Maimonides’ Ethics: The Encounter of Philosophic and Religious Morality

by Raymond L. Weiss

Publisher:

University of Chicago Press

, 1991

Overview

In this book Raymond L. Weiss examines how a seminal Jewish thinker negotiates the philosophical conflict between Athens and Jerusalem in the crucial area of ethics. Maimonides, a master of both the classical and the biblical-rabbinic traditions, reconciled their differing views of morality primarily in the context of Jewish jurisprudence. Taking into consideration the entire corpus of Maimonides’ writings, Weiss focuses on the ethical sections of the Commentary on the Mishnah and the Mishneh Torah, but also discusses the Guide of the Perplexed, the letters of Maimonides, and his medical works.

The gulf between classical philosophy and the Torah made the task of Maimonides extraordinarily difficult. Weiss shows that Maimonides subtly preserves the tension between those traditions while producing a practical accommodation between them. To explain how Maimonides was able to accomplish this twofold goal, Weiss takes seriously the multilevel character of Maimonides’ works. Weiss interprets Maimonides as a heterodox thinker who, with utter integrity, faces the Law’s encounter with philosophy and gives both the Torah and philosophy their due.

Key Features

• Focuses on the ethical sections of the Commentary on the Mishnah and the Mishneh Torah
• Examines how a seminal Jewish thinker negotiates the philosophical conflict between Athens and Jerusalem in the crucial area of ethics

Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations and a Note on the Text
• Introduction

I. The Commentary on the Mishnah

• 1. Eight Chapters: The Adaptation of Philosophic Ethics to the Jewish Community
• 2. The Religious Morality: Piety
• 3. Philosophic Ethics and the Commandments

II. The Mishneh Torah

• 4. Introduction to the Ethics of the Code
• 5. The “Laws Concerning Character Traits” (Hilkhot De’ot): Philosophic Ethics and Piety
• 6. The Commandments in the “Laws Concerning Character Traits”
• 7. Additional Moral and Religious Teachings in the Code

III. The Guide of the Perplexed

• 8. Some Ethical Issues in the Guide
• Towards an Overview: Theoria and Praxis
• Appendix 1: Torah and Mitsvah
• Appendix 2: The Noahidic Commandments
• Select Bibliography
• Index of Maimonidean Passages
• General Index

Product Details

• Title: Maimonides’ Ethics: The Encounter of Philosophic and Religious Morality
• Author: Raymond L. Weiss
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Print Publication Date: 1991
• Pages: 234
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Resource ID: LLS:MAIMONIDESETHICS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-02-07T17:05:59Z

About Raymond L. Weiss

Raymond L. Weiss is professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, is the coeditor of Ethical Writings of Maimonides.