Maimonides and an Eternal Universe - Essay Example

Maimonides and an Eternal Universe The Universe is the totality of existence which includes the contents of intergalactic space, stars, planets, all matter and energy. The observation by the scientist shows that the universe has been governed by the same physical laws and constraints throughout the history. It is evident that there are many theories that have been competing about the ultimate fate of the universe. Having said that, I want to persuade Moses Maimonides in this essay that he need not to object to the claim that the universe is internal and have a different point of view. It is apparent that over the years Maimonides thoughts about the origin of the world have led to much discussion. Maimonides believes in creation ex nihilo, this is the biblical view that leaves the creator with complete power to create anything at the time of his choice. He also goes ahead to prove that a well understood religion and science are not odds with each other. The problem in this view of the scripture respectability in the eyes of the religious is that there is a scripture presumption. For the clarity it is evident that Maimonides revises the literal meaning of the scripture when it is incoherent. God is one and incorporeal, thus particular scriptural texts need to be reinterpreted to align with this view (Hyman, 19). By following the Biblical, Aristotelian and Neo-Platonism Maimonides expresses God as absolutely necessary and completely uncaused unity. Due to this Maimonides follows the Neo-Platonist tradition of envisioning God as the purest of all beings. This means that it is a being that transcends any other divisions. It is evident that this sense of unity has accounted for the Maimonides strong negative theology. Also as God is a subject about whom we cannot predict of it then portrays that he transcends the normal parameters of language and conceptualization. (Hyman, 20-23). When Maimonides says that the world is created ex nihilo, some theological-political readings answers negative because of the presumptions about the philosophical of the scripture. It is apparent that according to the theological-political reading Maimonides may be suppressing his real view because he is not reinterpreting the biblical scripture. He believes that there is no proof for the Aristotelian that is available thus creation is a live option. This tends to be an inference best explanation for holding the view of prima facie. This makes Maimonides to favor ex nihilo and therefore opposing the eternity of the world (Hyman, 28). Maimonides to one group is heretic while to another his views are a model of conventional orthodoxy. His literature was often polarized by bitter attack on the truthful of his doctrines and the equally intense defense of him as the most authentic of the Jewish teachers. It is evident that Maimonides reasoning and point of view was due to the strong faith he had in the truth and eternity of the Torah of Moses and the traditions derived from it (Fox, 8). It is apparent that at the practical level of Maimonides he attempted to purge Judaism of any incident that had accrued over the ages. It seems also that he would banish the poets from the referred optimal city, which at his view the society was constituted by Torah. This enabled him to do a lot as some of his poetry was grounded in the traditions. Though Maimonides did not think that all philosophers were prophets, he was of the opinion that all prophets are philosophers. This is because philosophy meant metaphysics and natural science. The impact of this was that the impasse between the truth from Torah and the truth from philosophy could not last (Fox, 10). With time it is apparent that Torah and philosophy contradicted with one another. One of the major contradictions he faced is when Torah taught that the universe is a result of pure creation meaning that the universe was not internal. He was of the opinion of that but he can change and be of the opinion of Aristotle that the universe is eternal meaning it has no beginning and an end. At that time he argued that if Aristotle had clearly demonstrated his theory of the universe eternity, then one could have interpreted the Torah appropriately. He accepted the traditional authority only in matters of law but in matters of science however there were no authorities. But as per now I would urge Maimonides to accept the theory of the eternity of the universe as a convincing demonstration was done in the fourteenth century by Jewish natural scientist Gersonides (Fox, 13). The eternity thesis was plausible as the traditional Jewish doctrine of creation ex nihilo. This led to the advantage of sticking with the traditional view, since when it comes to change the burden of clarity is more on those who would change than on those who will remain the same. This led to him arguing that Aristotle was not teleology enough as he could not come up with a teleology for the universe. This meant that he could not find out the reason for the universe as a whole as his God was part of the universe still (Rudavsky, 67). The approach of Maimonides Christian and Islamic faith is similar to the approach to philosophy. As in the case of philosophy Islam and Christianity are true when the variations of themes are presented in Judaism but they in error when they don’t align with Judaism. He has also gone ahead and judged communities based on their relation to the theory and practice. This has made him to be viewed as the Platonist and not the consistent individual as some scholars thought him to be. It is evident the consistent treatment of Islam by Maimonides. He sees relation of Islam to Judaism as theoretical and a strict monotheism of Islam. He considers Islamic ethics and politics to be minor as to their Jews counterparts (Rudavsky, 69). His view of Christianity which he had diminished underwent a change over time. Maimonides realized that Christian theology was similar to Islamic arguments. He says that despite the errors of Muhammad and Jesus, the religions that emerged from their teachings were leading all human kind to worship one true God. This resulted to Christianity not regarded as worship of idolatry. Also it shows one can change his view of seeing things as people can see the universe as internal. In conclusion, I would urge Maimonides to accept the internal universe as at now proper clarification has been done. This was evident through the works of Jewish theologian and natural scientist Gersonides in the fourteenth century. Also, there is no any reason to resist the view of internal universe as is a way of being diverse in day today activities. Work cited Fox, M. Interpreting Maimonides: Studies in Methodology, Metaphysics, and Moral Philosophy Chicago studies in the history of Judaism.USA: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Print. Hyman, A & Ivry, L. Alfred. Maimonidean Studies, Volume 5.USA: KTAV Publishing House, Inc, 2008. Print. Rudavsky, M. T. Maimonides Volume 12 of Blackwell Great Minds. USA: John Wiley& Sons, 2009. Print Read More