Maimonides' Moral Psychology: The Emotions, the Virtues, and the Good Life

Moses Maimonides is undoubtedly the most famous rationalist of the Jewish tradition, portraying all of Torah as an intellectual project to know the deepest secrets of God and nature. This book, however, argues that this characterization of Maimonides is only partially true. Notwithstanding his focus on the primacy of intellect, he views the emotions or passions as central to the good life. Maimonides does so through imbuing his works the Mishneh Torah and Guide of the Perplexed with a series of emotions that are grounded in conflicting moral and psychological archetypes: love vs. fear, moderation vs. abstinence, courage vs. awe, anger vs. calmness, pride vs. humility, and justice vs. compassion.

Maimonides' Moral Psychology contends that these contrasting emotional paradigms represent two distinct approaches to the world that exist simultaneously in Maimonides' writings. One is grounded in an understanding and imitation of nature, while the other derives from a skeptical view of the world. In combining the Aristotelian emphasis on virtue and happiness with the Biblical priority of humility and compassion, Maimonides also shows both the psychological and social dangers of each approach if it lacks the other as a corrective.