Maimonides.— The greatest of all Jewish philosophers in whom their philosophical ac tivity reached its zenith was Moses ben Maimon, generally known as Maimonides (b. in Cordova, 30 March 1135; d. at Cairo, 13 Dec. 1204). His two main works are (1) the codification of the talmudic regulations systematically ar ranged into 14 groups. This elaborate treatise, to which he gave the title (Mishneh Torah" or
Maimonides' Guid0 extended, however, far beyond the limits of Judaism. Through a Latin translation it made its way to Christian scholas tics and it was instrumental, like Gabirol's 'Fountain,' in shaping the thoughts of men like Albertus Magnus, Duns Scotus and numerous others, while within the pale of Judaism its traces may be discerned in Spinoza's system and down to the 18th century in men like Moses Mendelssohn and Solomon Maimon.
Gersonides.—Half a century after Mai moindes we encounter in Levi ben Gerson, known as Gersonides (b. 1288; d. 1344), and in Latin as Leo Hebrmus, a philosopher who struck out into new paths, diverging somewhat from those of Maimonides. He was remarkable for the wide scope of his attainments, embracing logic, metaphysics, mathematics and medicine. As a philosopher his fame rests upon his work 'The Wars of God,' which is devoted chiefly to a discussion of those questions which Maimoni des left in a vague state or in which he opposed Aristotelian principles. Gersonides clings more closely to Aristotle than any other Jewish philosopher, and thus represents the climax of Aristotelian influence in Jewish theology. If Maimonides is dependent upon Ibn Sina's in terpretation of Aristotle, Gersonides may be said to 'represent the adaptation of Ibn Roshd's (or Averroes') exposition of the Aristotelian system to Judaism and which involved a more radical departure from orthodoxy. In a conflict between reason and religion, he does not hesitate to give the preference to reason. He ranges himself on the side of the scholastic realists and follows the arguments of the latter in maintaining that the intellect inasmuch as it consists of conceived ideas having a real ex istence may survive after the body decays. In opposition to Maimonides, he claims that certain attributes, such as knowledge, can be predicated of God but that divine knowledge is not to be placed on a par with human knowledge in any such particular. Through the wide divergence between the two, he opens the way for the maintenance of the doctrine of the freedom of the human will in the face of God's omniscience. Perhaps the most original part of his philosophy is his view of creation, assuming as he does that from eternity there existed inert and un determined matter, devoid of form, to which God at the proper time bestowed form, life and motion. He thus occupies a middle position between those who accepted the eternity of matter and those who admitted the creatio ex nihilo.
Crescas.— The revolt against Aristotelian ism came in the following century, the chief rep resentatives of the movement being Chasdai ben Abraham (or ben Jehuda) Crescas (1340 1410) and his pupil Joseph Albo (1380-1435). In his work, The Light of God,) Crescas boldly makes front against the subjection of Jewish theology to the tenets of the Aristotelians, whether of the Avicenna-Maimonides or of the Averroes-Gersonides type. He criticizes the 26 Aristotelian propositions adopted by Maimon ides as the basis of his doctrine of the First Cause, and endeavors to show that through revelation alone can the belief in the unity of God be established. Against Maimonides he assumes that attributes can be assigned to God without involving oneself in contradictions. As the six fundamental doctrines of Judaism he sets up the omniscience, omnipotence and prov idence of God, prophecy, freedom of the will and recognition of a purpose in creation. As the purpose of God's creation of the world he assumes the happiness of man's soul, though admitting that this happiness is not fully realized until after death when the soul enters into higher realms of existence. The soul is in dependent of knowledge and man's highest per fection is reached not through knowledge but through love of God's law, and obedience to it.
Joseph Albo.— Crescas' pupil Joseph Albo develops the themes of his master still further. In his 'Principles) he plants himself even more securely on the basis of revelation, main taining that the Mosaic law as the outcome of revelation establishes the claim of Judaism for all times as the only true religion. Instead of six, he sets up three principles as fundamental to this true religion, (1) the existence of God, (2) revelation and (3) rewards for the observ ance of God's laws and punishment for dis obedience. Albo may be called the philosopher of Jewish orthodoxy par excellence, and the only feature of this orthodoxy that is perhaps not accentuated with its full force is the Mes sianic doctrine which is obscured by that of divine retribution. Such was the popularity of Albo's work that it eclipsed the glory of Maimonides. The philosophical movement among the Jews thus issues, as among the Mo hammedans, in the triumph of orthodoxy. With the breaking of the bond between the prevailing Aristotelian systems and Judaism, a distinctive religious philosophy among the Jews, for the time being at least, comes to an end. Instead, we have, as the next step in the realm of spec ulation, the tendency toward mysticism, which became more marked as the ages passed on, until in the 16th century it successfully stifled all efforts at independent speculation. The dark period of persecution which the Jews en countered, leading in Spain to their expulsion at the end of the 15th century, and to their more or less complete isolation from the life around them by the establishment of ghettos, either voluntary or enforced, in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Russia and even Holland, was also a factor in bringing the philosophical movement among them to a temporary close. Thus thrown upon their own resources, the study and interpretation of the Talmud, with, out reference to extraneous currents of thought, furnished by the side of absorption in cabalistic lore the outlet for intellectual ener gies. See article THE CABALA in this section.