Article ID: CBB001211059

Gersonides on the Dis-/order of the Sublunar World and on Providence (2012)

unapi

Gersonides believed that the material world, which he took to have been created by a voluntary act by the deity, is the best possible one. One aspect of the excellence of the world is the providence the deity exerts over all living beings, perfecting each so as to preserve its existence for the longest possible time. On the most basic level, that of matter, any living being would indeed disintegrate were it not sustained by a power external to matter itself. Gersonides follows a very long tradition, codified notably in Meteorologica 4, holding that all composite substances necessarily decay and corrupt, as a result of the strife between their opposing components (elements and qualities). He goes out of his way to emphasize this inherent tendency of composite substances to decay, drawing on Meteorologica 4 much more frequently than most writers. This line of argument is consistent with (or even derives from) his view of the primeval quasi-matter without form, which is sheer privation and deficiency, out of which the deity formed the material world. Fortunately, providence counterbalances this built-in tendency of sublunar substances to disintegrate through the influences (programmed at creation) reaching them from the stars. A brief comparison with views of Samuel Ibn Tibbon leads to the argument that Gersonides underscored the theory of matter of Meteorologica 4 in order to aggrandize the role of providence.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001211059/

Similar Citations

Article Gaziel, Ahuva; (2012)
Gersonides' Naturalistic Account of Providence in Light of the Book of Animals (/isis/citation/CBB001211057/)

Article Harvey, Warren Zev; (2012)
Gersonides and Spinoza on Conatus (/isis/citation/CBB001211058/)

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 Robinson, James T.; (2009)
Samuel Ibn Tibbon's Peruš ha-Millot ha-Zarot and al-Farabi's Eisagoge and Categories (/isis/citation/CBB000930648/)

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 Dominik Perler; (2020)
Suárez on the Unity of Material Substances (/isis/citation/CBB520750484/)

Article Nicola Polloni; (2020)
A Matter of Philosophers and Spheres: Medieval Glosses on Artephius’s Key of Wisdom (/isis/citation/CBB068339054/)

Article Novaes, Catarina Dutilh; (2012)
Form and Matter in Later Latin Medieval Logic: The Cases of Suppositio and Consequentia (/isis/citation/CBB001210530/)

Article Wood, Rega; (2009)
The Works of Richard Rufus of Cornwall: The State of the Question in 2009 (/isis/citation/CBB001020483/)

Chapter David Luscombe; (2010)
Crossing Philosophical Boundaries c. 1150–c. 1250 (/isis/citation/CBB119071619/)

Article Nicola Polloni; (2020)
Early Robert Grosseteste on Matter (/isis/citation/CBB750708755/)

Article Houser, R. E.; (2013)
Avicenna, Aliqui, and Thomas Aquinas's Doctrine of Creation (/isis/citation/CBB001450272/)

Article Freudenthal, Gad; (2008)
Samuel Ibn Tibbon's Avicennian Theory of an Eternal World (/isis/citation/CBB000930635/)

Article Gaziel, Ahuva; (2012)
Spontaneous Generation in Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Theology (/isis/citation/CBB001251468/)

Book Ingham, Mary Beth; Dreyer, Mechthild; (2004)
The Philosophical Vision of John Duns Scotus: An Introduction (/isis/citation/CBB000470714/)

Authors & Contributors
Polloni, Nicola
Klein-Braslavy, Sara
Gaziel, Ahuva
Freudenthal, Gad
Elior, Ofer
Zonta, Mauro
Concepts
Philosophy
Aristotelianism
Jewish civilization and culture
Metaphysics
Science and religion
Natural philosophy
Time Periods
Medieval
14th century
13th century
Early modern
Renaissance
Ancient
Places
Mediterranean region
Europe
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment