Maimonides: A Radical Religious Philosopher

Was Maimonides a radical philosopher who subtly argued for a naturalist world and who saw the obligation to keep the Torah’s commandments as a social and moral obligation - or was he a conservative Jewish believer who only tried to formulate philosophical arguments in favour of a revealed religion? This question has been central to the interpretation of Maimonides from the 12th century until modern times. In the four chapters of this book, Shalom Sadik argues for a radical philosophical interpretation of Maimonides. In the first chapter, Sadik analyzes the esoteric method Maimonides employed in his writing of the Guide of the Perplexed. This analysis attempts to demonstrate that in the Guide, Maimonides was addressing two distinct audiences: 1. The perplexed reader who has a solid philosophical background and is struggling with the literal interpretation of Judaism and its religious texts; 2. The student who lacks a deep philosophical background. Based on this distinction, one can perceive the different aims of Maimonides in the Guide and thereby develop a modern method of interpretation of the book - a method which Sadik proposes should be adopted by academic scholars. In the remaining three chapters, Sadik analyzes the opinion of Maimonides on the topics of the nature of free will and the psychological process of choice; examines the question of the epistemological importance of commonly accepted opinions; and deals with the relationship between the Biblical commandments and the question of natural law.