SPINOZA AND MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY Overthelasttwodecadestherehasbeenanincreasinginterestinthe influence of medieval Jewish thought upon Spinoza’s philosophy. Theessaysinthisvolume,bySpinozaspecialistsandleadingscholars in the field of medieval Jewish philosophy, consider the various dimensionsoftherich,important,butvastlyunder-studiedrelation- shipbetweenSpinozaandearlierJewishthinkers.Itisthefirstsuch collectioninanylanguage,andtogethertheessaysprovideadetailed andextensiveanalysisofhowdifferentelementsinSpinoza’smeta- physics,epistemology,moralphilosophy,andpoliticalandreligious thought relate to the views of his Jewish philosophical forebears, suchasMaimonides,Gersonides,IbnEzra,Crescas,andothers.The topics addressed include the immortality of the soul, the nature of God,theintellectualloveofGod,moralluck,thenatureofhappi- ness,determinismandfreewill,theinterpretationofScripture,and thepoliticsofreligion. steven nadler istheWilliamH.HayIIProfessorofPhilosophyat theUniversityofWisconsin-Madison,whereheisalsoafacultymem- ber of the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies. His previous publications include Spinoza: A Life (Cambridge, 2001), Rembrandt’s Jews (2003), Spinoza’s ‘Ethics’: An Introduction (Cambridge, 2006), Volume 1 of The Cambridge History of Jewish Philosophy (co-edited withT.M.Rudavsky,Cambridge,2009),andABookForgedinHell: Spinoza’sScandalousTreatiseandtheBirthoftheSecularAge(2011). SPINOZA AND MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY edited by STEVEN NADLER UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107037861 ©CambridgeUniversityPress2014 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2014 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata SpinozaandmedievalJewishphilosophy/editedbyStevenNadler. pages cm isbn978-1-107-03786-1(hardback) 1. Spinoza,Benedictusde,1632–1677–Influence. 2. Spinoza,Benedictusde, 1632–1677. 3. Jewishphilosophy–History–To1500. I. Nadler,Steven,1958–editor. b3998.s72127 2014 1990.492–dc23 2014024242 isbn978-1-107-03786-1Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof urlsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Contents Notesoncontributors page vii Listofabbreviations viii Introduction 1 StevenNadler 1 MortalityofthesoulfromAlexanderofAphrodisiastoSpinoza 13 JacobAdler 2 SpinozaandthedeterministtraditioninmedievalJewish philosophy 36 CharlesManekin 3 ThescienceofScripture:AbrahamibnEzraandSpinozaon biblicalhermeneutics 59 T.M.Rudavsky 4 Spinoza’srejectionofMaimonideanism 79 StevenFrankel 5 ‘Ishq,h.esheq,andamorDeiintellectualis 96 WarrenZevHarvey 6 Monotheismatbay:theGodsofMaimonidesandSpinoza 108 KennethSeeskin 7 Moralagencywithoutfreewill:Spinoza’snaturalizing ofmoralpsychologyinaMaimonideankey 128 HeidiM.Ravven 8 Virtue,reason,andmoralluck:Maimonides,Gersonides, Spinoza 152 StevenNadler v vi Contents 9 “Somethingofitremains”:SpinozaandGersonideson intellectualeternity 177 JulieR.Klein 10 HasdaiCrescasandSpinozaonactualinfinityandtheinfinity ofGod’sattributes 204 YitzhakY.Melamed Bibliography 216 Index 237 Contributors jacob adler is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arkansas. steven frankel is Professor of Philosophy at Xavier University in Cincinnati. warren zev harvey isProfessorEmeritusintheDepartmentofJewish ThoughtatHebrewUniversityofJerusalem. julie r. klein isAssociateProfessorofPhilosophyatVillanovaUniversity. charles manekin isProfessorofPhilosophyandDirectoroftheJoseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland,CollegePark. yitzhak y. melamed is Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. steven nadler is the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy and Evjue-Bascom Professor in Humanities at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. heidi ravven isProfessorofReligiousStudiesatHamiltonCollege. t.m. rudavsky isProfessorofPhilosophyatTheOhioStateUniversity. kenneth seeskin isPhilipM.andEthelKlutznickProfessorofJewish CivilizationatNorthwesternUniversity. vii Abbreviations for works by Spinoza CHG Compendiumgrammaticeslinguaehebraeae(Compendiumof HebrewGrammar) Ep Epistolae(Correspondence) Ethics Ethica(App=Appendix;ax=axiom;c=corollary;def=definition; dem=demonstration;p=proposition;s=scholium;roman numeral=part) KV KorteVerhandlingvanGod,demensch,endeszelvswelstand(Short TreatiseonGod,Man,andHisWell-Being) NS NagelateSchriften(1677DutchtranslationofOP) OP OperaPosthuma(1677posthumouseditionofSpinoza’s unpublishedwritings) PPC PrincipiaPhilosophiaeCartesii(Descartes’sPrinciplesofPhilosophy) TIE Tractatusdeintellectusemendatione(TreatiseontheEmendationof theIntellect) TP TractatusPoliticus(PoliticalTreatise) TTP TractatusTheologico-Politicus(Theological-PoliticalTreatise) viii