ABSTRACT
Hillel Fradkin asks whether the body of literature customarily called ‘Medieval Jewish (Judaeo-Arabic) Philosophy’ is in fact philosophical or whether it is instead exegetical. 2 This question is especially pertinent in light of the Islamic context out of which this Jewish literature arose. Within the contemporary Muslim literature, Fradkin claims, the philosophical and exegetical traditions are almost entirely without overlap. In Judaeo-Arabic thought, on the other hand, philosophy and scriptural exegesis typically go hand in hand. What is the significance of this difference for our understanding of the Judaeo-Arabic tradition?
