Overview
ON MAIMONIDES, like other titles in the Wadsworth Philosopher's Series, offers a concise, yet comprehensive, introduction to this philosopher's most important ideas. Presenting the most important insights of well over a hundred seminal philosophers in both the Eastern and Western traditions, the Wadsworth Philosophers Series contains volumes written by scholars noted for their excellence in teaching and for their well-versed comprehension of each featured philosopher's major works and contributions. These titles have proven valuable in a number of ways. Serving as standalone texts when tackling a philosophers' original sources or as helpful resources for focusing philosophy students' engagements with these philosopher's often conceptually daunting works, these titles have also gained extraordinary popularity with a lay readership and quite often serve as "refreshers" for philosophy instructors.
Synopsis
Maimonides did not consider himself to be a philosopher; he was a rabbi, judge, communal leader, and physician. Yet his work transformed Judaic thought and influenced Aquinas, Spinoza, Leibniz and Levinas. Manekin (U. of Maryland) examines Maimonides and his concept of God, the creation, divine governance, providence, and the secret of human happiness, which Maimonides believed was finding the eternal truth and then continually contemplating it. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR