Harvey, Warren Zev (Author)
Pursuing ideas of Aristotle and Averroes, Gersonides (1288--1344) argued that Nature preserves (šomer) the existence of animals and plants and moreover endeavors (yištaddel) to do so. He expressed these ideas in his supercommentaries on Averroes's Aristotelian commentaries (1321--1324), particularly the Parts of Animals and Generation of Animals; in his biblical commentaries (1325--1338); and in his philosophic Wars of the Lord (1329). His views on Nature's preservation of existence amount to a theory of conatus, and influenced Spinoza's (1632--1677) concept of conatus as the endeavor to persevere (perseverare) in being or preserve (conservare) one's being (Ethics III 6--9; IV 18; et passim). Spinoza described Gersonides as vir eruditissimus (Theological-Political Treatise 9, annotation 16). Gersonides held that Nature's preservation of the existence of plants and animals proves divine Providence over human beings (see his commentaries on Genesis 18:25 and Job 34:13). This identification of natural conatus and divine Providence is found explicitly in the writings of the young Spinoza (Short Treatise I 5).
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Book
Ofer Elior;
Gad Freudenthal;
David Wirmer;
(2020)
Gersonides' Afterlife: Studies on the Reception of Levi ben Gerson’s Philosophical, Halakhic and Scientific Oeuvre in the 14th through 20th Centuries. Officina Philosophica Hebraica Volume 2
(/isis/citation/CBB315459134/)
Article
Freudenthal, Gad;
Fontaine, Resianne;
(2012)
Gersonides on the Dis-/order of the Sublunar World and on Providence
(/isis/citation/CBB001211059/)
Book
Sirat, Colette;
Klein-Braslavy, Sara;
Weijers, Olga;
(2003)
Les méthodes de travail de Gersonide et le maniement du savoir chez les scolastiques
(/isis/citation/CBB000740996/)
Article
Fraenkel, Carlos;
(2009)
Ḥasdai Crescas on God as the Place of the World and Spinoza's Notion of God as Res Extensa
(/isis/citation/CBB000930649/)
Article
Gaziel, Ahuva;
(2012)
Gersonides' Naturalistic Account of Providence in Light of the Book of Animals
(/isis/citation/CBB001211057/)
Chapter
Gatti, Roberto;
(2008)
L'infinito fisico in Gersonide (Milḥamot ha-Šem, Libro sesto, Parte prima, cap. XI)
(/isis/citation/CBB001020551/)
Article
Klein-Braslavy, Sara;
Schramm, Lenn;
(2012)
Aristotle's Concept of Chance as an Investigative Tool in Gersonides' Wars of the Lord
(/isis/citation/CBB001231658/)
Article
Feldman, Seymour;
(2012)
On Plural Universes: A Debate in Medieval Jewish Philosophy and the Duhem-Pines Thesis
(/isis/citation/CBB001211060/)
Article
Franck Tinland;
(2013)
Anthropomorphisme animal et zoomorphisme humain
(/isis/citation/CBB723622935/)
Article
Ward, Thomas M.;
(2012)
Animals, Animal Parts, and Hylomorphism: John Duns Scotus's Pluralism about Substantial Form
(/isis/citation/CBB001211018/)
Article
Mariafranca Spallanzani;
(2011)
Descartes e il 'paradosso' degli animali-macchina
(/isis/citation/CBB729063793/)
Article
Nunzio Allocca;
(2013)
L’uomo e la macchina animale. Claude Perrault e l’immagine del vivente nella storia naturale post-cartesiana
(/isis/citation/CBB810843955/)
Chapter
Rudavsky, T. M.;
(2008)
Creation, Time, and Biblical Hermeneutics in Early Modern Jewish Philosophy
(/isis/citation/CBB001031834/)
Chapter
Gabbey, Alan;
(2007)
Spinoza on the Natural and the Artificial
(/isis/citation/CBB000774499/)
Chapter
Biard, Joël;
(2006)
Nicolas d'Autrécourt et Gautier Burley
(/isis/citation/CBB001020282/)
Chapter
Glasner, Ruth;
(2011)
The Evolution of the Genre of Philosophical-Scientific Commentary: Hebrew Supercommentaries on Aristotle's Physics
(/isis/citation/CBB001232576/)
Book
Glasner, Ruth;
(1998)
A Fourteenth-Century Scientific Philosophic Controversy: Jedaiah Ha-Penini's Treatise on Opposite Motions and Book of Confutation
(/isis/citation/CBB000111370/)
Article
Takahashi, Adam;
(2008)
Nature, Formative Power and Intellect in the Natural Philosophy of Albert the Great
(/isis/citation/CBB000850574/)
Chapter
Caroti, Stefano;
(2006)
Nicolas d'Autrécourt, la génération, la corruption et l'altération
(/isis/citation/CBB001020317/)
Article
Stefano Gensini;
(2017)
"E io in Napoli vidi un cane polacco…": ancora sui linguaggi animali, da Gesner a Campanella
(/isis/citation/CBB435419422/)
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