ABSTRACT
In the history of medieval Jewish philosophy one usually sees Maimonides described as an Aristotelian, and Julius Guttmann speaks for the traditional historiography of Jewish philosophy when he writes, “In the middle of the twelfth century Aristotelianism displaced Neoplatonism as the dominating influence in Jewish philosophy of religion” (Guttmann 1973, 152). Of late, however, Alfred Ivry has suggested that “It is not the least of the paradoxes of the Guide that Maimonides’ underlying philosophical base is one he was loath to acknowledge” (Ivry 1991, 138), and the “philosophical base” Ivry is referring to is Neoplatonism. We should straightaway note the rather rigid dichotomization presupposed by both positions-Aristotelianism vs. Neoplatonism. But such dichotomization is manifestly unhistorical, as both Guttmann and Ivry are aware. Much Neoplatonic doctrine went under Aristotle’s name in the late antique attempt to harmonize Plato and Aristotle; further, as Porphyry tells us straight-forwardly in his Vita Plotini, his teacher’s writings include both Stoic and Peripatetic doctrines and that in particular Aristotle’s Metaphysics is to be found condensed (somehow) in them;1 and finally, we might note that the brilliant (and generally respectful) commentators on Aristotle of the early centuries of the common era were almost all Neoplatonists, developing their own positions within manifestly Aristotelian categories, even as they sometimes foisted their own views upon Aristotle. And within Islamic and Jewish philosophical circles, as Guttmann notes, “Islamic and Jewish Neoplatonism had absorbed many Aristotelian elements in addition to those already present in the original Neoplatonic system; conversely, Aristotelianism had undergone a Neoplatonic transformation in the hands of its Islamic adherents” (Guttmann 1973, 152). Indeed, it is no easy task to disentangle Aristotelian from Neoplatonic strands in Maimonides, or in other medieval thinkers. Too often we gloss as “unAristotelian,” alternatively as “Neoplatonic,” Maimonides’ anti-materialist remarks in the Guide, but a close inspection of some of those passages, particularly ones dealing with prophecy, reveals that Maimonides is grounding his remarks with explicit reference to passages in Aristotle’s Ethics denigrating the sense of touch.2
