Research Catalog

Title

The microcosm of Joseph ibn Ṣaddiq / Hebrew text critically edited by Saul Horovitz ; and provided with an English translation, introduction, and notes by Jacob Haberman.

Author

Ẓaddik, Joseph ben Jacob Ibn, 1075-1149

Publication

Madison [N.J.] : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press ; London ; Cranbury, NJ : Associated University Presses, c2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Haberman, Jacob
• Horovitz, S. (Saul), 1859-1921

Description

217, xix, 79 p.; 25 cm.

Summary

"The twelfth-century Microcosm of Joseph Ibn Saddiq is the first presentation in Jewish literature of a scheme embracing the totality of human knowledge. As such, it is naturally set out in bold strokes of the brush, and, as being addressed to a fairly wide readership possessed of what we would term secondary education, perhaps did not even aim at the intellectual refinement of such works as Ibn Gabirol's Fount of Life and Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed - the latter addressed to one outstanding pupil, and composed for a small coterie capable of disciplined philosophical thinking. It is thus the more representative of the intellectual climate of contemporary Spanish Jewry. The Microcosm is nevertheless remarkable for the purity of its God-concept and for the absence of any trace of superstition in the ideas that it espouses." "The Microcosm is divided into four small treatises, the contents of which are as follows: Treatise I. After beginning with the customary laudation of God and stating the motives which impelled him to compose his work, the author enumerates the four sources of knowledge: (1) perceived truths (or sensible knowledge); (2) conventional beliefs; (3) traditional truths; and (4) first principles (or primary notions). The author next considers matter and form, and substance and accident, which are conceived as existing in both material and spiritual things. The physical world is composed of four elements (fire, air, water, and earth), but the celestial sphere is composed of a "fifth element" which possesses none of the qualities of the other elements. The treatise concludes with microcosmic analogies between man and universe." "Treatise II. In the second treatise the author discusses psychological and physiological matters. The existence of the three souls - vegetative, animal and rational - in man is ostensibly proved, and their functions are discussed in detail. The author argues that the rational soul is neither an accident, nor a mixture of the elements, nor of the nature of the body. Neither is it to be viewed as being in the body or outside of it. Its envelopment of the body is more subtle than the body's envelopment itself; indeed, the soul is closer to the body than the parts of the body to each other. The chief function of the rational soul is to learn, investigate, and to acquire a conception of the spiritual world which will lead man to the knowledge of God." "Treatise III. The last two treatises of The Microcosm are devoted to theological questions. The correct approach to the knowledge of God, Saddiq affirms, is by observing His activities which suggest His attributes. His existence follows as a corollary from the createdness of the world for which proofs are offered. The creation was an act of love which produced a perfect world, apparent evil in it enhancing the beauty of the whole. Only negative attributes may properly be applied to God, who is indefinable." "Treatise IV. The concluding treatise deals with the duties of man, obedience and disobedience, reward and punishment, and resurrection. Though man, due to the weakness of his intellect may not understand them, obedience to the commandments of God, all of which contain subtle mysteries, is man's duty and an expression of the gratitude he owes to his maker and benefactor, who gave them to him for his own good."--BOOK JACKET.

Uniform Title

ʻOlam ha-ḳaṭan. English & Hebrew

Alternative Title

ʻOlam ha-ḳaṭan.

Subjects

• Theological anthropology > Judaism > Early works to 1800
• Philosophical anthropology > Early works to 1800
• God (Judaism) > Early works to 1800
• Microcosm and macrocosm > Early works to 1800

Note

• Includes the reprinted text of Horovitz's Der Mikrokosmos des Josef Ibn Ṣaddiḳ (Breslau : Jüdisch-theologischen Seminar, Fränckel'scher Stiftung, 1903).

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-164) and indexes.

Language (note)

• Text in Hebrew and English; commentary in English and German.

ISBN

0838638678

LCCN

2002190219

OCLC

• ocm48951029
• SCSB-4816211

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries