In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Book Reviews 153 As a whole this book gives a sober and balanced assessment of Spain and the Jews. If one couples it with reading Richard Barnett's posthumous second volume of the Sephardi Heritage, The Western Sephardim (1989), and Henry Mechoulan's seven-hundred-page LesJuifs d'Espagne: histoire d'une diaspora 1492-1992 (1992), one gets a fine overview of this important epoch in Jewish history. Alan D. Corre Department of Hebrew Studies University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee Maintonides' Ethics: The Encounter of Philosophic and Religious Morality, by Raymond L. Weiss. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. 224 pp. $29.95. As on other matters, Maimonides incorporates philosophy into his discussions of moral and legal concerns. But philosophy in its preoccupation with knowledge and truth seems directly at odds with halakhah and its focus on obedience and authority. Ethics, in the philosophic tradition familiar to Maimonides, concerns itself with character traits and virtues, which are required for the proper development of human nature and are known by practical wisdom. The Jewish tradition, instead, deals with commandments and prohibitions, the mitzvot implied in the Torah. They are prescribed by divine command and are intended to lead to an imitation of God and life in the world to come. The ideal of philosophic morality is exemplified in "the virtuous gentleman "; the ideal of religious morality is exemplified by the"pious Jew." In Maimonides' Ethics Raymond Weiss shows, on the one hand, how Maimonides mitigates the conflict between philosophy and Torah and argues, on the other, that Maimonides nevertheless considers theoria, the apprehension of truth, to be fundamentally different from pra:xis, the governance of conduct. There are points of congruence but no perfect harmony between the intellectual focus of philosophy and the juridical focus of Torah. Weiss presents a thematic and textual analysis of "The Eight Chapters" (Shemonah Peraqim) from the Commentary on the Mishnah (ch. 1-3) and of the "Laws Concerning Character Traits" (Hi/kot De'ot) from Book I of the Mishneh Torah (ch. 4-7). In both Maimonides explicitly relies on insights from Greek ethics but within the framework ofelucidating the Law 154 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 for "the well-being of the Jewish people." Similar suggestions emerge in the Guide in connection with moral preparation required for prophecy, compassion towards the unfortunate, and the ways of imitating God (ch. 8). In a concluding section ("Towards an Overview") Weiss summarizes Maimonides' views on tbeoria and praxis, showing the influence of Alfarabi and the divergence from Aquinas. Maimonides' allusions to character traits, the standard of the mean, the contemplative end of human beings, the model of health and healing for the soul, all serve to render Greek ethics acceptable to Jewish morality. A concern with proper character traits becomes part of the mitzvot. The standard of the mean becomes a way of determining what moral behavior is commanded. The contemplative end of human beings becomes directed towards wisdom of God, which in turn leads to imitation of God. Maimonides' interpretations of rabbinic discussions on such issues as piety, honesty, contentment, anger, moderation, generosity, joyfulness, exemplary conduct, and truthful speech, draw on parallels with Greek virtues. In general, Maimonides implies that the exercise of virtue and the fulfillment of commandments are directed towards the same end, namely, the intellectual perfection of human beings. Wisdom (lJokmab) and piety (lJasid) overlap; they converge towards a contemplation of God. While Maimonides thus accommodates religious morality to philosophic ethics, he does not, on Weiss' account, eliminate conflict between them. Scriptural prescriptions, for example, tend towards extremes. Maimonides nevertheless suggests that such prescriptions are intended to develop traits that reflect a mean for the benefit of the individual. But, as Weiss shows, the account falters. Some commandments prescribe opposite extremes; others are hardly for the benefit of individuals. In light of obvious difficulties in harmonizing two disparate moral traditions, why would Maimonides attempt to do so? Because insofar as character traits and virtue are rooted in human nature, Greek ethics adds clarification as well as a foundation to religious morality. Unlike his Greek predecessors, however, Maimonides maintains that the human natural end is purely intellectual and not political. The former deals with...

pdf