Spinoza and Medieval Jewish Philosophy

Over the last two decades there has been an increasing interest in the influence of medieval Jewish thought upon Spinoza's philosophy. The essays in this volume, by Spinoza specialists and leading scholars in the field of medieval Jewish philosophy, consider the various dimensions of the rich, important, but vastly under-studied relationship between Spinoza and earlier Jewish thinkers. It is the first such collection in any language, and together the essays provide a detailed and extensive analysis of how different elements in Spinoza's metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, and political and religious thought relate to the views of his Jewish philosophical forebears, such as Maimonides, Gersonides, Ibn Ezra, Crescas, and others. The topics addressed include the immortality of the soul, the nature of God, the intellectual love of God, moral luck, the nature of happiness, determinism and free will, the interpretation of Scripture, and the politics of religion.

Introduction Steven Nadler; 1. Mortality of the soul from Alexander of Aphrodisias to Spinoza Jacob Adler; 2. Spinoza and the determinist tradition in medieval Jewish philosophy Charles Manekin; 3. The science of scripture: Abraham Ibn Ezra and Spinoza on biblical hermeneutics T. M. Rudavsky; 4. Spinoza's rejection of Maimonideanism Steven Frankel; 5. Ishq, Hesheq, and Amor Dei Intellectualis Warren Zev Harvey; 6. Monotheism at bay: the gods of Maimonides and Spinoza Kenneth Seeskin; 7. Moral agency without free will: Spinoza's naturalizing of moral psychology in a Maimonidean key Heidi Ravven; 8. Virtue, reason, and moral luck: Maimonides, Gersonides, Spinoza Steven Nadler; 9. 'Something of it remains': Spinoza and Gersonides on intellectual eternity Julie R. Klein; 10. Hasdai Crescas and Spinoza on actual infinity and the infinity of God's attributes Yitzhak Y. Melamed.

Steven Nadler is the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he is also a faculty member of the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies. His previous publications include Spinoza: A Life (Cambridge, 2001), Rembrandt's Jews (2003), Spinoza's 'Ethics': An Introduction (Cambridge, 2006), Volume 1 of The Cambridge History of Jewish Philosophy (co-edited with T. M. Rudavsky, Cambridge, 2009) and A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age (2011).