Islamic Roots of Jewish Philosophy: Ibn Rushd’s Influence

Medieval Jewish philosophy was indeed heavily influenced by Islamic philosophy, and it can be seen as an extension or continuation of the intellectual tradition that was flourishing in the Islamic world during the Middle Ages. There are several reasons for this close connection between medieval Jewish and Muslim philosophy:

Translation Movement: One of the key factors that facilitated the transfer of philosophical knowledge from the Islamic world to Jewish scholars was the translation movement. Many Greek philosophical texts, including those of Aristotle and his commentators like Alexander of Aphrodisias and Plotinus, were translated into Arabic by Muslim scholars during the early Islamic Golden Age. Jewish scholars, who lived in Islamic societies where Arabic was the lingua franca, had access to these translated works. This allowed them to engage with Greek philosophy through its Arabic translations, often accompanied by commentaries and interpretations by Muslim philosophers.

Shared Language and Cultural Context: Jewish scholars in medieval Islamic lands, such as Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East, lived in a cultural and linguistic environment deeply influenced by Islamic civilization. Arabic was the language of scholarship, and Jewish philosophers were immersed in the intellectual currents of the time, which included the works of Muslim philosophers like Al-Farabi, Avicenna (Ibn Sina), and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). They also had access to the rich intellectual heritage of the Islamic world.

Engagement with Greek Philosophy: Both Jewish and Muslim philosophers were interested in reconciling Greek philosophy, particularly the works of Aristotle, with their religious traditions. Muslim philosophers like Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Ibn Rushd sought to harmonize Aristotelian thought with Islamic theology, while Jewish philosophers like Moses Maimonides aimed to do the same within the context of Judaism. This shared interest in the integration of philosophy and religion led to a fruitful exchange of ideas.

Philosophical Interactions: There were interactions and debates between Jewish and Muslim philosophers. Some Jewish philosophers wrote commentaries on the works of Muslim philosophers, and vice versa. These interactions fostered intellectual exchange and the development of philosophical ideas in both traditions.

Influence of Islamic Philosophers: Many Jewish philosophers, such as Saadia Gaon, Solomon ibn Gabirol, and Maimonides, were directly influenced by the writings of prominent Islamic philosophers like Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Al-Ghazali. They engaged with and responded to the ideas put forth by these Muslim thinkers in their own philosophical works.

Medieval Jewish philosophy in many ways can be seen as an outgrowth of Islamic philosophy, given the profound influence of Islamic intellectual culture, language, and philosophical ideas on Jewish scholars living in Islamic societies during that era. While Jewish philosophers maintained their distinct religious and cultural identity, they were deeply enriched and influenced by the philosophical currents of the Islamic world.

Ibn Rushd's Influence

For instance, Ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes in the Latin West, significantly influenced medieval Jewish philosophy, particularly during the Middle Ages. His ideas and works played a crucial role in the development of Jewish thought, especially in areas related to philosophy, theology, and science. Here are some ways in which Ibn Rushd influenced medieval Jewish philosophy:

Transmission of Aristotle's works: One of the most notable contributions of Ibn Rushd to medieval Jewish philosophy was his role in translating and preserving the works of Aristotle. His commentaries on Aristotle's writings, especially those on the Organon (Aristotle's logical works), were highly regarded and widely studied by Jewish scholars. These commentaries helped Jewish philosophers gain a deeper understanding of Aristotle's philosophy.

Reconciliation of philosophy and religion: Ibn Rushd attempted to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Islamic theology. His work on harmonizing reason and religion had an impact on Jewish thinkers, who were also grappling with the tension between philosophy and religious tradition. Jewish philosophers like Maimonides were influenced by Ibn Rushd's efforts to bridge this gap and sought to do the same within the Jewish context.

The Averroist school: Ibn Rushd's interpretation of Aristotle's ideas, known as Averroism, became influential in medieval Jewish philosophy. Some Jewish scholars adopted Averroist interpretations of Aristotle, incorporating them into their own philosophical and theological works. This led to a distinctive Jewish Averroist school of thought that integrated elements of Ibn Rushd's philosophy into Jewish philosophical discourse.

Commentaries on Ibn Rushd's works: Jewish philosophers, such as Moses Narboni and Gersonides, wrote commentaries on Ibn Rushd's commentaries, engaging with his ideas and contributing to the ongoing philosophical conversation. These commentaries helped disseminate Ibn Rushd's thought among Jewish scholars and made his ideas more accessible.

Influence on later Jewish philosophers: Ibn Rushd's ideas on metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy influenced subsequent Jewish philosophers. His emphasis on the importance of reason, the study of nature, and the pursuit of knowledge left a lasting impact on Jewish philosophical thought. Philosophers like Spinoza and Leibniz, who came after the medieval period, were also influenced by the works of Ibn Rushd.

Ibn Rushd's influence on medieval Jewish philosophy was significant. His translations, commentaries, and philosophical ideas played a vital role in shaping the intellectual landscape of Jewish thought during that era. His efforts to reconcile reason and religion and his contributions to Aristotelian philosophy left a lasting imprint on Jewish philosophical discourse for centuries to come.

Ibn Rushd's Books

Almost all of Ibn Rushd’s “philosophical works were translated from Arabic into Hebrew in the period 1230–1330, sometimes even more than once (only one of them was later translated from Latin into Hebrew, around 1480); almost all of them were quoted, summarized, paraphrased, annotated and commented on by a number of philosophers during the 14th and 15th centuries. As a matter of fact, some of these texts are preserved only through these translations, due to the loss of their original versions, and their success among Jewish philosophers was surely wider than the success they gained among Arabic thinkers, and probably equal to the success they gained among Latin Christian ones.” Mauro Zonta has well illustrated this translation and transmission campaign. Moses Maimonides (d. 1204), confessed in a letter addressed to his disciple, Joseph Ben Juda, written in Cairo in 1191, that "he had received lately everything Averroes had written on the works of Aristotle and found that he was extremely right…” Majid Fakhry states that “the two Aristotelians had so much in common, especially in their attitude to Ash'arite Kalam, that readers of Maimonides tended to find Averroes particularly intriguing and to look upon the former as the disciple of the latter.”

Moses Maimonides

Maimonides set the tone of this enthusiastic Jewish approach to Averroes by affirming in his letter to Samuel Ibn Tibbon: “The works of Aristotle are the roots and foundations of works on the sciences, and cannot be understood except with the help of commentaries, those of Alexander of Aphrodisias, those of Themistius and those of Averroes. I tell you, as for works on logic, one should only study the writings of Abu Nasr al-Farabi. All his works are faultlessly excellent. One ought to study and understand them; for he was a great man.”

Jewish philosophers usually ignored both Alexander and Themistius but depended upon Ibn Rushd as a true sage and commentator on Aristotle. “The first Jewish translator or paraphrast of Averroes' physical and metaphysical writings was Samuel Ben Tibbon, who based his Opinions of the Philosophers almost exclusively on Averroes. Other Jewish scholars, such as Juda Ben Solomon Cohen of Toledo, in his book the Search for Wisdom, and Shem Tob Ben Joseph Falquera, relied completely on Averroes, quoting him sometimes word by word. The first Jewish translator of Averroes in the strict sense was Joseph Ben Abba Mari of Naples, who translated for Frederic I1 Averroes' commentaries on the Organon around 1232. Around 1260, Moses Ben Tibbon published an almost complete translation of Averroes' commentaries, as well as some of his medical writings. In 1259, Solomon Ben Joseph of Granada translated the commentary on De Coelo et Mundo and in 1284, Zerachia Ben Isaac of Barcelona translated the commentaries on the Physics, the Metaphysics and De Coelo et Mundo.”

Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera

Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera, in the introduction to his work The Opinions of the Philosophers (a detailed commentary on Aristotle's physics and metaphysics), affirms: “All that I have written here corresponds to Aristotle's words, as they are commented on by the sage Averroes. He was the last of the commentators (of Aristotle), and collected the cream of the works of the previous commentators, as well as of Aristotle's words.” Jewish Averroism, in the sense of a substantial agreement with Averroes' interpretation of Aristotle's works, continued in 15th-century Spain and Italy. “The Jewish translations paved the way for the Latin translations, sometimes collaterally, of Averroes' commentaries on Aristotle. Those translations which began early in the thirteenth century had a more durable impact on European thought and led at once to the rediscovery of Aristotle, who had been almost completely forgotten… in Western Europe, since the time of Boethius.”

Conclusion

The medieval Jewish philosophy was, in a sense, an extension and appropriation of Islamic philosophical thought. Wesserstrom succinctly elaborates the point by noting that “there is little dissent from the general agreement that Jewish philosophy from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries functioned in a social and cultural context which was thoroughly arabicised, if not islamicised. Of the eighteen philosophers listed in Husik’s A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy, thirteen lived in the Islamicate world; while the proportions are slightly different in Sirat’s A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages, the Islamicate character of medieval Jewish philosophy remains beyond dispute.” Both Muslims and Jews were actively engaged in civilisational endeavours. Muslim culture and civilisation were joint Muslim and Jewish ventures, though the Muslims had the fundamental leadership role. The modern civilisation owed much to that synthesis, as Alfred North Whitehead had long ago noticed: “The record of the Middle Ages, during the brilliant period of Mahometan ascendency, affords evidence of joint association of Mahometan and Jewish activity in the promotion of civilisation. The culmination of the Middle Ages was largely dependent on that association […] The association of Jews with the Mahometan world is one of the great facts of history from which modern civilisation is derived.” Maimonides was a perfect example of this synthesis.

See details in my book "St. Thomas Aquinas and Muslim Thought."