Gersonides 1288 – 1344
Levi ben Gershon, known by the Latinized name Gersonides, was a fourteenth-century Jewish philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, and biblical exegete who lived in Provence. His Wars of the Lord engaged the philosophical heritage of Maimonides and Aristotle on the central questions of the soul, prophecy, divine knowledge, providence, creation, and miracle, defending a number of distinctive positions, including a creation from primordial matter and a qualified divine omniscience. He produced commentaries on most of the Hebrew Bible, original work in trigonometry and astronomy, and the invention of the Jacob's staff for celestial measurement.
Key facts
- Nationality
- French-Jewish
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Jewish, Medieval
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Gersonides:
“God knows all that he can know, and what is unknowable is unknowable in itself.”
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Attributed to Gersonides:
“Reason is the path to truth, even in matters of religion.”
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Attributed to Gersonides:
“The world has a beginning in time, but matter is the substrate from which it was formed.”
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Attributed to Gersonides:
“Astronomy is the study of the divine order in the heavens.”
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Attributed to Gersonides:
“Prophecy is a perfection of the human intellect that participates in the active intellect.”