Moses of Narbone Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy

M Moses of Narbonne Biography Born: Perpigan, Around 1300 Not much is known about the biographical details of Narboni. He was born in Perpignan in the Kingdom of Majorca. He probably made his living as a doctor. He traveled around the Kingdom of Aragon during the late 1340s and early 1350s and later in Northern Castile. He returned to his city of birth, Perpignan, at the beginning of the 1360s, where he passed away a few years later. Works: Narboni was a prolific writer. Most of his writings are commentaries on the philosophical writings of other philosophers (or supercommentaries on the commentaries of Averroes on Aristotle). These can be classified into five distinct categories: Died: Perpignan, 1362 or a Little Be After Shalom Sadik Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Scheva, Israel Abstract Rabbi Moses of Narbonne (frequently referred to as Moses Narboni or the Narboni) was a Jewish Averroist philosopher. He was most known for his radical naturalist position, especially his belief in the eternity of the world and his metaphorical interpretations of various Biblical passages. The bulk of his works are commentaries on philosophical writings of other philosophers. His most important philosophical book was his commentary on Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. Alternate Names ▶ Moses Ben Joshua; ▶ Mestre Vidal Bellshom; ▶ Maestro Vidal Blasom © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 M. Sgarbi (ed.), Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_155-1 I. Personal treatises or commentaries on the Bible and midrashim: Pirḳei Moshe (Sirat 1970) and Ma’amar bi-Beḥirah (Treatise on Free Will) are philosophical tracts, as are two commentaries on Lamentations and on Shi’ur Ḳomah (Altmann 1967), an esoteric piece of Hekhalot literature that discusses secret divine names and so-called measurements of the divine body. However, this latter commentary, that done with the definition of divinity, was in fact more a supercommnentary on R. Ibn Ezra’s commentary on Exodus than an independant work. II. Supercommentaries on a number of Averroes’ commentaries, including Averroes’: abridged (“middle”) commentary on Aristotle‘s Physics; commentary and paraphrase of the 2 Organon; commentary on the De Caelo et Mundo; commentary on Alexander of Aphrodisias‘ analysis of the intellect; and abridged commentary on the Metaphysics. It should be noted that although his book Shelemut ha-Nefesh (Perfection of the Soul) was written as a treatise, it draws heavily upon Aristotle‘s and Averroes’ views on the soul. III. Commentaries on the works of other philosophers: Averroes’ astronomical text De Substantia Orbis, Treatise on the Hylic Intellect (describing its conjunction with the Active Intellect) (Bland 1982), and his Dissertation on Physics; Avicenna‘s Canon (part four); Ghazali‘s Maḳaṣid al-Falasifah (The Opinion of the Philosopher); Ibn Tufail’s philosophical novel Hayy ibn Yaqzan; and Abraham ibn Ezra‘s commentary on Genesis 11:2. IV. Commentaries on Maimonides: one on the Guide of the Perplexed as well as a lexicon to the Guide called Peirush mi-Millot ha-Higgayon (Various commentaries on Maimonides 1961). V. Medical works: Oraḥ Ḥayyim (The Way of Life). The majority of his supercommentaries are extant only in manuscript. Because most of Narboni’s writings are commentaries or supercommentaries, and not original thought per se, it can be challenging to discern when he is explaining his own opinion and when he is only explaining the beliefs of a philosopher whom he is commenting on. Philosophical Opinions (Hayoun 1982): Narboni was well known for his radical naturalistic positions, i.e., his belief in the eternity of the Moses of Narbonne world and his metaphorical interpretation of some of the most important stories of the Bible. He reveals his opinion most clearly in what is arguably his most important philosophical work, his commentary on the Guide of the Perplexed, wherein he interprets Maimonides as a very radical naturalist thinker. For example, as against the literal interpretation of the Guide, he interprets Maimonides as rejecting the creation of the world. According to Narboni, Maimonides said that he believed in creation for purely political and pedagogical reasons. Narboni even contends that Maimonides was an unbeliever in the revelation at Sinai who in reality understood this particular Biblical story as a parable for the intellectual perfection of Moses. References Primary Literature Altmann, A. 1967. ‘Moses Narboni’s “Epistle on Shi’ur Qoma”. A Critical Edition of the Hebrew Text with an Introduction and an Annotated English Translation. In Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 225–288. Cambridge, MA. Bland, K.. 1982. The epistle on the possibility of conjunction with the active intellect by Ibn Rushd with the commentary of Moses Narboni. A critical edition and annotated translation. The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New-York. Sirat, C. 1970. Les chapitres de Moïse de Moshé Narboni. In Tarbiz, vol. 39, 287–306. (Hebrew). Various commentaries on Maimonides’. 1961. Guide of the perplexed. In Shelosha kadmonei mefarshe Ha’more (Three early commentators on the guide). Jerusalem. Secondary Literature Hayoun, M. 1982. La theologie et la philosophie de Moïse de Narbonne. Paris. (French).