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    Isaac Albalag — Carmelics
    Thinkers/Isaac Albalag
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    Isaac Albalag

    medievalMedieval Jewish Philosophy / Averroism

    Isaac Albalag was a thirteenth-century Jewish philosopher active in Catalonia or southern France, best known for his Hebrew translation and critical commentary on al-Ghazali's Maqasid al-Falasifa, which he titled Tiqqun ha-De'ot (Emendation of Opinions). A committed Averroist, he held that philosophical and theological truths belong to entirely separate epistemic domains — an early and explicit articulation of the double truth doctrine in Jewish thought. He engaged critically with Avicenna's metaphysics, particularly rejecting the Avicennian proof for God's existence via the necessary/contingent distinction in favor of an Aristotelian-Averroistic framework.

    WWikipedia

    Notable Achievements

    1

    Translated al-Ghazali's Maqasid al-Falasifa into Hebrew as Tiqqun ha-De'ot, with original critical glosses

    2

    Articulated an explicit double truth doctrine separating the domains of philosophy and revealed religion

    3

    Critiqued Avicenna's necessary/contingent proof for the Necessary Existent on Averroist metaphysical grounds

    4

    Introduced rigorous Averroistic method into medieval Hebrew philosophical literature

    5

    Argued that Aristotelian cosmology, including eternal creation, need not be reconciled with Torah on philosophical terms

    Positions & Arguments(1)

    Natural Theology

    claim

    Avicenna's conception of being, used to establish the Necessary Existent, is spurious

    Against an attribute of God

    claim

    Avicenna's conception of being, used to establish the Necessary Existent, is spurious

    At a Glance

    Ideas

    1

    Topics

    2

    Era

    medieval

    Tradition

    Medieval Jewish Philosophy / Averroism

    Topic Influence

    Against an attribute of God1
    Natural Theology1

    Related Thinkers

    Immanuel Kant2 sharedThomas Aquinas2 sharedF.W.J. Schelling2 sharedFriedrich Nietzsche2 sharedNicolas Malebranche2 sharedAl-Ghazali2 sharedAvicenna2 sharedal-Ghazali2 shared

    Dive Deeper

    Explore Against an attribute of God→See Natural Theology→