Creation, Time and Infinity in Gersonides

Creation, Time and Infinity in Gersonides T. M. RUDAVSKY 1. INTRODUCTION In this paper I should like to examine Gersonides' theory of time and the infinite as developed against the backdrop of his views on creation. Two questions are of paramount importance: the creation of the universe, and the notion of the continuum. Before proceeding to an examination of these two issues, let me first say something about their importance in Gersonides' work. Gersonides was a Jewish philosopher writing in fourteenth-century France (Avignon, 1~88-1344). He spent several years in the papal court in Avignon, and may at that time have come into contact with the views of Ockham and other fourteenth-century scholastics.' His major work Milhamot Hashem is a The questions raised by Levi ben Gerson (Gersonides, 1288-1344) are contained in his major work Mil.hamot Hashem (MH; Wars of the Lord). In this paper, reference will be made primarilyto the this Hebrew edition, which was reprinted in Leipzigin 1866. References willbe to treatise, chapter and page number. Unless otherwise specified, all translations from the Hebrew are my own. In addition, the following recent English translations of portions of Gersonides' works should be noted: S. Feldman, trans, and ed., The Wars of the Lord (Book I) (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Societyof America, x984); C. Manekin, "The Logic of Gersonides: An Analysis of Selected Doctrines, with a Partial Edition and Translation of The Book of the CorrectedSyllogism" (Columbia University Dissertation,#DA84a7427); N. Samuelson, trans., Gersonides:The Wars of the Lord; Treatise Three: On God'sKnowledge (Ontario: Pontifical Institute, 1977); J. Staub, The Creation of the World According to Gersonides (Bi-own University, Scholars Press, 198~). For an extensive bibliography of scholarly works on Gersonides, see M. Kellner, "R. Levi ben Gerson: A Bibliographical Essay" in Studies in Bibliography and Booklore 12 (1979): 13-23. References to specific articles will be made in the present essay when relevant; however, the following works should be noted in particular for their treatment of Gersonides' theories of time and creation: I. Efros, The Problem of Space in Jewish Medieval Philosophy (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1917); S. Feldman, "Gersonides' Proofs for the Creation of the Universe", Proceedingsof the American Academyfor Jewish Research 35 (1967): 113-37; S. Feldman, "Platonic Themes in Gersonides' Cosmology " in Salt BaronJubilee Volume I (Jerusalem, 1974), 383-4o5; C. Touati, La Pens(e Philosophique et Th~ologiquede Gersonide(Paris: Les l~ditions de Minuit, 1973). [25] 26 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 26:1 JANUARY 1988 sustained examination of the major philosophical issues of the day: theory of knowledge, divine omniscience and free will, providence and the creation of the universe. In this work Gersonides tries to reconcile traditional Jewish beliefs with what he feels are the strongest points in Aristotle; although a synthesis of these systems is his ultimate goal, the strictures of philosophy often win out at the expense of theology. The problems of creation and the continuum are both good examples of this attempted synthesis. Aristotle posits an eternal universe in which time is potentially, if not actually infinite.~That is, Aristotle argues that since there can be no "before" to time, time was not created; neither was the universe. Gersonides, however, is committed to the belief that God created the universe. At the same time he wants to accept certain aspects of Aristotle's theory of time and the universe. Hence Gersonides must reconcile for himselfa number of strands in Aristotelian thought: most important, he must explain the existence of the universe in time. Since Gersonides will want to argue that both time and motion are finite (and created), he must eliminate Aristotle's notion of infinitely extended time altogether. The second point concerns the status of the continuum. According to Aristotle, reality is a continuous plenum in which time and matter are infinitely divisible. Hence he must refute Zeno's paradoxes which attempt to demonstrate the feasibility of infinite divisibility. Into a universe in which all potentialities are ultimately actualized, Aristotle introduced the notion of potential infinity in order to explain how time and motion are not finite, but rather potential infinites. Aristotle wants to claim both that extended magnitudes...