Jewish Kalam
Encyclopedia
Jewish Kalam was an early-medieval style of Jewish philosophy that evolved in response to the Islamic Kalam
, which in turn was a reaction against Aristotelian
philosophy. The term "Jewish Kalam" is used by modern historians, but is not a term by which Jewish Kalamic thinkers designated themselves. In all likelihood, they were simply known as Mutakallimūn (Kalamists), as they are referred to by Maimonides
(called Rambam by Jewish scholars) and other Jewish writers.
The best known practitioner of Jewish Kalam was Saadia Gaon
, and Jewish Kalam represented the philosophical battlefield upon which Saadia attacked his Karaitic
opponents. Rambam in The Guide frequently references and disputes positions of the Mutakallimūn — the Kalam practitioners — both Jewish and Islamic, and in general conveys an opinion of Kalam thought which is highly uncomplimentary. Judah Halevi also makes reference to Jewish followers of the Kalam, but mentions only the Karaites .
Rambam continues in that section to provide a history of Kalamic thought, its sources and subsequent development, and then proceeds to condemn a certain laxity of thought to be found in this philosophical school. In particular, Rambam takes strong issue with the Kalamic proof of God's existence and unity from the Creation of the World in time. While Rambam himself does regard the world as having been created ex nihilo (rather than being eternally existing, as Aristotle
would have it; see GP, Book II Chapter 25, for example), Rambam also considers this proposition as being far from obvious, and in all likelihood not susceptible to proof. He thus regards the Kalamic approach as starting from a position of convenience rather than from an irrefutable premise, and their methodology as being entirely tainted by their eagerness to produce certain results which support their prior beliefs.
Additionally he considers their premises to "run counter to the nature of existence that is perceived." He writes that "every one of their premises, with few exceptions, is contradicted by what is perceived of the nature of that which exists, so that doubts come up with regard to them." However, it can be noted below, that in many cases the Kalamists were indeed more prescient than Rambam himself in their beliefs regarding the discrete nature of matter, existence of vacuum, and other physical characteristics of the natural world.
Not all of these principles were elements of the Jewish Kalam as practiced by particular thinkers. For example , atomism was a principle embraced by Karaites but not by the Geonim
or later Karaites. Wolfson considers it doubtful whether any Jewish thinkers ever embraced the denial of causality.
Because the composition of written works was yet uncommon at the time that the Jewish Kalam flourished, there are few surviving books from this era . Instead, what we have are selected quotes and paraphrases such as found in Rambam and Saadia, but mostly we have what Wolfson calls "mere names," individuals whom are identified as prominent Kalamic thinkers but who left no evidence of their work or lives. Wolfson provides a list of some of these "mere names." He also suggests that all the Jewish thinkers of this period were likely referred to as Mutakallimūn, as suggested by references from Moses ibn Ezra
and others.
into Hebrew, and so their influence greatly diminished as the Golden Age of Arabic-language Jewish scholarship drew to a close .
Kalam
ʿIlm al-Kalām is the Islamic philosophical discipline of seeking theological principles through dialectic. Kalām in Islamic practice relates to the discipline of seeking theological knowledge through debate and argument. A scholar of kalām is referred to as a mutakallim...
, which in turn was a reaction against Aristotelian
Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings...
philosophy. The term "Jewish Kalam" is used by modern historians, but is not a term by which Jewish Kalamic thinkers designated themselves. In all likelihood, they were simply known as Mutakallimūn (Kalamists), as they are referred to by Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
(called Rambam by Jewish scholars) and other Jewish writers.
The best known practitioner of Jewish Kalam was Saadia Gaon
Saadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...
, and Jewish Kalam represented the philosophical battlefield upon which Saadia attacked his Karaitic
Karaite Judaism
Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme legal authority in Halakhah, as well as in theology...
opponents. Rambam in The Guide frequently references and disputes positions of the Mutakallimūn — the Kalam practitioners — both Jewish and Islamic, and in general conveys an opinion of Kalam thought which is highly uncomplimentary. Judah Halevi also makes reference to Jewish followers of the Kalam, but mentions only the Karaites .
Basic principles of Jewish Kalam
Some of the basic principles of the Jewish Kalam are as follow . See also Rambam's characterization of the principles below.- Observation of the natural world reveals the existence of a Creator
- The world/universe must have been created ex nihiloEx nihiloEx nihilo is a Latin phrase meaning "out of nothing". It often appears in conjunction with the concept of creation, as in creatio ex nihilo, meaning "creation out of nothing"—chiefly in philosophical or theological contexts, but also occurs in other fields.In theology, the common phrase creatio ex...
rather than from preexisting matter - The Creator is absolutely different (opposite) from anything in the created world
- The Creator is a perfect unity, with no division
- Human moral criteria can be applied to God. To say God is "wise" or God is "good" is to apply those terms meaningfully, and their meaning is related to the mundane meaning of those terms (cf. Rambam)
Rambam's characterization
Rambam refers repeatedly to the Mutakallimūn (Kalam philosophers) in his Guide to the Perplexed. Some examples of his characterization of Kalamic thought can be found at the end of Book I (Chapters 73–76), see also . The translation which follows is from :Rambam continues in that section to provide a history of Kalamic thought, its sources and subsequent development, and then proceeds to condemn a certain laxity of thought to be found in this philosophical school. In particular, Rambam takes strong issue with the Kalamic proof of God's existence and unity from the Creation of the World in time. While Rambam himself does regard the world as having been created ex nihilo (rather than being eternally existing, as Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
would have it; see GP, Book II Chapter 25, for example), Rambam also considers this proposition as being far from obvious, and in all likelihood not susceptible to proof. He thus regards the Kalamic approach as starting from a position of convenience rather than from an irrefutable premise, and their methodology as being entirely tainted by their eagerness to produce certain results which support their prior beliefs.
Additionally he considers their premises to "run counter to the nature of existence that is perceived." He writes that "every one of their premises, with few exceptions, is contradicted by what is perceived of the nature of that which exists, so that doubts come up with regard to them." However, it can be noted below, that in many cases the Kalamists were indeed more prescient than Rambam himself in their beliefs regarding the discrete nature of matter, existence of vacuum, and other physical characteristics of the natural world.
Principles of Kalam according to Rambam
In Book I Chapter 73, Rambam presents the 12 premises of the Mutakallimūn, and disputes most of them. The premises are, in brief, as follow:- Existence of atoms: The world is composed of small particles which are not divisible, and which have no identifying essential properties (only accidents).
- Existence of vacuum: There exist certain spaces which are devoid of all substance and material.
- Time is discrete: Time is made up of fundamental instants which are not themselves subject to further division.
- Every body is subject to accidents: Any body must have either an accident (non-essential feature) or its opposite. A body cannot be without accidents.
- These accidents exist in the atom.
- An atom has one-instant duration: An atom does not persist (its accidents do not persist) more than one moment of time. God must repeatedly create these accidents at each time instant, or they permanently go out of existence.
- Accidents in bodies also do not persist and must be recreated. This and the previous principle constitute a denial of causalityCausalityCausality is the relationship between an event and a second event , where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first....
. - Only substance and accident exist: Bodies differ only in regard to their accidents.
- Accidents subsist in a common substratum: An accident cannot subsist in another accident.
- Any state of affairs which can be imagined is admissible in intellectual argument.
- All kinds of infinity are impossible.
- The senses may be in error: The senses should not be trusted in matters of demonstration.
Not all of these principles were elements of the Jewish Kalam as practiced by particular thinkers. For example , atomism was a principle embraced by Karaites but not by the Geonim
Geonim
Geonim were the presidents of the two great Babylonian, Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community world wide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta who wielded secular authority...
or later Karaites. Wolfson considers it doubtful whether any Jewish thinkers ever embraced the denial of causality.
Arguments of Kalam according to Rambam
In Book I Chapter 74, Rambam reproduces the seven methods by which the Mutakallimūn demonstrate that the world is created in time. In Chapter 75, Rambam reproduces the five methods by which the Mutakallimūn demonstrate the unity of God. In Chapter 76, Rambam reproduces the three methods by which the Mutakallimūn demonstrate the incorporeality of God. Needless to say, Rambam finds most of these methods to be philosophically inadequate and naïve.Jewish Kalam personalities
Among the personalities associate with the Jewish Kalam are the following, many of whom were Karaites:Rabbinites
- Saadia GaonSaadia GaonSaʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...
- Hai GaonHai GaonHai ben Sherira , was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the early 11th century. He was born in 939 and died on March 28, 1038...
- David Ibn Merwan Al-Mukammas
- Samuel ben HofniSamuel ben HofniSamuel ben Hofni was the last gaon of Sura...
- Note: Jewish Kalam is adopted by the Rabbinite Academies of Kairouan, Fostat, Lucena, Toledo and Cordoba as the Babylonian Jewish Academies in Sura, Pumbeditha, Basra and Baghdad close and transfer their intellectual/religious heritage to al-Andalus.
Karaites
- Yaqub al-Qirqisani
- Yefet ben AliYefet ben AliYefet ben Ali was perhaps the foremost Karaite commentator on the Bible, during the "Golden Age of Karaism". He lived during the 10th century, a native of Basra Later in his life, he moved to Jerusalem, between 950 and 980, where he died...
- Yeshua ben Yehuda
- Daniel al-Qumisi
- Joseph al Basir
- Jeshua ben JudahJeshua ben JudahJeshua ben Judah was a Karaite scholar, exegete and philosopher, who lived in eleventh-century Iraq or at Jerusalem.He was pupil of Joseph ben Abraham ha-Ro'eh...
- Judah HadassiJudah HadassiJudah ben Elijah Hadassi was a Karaite Jewish scholar, controversialist, and liturgist who flourished at Constantinople in the middle of the twelfth century...
Because the composition of written works was yet uncommon at the time that the Jewish Kalam flourished, there are few surviving books from this era . Instead, what we have are selected quotes and paraphrases such as found in Rambam and Saadia, but mostly we have what Wolfson calls "mere names," individuals whom are identified as prominent Kalamic thinkers but who left no evidence of their work or lives. Wolfson provides a list of some of these "mere names." He also suggests that all the Jewish thinkers of this period were likely referred to as Mutakallimūn, as suggested by references from Moses ibn Ezra
Moses ibn Ezra
Rabbi Moses ben Jacob ibn Ezra, known as ha-Sallah was a Jewish, Spanish philosopher, linguist, and poet. He was born at Granada about 1055 – 1060, and died after 1138. Ezra is Jewish by religion but is also considered a great influence in the Arabic world in regards to his works...
and others.
Legacy of the Kalam
Jewish Kalamic thought had influences on many later Jewish philosophers including Judah HaLevi, Joseph ibn Zaddik, Bachya ibn Pakuda, and Rambam, who criticized it vigorously. Many of the works of the Jewish Kalamists were not translated from ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
into Hebrew, and so their influence greatly diminished as the Golden Age of Arabic-language Jewish scholarship drew to a close .