ABSTRACT
Solomon ben Judah ibn Gabirol is regarded as the father of Jewish Neoplatonic thought in Spain. Chronologically, he is the second Jewish Neoplatonic philosopher after Isaac Israeli (North Africa, 850–932 or 955). He is also regarded as the first Jewish philosopher in Spain. He was born in Malaga in 1021/2, but lived in Saragossa, where he received an extremely sound secular as well as religious education. He died in Valencia either between 1054 and 1058 or, according to some sources, in 1070.
