A Hebrew Encyclopedia of the Thirteenth Century. Natural Philosophy in Judah ben Solomon ha-Cohen’s Midrash ha-Ḥokhmah.

Resianne Fontaine, Ph.D. (1986), is Senior Lecturer Emerita in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the University of Amsterdam. She publishes on medieval Jewish thought. She is co-editor of Aleph. Historical Studies in Science and Judaism.

Preface

Part 1 Judah ha-Cohen’s Midrash ha-Ḥokhmah: Sources, Critique, Context



1 Introduction: Previous Research and Biographical Details

 1 Biographical Details



2 Judah ha-Cohen’s Introduction to the Midrash ha-Ḥokhmah

 1 The Sciences: Division, Names, and Titles of Books

 2 The Contents and Structure of the MḤ

 3 The Hierarchy of the Sciences and the Three Worlds

 4 Judah’s Motivation

 5 Criticism and Ambivalence



3 Sources and Use of Sources in the Midrash ha-Ḥokhmah’s Section on Natural Philosophy

 1 Authors and Sources Mentioned in the MḤ

 2 Sources Actually Used in the MḤ’s Survey of Aristotle’s Natural Philosophy

 3 Judah ha-Cohen’s Use of Sources

 4 Brevity vs Clarity: Confusion and Errors

 5 The Language of the MḤ



4 Judah ha-Cohen’s Critique of Aristotelian Natural Philosophy

 1 Judah’s Comments on Aristotelian Doctrines in His Survey of Natural Philosophy

 2 Criticism of Aristotelian Philosophy as a Whole



5 The Controversy between Aristotle and Galen

 1 On the Parts of Animals

 2 On the Generation of Animals



6 Judah ha-Cohen’s Explanation of Biblical Verses

 Introduction

 1 Thematic Survey of Judah’s Philosophical Explanations of Biblical Verses

 2 Comments That Criticize the Aristotelian System of Thought

 3 Additions to Judah’s Philosophical Survey

 4 Judah’s Biblical Exegesis in Context



7 Judah ha-Cohen’s Place in the History of Medieval Jewish Philosophy

 1 The Reception of Averroes

 2 Maimonides and the Maimonidean Controversy

 3 Judah’s Attitude towards Aristotle’s Philosophy

 4 The Three Worlds

 5 The MḤ as the First Hebrew Encyclopedia of Science and Philosophy

 6 Reception

 7 The MḤ within the Context of the Thirteenth Century



Appendix A: Examples of Judah’s Manner of Excerpting Averroes’ Commentaries



Appendix B: Arabic Words in the Midrash ha-Ḥokhmah



Part 2 Critical Edition and English Translation of the Introduction and the Section on Natural Philosophy of the Midrash ha-Ḥokhmah



Introduction to the Edition



Appendix: Additional Material in MS O



Author’s Introduction to the MḤ



Physics



On the Heaven



On Generation and Corruption



Meteorology



On Animals

 The Parts of Animals

 The Generation of Animals



On the Soul



On Sense and Sensible Objects



Hebrew-Arabic Glossary

Bibliography

Index