Maimonides on the origin of the world

Bibliographic Information

Maimonides on the origin of the world

Kenneth Seeskin

Cambridge University Press, c2005

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-207) and index

Contents of Works

  • God and the problem of origin
  • Creation in the Timaeus
  • Aristotle and the arguments for eternity
  • Plotinus and metaphysical causation
  • Particularity
  • Nature, miracles, and the end of the world
  • Aftermath and conclusion

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Although Maimonides' discussion of creation is one of his greatest contributions - he himself claims that belief in creation is second in importance only to belief in God - there is still considerable debate on what that contribution was. Kenneth Seeskin takes a close look at the problems Maimonides faced and the sources from which he drew. He argues that Maimonides meant exactly what he said: the world was created by a free act of God so that the existence of everything other than God is contingent. In religious terms, existence is a gift. In order to reach this conclusion, Seeskin examines Maimonides' view of God, miracles, the limits of human knowledge, and the claims of astronomy to be a science. Clearly written and closely argued, Maimonides on the Origin of the World takes up questions of perennial interest.

Table of Contents

  • 1. God and the problem of origin
  • 2. Creation in the Timaeus
  • 3. Aristotle and the arguments for eternity
  • 4. Plotinus and the metaphysical causation
  • 5. Particularity
  • 6. Nature, miracles and the end of the world
  • 7. Aftermath and conclusion.

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