Delmedigo

Notwithstanding the specific historical circumstances that form the context for the writings of Elijah Delmedigo (hereafter "Delmedigo" for short), his works, whether they be the translations and commentaries on the works of Ibn Rushd, or his book Sefer Behinat Hadat, reflect a systematic philosophic approach dealing with topics which have a perennial interest for philosophers and historians of ideas.

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005

It is clear that Delmedigo here means to imply that the babblers are the sham Kabbalists, who have revised the true Kabbalah and reinterpreted it in the light of Neo-Platonic notions.

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005

In the second treatise Delmedigo goes on to critically examine John of Jandun's interpretation of this process and explains that Ibn Rushd distinguishes between two perfections of the intellectual part of the soul, the first being “cogitation” (hakoah hamahshavi) which is an acquired knowledge based on abstracting universal forms from the individuated products sensed and filtered by the imagination, and the second being “intellection”

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005

Delmedigo was without doubt aware that some Maimonideans before him (particularly Isaac Albalag) had speculated why Maimonides himself had not admitted to holding this view (eternal creation) instead of presenting himself as rejecting the views of Aristotle regarding the beginning of the world.

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005

There is some irony in the circumstance that while some of the Latin translations and commentaries written by Elijah Delmedigo for the general public already appeared in print in 1552, his Sefer Behinat Hadat written for his own Jewish readers had to wait until 1629, when it was published in print for the first time by a descendant of the Delmedigo family in Basilia as part of a collection of other works.

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005

Like many of the later Maimonideans, Delmedigo thought that Maimonides himself had erred in publicly supporting and promoting attempts to popularize reconciliations between Aristotelian thought and popular Judaism.

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005

Delmedigo here shows himself to be a loyal supporter of the old guard.

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005

Maimonides, says Delmedigo, abandoned these ideas, for the ways of the Aristotelian philosophers are far removed from the ways of the Platonists.

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005

What concerns us here is only the question where Delmedigo stood on this matter.

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005

In this longer passage, where the topic in Ibn Rushd is whether there is or is not a force more exalted and higher than the heavens, Delmedigo offers alternative specifications of the “force” responsible for the cosmic order.

Elijah Delmedigo Ross, Jacob 2005