Skip to content
Home/ Philosopher-King in Medieval and R
Philosopher-King in Medieval and R

Philosopher-King in Medieval and R

by Melamed, Abraham
No customer reviews yet ISBN 9780791455685

This original treatment of medieval and Renaissance Jewish thinkers expands the scope of Jewish philosophy and adds new depth to our understanding of Jewish culture of the period. While medieval Christian political philosophy was based on Aristotle's Politics, Muslim and Jewish philosophy adhered to the Platonic tradition. In this book, Abraham Melamed explores a major aspect of this tradition--the theory of the philosopher-king--as it manifested itself in medieval Jewish political philosophy, tracing the theory's emergence in Jewish thought as well as its patterns of transmittal, adaptation, and absorption. The Maimonidean encounter with the theory, via al-Farabi, is also examined, as is its influence upon later scholars such as Felaquera, ibn Latif, Narboni, Shemtov ibn Shemtov, Polkar, Alemanno, Abarbanel, and others. Also discussed is the influence of Averroe's commentary on Plato's Republic, and the Machiavellian rejection of the theory of the philosopher-king and its influence upon early modern Jewish scholars, such as Simone Luzzatto and Spinoza, who rejected it in favor of a so-called "Republican" attitude.

About the author

Product details

Pub dateOct 24, 2002
ISBN-100791455688
ISBN-139780791455685
LanguageEnglish
Last updated 2026-03-15 20:07
$36.64
In stock soon — order now to reserve your copy
Delivery by Monday, September 14, 2026
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from History & Surveys - Medieval
See all
Selected Writings of Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas, Thomas
$12.78
Consolation of Philosophy (Revised)
Boethius, Ancius
$11.39
Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated
Rubenstein, Richard E
$16.53
Anselm and Nicholas of Cusa
Jaspers, Ralph
$12.12
Ockham's Nominalism: A Philosophical Introduction
Panaccio, Claude
$91.38
Oxford Handbook of Medieval Philosophy
This <em>Handbook</em> is intended to show the links between the philosophy written in the Middle Ages and that being done today. Essays by over twenty medieval specialists, who are also familiar with contemporary discussions, explore areas in logic and philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology, moral psychology ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy and philosophy of religion. Each topic has been chosen because it is of present philosophical interest, but a more or less similar set of questions was also discussed in the Middle Ages. No party-line has been set about the extent of the similarity. Some writers (e.g. Panaccio on Universals&#x3b; Cesalli on States of Affairs) argue that there are the closest continuities. Others (e.g. Thom on Logical Form&#x3b; Pink on Freedom of the Will) stress the differences. All, however, share the aim of providing new analyses of medieval texts and of writing in a manner that is clear and comprehensible to philosophers who are not medieval specialists. <p/>The <em>Handbook </em>begins with eleven chapters looking at the history of medieval philosophy period by period, and region by region. They constitute the fullest, most wide-ranging and up-to-date chronological survey of medieval philosophy available. All four traditions - Greek, Latin, Islamic and Jewish (in Arabic, and in Hebrew) - are considered, and the Latin tradition is traced from late antiquity through to the seventeenth century and beyond.
$71.63