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27The Cambridge companion to Maimonides (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2005.One aim of this series is to dispel the intimidation readers feel when faced with the work of difficult and challenging thinkers. Moses ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides (1138-1204), represents the high point of Jewish rationalism in the middle ages. He played a pivotal role in the transition of philosophy from the Islamic East to the Christian West. His greatest philosophical work, The Guide of the Perplexed, had a decisive impact on all subsequent Jewish thought and is still the subject of …Read more
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47Sanctity and SilenceAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 76 (1): 7-24. 2002.Maimonides’ negative theology has generated controversy ever since it was advanced in The Guide of the Perplexed. Unlike Aquinas,Maimonides does not allow predication by analogy or anything else that compromises the radical separation between God and creatures. The standard objection to Maimonides is that his view is so extreme that it undermines important features of religious life, most pointedly the institution of prayer. I argue that Maimonides was well aware of the problems caused by negati…Read more
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40Musings on the Meno, A New Translation with Commentary. By John E. Thomas. Martinus NijhotI: 1980. Pp. 222 + xi. (review)Ancient Philosophy 3 (2): 216-219. 1983.
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8Judaism and the idea of the futureIn Jonathan Jacobs (ed.), Judaic Sources and Western Thought: Jerusalem's Enduring Presence, Oxford University Press. pp. 49. 2011.
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50Dialogue and Discovery: A Study in Socratic MethodState University of New York Press. 1987.This book examines the Socratic method of elenchus, or refutation.
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16Poverty and Sincerity in the Apology: A Reply to LewisPhilosophy and Literature 16 (1): 128-133. 1992.
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228Maimonides' appropriation of Aristotle's ethicsIn Jon Miller (ed.), The Reception of Aristotle's Ethics, Cambridge University Press. 2012.
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7Jewish Philosophy in a Secular AgeSuny Press. 1990.An examination of Jewish philosophy in the modern age and in light of secular philosophy. Ch. 8 (pp. 189-211), "Fackenheim's Dilemma, " deals with Emil Fackenheim's philosophy concerning the Holocaust, and the place of God and Judaism in a post-Holocaust world. Expounds on his theology, his existential theories, and his attitude to Jewish history.
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2Hope as a Moral IdealTeoria 27 (1): 99-111. 2007.This article discusses a respect in which modern thought differs from ancient: the role of hope. Although mentioned in ancient philosophy, hope is not a cardinal virtue, much less a presupposition of moral action. By contrast, hope takes center stage in the thought of Kant. Kant maintains that moral perfection is possible and always in the process of being realized but never actually comes to pass. No matter how much progress is made, there will always be something more to be accomplished. In th…Read more
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64Sanctity and SilenceAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 76 (1): 7-24. 2002.Maimonides’ negative theology has generated controversy ever since it was advanced in The Guide of the Perplexed. Unlike Aquinas,Maimonides does not allow predication by analogy or anything else that compromises the radical separation between God and creatures. The standard objection to Maimonides is that his view is so extreme that it undermines important features of religious life, most pointedly the institution of prayer. I argue that Maimonides was well aware of the problems caused by negati…Read more
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25Maimonides on the Origin of the WorldCambridge University Press. 2005.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 contin…Read more
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What Maimonides can teach us about reading the BibleIn Charles Harry Manekin & Robert Eisen (eds.), Philosophers and the Jewish Bible, University Press of Maryland. 2008.
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Discutendo a proposito di ignoranza: Maimonide e Spinoza sulla contingenzaTeoria 26 (2): 313-333. 2006.In Book I of the Ethics, Spinoza rejects any explanation that uses the will of God to explain natural phenomena. In his paper Spinoza’s argument is discussed by looking at a specific example of the view he was criticizing: Maimonides’ account of particularity. We will see that in some ways, Spinoza is right. But we will also see that Maimonides’ argument is not as naïve as a reader of Spinoza might think and that Spinoza’s own position is not immune from Maimonides’ attack on metaphysical determ…Read more
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19Strolling with Maimonides on the Via NegativaIn Jeanine Diller & Asa Kasher (eds.), Models of God and Alternative Ultimate Realities, Springer. pp. 793--799. 2013.
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23Philosophical Religions from Plato to Spinoza: Reason, Religion, and Autonomy by Carlos FraenkelJournal of the History of Philosophy 52 (1): 171-172. 2014.
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17Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed: A Philosophical Guide by Alfred L. IvryJournal of the History of Philosophy 55 (2): 345-346. 2017.Although there has never been a shortage of book-length commentaries on Plato's Republic, Descartes's Meditations, or Spinoza's Ethics, the same cannot be said of Maimonides's Guide of the Perplexed. A few Hebrew commentaries exist, but they are neither influential nor readily accessible to English-speaking audiences. So while there has been a noticeable resurgence of interest in Maimonides since the publication of Shlomo Pines's English translation in 1963, there is still a respect in which Ivr…Read more
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14I4 Miracles in Jewish philosophyIn Graham H. Twelftree (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Miracles, Cambridge University Press. pp. 254. 2011.
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21Turning Toward Philosophy: Literary Device and Dramatic Structure in Plato's Dialogues, by Jill Gordon; x & 182 pp. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999, $32.50. (review)Philosophy and Literature 24 (2): 500-502. 2000.
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29Teloh, H. Socratic Education in Plato's Early Dialogues. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986. vii + 240 pp. $29.95 (review)Review of Metaphysics 41 (4): 859-860. 1988.
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1Arguing from Ignorance: Maimonides and Spinoza on ContingencyYearbook of the Irish Philosophical Society 182-201. 2006.
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25Plato. J. C. B. GOSLING. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. viii, 319 p. $16.50. (review)Journal of Philosophy 72 (8): 221-224. 1975.
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1Maimonides: A Guide for Today's PerplexedBehrman House. 1991.The classic questions Maimonides contemplated in Guide for the Perplexed are addressed here in modern language. How should we describe God? What makes monotheism special? Why does evil exist in God's world? How will we know when the Messiah has come? Maimonides' philosophy and teachings, so significant to Jewish thought, made accessible to everyone.