Chapter Five
A Critical Mind:
Maimonides as Scientist
Medicine and ScienceIn modern consciousness Maimonides the physician is probably as fa-
mous as Maimonides the phi losopher. A search on the web, in either
Hebrew or En glish, is likely to bring up fi rst of all half a dozen hospitals
and medical centers named after him. Of all the sciences, medicine was
indeed the one in which Maimonides was most intimately involved. He
was also interested in astronomy and in mathematics; he mentions his
meeting with the son of the astronomer Ibn al- Afl ah,^1 and from the context
it seems that the texts he read with a student of the phi losopher Ibn Bajja
were also related to astronomy.^2 Because of his view of the close relations
betweem physics and metaphysics, astronomy can be seen, as noted by
Tzvi Langermann, as “arguably the most important science for
Maimonides.”^3 He insists on the scientifi c value of astronomy, and recalls
the Talmudic saying according to which it is the calculation of astronomi-
cal cycles that is intended in Deuteronomy 4:6, which refers to “your wis-
dom and understanding in the eyes of the nations.”^4 Later in life, already in
Egypt, he even tried his hand at correcting works on astronomy and math-
ematics, but only in medicine did he become a real practitioner.^5
(^1) See chap. 1, notes 28 and 49, above, and see note 2, below. For a general overview, see the
articles collected in H. Levine and R. S. Cohen, eds., Maimonides and the Sciences (Dor-
drecht, Boston, and London, 2000).
(^2) Maimonides refers to the opinions of Ibn al- Afl ah and Ibn Bajja regarding the respective
positions of Venus and Mercury; see Guide 2.9 (Dalala, 187; Pines, 269). He also mentions
a rumor he has heard, that Ibn Bajja had invented an astronomical system in which no epi-
cycles exist, a rumor that was not confi rmed by Ibn Bajja’s students; see Guide 2.24 (Da-
lala, 226:3– 5; Pines, 323). A third reference to Ibn Bajja, which cites his commentary on
Aristotle’s Physics, also relates to the heavenly spheres: see Guide 3.29 (Dalala, 375:23– 26;
Pines, 515); and see chap. 4, note 53, above.
(^3) Langermann, “Maimonides and the sciences,” 159.
(^4) BTShabbat 75a; Letter on Astrology,Epistles, 482 (Lerner, 230); and see below, apud
note 80.
(^5) Ibn al- Qifti mentions that Maimonides (perhaps responding to Joseph ibn Shimon’s re-
quest) worked on Ibn al- Afl ah’s Kitab al- istikmal fi’l-haya and on Ibn Hud’s Kitab al-
istikmal fiilm al- riyada. According to him, the original manuscripts of both books were