Q&A: A Contradiction in Maimonides
A Contradiction in Maimonides
Question
We all know Maimonides in the Laws of Repentance, where he argues for a person's absolute free choice, whereas in the Guide for the Perplexed, Part I, chapter 54, he wrote: “There are many people who, from the beginning of their creation, have a certain temperamental constitution such that perfection is impossible for them in any way; for example, someone whose heart is by nature very hot and strong, so that he cannot escape anger, even if he trains himself extensively; and someone whose testicular temperament is hot and moist, whose organs are strongly formed and whose seminal vesicles produce much semen—for such a person it is far-fetched that he should be God-fearing, even if he trains himself to the utmost.” Do you have an answer to this contradiction? I’d be glad to hear it.
Answer
I don’t understand where you saw a contradiction here. A person has free choice, but he also has a nature and various influences. Choice operates within that system of influences. Free choice does not mean that there are no influences on a person, but that he can overcome them (or some of them).
Discussion on Answer
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Apparently his intention is that one cannot overcome anger completely and at all times.
“Free choice does not mean that there are no influences on a person, but that he can overcome them (or some of them).”
In the Guide for the Perplexed he explicitly wrote regarding anger that it is impossible to overcome it: “he cannot escape anger.” And if you say that in fact there are some things one cannot overcome, how will you explain that in the Laws of Repentance he wrote: “If God had decreed that a person should be righteous or wicked, or if there were something that drew a person, by the essence of his nature, to one of the paths… or to one of the actions” — which implies that in every action a person has choice, and that there is no such possibility that in certain matters his nature pulls him in a particular direction.