Maimonides vs Thomas Aquinas
Maimonides and Aquinas are the two greatest medieval philosophers of the Abrahamic tradition outside Islam. Aquinas read Maimonides — whom he calls Rabbi Moses — carefully and engaged the Guide of the Perplexed throughout the Summa Theologica.
Key differences at a glance
| Maimonides | Thomas Aquinas | |
|---|---|---|
| Talk of God | Negative theology: we know what God is not, not what God is. | Analogy: divine and creaturely terms apply by real proportion. |
| Eternity of the world | Its non-eternity is demonstrable by reason. | Creation is accepted on faith but cannot be philosophically proved. |
| Style | Esoteric Guide written for the philosophically perplexed. | Systematic Summa addressed to students of theology. |
Biographical facts
| Maimonides | Thomas Aquinas | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | 1138 – 1204 | 1225 – 1274 |
| Nationality | Sephardic Jewish | Italian |
| Era | Medieval | Medieval |
| Movements | Medieval Philosophy, Jewish Philosophy | Medieval Philosophy, Scholasticism, Christian Philosophy |
| Profile | Maimonides → | Thomas Aquinas → |
Where they agree
Both held that philosophy and scriptural revelation can be reconciled, both worked within the Aristotelian tradition, both demonstrated the existence of God, and both held the immortality of the soul. Maimonides shaped Aquinas's discussion of divine attributes substantially.
Where they disagree
Maimonides held a strong negative theology: the divine attributes mentioned in scripture are equivocal, and we can know what God is not but not what God is. Aquinas rejected pure equivocation in favor of analogy: the same terms apply to God and creatures analogically, with a real if attenuated proportion between the two. They also differ on the eternity of the world: Maimonides held its non-eternity is demonstrable, Aquinas held creation must be accepted on faith but cannot be philosophically proved.
Representative quotes
Maimonides
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“[…] one should accept the truth from whatever source it proceeds.”
Foreword to The Eight Chapters Of Maimonides On Ethics , translated by Joseph I. Gorfinkle, Ph.D. Columbia University Press, New York (1912). Page 35-36 . | Variant: "Accept the truth from whatever source it comes." Introduction to the Shemonah Peraqim , as quoted in Truth and Compassion: Essays on Judaism and Religion in Memory of Rabbi Dr. Solomon Frank (1983) Edited by Howard Joseph, Jack Natha -
“Foreword to The Eight Chapters Of Maimonides On Ethics , translated by Joseph I. Gorfinkle, Ph.D. Columbia University Press, New York (1912). Page 35-36 .”
[…] one should accept the truth from whatever source it proceeds. -
“There is one [disease] which is widespread, and from which men rarely escape. This disease varies in degree in different men … I refer to this: that every person thinks his mind … more clever and more learned than it is … I have found that this disease has attacked many an intelligent person … They … express themselves [not only] upon the science with which they are familiar, but upon other sciences about which they know nothing … If met with applause … so does the disease itself become aggravated.”
Aphorisms . Quoted in Bulletin of the History of Medicine , Vol. 3 (1935), p. 555 | Chambers Dictionary of Quotations (1997), p. 640
Thomas Aquinas
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“The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions.”
Vita enim in hoc maxime manifestatur quod aliquid movet se ipsum; quod autem non potest moveri nisi ab alio, quasi mortuum esse videtur. -
“Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.”
Tria sunt homini necessaria ad salutem: scilicit scientia credendorum, scientia desiderandorum, et scientia operandorum. -
“Pange, lingua, gloriosi Corporis mysterium Sanguinisque pretiosi, Quem in mundi pretium Fructus ventris generosi Rex effudit gentium.”
Sing, my tongue, the Savior's glory, Of His Flesh the mystery sing; Of the Blood, all price exceeding, Shed by our immortal King. | Pange, Lingua (hymn for Vespers on the Feast of Corpus Christi), stanza 1
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- Full profile: Maimonides
- Full profile: Thomas Aquinas
- Shared movements: Medieval Philosophy
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