronomy to be a science. Clearly written and closely argued, Maimonides on the Origin of the World takes up questions of perennial interest.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Seeskin, Kenneth

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. God and the problem of origin; 2. Creation in the Timaeus; 3. Aristotle and the arguments for eternity; 4. Plotinus and the metaphysical causation; 5. Particularity; 6. Nature, miracles and the end of the world; 7. Aftermath and conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Seeskin, Kenneth
Kenneth Seeskin, a Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University and winner of a Koret Jewish Book Award (2001), is the author of Jewish Philosophy in a Secular Age, Maimonides: a Guide for Today's Perplexed, No Other Gods: the Modern Struggle Against Idolatry, Searching for a Distant God: The Legacy of Maimonides, and Autonomy in Jewish Philosophy. He is also the editor of the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Maimonides.