New on the site: Michi-bot. An intelligent assistant based on the writings of Rabbi Michael Avraham.

The Foundation of Maimonides’ Error

שו”תCategory: faithThe Foundation of Maimonides’ Error
asked 6 years ago

Hello Rabbi!
Hope you are healthy.
While I was sitting next to you in the Beit Midrash at Bar Ilan, I asked you about the Teacher of the Perplexed, and you told me that you did not read a cover for a cover – because the foundation of Maimonides’ entire philosophy is founded on an error. I would be happy if the Rabbi could explain the error and also ask specifically – regarding Maimonides’ claim that the whole cannot change and that God does not change – what is the contradiction in the claim.
thanks


Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 6 years ago
I don’t remember anymore. I don’t think I said anything so sweeping. As far as I know, there is no single philosophical foundation for the entire book, so I don’t see how one could say such a thing. If you specify which claim of Maimonides’s you are referring to exactly (with a source), perhaps I can try to address it.

Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Ariel replied 6 years ago

Hi Rabbi,
I asked you before the question whether you studied the teacher and you answered me jokingly that the foundation of Maimonides' philosophy is old/wrong (not sure) and only in places that like to study old things like yeshivas still study this book – So you haven't read it cover to cover but you know it…
Anyway, my question now is – How I understand the foundation on which Maimonides' philosophy is based is the immutability of God because a whole cannot change – which is the Aristotelian understanding of God – and in any case a God who is whole in the ultimate perfection cannot change and if so he cannot act in the world at any time because if he acts now, it means that he did not act before, and in any case he has changed… This leads me in the opinion of Maimonides in the direction that God does not intervene and has never intervened because He could not change. I know your opinion that God does not intervene in our time, but the way I understood you, you have no problem in principle saying that God intervened in the past. So in conclusion, my question is: Is Maimonides' understanding that God is unchanging because the whole cannot change and in any case He cannot act/intervene? My impression is that this is an old Aristotelian understanding of God that is no longer accepted by everyone, but I am not sure why. I would appreciate your comments.

מיכי Staff replied 6 years ago

This is the kind of question that I don't see much point in engaging with. There are unnecessary hypotheses here and one can always say one way or the other. The creation of the world is not necessarily a change in it. In particular, it is possible that the timeline itself was created with creation, and then it doesn't make much sense to talk about what came before it.
Beyond that, a whole can change. Why assume that wholeness is a single state? Maybe there are several states of wholeness that can be passed between?

מיכי Staff replied 6 years ago

And in general, on the subject of change in the Creator, see my article on Zeno's cross, and there was also a discussion here on the site about perfection and completion...you can search.

מיכי Staff replied 6 years ago

See column 170

Leave a Reply

Back to top button