(Levi Ben Gerson, 1288 - 1344)
Otherwise known as Gersonides, he was the most famous Jewish follower of Aristotle apart from Maimonides.
Birth
It's quite hard to
piece together his life, as Gersonides left
few letters and didn't talk about himself at all in his
works. Nor was he written about by his contemporaries, so we're left to rely on
inference, and prevailing
historical conditions to give us an outline of his
life. We do know he was born in
1288 in
Provence, likely to
Gershom ben Salomon de Beziers, a notable man mentioned in medieval records (but we don't know this for
sure). In any case he seems to have had a decent education and upbringing, free from any severe trauma that impacted his later works.
Background
At this point in time,
Islam was in control of
Spain, and not as closely integrated with society as it would be later, so there was a general migration of
Jews into
France from that region. Indirectly, as a result of this
Provence became a cultural center for
Jewish intellectual activity. The
authorities there had a lenient view of
Judaism, and thus the Jewish scholars took advantage of this unique
good favour to pursue their creative urges, especially in
philosophy and
theology. While there wasn't direct access to the works of Aristotle, his work was avilable through the 100 year old commentaries written by
Averroes, a Spanish
Muslim philosopher. Work began on these, and gradually by the turn of the
fourteenth century, they had been translated into
Hebrew. It is likely then that Gersonides got his
Aristotle from this source, via the wisdom of
Averroes.
Philosophy
Although Gersonides would have had to have spoken the
local dialect of the region, his entire cannon of work is in
Hebrew, including quotes and references. By all accounts he had an apparently ordinary life for a
Jewish person, getting married to a
distant cousin, taking part in the
money lending business, and staying in his
region. He was a
respectable person, with a
decent income. His philosophic project was to
integrate Aristotle with the teachings of the
Jewish faith, in a parallel fashion to the preceding
Christian attempts at
assimilation. As such he drew heavily upon, and revised, and tightened up the works of
Maimonides, attempting in all cases to stick more closely to the
Aristotlean vision than
Maimonides did.
Science
What separates, and in some cases
elevates Gersonides above his contemporaries, and indeed
Maimonides is his incredible skill with
mathematics, which combined with his
empirical stance, and need for
verification, makes him a precursor of those who used the
scientific method. An example of this is found in his
building and
acquiring of telescopes and taking measurements of the
stars and
planets, and comparing them against the undisputed kind of
astronomy at the time
Ptolemy, and his subsequent rejection of Ptolemy's law of
Planetary motion.
"no argument can nullify the reality that is perceived by the senses, for true opinion must follow reality but reality need not conform to opinion"-(Goldstein, 1974, p. 24).
"We did not find among our predecessors from Ptolemy to the present day observations that are helpful for this investigation except our own"-(Wars, V.1.3, p. 27),
Gersonides' scientific works are mainly in mathematics and astronomy though, his Sefer Ma'aseh Hoshev (The Work of a Counter, 1321) is about arithmetical operations and uses of a symbolic notation for numerical variables. But while his maths was excellent and innovative, as mentioned above he shone at his best in astronomy. His astronomical writings are contained mostly in book 5, part 1 of Milhamot Ha-Shem. He criticized astronomical theories of the day, shows astronomical tables, and describes astronomical inventions. He constructed one to measure the height of stars from the horizon. The astronomical parts of Milhamot Ha-Shem were translated into Latin during his lifetime. One of the craters of the moon, Rabbi Levi, is named after him.
Religion
Gersonides was also well known as a
Halakhist, one who deals with the intricacies of
Jewish law. Judaism is (or least was then) composed of rituals and procedures that had to be performed in order please
Jehovah, and the complex interpretations of the
Torah, the commentaries, and many other sources of authority lent a certain difficulty in determining which course of
action to pursue. His greatest contribution was in the area of
biblical commentary. The commentary on
Book of Job, completed in 1325, which complements book 4 of
Milhamot Ha-Shem, is concerned with the problem of
divine providence. Each of the
characters in the
Book of Job represents a different
theory of divine providence.
As a consquence of this thirst for precision, Gersonides had little time for rhetorical or stylistic tricks in his writings. He's likened to Aquinas, or even Aristotle himself in his way of describing things using precise, technical jargon, with little reference to examples. This also contrasts with the approach of Maimonides which was much more 'reader friendly' and used metaphor, similies, and sometimes vague language to try to give a general feel for the topic, and it is clear that Gersonides has no time for this, seeing as his aim the core idea of accuracy to make the subject as clear as possible.
Gersonides died on 20 April 1344, recognized by the history books, but not revered.