Rambam (Letter to Chasdai HaLevi): As a general rule, philosophers establish their assertions with clear rational proofs. The philosophers before Plato denied G d’s existence and they brought proof that the world is eternal and not created. Some of the newer philosophers acknowledge G d’s existence and that the world was created - and thus are consistent with the view of Moshe. There are other philosophers who acknowledge G d’s existence but insist that the world is eternal and that G d does not interact with the world. The fact is there is no conclusive logical proof for any of these three viewpoints. Each brings support for their position - but not irrefutable proof… Now obviously one cannot say that the world is both not eternal and not created, however I don’t have irrefutable proof that the world was created. Therefore, the matter is irresolvable purely on the basis of logical proofs and neither position can refute the other. The fact is that man’s intellect is limited and as long as the soul is contained within the body, it is not able to know that which transcends nature. Since it exists within nature, it is impossible to see that which is beyond nature…. It able to see and understand only that which is within nature. A clear proof of the inability to penetrate that which transcends nature is the fact that none of the three theories has an irrefutable proof. However, prophecy is a form of knowledge which is superior to philosophy. Prophecy is a different dimension and requires no proofs or arguments. Once it is established that something is known through prophecy it is unquestionably valid. Thus, we see that a prophet was never required to prove that what he was saying was true - but only to prove that he was a genuine prophet. Therefore, prophecy is superior to any rational proof and is able to know that which transcends nature. Moshe was the greatest prophet that ever lived and reached the highest level of prophesy. Once we accept that intellect cannot refute that which is learned from prophesy, there is no need to bring proof to that which is learned by prophesy. Thus the only way to refute our beliefs - which come from the prophesy of Moshe - is to deny that Moshe was a prophet. However, if you acknowledge that he was a prophet, then rational proofs are not needed concerning what he said. To try and establish these matters purely on the basis of intellect cannot result in an irrefutable understanding. It is equivalent to trying to gather up all the water in the world into a small jug.
Derech Emunah (2:303): You should know that the majority of philosophy came to us from Aristotle who was a Jew from a Jewish family in Jerusalem from the tribe of Benyamin…He gave us and taught us much more than what he learned from us.
Sefer Hamidos (Introduction): There is a sefer in which it was written that Aristotle embraced the Torah at the end of his days and became a ger.
Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim:2:11): These scientific theories don’t contradict anything which has been taught to us by our Prophets or by our Sages. That is because we are a wise and complete nation as was declared by G d who made us complete through Moshe, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (Devarim 4:6). However when the wicked of the foolish nations caused us to lose our possessions, our science and literature and killed our sages - we were reduced to simpletons as punishment for our sins. This had been foretold by Yeshaya (29:14), “The wisdom of their sages shall perish and the understanding of the wise men shall be concealed.” We are now intermingled with the other nations and as a result we have adopted their viewpoints - just as we have mimicked their characteristics and deeds…Because we have been raised on the basis of a primitive understanding – these philosophical and scientific views are perceived as incompatible with our religion - just as it would appear to any uneducated person. However it is not so!
But he also rejects certain aspects of prophecy - in the intro to the commentary on the Mishnah, he states that if Eliyahu haNavi were to say with prophecy that the Chalitzah is not done with the special shoe but with a sandal, we would not accept what Eliyahu says.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested to know whether Rav Shach ztl, who openly opposed philosophy but also wrote a commentary on Rambam MT - studied or ever refers to the Moreh Nevuchim?
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