Some Remarks

Maimonides

the Political Science of

on

Farabi

and

Leo Strauss bv

translated

Robert Bartlett Boston College

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE The

in English

recent appearance

Law: Essays

of

Leo Strauss's Philosophie

of Maimonides trans. Fred Baumann [New York: Jewish Publication Society, and

phy

underscore the

Maimonides with the

Understanding

toward the

importance

him

who aided

incompatible

of

standard that must

it

served was

to

surely

probl

claims of

posed to

1987]) has

in grappling with the "theological-political Faith and Reason as to the best way of life. Because

most

rationalism refuses

difficulties

Gesetz (Philoso

his Predecessors,

Moses Maimonides to Strauss's thought. For it

Maimonides'

the

und

and

itself

to avail

of either mockery or obfuscation to skirt it is for Strauss "the truly natural model, the

by Revelation,

be carefully

guarded

against

every counterfeit,

the touchstone

and

shame"

(p. 3).

which puts modern rationalism to

The ence

following

article was

37) and may be both breaks new

Farabi"

considered a

"Quelques Remarques

published as

originally et de

Politique de Mai'monide

necessary

in Revue des Etudes Juives to

supplement

ground as well as explores more

Philosophy

sur

la Sci

( 1 00 (1 936] 1

and

-

Law in that it

previously mined. The the importance of Farabi's thought

deeply

areas

essay is, for example, the first to make clear and his political science in particular for understanding Maimonides (cf. Shlomo Pines, "Introductory in Guide of the Perplexed [Chicago: University of

present

in

general

Essay,"

Chicago Press, 1963],

Ixxxix,

p.

56). In

n.

addition,

it

expands upon the argument that

the classical and especially the Platonic conception of law serves as the foundation of Maimonides'

of the

science

Law

its

reasonable

end

philosophical account of and

meaning

of

the

Torah. For it

and

law

its

natural

set out

divine legislation

by Plato, without

in this

means to establish the righteous nation man"

unchanged; it

of the sons of political order and

the Law

promises

hence to

must

about

who

its

had

being

fully the possibility him. The Mosaic Law

anticipated

present

world and with

thus be

as a political reality.

bring

in trying to understand the revealed that Maimonides turned to the

was

conditions

to

human

nature

Divine in

in deed precisely

"the heart the

highest

origin and thus perfect

in fact,

viewed as a prescription of

what

Plato

and

Aristotle brought

regime,"

about

in speech, the "best

or

pray for": the philosopher-kings lators of Judaism and Islam. would

community "in accord the Platonic counterpart to the

the political are

Maimonides'

example above all others

interpretation. Fall

1990, Vol. 18, No. 1

may supply

with what one

prophet-legis

us with a means to approach the

4

Interpretation

otherwise

intractable

between Reason

conflict

and

article, many of the

since the original appearance of the

has been deleted,

Nothing

The translator

for their of

help

the translator.

All bracketed

support.

Dr. Fradkin

and transliterations of the

The

Social Science

and

their

and

the

consolidated.

Dr. Hillel Fradkin

and

to the notes are the responsibility of

additions

Judeo-Arabic

M. Remi Brague

editors thank

Gerard Nahon, for

Hebrew

have been

Humanities Research Council

and

Professor Aryeh Motzkin

and

to

the life of Reason.

relevant material published

notes

Professor Christopher Bruell

and to acknowledge the

Canada for its

worth of

in brackets.

and additions are enclosed

to thank

wishes

a conflict which, prior

Revelation,

its satisfactory resolution, leaves in doubt the possibility and For ease of reading as well as to include information on

kindly

supplied the translations

notes.

Revue des Etudes Juives, M.

editor of

help.

There is, in the philosophy of Maimonides as well as in that of his Muslim his Jewish disciples, a political science. The principal teaching of

masters and

this science is

summarized

as

guidance and,

happiness,

a

a

result,

divine law

a

in the

theses: Men need,

following

law; they

which guides

need, in

in

order

to

live,

to live well, to attain

order

them not only, like the human

law,

to

but further toward the understanding of the supreme truths and thereby toward supreme perfection; the divine law is given to men by (the intermediary of) a man who is a i-e., one who ward peace and moral perfection,

"prophet,"

combines

those

of

in his

(Cf. Philosophie

1859],

p.

the

person all

the legislator and und

98, 15-18

The importance

king;

occupies

medieval

the revealed

von

Averroes,

to the

prophet

M.J.

ed.

is legislation.

Muller

[Munich,

102, 2-3.) first sight, rather slight. Mai to have devoted more than four or five

is,

not appear

the

at

Perplexed to it. But

given the position religion

thought-that is to say, revealed religion, more precisely

the Torah or the

Shari'a

it

must

be inferred that

political

is the only philosophical discipline treating this law as law, is of importance. It is only in their political doctrine that the medieval philos

science, capital

law,

proper

activity

of this political science

his Guide of

in

the

Theologie

and p.

monides, for example, does chapters of

essential qualities of the philosopher as well as

which

discuss the basis

of their thought, the most profound presupposition by distinguish themselves from ancient thinkers on the one hand and they from modern thinkers on the other: their belief in Revelation.

ophers which

The

medieval character of

contradicted

considerable,

by

the

the politics of

fact that it is nothing

of an ancient conception.

Maimonides

other than a

For there is

and

the falasifa

is

not

modification, however

a profound agreement

be

tween Jewish and Muslim thought on the one hand and ancient thought on the other:

it is

not

the Bible and the

Koran, but

perhaps the

New

Testament,

and

Some Remarks

the Political

on

Science of Maimonides

certainly the Reformation and modern philosophy, break with ancient thought. The guiding idea upon

which

Jews

as

is precisely the idea

agree

which

is

indeed

a

the

at

law,

same time religious

civil

law

5

Farabi

brought

which

the divine law

of

and

about

the

the Greeks and the

a single

and moral

and

total law

law. And it is

Greek philosophy of the divine law which is the basis of the Jewish and Muslim philosophy of the Torah or the Shari'a; according to Avicenna, Plato's Laws is the classic work on prophecy and the Shari'a.1 The prophet in

occupies

this medieval politics the same place the philosopher-kings

in Platonic

kings,

by fulfilling by Plato, he founds

the essential conditions of the

politics:

enumerated

the ideal Platonic

i.e.,

the perfect city,

occupy

philosopher-

city.

The facts just

sketched and studied more

the

not always received

in the table

mentions

Perplexed

the

tor,"

they

attention

of contents "city,"

merit.

closely in a previous study have Let us note only that S. Munk

to his edition and translation of the Guide of

"politics,"

"government,"

"economics,"

"ethics"

nor even

encountered rather

"morality,"

i.e.,

or

frequently

what

and,

is more,

corrected

by

ficial. As

to pose this

and

falasifa does

question:

(as

have followed him, the

This one

opinion

is

is

obliged

not

to give an account

influence from

super of

the

those of a neo-Platonic origin

elements and

does the Aristotelianism

Why

false, but it is

of

Maimonides

neo-Platonism

(or

and

the

vice versa)?

It

to reply that this amalgam was something brought about before at least not until one proves in Muslim and Jewish philosophy

no one

took what

what were

they

independent

has

searching?

of

done)

yet

they found any

that the

falasifa

were

conquering barbarians But for

and not philosophers who were searching.

Let

choice

political presuppositions,

us take as an example a phenomenon above

and,

all,

as

far

removed

apparently theologico-

Averroes. Now, if the works of Aristotle him

Averroes

with

two of Aristotle's treatises have not been com

immediately by the Commentator: the Politics on the one hand and divination by dreams on the other. This choice is sees that

one

from

the commentative activity of

as

one compares the commentaries of

self,

impor

not suffice

advent of

who

it has been uttered,

admit of such a great

advance

as

neo-Platonic conceptions.

soon as

"legisla

words which are

the falasifa is an Aristotelianism contaminated or

and

between the Aristotelian

relation

the

Maimonides

of

those

are of considerable

tance in the Guide. For Munk and for those others who

doctrine

"governance,"

neither

mented on

and the

dreams

not

Averroes

was unable

reception

would

to comment on these treatises of Aristotle

have

made

impossible the

Shari'a. For this explication, supposition dreams,"

Laws. It

that

the

prophet,

is the founder was

or rather

to

to

justify

of

whose

because

explication

on

chance:

their

of

the

justification, is based on the prognostic faculty is related to "true rather a

the ideal city in the sense of the Republic or the

the Shari'a

give a reasonable,

concerning the Imam, that,

is

which

philosophical

treatise

due to

at

against

truly the

the objections of heretics or skeptics,

philosophical

beginning

of

direction to Shi'ite hopes

Muslim philosophy, Farabi

6

Interpretation

for Platonic politics, perhaps moved by philosophical convictions not reason very different from those Plato had in going to Syracuse; and this is the that, at the end of the epoch in question, Averroes came to comment on Plato's opted

Republic instead

of

Aristotle's Politics

dreams"

better

which accords

tise

of

so matter-of-fact

and

to give an explication of

with such passages

Plato than

of

with

"true

the trea

Aristotle.2

by beginning from the Platonizing politics of Farabi and not at by beginning either from modern conceptions or from the analogies, how

It is only all

ever can

phies of

scholasticism

which

remarkable,

hope to

properly speaking the Muslim

arrive at a true comprehension of

that one

provides

Jewish

and

philoso

the Middle Ages. It is difficult to believe that no one has profited, so

far as we know, from the testimony given by Maimonides himself ([Cf. Rosenthal, loc. cit.] [Brackets original trans.]). He writes to Samuel Tibbon: "Do

logic books

not concern yourself with

the wise Abu Nasr al-Farabi;

for

what

he has

except

now Ibn-

those composed

in general,

composed

and

by in

flour."

his book The Principles of Beings all of this is of the purest And he adds immediately that the books of Avicenna, though of merit, are not comparable to Farabi's. This testimony, sufficiently precise in itself, gains a particular

decisive importance if particularly book contains therein

directly

and

true metaphysics

that

on

his

is the

that the authentic title of the book of Farabi's

Maimonides is The Political Governments; that this

metaphysics

is based

by Farabi;

on

one recalls

by

praised

(theology) the politics

metaphysics

well

as of

Plato

politics; that the

as

whose

Laws

is inseparable from

collection of the

"opinions

politics

were commented

Platonizing

politics:

the people of the perfect

of

"enlightened"

city."

than that of considerably less the sophists and Socrates, where the very bases of human life, i.e., political life, had been shaken by Chiliastic convulsions on the one hand and, on the

In

a

by

other, of the

a critique of religion the radicalism of which recalls the

seventeenth

politics of aims

the

which was not

century

only

and

Plato the at

instincts

eighteenth

golden

sanctioning the of

the

nor a

centuries,

Farabi had

removed

from

rediscovered

equally destructive instincts

of slave

synthesis,

from

the conqueror; and

in the

a naturalism which

savage and

master and

tends to become the basis compromise

mean

free-thinkers

"natural"

of

man,

a supernaturalism which

a golden mean which is morality is hence not based on the two

which

positions, but which suppresses them both, uproots them by a prior, found question, by raising a more fundamental problem, the work

neither a

opposed

more pro of a

truly

philosophy.1

critical

The wishes and

Platonizing

politics of

point of

departure for

anyone who

to understand (and not merely record) the neo-Platonism of the falasifa

Maimonides

which

Plotinus himself

by beginning

in the last

of which

from the

is

analysis

a modification of authentic

the primordial intention again

Farabi is the

is the

neo-Platonism

Platonism, i.e.,

search

exigencies of

like the

for the

Farabi's

of a

of

philosophy And it is

perfect city.

Platonizing

politics that one

Some Remarks

can and must understand

give

(or

dying

Political Science of Maimonides

on the

appeared not to

and

7

the reception of Aristotle's physics: Platonism did not sufficient guarantees against the superstitions of

give)

antiquity; the rebirth,

by

menaced

hybrid speculations,

of

tics was not possible without the aid of Aristotle's physics, which

basis

Farabi

Platonic

poli

preserved

the

Socrates'

Plato's inquiry, the world of common sense. which guided Farabi in his work of restoration are

of

The

clearly

and

motives visible

in the thinkers

In these circumstances,

results.

followed him:

who

They

hope for

one cannot

not more

maintained

only his

analysis of

a

satisfactory Muslim philosophy before the tion of the philosophy of Farabi. This reconstitution can only be successful through a close collaboration between Arabists, Hebraists, and historians of phenomenon

any

One

of

Jewish4

reconstitu-

and

only hope to begin this work in the following pages showing the influence exercised on Maimonides by the Platonizing politics Farabi.

philosophy.

can

Maimonides treats encyclopedia of

of political

the sciences,

science

which

as

in

such

what

is found in the last

one

chapter of

by of

may call his his summary

ha-higgayon, written in his early youth. This is what he is divided into two parts, speculative philosophy and practical Philosophy philosophy, which is also called human philosophy or again political wisdom.

of

logic,

entitled

Millot

says:

Political

(2)

wisdom

is divided into four

governance of the

household, (3)

first fosters

the great nation or nations. The

tual,

and as

regards

three other parts

While the others

one

treat of

other men.

domestic

governance of man

the city,

(4)

virtues as much moral as

intellec

mores."

have many books on The form a unity in opposition to the first:

science

the governance of man

by himself,

the

(Hukim), i.e., the regimes by which man governs (economics) conduces to the proper ordering of

second part

The third

part

(the

it is this

acquisition;

the city) makes

governance of which

rules of

justice

known

hap

teaches one to distinguish between

imaginary happiness and evil; it is by which human societies are well

true happiness and evil and

lishes the

by himself,

governance of

philosophers

concerned with

prescriptions

The

its

"the

of political

(ethics) is

affairs.

piness and

it,

(1)

parts:

governance of

this which estab

ordered; it is

by

laws (Nemusim); by these this that the wise of the laws, the nations subject to the wise are governed; "the philosophers have many but we have no need, in books, accessible in Arabic, on all these matters perfect nations establish

the

.

these times, of all that,

(Datot),

the

that

is,

of

laws (Nemusim), the

.

.,

the prescriptions governance

(Hukim),

of those

men

the ordinances

in divine

mat

ters."5

Despite the difficulties in the text,

distinctly

declares that "we have

no

one

thing is beyond doubt: Maimonides

need, in these times, of

that,"

all

i.e.,

of

8

Interpretation

politics

The final

and even of economics.

properly speaking,

clearly the reason why they Now, cerning "the divine governs us in a perfect manner in rather

divine

have the Torah

which

in the

To

understand

does

he did

not

have many books

judge

too

"books des'

he

it), logic,

It

be

must

ethics

(he

or speculative

books

of

noted

that Mai

simply that philosophy. That says

the philosophers

on all

the study of these books many suffices

is found in

to remark

times, is that the judgment in

of logic, based on the Here, then, is the complete meaning of Maimoni philosophical disciplines, it is only politics properly

politics

a

summary

philosophers."

of

the all

the

speaking and economics which On this point, the teaching

from that

of

are rendered superfluous of

by

the Torah.

the Guide of the Perplexed scarcely differs

the Millot ha-higgayon. Maimonides says there that the Torah

some

only

regarding cerns

on

recommended

require proof.

concerning

declaration: Of

gives

which renders superfluous poli

concerning

as useless or superfluous the

known to

well

we

better this important declaration, it

these sciences, that

question

Torah

the

not make a similar remark

the philosophers

Jews

we

economics.6

tics properly speaking and

monides

we

all political

is

to them: It

indicate

matters, and especially

matters."

matters related

words

are not needed: politics contains rules con

summary indications concerning speculative matters, whereas, "everything has been done to render it (what con

political matters,

the governance of the city) precise in all

its

details"

(Guide III, 27. Cf.

Ill, 54 (p. 132a) [pp. 632-33 of the Shlomo Pines translation, hereafter cited in brackets] and I, 33 (p. 37a) [p. 71]). One needs, then, the "books of the philos ophers"

on

the speculative sciences; but one may do without their books on

necessary information regarding politics and is found in the Torah (cf. the remark on the guiding interest of the Rabbis in

economics7

since all the

politics,

Guide I, Intro, (p. 11a) [p. 19]). Here is the speaking mention

of

reason

why Maimonides,

when

the studies which must precede the study of metaphysics, does not

politics,

or even

ethics,

although

the "perfection concerning

political

governments"

by

him

who

is according to him one of the essential conditions to be fulfilled wants to be initiated into metaphysics (Guide I, 34 (p. 41a) [p.

78]). The first degree

the studies is the

study of the Torah (Guide 111,54 (p. 132b) [p. 633]): it replaces the study of politics (and perhaps also that of ethics) because the Torah has rendered politics superfluous. Whether draw

all

or not

the

Millot to this

of

this is

information

Maimonides'

on

the matter

doubtful

last

word on political

from the few

phrases

science,

we must

he devotes in the

That he divides philosophy into spec ulative philosophy and practical philosophy, that he calls the latter political or human philosophy, that he divides it into ethics, economics, and politics prop science of

utility.

erly speaking, all this is well explained by the Aristotelian tradition whose influence on his thought is known. But here are the facts which strike the present-day reader (1) Maimonides does not mention happiness when speaking of ethics, he does so only when speaking of politics properly so-called; (2) he

Some Remarks

the

on

Political Science of Maimonides

and

Farabi

9

begins

by dividing practical or political philosophy into four parts but, later on, he distinguishes among only three; the distinction between the governance of the city on the one hand and the governance of the great nation or nations on the other,

made with such

then is it made?

(3)

first, appears to be of no consequence; why any prior justification, Maimonides attributes to

clarity

without

at

matters."

strictly speaking the treatment of the "divine It would not be possible to resolve these difficulties without recourse to [1] immediate source, the political writings of Farabi. Farabi also

politics

Maimonides'

divides

sometimes

(kholqiyya)

and

not correspond

between

practical

philosophy

or

(madaniyya) philosophy into

political

of government

to his guiding

ethics

(siyasiyya). But this division does

idea. Ethics is

concerned with

the distinction

bad actions, and between the virtues and the vices; now, this distinction is made in relation to the final end of man, happiness: the virtues are good and

only to the extent that they are means to acquire search for happiness, the distinction between true

good

happiness; and

as a

result, the

imaginary

happiness

the distinction between the virtues and vices, between good ac

must precede

tions and bad. But there is happiness only in and through political communities

(k. tahsil al-sa'ada,

p.

14. -Muster stoat,

pp.

53-54. [Cf.

citations

in

n.

8 be

low]). This is why Farabi, in his dissertation on political governments, only speaks of happiness and, with all the more reason, of the virtues after having the necessity and general structure of political communities; and this

explained

is

also why he teaches there that happy men are those who are governed ideal Chief of the ideal community; the Chief of the ideal community

by

the

estab

lishes the ordering of the actions by means of which men are able to attain happiness. Since happiness depends on the political community, it is no longer necessary,

tics; in his (cf.

also

it is

k.

longer

even

possible, to distinguish between ethics and poli

the sciences, Farabi does not even mention ethics

tahsil al-sa'ada, pp.

in his

still

no

encyclopedia of

enumeration

must

community God and the

of

14

and

16.) And

is

perhaps weightier

the opinions which each member of the perfect

have, Farabi immediately

world

what

passes

from the

to opinions concerning the perfect

opinions

community

concerning happiness

and

saying a word about the virtues in the entire enumeration in question. In the final analysis, there is not in Farabi an ethics which precedes politics or without

is

which

des

attributes

pared to ences

is

separable

from it. In any case, it is in following Farabi that Maimoni of happiness to politics strictly speaking. Com

the discussion

the corresponding doctrine

in Maimonides

an order

of

Farabi,

and

and

presents

that of Aristotle:

conception of

Farabi

accepting Farabi's point of independence for ethics as a medicina

Maimonides, it seems,

view, is intent on preserving a certain

happiness

the discussion of the virtues

strictly speaking, itself as a compromise between the

connected with politics

with ethics

the order of the practical sci

according to which the discussion of

while

Chapters,"

[spiritual medicine] (cf. Shemoneh Perakim III. [See "Eight in Ethical Writings of Maimonides, Raymond L. Weiss and Charles

mentis

Butter-

Interpretation

10

Dover, 1983)]; this is why the books of the philoso phers on ethics retain their value for him; but, as regards happiness, he too judges that it is the object only of politics properly speaking (2) According to worth, eds. (New York:

Farabi,

there are three classes of complete

communities:

the small, which

is the

is the

intermediate, which is the nation; the large many Cf. k. (or "the nations") (Musterstaat, p. 53, 17-19 Siyasat, p. 39. tahsil, beg. and pp. 21-23). The difference between the complete (kamila) communities regarding their size does not imply a difference regarding their

city; the

which

union of

nations

structure: the city may be as perfect (fadila), i.e., directed by an ideal Chief toward happiness, as the nation or the nations (Musterstaat, p. 54, 510. Siyasat, p. 50). Always there is at least a theoretical preference for the

internal

it is

city:

by chance that Farabi entitled his most complete political treatise City and not The Perfect Nation (cf. also Musterstaat, p. 69, 17-

not

The Perfect

this passage could be the direct source of the respective passage of Mai

19;

One

say that the perfect city is the ancient core, borrowed from Plato's Republic, that Farabi tries to guard and leave intact, however he

monides).

might

may be

compelled

enlarge

the Platonic

by

the theologico-political presuppositions of

framework,

to acknowledge the political unities

the city: the nation or nations. It is equally then in monides

distinguishes between the

the governance of the great neglects city.

no

-(3)

later

on

If it is

in

governance of

nation

or nations

true happiness in this

life, but only in

larger than

Farabi that Mai

following

the city on the one hand and

on

the other, a distinction he

for the

order to speak of a preference

governance of the

happiness known,

political science which makes

his time to

and

if there is

64), in

the next (Ihsa al-'ulum, p.

words, if there is no true beatitude without the knowledge of the beings separated from matter (K. tahsil, pp. 2 and 16; tanbih, p. 22), of God and the

other

things."

Angels, why the

political science must most

important

Political Governments, still another connection abi

of are

"First

Chief,"

Farabi's at

political

Farabi

"divine

Chief"

the perfect city "legislator"

and as such a

a

result, it is not

sciences, jurisprudence

(fiqh)

must

of a religion possible

and apologetics

The

be

things."

is

Far

"prophet"

and

a

identical terms (K. tahsil,

are

founder

things from the divine. Farabi drew this consequence gious

and

City

and

treatises. There

metaphysical

politics of

of

This is

"divine

books, The Perfect

the same time

"Imam,"

43); the "first Chief is 70, 10, and context). As

p.

concerned with the

between the

teaches that the "first

"Imam."

be

(see Musterstaat,

to separate the

by

subordinating the

(kalam),

to

p.

political reli

politics*

It is, then, Farabi's doctrine that Maimonides has in mind when he speaks, in the Millot, of politics. Now the politics of Farabi, for its part, is a modification of the politics of Plato: The "first is, according to Farabi, not only Chief"

Imam, prophet, legislator, and king, he is also and above all a philosopher (Musterstaat, p. 58, 18-59, 5; k. tahsil, pp. 42-43); he must by nature have at his disposal all the qualities which characterize, according to Plato, the gover nors of the

ideal city; he is Plato's

king-philosopher."

As

a

result, the judgment

Some Remarks

Maimonides

by

passed

least

with a

tics,

which

on political science accords with

Platonizing is the

ideal law, is

the

Political Science of Maimonides

the

on

And this judgment

politics.

for the ideal city

search

ary of) a prophet whose faculties leads men towards happiness in a than the political regimes imagined

But it is

one

governed

superfluous, because the

now

by

politics, or at

Philosophical

the philosophers, given

11

Farabi

poli

or

for

by

(the intermedi

surpass

those of the greatest philosopher,

manner

infinitely

by

more certain and perfect

the philosophers.

to search for the ideal law

thing

Platonic

means:

Torah,

and

it is

when

known,

not yet

quite

ideal law. It may well be that political science, for the former, is indispensable for the latter. Two before any subsequent examination of the texts. First, Mai

another to understand the given

being

while

superfluous

things are certain

monides'

politics,

judgment that politics, is rendered superfluous

foremost

fact,

a political

a political

laws

nomos, of which all other a

philosopher, Maimonides

the

d'etre

raison

of

and

by

only politics, a

order,

are more or

must pose

the Torah

is,

and

Platonizing

especially

the Torah implies: the Torah is first and

law; it is

less

for himself the

what are

its

the ideal

imitations10

law,

And

question of

the perfect

being

second:

knowing

reasonable end and

its

what

natural

He needs, then, a philosophical discipline the subject of which will be the Torah, the divine law as such; as the Torah is a law and hence a political conditions.

this discipline

fact,

known to

and

politics, it

Laws

must

judged

will

by

science.

political

And

as

the

science

political

merit some attention

is

a

Platonizing

the final analysis, the doctrines of the Republic and the

be, in

which will

be

Maimonides to

determine the

manner

in

which

Maimonides

the

understands

Torah.

II

Before remember

thought,

any passage of the Guide of the Perplexed, one must that this work is an esoteric book. Maimonides has concealed his

interpreting

so

his book

are perhaps more

must

be

read with particular attention;

important than the doctrines developed in

The divine law

occupies the

last

place

among the

its

subtle allusions

an explicit manner.

main subjects

discussed in

the Guide of the Perplexed. Maimonides takes up the subject only after ended the

clearly

discussion

marked

by

the purely speculative themes

the interpretation

which sums

chariot],

of

up, to a

certain

problems of providence and of evil

tical problems,

The

part of

the

in

chapters

general

work:

there

the

ma'aseh merkabah

extent, all of

which,

being

metaphysics"

the conditions

treating

of

III 51-54

no

is

of

the

and of

the

to

closest

the divine law is therefore (if one

prac

abstracts

which contain more of a conclusion

than the discussion of a new subject) the

is

[account

the passage from the speculative to the practical domain.

the Guide

from the last work

mark

of

having

whose conclusion

treatise on morality

included in it. It

only

to the

practical part of

will perhaps

be

said

Interpretation

12

that it is not

possible

to draw any

from this, the Guide being neither but simply a "guide "summa

conclusion

theologica"

philosophy"

a

"system

nor even a

of

i.e., it does

of the

Maimoni

not contain a complete exposition of

philosophical work is a But precisely because philosophical questions the treats because it "guide of the among importance for the philosophizing Jew, the fact only those that have a decisive that it does not contain a treatise on morality, but, in its place, an analysis of Maimonides'

des'

opinions.

divine law, merits noting: Morality, as distinguished from the divine law, is not of capital importance for Maimonides (as regards the similar attitude of Farabi concerning morality, cf. above). The discussion of the divine law (Guide III

than, first,

the

reasonable,

having

proof

25-50)

contains

nothing other divine law must be

that a divine law insofar as it is a

utility, and, second, the

a manifest

for the

search

reasonable

divine law, that of Moses. The fundamental questions, why is a (divine) law necessary and how is a divine law distinguished from a human law, are almost not taken up. The reason for this is that they have been treated

ends of

the

given

sufficiently in a preceding part of the Guide, in the theory of prophecy (Guide II 32ff.) The foundations of the theory of the law are hence not found anywhere else than in the doctrine of prophecy. It could not be otherwise: "It is known

in prophecy precedes the belief in the law; for if there is (Guide III, 45 (p. 98b) [p. 576]).

that the belief

prophet, there is no

It is difficult to

if

one

does

prophecy before tion of the

is

formally

ma'aseh

connected with

Maimonides'

the exact meaning

understand

know first the

not

no

law"

of

philosophical place of

ending the

metaphysical

prophetology this doctrine.

discussions

By treating

the interpreta

by

merkabah, Maimonides seems to indicate that prophetology to be

and this conclusion seems

metaphysics,

the fact that Avicenna expressly

the

confirmed

prophecy to

of

by

meta

theory However, Avicenna does not count prophetology as an integral part of metaphysics; according to him, the doctrine of prophecy as well as that of life attributes

physics.

after

death

"Division

but

are

"branches"

of metaphysics

Sciences"

of

drea Alpago

the .

.

ap. .

ex arabico

Avicennae

in latinum

b). Further, he clearly declares that it is

prophecy

and

the

pseudo-prophets

law,

as

(loc. cit.,

well pp.

as

the

(see the Latin translation

compendium

versa,

de

Venetiis 1546,

politics which explains

difference between

138 b-139a;

cf.

Chief"

himself

prophecy as is legislation (see

an

science.

Maimonides did

not

(Musterstaat,

p.

etc.,

pp.

69, 15). Let

of

ab

his

An

143 b-144

the necessity of

true prophets and

Strauss, Philosophy

99-103). But, to understand Maimonides, Farabi's important than Avicenna's. Now Farabi mentions belief in

pp.

the belief in the "first

anima

view

is

revelation us add

and

Law,

much more

only

after

that Averroes

essentially political fact: the action proper to the prophet above). There is then a perfect agreement among the most important falasifa regarding the essentially political character of prophecy and, as a result, regarding the connection between prophetology and political sees

have the

slightest reason

to separate

himself here

Some Remarks

Political Science of Maimonides

the

on

Farabi

and

from the falasifa, of whose principal theses concerning prophecy he a direct proof of this: In the summary of the philosophical

approves.

There is found

the

at

beginning

the Mishneh

of

the law only after

and of

(ma'aseh merkabah)

having formally

and physics

the opinion that prophecy is

itself

metaphysics

by is

etology

Guide,

it is true, this

opinion

but

does

of

not

in this work, prophetology is treated before ended; but this alteration of the usual order is, as will

formally Guide,

of

by

explained

the end, peculiar to the proph

establishing the foundation

Maimonides takes up the theory concerning it,

principle

that prophecy is linked to

perfection,

by

acquired

is

plains that there

of

the philosophical exe

studies,

of

establishing,

of

intermediary imaginative

definition,

of

the Active

faculty"

not

35). It is only Maimonides defines prophecy; "the emanation from God, which spreads, by

that

Intellect, first

without

(which constitutes) the emanation spreads

having

class of

faculty

better this far too

question:

spread

to the

knowers,

of

only to the imaginative

imaginative

faculty

...

the class

have true dreams,

and

emanation

them?

only to the it is this

...

the men of speculation.

faculty

then to

one of

emanation spreads

tuted are the governors of the cities and the legislators and the augers and those who

and

"scholastic"

What does this

faculties together, but only to

"If this intellectual

answer:

faculty,

to the rational

understand

following

to the two

Maimonides'

rational

ex

the prophecy of Moses (ch.

an

(ch. 36). To

one must pose the

if it spreads,

produce

opinion, the

conditions, especially to the

intellect (Guide II 32-34). He then

the

not address

preliminary he says, "is

the

against the vulgar

difference between the prophecy of Moses and The whole doctrine of prophecy, developed in the

clarifications

the

the different

certain natural

prophecy,"

essence of

by discussing

prophecy

an essential

chapters, does

after these

by

and

the other prophets:

following

Here is

expresses

the composition;

opinions

of

doing, he

Scripture.12

gesis of

that

prophecy

of metaphysics

subject of speculative philosophy,

In the

be seen, the necessary order, easily of the

so

principles

speaks of

the summary

ended

(ma'aseh bereshit). In

not a

practical or political philosophy. reveal

Torah, Maimonides

13

...

thereby

diviners

If the

consti and the

similarly those who effect miracles

(ch. extraordinary artifices and the occult arts without being knowers 37). I3 Now the prophecy which results from the emanation spreading to the two

by

.

faculties

together must unite

to only

spreads

statesman

(governor

As for the monides

him, is

one of them.

magical

or

in itself the As

legislator),

faculty

of

a

effects produced

result, the prophet

and at the same

the prophet

has little interest in it. What

is

if the

emanation

a philosopher and

time a diviner

a theme

.

and magician.

dear to Avicenna

characterizes the

Mai

prophet, according to

the union (which is at the same time a considerable augmentation) of

the faculties

of

the philosopher, statesman, and diviner: the prophet is a philos

opher-statesman-diviner.

That this is

Maimonides'

adds to the two chapters

opinion

treating

is proved, moreover,

by

the

fact that he

the essence and the conditions of prophecy a

14

Interpretation

third (ch.

38), in

following

three

he

which

explains that the prophet

faculties: the

faculty

of

the immediate knowledge

of speculative

ises. Now this last,

being

while

the

faculty

his

political

truths

necessarily

faculty

without

possesses

divination,

of

knowledge

of

faculty;

of courage which characterizes

function. Maimonides

we

have then only to

the prophet

would not speak of

extraordinary

knowl

show that

or

represents

the and

the prem

an essential expansion of philosophical

nonetheless remains a speculative

edge,

courage, the

indicates

courage as

prophecy if he did not believe that the prophet as such to the gravest dangers. Now if the prophet received his inspiration,

an essential condition of

is

exposed

whether of a speculative order

(concerning

God

and

the

Angels)

or a practical

(concerning future matters), only for his own perfection, he would not be exposed to dangers as a prophet. It is then of the essence of the prophet that he

order

receive

inspiration,

instruct

men

that

he

"ascend"

(Guide I, 15);

precisely

for,

so as to

"descend,"

as a result of this social

function

to guide and which neces

sarily displeases unjust men, he is in perpetual danger. Although this danger is inevitable even if the prophet restricts himself to instructing men, it is much more of

menacing

when

cited

by

the prophet opposes, as a guide of just men, the

injustices

This is why the first example of prophetic courage Maimonides is the example of Moses who, "a lone man, presented

tyrants or the

multitude.

himself courageously, with his staff, before a great king to deliver '4 from the slavery imposed by (Guide II, 38 (p. 82b) [p. 376]).

a nation

him"

The triad

philosopher-statesman-diviner

immediately

calls to mind

the

poli

Chief"

Farabi according to which the "first of the perfect city must be a philosopher and diviner ("prophet"). It remains to be seen whether Maimonides tics

of

also regards the

founding

of

has been thought that the

the perfect city as the

raison

principal end of revelation

important truths, above But if this is the precise meaning of

d'etre

of revelation.

according to him

proclamation of the most

all

human

Maimonides'

reason.

was

It

the

those not accessible to

opinion, why does he say that the divine law is limited to teaching these truths in a summary and enigmatic manner, while in political matters, "every effort has been made to render precise

what concerns

the governance

of

the cities in all its

details"

(Guide III, 27-28. Cf. I, 33 (p. 37a) [p. 71]; H. Yesode ha-Torah IV, 13; see Falaquera, Sefer ha-ma'alot, ed. Venetianer [Berlin, 1894] pp. 48, 7-9)?

also

And, but

above

all, why do these truths form

a part certainly the most noble part, lawl Not only the proclamation and the propaga important truths but also and above all the founding of a

all the same a part

tion of the

most

perfect nation whole

is "the

lives"15. The

mation of a perfect

is, according the

fact

to

which

of a

end of

the efforts of the patriarchs and Moses

founding law

seems

the raison

during

their

nation, and consequently the procla

which must serve as a constitution

Maimonides, even

of a perfect

d'etre

of prophecy.

to the perfect

The

nation

proof of this

is

to render doubtful all of our argumentation: the

distinction between the prophecy of Moses and that of the other prophets. In deed, if the prophetology of Maimonides has as its object only the latter, as he

Some Remarks

on the

expressly intends,

Political Science of Maimonides

15

Farabi

and

has

one to suppose that precisely the political is in any way found in the prophecy of prophecy Moses? To this question, which any attentive reader of Guide II 35-38 would what reason

"ordinary"

character

not

be

says:

of

to avoid, Maimonides

able

"After

having

shown that

state, and

ing

(of

Moses')

law."

to the

us

saying that the

in the

prophecy,

(39). He

chapter

made

known its true

Moses, our master, is distinguished from (prophets), we will say that it is this (prophetic) has had the necessary consequence of call the in question may be summarized by

alone which

The

rest of

chapter

to Moses prepared, and those

prophets prior

confirmed, the divine legislation

protected or

following

the prophecy of

the prophecy of the other perception

responds

spoken of the essence of

who

by

accomplished

followed him

(the intermedi

ary of) Moses (cf. also H. Yesode ha-Torah IX, 2) which is the most perfect legislation there is. Moses, chief of the prophets, is hence not less but more a statesman than the other prophets: He alone is the founder of the perfect politi cal

This is the

community.

repeatedly that the prophecy even

Torah

which

it betrays

treats

of

des Judentums [1935], is

in

150-51). Now in this

pp.

other

and

prophets,

of

passage

something the Mishneh

Mishnat R. Eliezer (cf.

preceding

source of

passage that the

und

Wissenschaft

Maimonides', it is

prophecy

of

the patri

that of Moses and the other prophets. And from this

superior to

Maimonides has borrowed critique of the principle of

passage

On the contrary, his prophetology implies a the point of view which dominates the prophetology

nothing.

the Mishnat R. Eliezer: he affirms explicitly that the prophecy of Moses is

superior to that of the patriarchs

Exodus VI, 3 in

York, 1933) Moses

over

Maimonides'

the contrary interpretation of [Mishnat R. Eliezer, ed. Enelow (New in Maimonides himself [Guide II, 35, p. 77a

(cf.

above all

source

112, 20-23]

p.

(p. 367)]). As

he

The

on a similar passage of the

immediately

an

tendency.

specific

clearly

repetition of

Guttmann, Monatsschrift fur Geschichte

the remarks of M.

affirmed

a

so

the difference between the prophecy of Moses and that of

is based

the other prophets

of

of

to that of the patriarchs. This affirmation is not the

commonplace:

archs

why Maimonides affirms Moses is superior to that of the

reason

and

regards the efficient cause of

that of the patriarchs,

he

the superiority

expresses

of

himself only

the prophecy of

by

allusions; but

"consequence"

shows without

its final

cause:

any

Only

reserve

the

of

the prophecy of Moses

this superiority, or

only Moses is the philosopher-legislator in Plato's in Farabi's sense. But Maimonides does not say this the "first he limits himself to indicating the signs which suffice for one "who

This

means that Chief"

derstand,"

for

stand

above

would

of

have did

instructed reader;

let

will un

us never

forget

sufficiently instructed to under know Farabi, and especially his treatise on

not

not

only apologetical, but

to be reserved when

the legislative

and

considered

He had reasons,

philosophical,

Moses, i.e.,

not

anyone who

governments.

all

duly

an attentive and

the Guide

sense or

explicitly:16

that Maimonides

political

rather

is legislative.

prophecy:

He

speaking

of the

also

and

prophecy

neither wished nor was

of

able, nor

16

Interpretation

had any need, to lift the veil which conceals the origins of the Torah, the foundation of the perfect nation. Whether the Torah is a miracle or a natural fact, whether the Torah came from heaven or not as soon as it is given, it is heaven"

"not in thou

search

for

"very nigh unto thee, in your mouth and in your heart, that [Deuteronomy 30:12, 14]. Not the mystery of its origin, the

but it"

do

mayest

which

"Epicureanism,"

leads

either

to

but its end, the

or

theosophy

to the Torah, is accessible to Maimonides, after having explained

comprehension of which guarantees obedience

human

reason.

Guided

by

this conception,

legislative prophecy, is distinguished from that of all the other prophets, takes up in the following chapter (40) the fundamental question concerning the end, the reason of the law. that the prophecy

Moses,

is the law

Why sary?

of

the

qua

law in

the divine law in particular

general and

neces

Man is naturally a political being, and he can only live when united with (Guide I, 72 (p. 103a)[p. 191]). But man is at the same time much

other men

less naturally capable of political life than any other animal; the differences between the individuals of the human species being much greater than those between the individuals men would

be

possible.

of other

one

species,

Farabi had

does

not see

how

a

community

by

responded to this question

of

showing that

it is precisely as a result of the natural inequality among men that political life becomes possible: inequality is only the reverse side of what is, properly speak

ing,

different

path.

uals, he draws the one

(K. al-siyasat,

a graduated order

what

another,

cious

can

extremes,

45-48). Maimonides follows

pp.

From the extraordinary

consequence

by

together

excess.

This

tice, in

accord with the same

a some

between human individ

that men who are so unequal, so different from

if they have a is lacking supplying

only live

either

variation

what

guide who corrects or

by

moderating

guide prescribes the actions and mores all must

rule; he establishes, in

the

what

prac

continually

opposition

vi

is in

to the natural

variety of vicious extremes, the conventional harmony of a reasonable milieu; he establishes an law, as equally removed from excess as deficiency "equal"

(Guide II, 40 (p. 85a-b)[pp. 381-82] and II, 39 (p. 84b)[p. 380]). The task of the legislator, then, is to establish harmony between men of opposed disposi tions

by

reducing the extremes to identical law which will

single and

sitions, Maimonides softness:

just

never

cites as an example

"the hardness

individual

of an

his young son on account pity for the violent death of

of

that"

a

of

and

be

identical

changed.

the violence of

far

his anger,

reptile,

having

(Guide II, 40 (p. 85b)[p. 382]). Although this is but

some attention as

cisely the

being

opposition

ness or softness on

dispositions

the

of

or

the other, which is of

end of

means of a

opposed

dispo

as to cut

the throat

while another

a soul

feels

too tender for

an example,

it

merits

the only one adduced

between hardness

Plato: it is the

by

the opposition between hardness and

who will go so

a gnat or a

milieu

Of these

the true

legislator

naturally brave

by Maimonides. Now, it is pre ferocity on the one hand, and weak

decisive importance in the

to make a

man and

the

politics of

"fabric"

naturally

out of

the opposed

moderate man, dispo-

Some Remarks

degenerate, if they

sitions which would

hardness forges

and weakness or

harmonious

a

may be

end

by

the same

in

law

law

which

in

city governed by philosophers, or in a city in the latter case, the laws must always remain

"has

660 B-C).

to the same things (Laws

truly

be purely human. By human law is well-being of the body or, in other words, a than putting in good order the city and its affairs, must not

only

no other end

the

at

it"

injustice

and rivalry from keeping imaginary happiness, which corresponds

The

needs a supervisor who

these two disharmonious dispositions17: this

a

relation

which aims

and

tor."

or

"equal,"

to be

law,

laws;

reasonable

17

Farabi

opposition to the unregulated pleasures which are never the same

and which are never

meant a

in

and

disciplined, into ferocity

were not

cowardice; the city, then,

alliance out of

achieved either

governed

A

Political Science of Maimonides

the

on

law

author of a

so that

"men may

obtain some sort of

legisla

to the view of the respective

this sort possesses only the perfection of the

of

"imagination"

is

not and

does

for,

(Guide II, 40 (p. 86b)[p. 384] and III, 27 (p. 59b) [p. 510]); he cannot be a philosopher (and still less a prophet), he is "ignorant": he

know true happiness

not

happiness. Farabi

had

for,

the different forms of

"ignorant"

the

spoken of

the same, he

always one and

one of

who can achieve their ends

philosophy,

governors who

by

means of

searches

imaginary

do

not need faculty"

the "experimental

"sensual aptitude"18; and their end the end of the "igno happiness: either what is imaginary necessary for the preser the body, or wealth, pleasures, glory, victory, or liberty (cf. Mus

by

alone,

also

is

which

to search

and causes others

means of a

city"

is

rant

vation of

terstaat,

p.

happiness perfect as

God

and

an

61, 19-62, 20

Ihsa al-ulum, of

Angels; it is

at this that the perfect

has

achieved the

"well-being

and

68-69). True

i.e., in the knowledge, most perfect

as

beings,

of

according to Farabi, true happiness can only be

city

the divine law according to Maimonides. But as obtained after man

64-65

pp.

the soul,

that exists and above all of the

of all

possible,

the

and

in the well-being

consists

of

aims

the

body

which consists

in

governed,"

the city's

being

"the divine law has

well

the well-being of the soul and that of the

III, 27). That Maimonides

and

intelligence

of the a

law

of

relation to which the

however, dialogue,

goods,

i.e.,

of which

first glance, surprising: knowledge not the

established

and

fact that it

law ("Al-shari'a

the

the

us

end

in

recall,

"God"

word

this

"divine"

all at

Plato in seeing

as

and

630

D-

the trait char

aims at the perfection of

knowledge.

al-kamild"

prophet-legislator who unites

philosopher and

with

goods, but also and above

perfect accord with

the divine law the

perfect

cannot

that according to him the true law aims not

bodily

at

his laws? Let

is knowledge (Laws 631 B-D. Cf. 624 A

E). Maimonides is then in acteristic of

the perfection

work of a philosopher? was

and no other work

goods, the first

the

appears, at

which aims at

that Plato began his dialogue on the laws

at

The

as an end two things, namely (Guide II, 40 (p. 86b)[p. 384]

law

law"

Platonic legislator

"human"

only

characterizes a

"divine

as a

this sort be the

body"

Guide III, 46 [p. 586]),

in his

statesman while

person all

given

by

the essential qualities of the

surpassing them in

a miraculous

manner,

18

Interpretation only be

can

transmitted

understood and

by

men who also

the qualities of the philosopher and the statesman,

imperfect

is

man who

(and

ences

The "secrets

manner:

perfect who

in

eloquence

"regarding to

such

by

the

glimpsed."

These

"conditions"

ated

(Musterstaat,

Farabi to be fulfilled

by

derived from the

opher,

since

fulfill

he is the

and

at

18

least

by

authentic

postulate:

only

guide, as

must

some of

which,

the

without

that the rabbi-philosopher must

juridical

by beginning monides

44)

the

of

work

of

the

enumer

for their part,

are

The

king-philos legislator

the

the philosopher

Plato

rabbi-philosopher who

excuse.20

As

regards the

governments"

are the

recall

of the philosopher-kings.

realized what

and

legislator-philosopher, those who are not capable of teaching of the legislator; if these refuse to submit to

understanding the esoteric his direction, they render themselves

they

p.

the conditions of the

interpreter

sci

they may be

rabbi-philosopher

divine legislation. It is the

the

vicar of

intelligence, that

way

to a

confided

speculative

59, 5; k. tahsil,

and

Plato

(prophet)-philosopher who, for his part, has could

a

Chief,"19

the "first

by

required

conditions

rabbi-philosopher must

to be fulfilled

60, 14

p.

and the

this a natural penetration,

in

a much more

in

only to be

ought

the subjects

present

"conditions"

Torah"

political governments

with

possesses)

order

of the

disposal

at their

have

although

norms contained

from the Platonic

in the

know,

can

written and oral

justification

be

no

"political

doubt that

Torah: It is then

philosopher-king that Mai the study of the halakha

conception of the

arrives at the philosophical

there

of

[sacred Law]. In his treatise

on the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, Farabi, when sum Plato's had said: "Insofar as man lives in association with Republic, marizing men of this (sc, corrupt) nation, his life will not be a human life; but if he

himself from them

separates

and

distances himself from their way

of

living by

striving to attain perfection, his life will be miserable and he will never attain what he wishes, for one of two things will happen to him: either he will be This is why he needs another nation, different from that which exists during his time; this is why he (Plato) made the search for this other nation. He began by discussing justice and what

killed,

or

he

will

be deprived

true justice after

is; he discussed having discussed it, he

treme malice,

and

of perfection.

conventional

justice,

acknowledged

that these evils

practiced

in the cities;

that this was true injustice

would endure

for

as

long

and

and ex

as there are cities.

This is why he had to organize another city in which true justice and the goods which are goods in truth would be found, and in which nothing of the things necessary to attain happiness would be lacking, of which the philosophers would be the principal part (Falaquera, Reshit hokhma, ed. David, p. 76). .

Now,

the search

divine legislation;

for the

.

perfect

city had been

rendered

superfluous

by

the

the divine law had not been given to a city but a nation, it was above all the idea of the perfect which had fall into to city

desuetude, "faithful

to

and as

become

a

symbol

(Cf, however

the prediction concerning the

city"

in Isaiah I, 21-26). One finds the

perfect city, the

city

of

God,

Some Remarks

Political Science of Maimonides

the

on

in Guide III, 51. Munk

as subject of a parable

this chapter: "It seems evident to me that these last chapters,

State, the

depiction Farabi has

whose

Beings

.

and

.

Maimonides has

Solitary.

...

4). Farabi had

said

in many

as

his

notes

to

other passages of

ideal

taken as a model the citizen of the

(There

Ethics"

(Le Guide des Egares,

in the treatise indicated

city

animals.

one of

given us

Aristotle's

and

dwellers, and by way; but they (political) ing

are not

here,

in

19

Farabi

in his treatise, The Principles of the philosopher presented by Ibn-Badja, in his Governance of In the two works we just indicated, many traits are borrowed

from Plato's Republic n.

remarked

and

resemble

who)

Munk:

438

p.

"Naturally bestial

men

do they gather together in a city-dwell in part domestic animals, in part wild

no means

are some

by

III,

found in the

are

extremities of the

inhabited

earth, either in the extreme North or the extreme South. These must be treated as

beasts. Those among them who are more human and who can be more useful are to be spared and employed as beasts are employed. Those

in the cities,

among them who cannot be useful or who are harmful are treated like the other harmful animals. One must proceed in the same manner if it happens that cities"

bestial is born among the inhabitants of the 57-58). Maimonides takes this description up again; he

(K. al-siyasat,

someone

living

"outside the

North

and the

city"

like "the

distant

most

also

the Turks

of

pp.

speaks of men

who

live in the far

live in the far South, and those who resemble them in our climate; these are considered as irrational animals; I do not place them among the ranks of man, for they occupy among the beings a rank inferior to Negroes

who

that of man and superior to that of the ape

618]). But Maimonides

(Guide III, 51 (p. 123b)[p.

.

characterizes these

as

men

nonpolitical

men,

living

city"

only in a metaphorical sense: These barbaric men, devoid of incapable of all intellectual culture, live "outside the because

"outside the

city"

and even

they do

have the least understanding

not

"city,"

of

the

sovereign of

the

i.e.,

of

God.

However,

the

search

the divine legislation which

is the

perfect nation

and provided that selves

had

shown

by

for the

run

it

the problem of Plato resolved by city be forgotten by the Jew. The Jewish nation

perfect

could not

to the extent that it is

obeys that

law, did

not

constituted

by

the

perfect

law

obey it. Thus the prophets them Socrates in Athens. They had

the same risks in Jerusalem as

their actions or

by

their speech that the man who

loves

perfection and

justice must leave the cities inhabited exclusively by the wicked, to search for a city inhabited by good men, and that he must prefer, if he does not know of such a

city desert or in

or

if he is

caverns to

prevented

the

from

bringing

one

association with evil men.

about, wandering in the

This

manner of

acting is

it, basing himself on the teach of Jeremiah (IX, 1) (see H. ing deot VI, 1 Cf. also Shemoneh Perakim IV [ed. Wolff (Leiden: Brill, 1903) pp. 10-11] where the same verse is cited. Cf. Farabi, k. al-siyasat, p. 50). obligatory for the Jew, of

as

Maimonides

explains

the Jewish tradition and relying on a verse .

And it is this

same passage

that Falaquera

has in

mind when

translating

the

20

Interpretation

Socrates

of

(Reshit

Farabian summary

of the

passage

hokhma,

11. Cf.

p.

of

the Republic

in

living

those who,

and all

an unjust

describes the fate

which

city,

search

for

perfection

above).

only for the city inhabited by good men that the Jew must look. Through the loss of its political liberty, the Jewish nation equally lost the But it is

not

practicing the law to the full extent. The being dispersed among pagan, idolator,

means

of

members

"ignorant"

nation

Plato

of

The

surfaced anew.

Messiah. The Messiah is

king;

to obey the law (cf. H.

[p. 382]). The king-Messiah

will

his life to the study

devoting

according to the will reestablish

XI, 4

the hope

of

the the

divine law, the king Guide II, 40 p. 85b

Torah, attending to the Torah, and compelling Israel the

the execution of all the prescriptions

of

with

thus change nothing of the law of

of

written and oral

by

is inferior to that

proclaimed the

melakhim

nations, the question

there

this means that his rank

legislator-prophet: While the former has compels men

supplied

answer was

of the perfect

Moses, but,

commandments

to follow

which cannot

be

it, he

practiced

captivity (H. melakhim XI, 1 and 4). The days of the Messiah, then, be situated in this world, the natural course of which will not be changed

during will

(cf. H.

IX, 2

teshouvah

Messianic contrary:

H.

and

Solomon, indeed,

ing for

all time so that men can at

with

the qualities of the

person

wisdom and

teshouvah

the

law

IX, 1-2,

without

and

H.

and

the knowledge of

knowers

of

king, he is

the vulgar

at

that the goal of the

earthly happiness. To the the same time wiser than

to Moses (H. teshouvah

king

and

the sage, he

XII, 3-4). Thus,

[Isaiah 1 1 :9]

being

or

IX, 2). Unit

will establish peace

last find repose, the leisure to apply themselves being troubled by sickness, war, and famine (H.

melakhim

God"

XII, 1). Not

body

the

a prophet almost equal

in his

to

melakhim

is the well-being The Messiah is not only regime

without

abolished: much

privileges of the philosophers will

be

fully

"the

earth will

be filled

the difference between the

better, it is only

recognized

then that the

(Cf the interpretation .

of

Joel II, 28 in Guide II, 32 (p. 74a) [p. 362]). The Messiah is distinguished from all the other prophets because he does not fulfill the signs and it is not

XI, 3 with H. Yesode ha-Torah X, 12). And is the eternal peace, realized by the Messiah, anything other than the necessary consequence of knowledge, the knowledge of God (Guide III, 11)? The Messiah, being a king-philosopher, will establish for all time the "perfect asked of

him to do

city"

whose

faculties,

(cf. H.

inhabitants

to the

evils which

so

will

knowledge

today

melakhim

apply themselves, according to their respective God, and he will thereby bring to an end the

of

trouble the

cities.2'

Ill

The

perfect

law,

that it aims not only

the at

divine law, is distinguished from the human laws in

the

well-being

of

the

body, but

also and above all at the

Some Remarks well-being

the Political

on

of the soul.

This

Science of Maimonides

consists

in

having

man

sound

and

21

Farabi

opinions, above

all

concerning God and the Angels. The divine law has therefore indicated the most important of these opinions to guide man toward the well-being of the soul, but only in

does

a manner which

This is the

vulgar.

reason

it

was

not surpass

the understanding of the

necessary that the prophets have at their dis imaginative faculty:22 imagination makes

posal the supreme perfection of the

possible the metaphorical exoteric representation of esoteric

ought speak of

the

law"

but

also

from the in

To

Avicenna,

cited

proper,

one neither can nor

manner; this is what not

an enigmatic

in my study

Plato (Guide I, 17. Cf. a similar and Law, p. 133 n. 71).

re

Philosophy

communicate to the vulgar a certain

incorporeal

For

vulgar.

whose

the philosophers say. Maimonides names

one of these esoteric philosophers:

mark of

are

concealed

principles except

only the "men of the only

be

must

meaning

the truths

knowledge

of

the principles, which

intellectual things, they must be represented by corporeal things. Not by just any corporeal things, but by those which oc

and sensible

and

cupy, in the sensible

domain,

a place analogous

to that occupied, in the intel

lectual domain, by the principle in question. God and His attributes, then, will be represented by the most noble sensible things (Farabi, Musterstaat, p. 50, 9-15). It is for this reason that the prophets represent divine perception, for example,

do

by hearing

basest

and

God,

not attribute to

of our senses

sight, even

i.e., by

the most noble sensations, and that

metaphorically, the sense of touch

(Guide I, 47). But the

speeches

is

sometimes more

are cases

in

which

than a means

they

is the

prophets'

meaning of the to indicate the esoteric truths; there external

the exterior meaning has a value in itself: it may be that the

prophet pronounces some speeches which communicate a speculative

truth,

many things,

and

while

for the

others

among

I, Intro,

by

their esoteric sense

their exoteric sense indicates "a wisdom useful

societies"

(Guide

which

p.

amelioration

7a [p. 12]. A

of the

state of

remarkable example of

this

for

human

is found

in Guide II, 31 [cf. Rasail Ihwan al'Safa, IV, 190]). There is then among things, worthy of being employed for the representation of the princi

corporeal

particularly lends itself to this use, namely political matters (cf. Farabi, k. tahsil, p. 41). The political hierarchy is an adequately faithful

ples, a

class which

to the

counterpart

king It

is

goes without

hierarchy. This is why the comparison of God to a (Guide I, 46(p. 52b)[pp. 102-3]. Cf. I, 9 and III, 51 beg.)

cosmic

so common

saying that

meaning while their exoteric life. The divine law attaches so great

contain an esoteric

for

political

useful

in the

for

political

most

"necessary

life,

important

for the

of

divine

trious

God,

example of revealed

matters

speculative

good order of

invites the belief in divine

that

truths, but

the

political

a value to

it invites also

in

men

the representations, to believe not only

certain

things

they do

not

which are

conditions"; it is in this way that it

mercy (Guide III, 28). The most illus [characteristics or attributes] of signify the attributes of God but the most

anger and

this are the "thirteen

to Moses:

be taken literally: they meaning is one of great utility

such comparisons must not

middot"

22

Interpretation

perfect manner of

of

the city

acting

is

who

which the most perfect statesman, must take

a

as

a model;

"the

i.e.,

prophet,"

they

governor

the essential

are

I, 54). How

cities"

conditions of

the "governance

ever, the unity

highlighted in the

and

scope of

no part more

principal parts of

According dence is

this

of

the dogmatic

than the

forms

of providence which

theory

the

of

teaching

in the thesis that God

faults

to their merits or

included in the Guide

politics

are

one of

work.

Maimonides,

to

summarized

(Guide

the (most perfect)

so well

that

that

all

the divine law concerning provi

rewards or punishes men

happens to

being is in perfect accord with the moral value diametrically opposed to the doctrine of the

his

of

according individual human

an

This doctrine is

actions.

"philosophers,"

denies divine

who

omniscience

"there have been

ever,

some

as a

and,

i.e.,

result,

philosophers

of

Aristotle, How

particular providence.

who

believed

what

believe,

we

namely that God knows everything and that nothing is in any way hidden

him; disias)

these are certain great

men prior

to

Aristotle,

whom

from

Alexander (of Aphro

in his treatise (De Providentia), but whose opinion he (Guide III, 16 (p. 31a)[p. 463]). There would be a certain interest in

also mentions

rejects"

knowing who the philosophers are, ing providence is in accord with the

prior

to

Aristotle,

whose

doctrine

concern

Biblical doctrine according to Maimonides. As Alexander's treatise De Providentia is lost, one is confined to the succinct summary of this writing given by Maimonides. Here are Alexander s theses:

The

philosophers were

foremost

by

led to

deny

divine

omniscience and providence

first

the observation of the lack of order in human matters,

observation of

the

misfortune of

Guide III, 16 (p.31a)[p.

Alexander, De

463]

Providentia).

the just and the good fortune

where

of

the

this reasoning is expressly

then came to pose the

They

tions: Either God knows nothing

of

the conditions of

and

by

the

unjust

(cf.

attributed

following

to

disjunc

individual humans,

or

he

knows them; if he knows them, one of these three cases must necessarily be admitted: either that God rules them and there establishes the most perfect order,

duce

or

that he is impotent or,

order

because

while

knowing

of envy.

God, namely

Now

of

the most perfect as a

being

these three cases two are impossible

that God is impotent

or

able

to intro

manner.

Now,

we

result, the presupposition

with respect

or

to

he knows; only the individual conditions in

that he neglects the things

the first case then remains, namely that God

lated;

them and

there he neglects to do so, either through disdain and scorn,

find

rules

such conditions

completely unregu that God knows individual things is false,

part of the first disjunction, namely that God knows nothing of individual things, is true (Guide III, 16 (p. 30a-b)[pp. 461-62]). This argu

and

the other

ment against particular providence was

certainly

trace of it is found in the comparable argument

not

of

invented

by

Alexander. A

the Academician against the

Stoic in Cicero (De Natura Deorum III, 39, 92). But, what is more interesting, Chrysippus and the Stoics themselves had posed similar disjunctions to those

Some Remarks

Maimonides

by

cited

on

the

Political Science of Maimonides

with

and

23

Farabi

the intention (opposed to that of the Academicians

Alexander) of proving that there is a divine providence concerning human matters (cf. Cicero, De Divinatione I, 38, 82-39,84 with De Natura Deorum II, 30, 77). It seems then that the reasoning, summarized by Maimonides, was and

first

to

employed

for this

end.

him who,

affirm providence.

In the tenth book

of the

It

must even

Laws, Plato

be

it

that

said

was

invented

"exhortation"

to

addresses an

admitting the existence of the gods, believes that they "scorn human He begins by stating that the good fortune of the

while

affairs."

and neglect

is the

unjust

reason which

leads

men

to this impious belief (Laws 899 Dff). He

then proves that God is no less concerned with the small with

all

the great

(cosmic), beginning from

things, (2) he is

himself

able to concern

following

the

(human)

premises:

matters

than

(1) God knows the

with the small matters as well as

(3) being perfectly virtuous, he wishes to be so concerned (Laws 902 E 901 D-E). It is this distinction between divine knowledge, power, and

great, and

will,

made

junctions

for proving particular providence, which is at the basis of the dis by Alexander with a view to refuting this belief and, before

posed

him, by Chrysippus

to confirm

it;

begun his reasoning by stating, in the which brings men to deny particular unjust, which Maimonides

19

repeats

and

Plato,

same manner as providence

in his

some

indications

of

902 A). Moreover, Alexander had

is the

good

that the reason

fortune

own account of providence

of

the

(Guide III,

explicitly of philosophers prior to Aristotle believed in divine omniscience, we do not hesitate to conclude that Mai

beg.) As Alexander had

who

finds in Plato

and one

these very disjunctions (Laws 901 B-C

spoken

monides knew, if only through other texts, at least through Alexander's treatise De Providentia, the doctrine of the Laws on providence. And if Alexander did not cite Plato's text, one would have to say that Maimonides, without his

knowing it,

re-established

this text: it

was

certainly

not

characterized the negation of particular providence as a

Alexander

"bad

who

had

and absurd opin

ion"

(Guide III, 16. Cf. Laws 903 A). But Maimonides not only knew of the doctrine of the Laws on providence, he even approved of it: according to him, the doctrine of certain "great men prior to concerning providence is Aristotle"

in

accord with

Plato

since

the doctrine of the divine law. And can one judge otherwise,

speaks

of

God's

Scripture (cf. Laws 905 A-B agreement

Plato

between Plato

affirms

utility: unless

a

city

established

the

justice in

almost

Amos, IX, 1-3)? It

will

the same terms as

be

objected

that the

is specious, it being a given that providence only because of its political

prophets

particular

by laws,

the belief that God

is there

with

and

the dogma of governed

vindictive

and

not

by

philosophers, cannot

rewards or punishes men

(cf. Laws 663 D-E). We do

be

perfect

according to their actions, not

dispute this. But it is

precisely in this sense that Maimonides accepts the Biblical doctrine: While in his discussion of both creation and prophecy he identifies his own opinion with that of the law, he clearly distinguishes, in his discussion of providence, his

24

Interpretation Guide III, 17 (p. 34b)[p. III, 23 (p. 49b)[p. 494]). Maimonides is thus, here again, in accord

own opinion and

from that

law (Cf.

of the

above all

469] with

Plato.23

Having

this point, one cannot avoid posing the questions,

arrived at

concerning the

for the understanding of Maimonides, ology of the Guide and the Platonic doctrine tween the cosmology of the Guide

reserved

One,

of the

decisive

between the the

and

the

relation

be

the discussion of the creation of the

(i.e.,

be

the doctrine of the Timaeus. The analysis of these relations must

and

world)

relation

for

a subsequent study.

NOTES

1. Cf.

Strauss, Philosophy

and

Law [New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1987],

pp.

103

55-56. In R. Sheshet ha-Nasi's letter, published by A. Marx (Jewish Quarterly Review, N.S., XXV [1935], 406ff.), one finds the following note concerning Plato's Laws, certainly based not on and

a

direct knowledge

have

also seen

of

it, but

in the Book

he forbids the things

on a tradition whose

of

the

which are

Laws

of

history is

the intellect [the

forbidden in

our

holy

not yet elucidated.

Laws]

Torah. For

which

Plato

example:

R. Sheshet composed

Thou

and thou shalt not commit adultery, and thou shalt not steal, and thou shalt not against

thy

us to refrain perform

from. Also

justice

with respect

and righteousness.

to do are among the things 2. [See] the preceding

to the positive commandments

And many

note.

Cf.

also

in

witness

intellect teaches

Plato]

commanded to

the virtue of the intellect teaches

of the things which

which are written

he [i.e.,

"I

shalt not murder,

bear false

thou shalt not covet and the rest of the things which the

neighbor and

says:

that in it

Torah."

our true and

E. Rosenthal,

holy

"Maimonides'

Conception

of

State

and

Society,"

in Moses Maimonides, ed. I. Epstein (London, 1935), pp. 189-206. Let us note further that Munk tends to level the political character of the respective

Let

translating, for example, madani as al-madaniyya which Munk translates as "the

by

"state"

us add that the translation of medinah as one often ought to

texts,

philosophical

"region,"

ment"

or

instead

"city"

is

all

the more

erroneous.

word medinah not as

as not

know it [the Politics].

schneider, Die Hebraischen Uebersetzungen [des Mittelalters

und

to [Moritz] SteinDolmetscher] (Ber 219, it was never

According

die Juden

als

Graz: Akademischen Druck-u. Verlaganstalt, 1956) p. be, however, that Farabi knew it through the intermediary

translated into Arabic. It may

his friends

who

In

"depart

"city.'

but

reprint ed.

(cf. especially III, 31, p. 68 practice of the social duties").

of

translate even the Hebrew

Averroes himself declares that he does

lin. 1893;

passages of

"social"

Le Guide [des Egares] b al-i'mal al-siyasiyya

knew Greek. Averroes

reports:

"Apparet

autem ex sermone

Abyn

arrim

of those of

[Abi nazr]

Alfarabii, quod inventus est (sc. liber Politicorum Aristotelis) in illis (Aristotelis Opera, Venetiis 1550, Vol. Ill, fol. 79a, col. 1, I. 36-38). |"It is clear, moreover, from Alfarabi's report, that it (Aristotle's Politics) was found in those cities."] Also Averrois Paraphrasis in Plat. Rempubl. (loc. cit., fol. 175 b, col. 1, I. 38-39). Averroes believed that he commented on this treatise [on dreams]; but it is easy to see that his villis."

paraphrase

is

not

based

words with which

Reshit hokhma, Plato

and

Aristotle's treatise. One

must

judge in the

claims to summarize the subject of

same way regarding the few Aristotle's treatise (see Falaquera.

David (Berlin, 1902), p. 87, 1. 27-32). (It remains to show on another occa of the Reshit hokhma is the translation of Farabi's book on the philosophy of Aristotle.) Cf. also the remarks concerning the De Somno et Visione of Kindi in A. Nagy,

sion that the

Die

on

Farabi

ed.

third part

Abhandlungen des Kindi (Munster, 1897), pp. XXII-XXIII. As regards the defective knowledge of the Pana Naturalia among the Muslims in general, cf. Max Meyerhof. Von Alexandrien nach Bagdad (Berlin: Abhandl. der Preuss Akad. d. Wiss.,1930), p. 27. philosophischen

Some Remarks I

the Political

invaluable information

the

owe

on

in

Farabi lived

Science of Maimonides

and

25

Farabi

this and such other points as bear on the intellectual

on

thought, to my friend Paul Kraus. Cf. while awaiting his subsequent publications his "Beitrage zur islamischen Revista degli Studi Orientalia, XIV (1934), 94-129 and 335-379.

atmosphere

which

and

Ketzergeschichte,"

3. This [Opinions of [The

People of

the

the

most recent edition appeared under

introduction, Cf. the "Raziana."

4. For

Perfect

City] is

the title Al-Farabi

the title of Farabi's on the

Perfect State,

other major work.

text

a revised

with

Richard Walzer (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985).] Razi that Kraus has begun to publish in Orientalia of Rome under the title

translation and commentary

studies on

by

[See Orientalia, N.S., IV (1935), 300-334; V (1936), 35-56, 358-378.] the doctrines formed in a Christian setting are constituted only in opposition to

even

Maimonides; they

be interpreted

thus cannot

which presupposes

5. The Arabic

without

preliminary interpretation

the

of

the

Guide,

the reconstitution of the Farabian doctrine. of the

original

last

part of the

Millot

seems to

be lost;

Steinschneider,

see

Hebraische Uebersetzungen, p. 434. [The Arabic text has now been recovered. See Israel Efros, Arabic Treatise on Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Re Logic"

"Maimonides'

XXXIV(1966).]

search,

We read,

following

Ms. Mm. 6 24 (fol. 29a)

the

Cambridge

of the

Ha-

University Library,

Haham ["those people"] instead of ha-anashim ["the people"] of the [printed] editions. 6. It is, moreover, in this way that the passage in question is understood by the commentators

anashim

have been

we

consult

One finds

(an

in the

anonymous commentator

interesting

some

edition of

parallels which confirm our

Cremona, Comtino,

interpretation in

and

the Em

and 101) and in the fragments, published by R. Gottheil, of an encyclopedia of the sciences composed by an unknown Muslim author (J.Q.R., N.S., XXXIII [1932], 178). We do not dispute that the words "in these may be taken in the unah

Ramah

to

able

Mendelssohn).

Abraham Ibn Daoud (pp. 98

of

times"

captivity."

Understood in this way, the final phase implies: political science was "during needed when the Jewish state existed, and it will be needed again after the coming of the Messiah. sense

According

to this

interpretation,

the practical importance of political science would

it is according to the interpretation doctrine.

we

have

preferred as

being

better in

be

greater

than

accord with the whole of

Maimonides'

61b) [p. 513]

7. Cf. Guide III, 28 (p.

and

III, 51(p. 127a) [p. 624]. As

regards the relation

Guide III, 41 (p. 90b) [p. 562]. 8. [For Farabi's divisions of philosophy:] K. al-tanbih 'ala sabil al-sa'ada (Hyderabad, 1346 A.H.) pp. 20-21. The division of practical philosophy into ethics, economics, and politics is found

between the household

in

one of the

and

the city, see

Philosophische Abhandlungen,

published

[Alfarabi's Abhandlung der] Musterstaat, [Reprinted 1964.] [See note 3 above.] "Political the

and

the ways of life are

and

it distinguishes between the in

man

life

which

depend

followed;

actions and ways of

and

it

explains

actions and

true happiness are the praiseworthy

attains

Dieterici (p. 51, 19-21). pp. 46, 18-19.

life derive, and the And it distinguishes between the ends for which the these

which

actions are performed.

existence

by [Friederich]

Dieterici (Leiden: Brill, 1895),

science examines the types of actions and ways of

from

habits

ed.

is that the

that there

the ways

of

is

life,

an end which

and explains

ends

on

for

the will, and which

these

actions are performed

is

true happiness

that those

by

.

which one

and that the condition of their

goods and virtues

perfect actions and perfect ways of

life be determined in the

cities and

common."

nations

in

hierarchical

a

1931), p. 64. Compare (Hyderabad, 1345 A.H.),

manner and

the pp.

parallels

they be practiced in in Musterstaat, p. 46, 7-21

'Ihsa al'ulum;

that

and

in the k.

15-16. [The Ihsa has been partially translated

by

(Cairo,

tahsil al-sa'ada,

Fauzi M. Najjar in

Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook, Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi, eds; for the Mus terstaat see note 3 above; the k. tahsil al'sa'ada is available in Alfarabi's Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, translated by Muhsin Mahdi (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1969).] k.

al-siyasat al-madaniyya,

edited more recently:

Catholique, 1964);

(Hyderabad, 1346 A.H.),

Al-Farabi's The Political Regime

a partial translation also

by

Najjar

ed.

pp.

42

and

50. [This text has been

Fauzi M. Najjar (Beyrouth: Imprimerie

appears

in Medieval Political Philosophy: A

Sourcebook.] [For the

sciences

see] 'Ihsa

al-ulum.

This

small

treatise,

whose singular

importance is

noted

by

26

Interpretation

Ibn al-Qifti, is more a critique of the sciences, a note distinguishing between basis of their value, than an encyclopedia properly speaking. [On the

virtues

[On the his

see]

Musterstaat,

p.

69.

In the

text (L

parallel

al-siyasat

the actions which conduce to happiness are mentioned at the end of the

55),

inseparability

sa'ada

("Note most

("The Attainment

Concerning

important;

of ethics and

At present, it

principal writings.

politics:] That

is, if one bases

suffices to note that even the

judgment is

this

by

confirmed

the analysis of

al-madaniyya, p.

enumeration.

Farabi

on

k. tahsil

al-

the interpretation of

titles, for example,

Happiness") on the one hand, and of k. Happiness") on the other, indicate

of

the Path toward

the sciences on the

of

ala sabil al-sa'ada

clearly that the first is the two writings themselves: the first rather

philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, the second is the introduction to a grammatical work; and only the first is mentioned by Ibn al-Qifti as one of the most important writings of Farabi. The distinction between ethics and politics is found only in the second.

is the introduction to

of

a

book

on the

Compare the attempt, similar to Maimonides', to reconcile the Farabian point of view with that which is found in the fragment of an encyclopedia of the sciences published by Gottheil

Aristotle

(see

n. 6); according to the unknown author who, moreover, cites Farabi's treatise city as one of the classic books on politics, the order of the practical sciences following: (1) politics (2) ethics (3) economics.

Let

us recall that

Maimonides himself

[On the distinction between the

would

be the

nations."

speaks of

"perfect

governance of cities and of

[linguae hebraicae

saurus philosophicus

the perfect

on

et veteris et

recentioris]

According

nations:]

of

to the

The

Klatzkin [Berlin, 1928to internal politics, Hanhagat

[Jacob]

(s.v. Hanhagah) Hanhagat HaMedinah would correspond external or world politics ("Weltpolitik"). The origin of this misunderstanding seems to be the explication of the words in question given by Mendelssohn in his commentary on the Millot.

33]

Halmut to

Mendelssohn,

a student of

Hanhagat HaMedinah politics of

(see

op.

Chr. Wolff

"Polizei."

Farabi is the translation

of

error also caused

Medinah MeKubetzet

by

by

right,

translates

insufficient knowledge

"Republik"

instead

of the

"Demokratie"

of

cit., s.v. Medinah).

This [The Perfect City] is the Bodleian Library.

Musterstaat, brought

and other theoreticians of modern natural

Another

as

58, 18-59, 11;

p.

"political

classified as a

cf.

ibid.,

p.

book"

69, 15:

in the

mss. of

the British Museum and

The first Chief

and

how

revelation

is

about."

This is the title

of

the last chapter

his

of

encyclopedia of

the sciences (Ihsa al-'ulum): "On kalam."

political science and

9. Musterstaat,

p.

in the Rasa'il Ihwan 10. This is

Consultations,

what ed.

the science of thefiqh

59, 1 Iff.; k.

al-Safa

p.

of

the

beginning]

the science of the

44-45. This

vol.

IV,

pp.

passage

is found

almost word

for

word

182-183.

in his Sefer ha-mebakesh,

says

ed.

Traklin

p.

90. Cf. Maimonides,

of

the ma'aseh bereshit

337.

11. Cf. Guide III, 7 beg. Compare

[account

pp.

(Cairo, 1928),

Falaquera

Freimann

tahsil,

and

also the analogous

in Guide II, 30,

which

marks

interpretation

the conclusion of the discourses on

physics.

12. The discussion

of

prophecy

and

sion of the metaphysics and physics,

This is why Maimonides In ogy (Guide II, 48 beg.) of

the order of the

found,

dogmas

though somewhat

attaches

law

is

found in H. Yesode ha-Torah VII-X;

loc. cit., II, 1 1 and IV, 10-13. the greatest importance to the final

order to understand the composition of the

chapter of

Guide,

cf.

the

the conclu

prophetol

one must

take note

in the commentary of the Mishneh (Sanhedrin X) which is modified, in H. Teshuvah III, 6-8. According to this order, the dogmas presented

concerning the existence, unity and incorporeality first place; immediately following are the dogmas

of God and the eternity of God alone, occupy the concerning prophecy in general and the prophecy of Moses and the Torah in particular; and only after this the dogmas concerning providence and eschatology. The source of this order seems to be the Mu'tazilite doctrine of the usul [roots] which determines the composition of the Emunot ve-deot of Saadia Gaon (cf. the interesting remark of S. Pines in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 1935, col. 623). The order in question can be found again in the Guide in as much as the first class of dogmas is treated in the majority of I, l-II, 31, the second in II, 32-48, and the third in III, 8-24. Maimonides departs from this order for different

Some Remarks reasons,

70), (2)

the Political Science of Maimonides

others when adopting, to a certain extent, the

among

"opinions

of the

on

of

the

the

men of

(1)

perfect city":

the

first

following

and

order

cause and all

its

27

Farabi

drawn up by Farabi (Guide I, 1-

attributes

bodies (II, 3-9), (3) physical bodies, justice and wisdom as seen in (II, 10-12), (4) the human soul and the way in which the active intellect inspires first Chief and revelation (II, 32-40). This order is followed more strictly in H. Yesode haangels and celestial

their government

it,

the

Torah. 13. One

must

that Maimonides

note

uses as synonyms

emanation

"divine

"intellectual

and

emanation."

In

II, 48 beg.,

so

doing, he

prophecy is a natural phenomenon. Compare Guide importance is noted by Maimonides himself.

acknowledges that

a passage whose singular

this passage, Munk (Le Guide

Regarding

des Egares II,

373)

p.

the

makes

following

remark:

"It may seem strange that the author places legislators beside diviners and counts them among those whose imagination rules over reason. But one sees later (ch. XL. pp. 310-1 1) that the author does to speak here of purely political legislation which, as he himself says,

not mean

is the

work of

he has only had in mind those of the ancient legislators who believed themselves in This remark spired, claimed to be prophets, and presented their laws as dictated by a divinity. is not right. In the passage mentioned by Munk, in Guide II, 40, Maimonides expressly says that a reflection;

"

political

purely

prevention of

law, i.e.,

injustice

a

and

law

than that of the imagination.

has

which

no other end

is necessarily the

violence,

On the

hand,

other

when

than the ordering of work of a man who

speaking

of

legislation

reflection, Maimonides does not only have in mind purely political

laws

is the intellectual

whose end

Maimonides

in

word

laws to the imagination, he follows Farabi's a

"sensual

by by

perfection of men, projected

"imagination"

the

uses

very broad

a

opinion

social relations and

has

which

laws, but

work of

Let

philosophers.

us add that political work of

aptitude"

(see [below]).

14. Maimonides

immediately

from the

passes

exposition of

(II, 37, last part) to that of prophetic courage (II, 38, beg.). Cf. also II, 45 (pp. 93a-94a) [pp. 395-97]. The Arabic the courage

(iqdam)

of the prophets recalls

Farabi, in enumerating

the social function of the prophet

word

Maimonides

the passage of the Perfect

the conditions of the "first

Chief,"

also speaks of

Averroes himself

to designate

uses

(p. 60, 9-11), where this faculty. Let us remark

City

in passing that this enumeration only reproduces the enumeration of the conditions pher-kings in Plato's Republic. Moreover, Farabi, in a parallel (k. tahsil, p. 44), pressly.

is the

also and above all

attributing the purely according to which these laws are the sense:

the

no other perfection

of

the philoso

Plato

cites

ex

the courage of the prophets when paraphrasing Plato's dis

speaks of

course on the courage of the guardians;

"ideoque

neque

Prophetis,

neque magistratibus

formido,

aut

conveniens."

Averrois Paraphrasis in Platonis Rempubl., Tr. I (Opera Aristotelis Venetiis 1550, Vol. Ill, fol. 176 b, col. I. 1. 64-65). [Cf. Averroes on Plato's Republic, trans. Ralph Lerner (Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1974) p. 23: "hence prophets and chiefs ought not to be metus

characterized as

or

being fearful."]

15. Guide III, 51 (p. 127a)[p.624]. The falasifa attribute greater value to courage than did Plato Aristotle (cf. above all Laws 630E-631C, a passage from which one must begin in order to

understand the

tendency

creased prestige

tendency

which

which are

which

accorded

is inherent in

inherent in

As the falasifa

determines the

courage

is

composition of the

explained

Nicomachean Ethics). The in

two characteristics of Islam: the missionary

by

"superstitious"

a universal religion; and

the polemic against

is thereby

a universal religion that

menaces

popular.

Muslims, they recognized the commandment of the holy war, understood rather they were guided by the idea of a civilization realizable by only through civilizing wars: this idea is absent from the thought of Plato. Averroes, in his paraphrase of the Republic, speaks of this in the following manner: "(Dicimus) Platonem, cum de virtutibus tractare instituit, de fortitudine primo initium sumpsisse, enimvero, ratio ipsa, modusque sciendi, were

them as a civilizing war or,

quibus earn perfectissimam cives adipiscantur, et servent, ea est, ut quod primum sit operum virtutis propositum virtutes

tionibus

in

in

civitate observemus.

animis civium reperiantur.

altius opiniones

cives, qui

a

teneris

imprimentur

similibus

naturae magis consentanea est.

rebus

Dicendum

Alteram, .

hoc

si

Posterior

duplicem

illorum animis,

autem

assueverint,

ergo est

disciplinae

atque

etenim ea

ex

seu

genus

omnino viam

Rhetoricis, in

seu

huius

esse, ex

Poeticis

qua ora-

eos ut plurimum convenit

his duabus disciplinae

viis

prior

ilia

est, cuius usus in adversarios potissimum, ac

28

Interpretation

castigatricem.

nuncuparit

Reip.

locum

praestantissimae

minimeque virtuti

Neminem

latere debet huic

autem

Atqui

non esse.

parentes, quarumque

adhaerere recusant, quam quidem viam quis

illis debitis

odiosos nobis est, eosque qui virtutibus

mores

inhumani sunt,

improbae

gloriosum

armis.

Sed

ipsa

cum

fortitudo

virtus

Alpharabius

haec

ducit,

haec

sit

duplex:

altera

(sc.

particularis ars

Aristoteles

estque quod

est

non nisi morali via

de

sensit

quae ab

ipsa,

quae ad

via

cum

ars ad eumfinem adinventa sit, verum ob necessitatem

tuto perficiatur

haec

certe

eum

ut

sensum, ut

quae sane sententia probabilis

.

.

in

videtur non

altera, quae .,

Reipub. bellis,

praestantissimae

Platone hoc in libro dictum

memorat: quod tamen a

existunt,

in legibus,

quae sermone, atque oratione nititur:

quidem,

bellica)

est

huius

cives

adeo

institui possint,

ut nulla alia ratione

Similisque ratio illis confligatur, ut virtutibus obsequantur. humanis legibus non discrepant. Quemadmodum nostra haec lex divina, nisi cum

Deum

inter

posteriori viae,

nonnullae aliae gentes

est,

humanas perfectiones, contemplativas prae(loc. cit., fol. 175 a, col. 2,1, 36-175 b, col. 1, 1.50). [Cf. Averroes on Plato's sertim, Republic, trans. Ralph Lerner, pp. 10-13: "And we say that the virtue of courage is that with which Plato began to introduce the discussion of the bringing-about of these virtues. As we have si

hominum

daretur,

genus quoddam

quod proclive ad

esset."

said, the way of understanding how it is attained

in the

this virtue in the about

in the

by

the citizens and preserved with respect to them

is primarily intended by the actions of We say that there are two ways by which the virtues in general are brought political humans. One of them is to establish the opinions in their souls

most perfect manner city.

souls of

[requires that]

we consider what

This first way of teaching will mostly be possible up with these things from the time of his youth. Of the two The second way [of teaching], however, is the way applied to

through rhetorical and poetical arguments.

only for

whichever of

ways of

teaching, this one is natural. foes, and him whose way it is

the

citizens grew

enemies,

This

is

the

be

will not

applied

not

to be aroused to the

by

chastisement

of

way

blows.

to the members of the virtuous city.

It

.

.

virtues

is

that are

As for the

desired that

evident

of

this

him. way

other nations, which are

is not human, why there is no way of teaching them other than this namely to coerce them through war to adopt the virtues. This is the way in which matters are arranged in those Laws belonging to this our divine Law that proceed like the human Laws, for the not good and whose conduct

way,

be exalted!) are two: one of them is through speech, and the is not completed other than by a moral virtue by which it

ways

in it that lead to God

other

through war. Since this art of war

draws

near

to

what

is

This is

courage.

(may He

appropriate and

what

Aristotle

in the

i.e.,

appropriate time and measure

asserts about

the wars

of

the virtue of

the virtuous city, according to

what

Abu Nasr [al-Farabi] reports. But from what we find concerning this in this book of Plato's, why according to him this part [of the soul, sc, courage] is not prepared for this end [sc. war] but rather is on account of necessity This opinion would only be correct if there were but one class of

humans disposed to the human

Farabi, k. tahsil,

perfections and

When paraphrasing the passage of the Republic brave (486 B), Averroes says: "Ad haec Fortitudo sine

fortitudine

especially to the theoretical ones."] Compare

31-32.

pp.

rationes

illas debiles,

non

where

Plato demands that the

quoque

demonstrativas, in

in hoc

philosophers

octavum obtinebit

locum,

(sc. philosophum)

quibus eum

be

nam

educari

in his, qui in (Loc. cit., fol. 182 b, col 1, 1. 40-45) [Cf. Averroes on Plato's [condition is] that he be courageous. For one who has no courage will

contigit, nee contemneret, neque refelleret, quod quidem magis etiam perspicuum est sunt."

nostris civitatibus educati

Republic, be

p.

unable to

eighth

despise the

non-demonstrative arguments on which

especially if he has

up, and

Plato's

73: "The

point of

Averroes. This

grown

view, as one sees

critique

is

up in these cities".] These

by

carried out

he [sc. the philosopher] has phrases

imply

grown

a certain critique of

comparing them with the passage of Plato paraphrased by in an explicit manner in the paraphrase of the tenth book of

Republic; "decimus Platonis liber huic civili, quam tractamus disciplinae, nihil admodum (confert) (Plato) suasorias inductiones, ac rationes locis quibusdam probabilibus depromptas didit, quibus animam immortalem esse probaret. Et infert deinde fabulam Enimvero iam nos antea saepius prae diximus, istiusmodi fabulas non esse alicuius momenti. Etenim Platonem videri earn fictam, fabulosamque rationem ingerere, quae tamen nihil ad humanam probitatem the

sub-

necessaria sit. moribus

freti

Quippe expertes

quod

homines

plane, et rudes

non paucos

cognoscimus,

istarum fictionum,

nihil

qui suis

virtute,

nihil

ipsi legibus, atque instituto pro-

vitae

Some Remarks

the Political

on

Then he

mentions

does

die. Then there is

not

thereafter a

rhetorical or

dialectical

We have

a story.

becoming

a man's

Laws,

their nomoi and their

virtuous.

albeit

.

devoid

of

.

col.

2, 1.11-39). [Cf. Averroes is

encompasses

It is this that has brought

are of no account.

necessary to

(fol. 191 b,

148-49: "What the tenth treatise

pp.

29

Farabi

and

concesserint"

fessoribus talium historiarum

Republic,

Science of Maimonides

argument

Plato's

more

soul

than once that these stories

to an untruth such as this. It is not something

us

For

by

it known

made

on

necessary for this science. which he explains that the

not

we see

here many

people

who,

in adhering to

these stories, are not less well off than those

possess

stories.]"

ing [these] As

difference in

regards another

16. One finds the 72 (p,103a)[p.

191]

principle

"first

expression

the expression

and

between the falasifa

and

Plato,

see n.

20.

Chief"

(al-ra'is al-awwal) used figuratively in the Guide I, "Chief of the (ra'is al-shari'a) twice in II, 40 (p. law"

86b)[p. 383].

Cf., however,

with

the definition of

"Imam"

in Farabi (k. tahsil,

p.

43)

the

following

words of

"

Maimonides concerning Moses: Shemoneh Perakim,

ed.

because they would [imitate] his [Moses'] every movement wish thereby to attain happiness in this world and the other in Ethical Writ Wolff (Leiden: Brill, 1903), p. 15 [See "Eight

ings of Maimonides,

ed.

Raymond L. Weiss

(world)"

and

speech

and

would

Chapters"

and

Charles Butterworth (New York: Dover, 1983),

p.

74]. 17. Republic 375 C Plato

und

andere

Studien

410 D-412 A; Statesman 306 ff; Laws 773. Cf. H.-G. Gadamer, am Main, 1934), pp. 18-19 [see Platos dialektische Ethik und

Philosophie, (Hamburg: Felix Meiner, 1968)].

zur platonischen

hissiyya.'

18. "Qowwa confirmed

and

die Dichter (Frankfurt

qarihiyya

We follow here the text

19. Guide I, 34 (p. 41a)[p. 78]: "Consider how, as

of

the Palencia

edition

which

is

the Latin translation of Gerard of Cremona.

by

of

conditions

the

of the

perfection

in the

by

means of a

individual, his being

text of a

book, they laid down

in the

varieties of political

perfect

his possessing

perspicacity and understanding and the gift of finely expressing himself in communicating notions in a flash. If all Cf. again this is realized in someone, then the mysteries of the Torah may be transmitted to

regimes as well as

speculative sciences and withal

natural

him."

Guide I, 33 (p. 37b)[p. 72]: ". that he divine a

among

others

notion even

the

following

.

He

excellent at understanding.

indication

of a

thing, he

that

.

he be full

of understanding,

if it is only very slightly conditions to be fulfilled

expressing Richard Walzer (Oxford, 1985) p. 247]. 20. Guide I, 36 (p.44a)[p. 85]. Cf. Musterstaat,

Rempubl. Plat. (fol. 182 b. mentioned

by

col.

Plato. The falasifa

according to them, the prophet Faslul-maqal the

revealed

passim and n.

19

is

attach

at once

above).

As

a

p.

70, 1-3,

greater

and

by

have the

the Perfect

nature

70, 23. Cf.

also

a philosopher and orator some

interesting

trans.

Averroes, In be

eloquent

that did

rhetoric

(cf. in

gift of

State,

that the philosopher-king

importance to

finds

should

particular

of

remarks

Plato; Averroes,

concerning

the falasifa on rhetoric (cf. e.g., "Topics"

"Poetics,"

"Rhetoric"

and Three Short Commentaries on Aristotle's and the Topics. Let and trans. Charles E. Butterworth (Albany: SUNY Press, 1977)] and political science. moreover, the original relation between rhetoric

[see

nature,

mentions

perspicacity; when he sees the slightest

condition

a result, one

Farabi

Farabi, Ihsa al'oloum, p. 26, de la Rhetorique d'Aristote, Paris Ms., Hebrew cod. 1008, fol. 92 b ff.)

law in the discourses

Averroes, Paraphrase

and

1, I. 50-54). The

by

sagacious

flash."

the "first Chief": "He should be

should possess natural

grasp what the indication points to. He (Musterstaat, p. 59, 16-21). [Cf. Al-Farabi on

finely

not

by

intelligent,

to him in a

should

himself."

is

suggested

ed.

Averroes'

us

recall,

important question concerning the relation up in the present article the the Mosaic laws given by Maimonides, and political philosophy. We Maimonides twice cites passages from the Nicomachean Ethics in order only note here the fact that [p. 572] and III, 49 beg.). explain Biblical commandments (Guide III, 43, p. 96a

21. We do

between the

not take

explication of

to

22. For prophecy is essentially representing those of the imaginative

happiness,

and

related

to

legislation,

speculative concepts which are

faculty,

the

and

difficult to

the "legislative virtue

ability to produce political actions discourse concerning speculative and practical This is what Falaquera says in amphibolous and the

amphibolous

manner."

vulgar

know

(only) in

an

is

man's art of

for the vulgar, by means which are useful for attaining

comprehend

matters

that the

a passage of

the

30

Interpretation

p. 30, 1 25-27) which is probably founded on a writing not yet identi Farabi's. [See Farabi's Book of Letters (Kitab al-Huruf) Commentary on Aristotle's Meta physics, Arabic Text, ed. Mushin Mahdi (Beyrouth: Darel-Mashreq, 1969).]

Reshit hokhma (ed. David

fied

,

as

23. There is, moreover, direct testimony of this; after having set out his doctrine on provi opposition to Aristotle's doctrine, Maimonides declares: "The philosophers have equally

dence, in spoken

in this

sense

of their perfection).

Ethics, pass

expresses

from

(sc. that

providence watches over

Abou-Nasr, in

individual humans in

the introduction to his commentary

on

accord with

the extent

Aristotle's Nicomachean

himself in these terms: those

who possess the faculty of causing their souls to quality to another are those of whom Plato has said God's providence watches Guide III, 18 (pp. 38b-39a)[p. 476]. Maimonides could have found similar texts

one moral

most."

over them

in Aristotle; there is

Farabi?

no

doubt that he knew this; why then did he

not cite

Aristotle, but Plato

and

Strauss, Some Remarks on the Political Science of Maimonides and ...

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