82 CHAPTER THREE
position allows him to continue using Ptolemaic astronomy without
claiming it to be the truth. He can thus point to the limitations of Aristo-
tle’s knowledge, which reach only below the sphere of the moon, and at
the same time, insist on presenting Aristotle’s knowledge as the utmost
human achievement.^123
Maimonides’ admiration of Aristotle is indeed consistent. In his letter to
Samuel Ibn Tibbon Maimonides evaluates Aristotle’s knowledge as “the
utmost that a human being can achieve, unless this human being receives
the divine fl ow of emanation, so that he attains the rank of prophecy.”^124
Advising his translator about his readings, Maimonides continues to say
that “Aristotle’s books, and only them, are the roots and principles for all
other scientifi c compositions.” Although the relevant passage of this letter
is extant only in Hebrew, the original Arabic terminology of usul is echoed
in the Hebrew words “roots and principles” (shorashim ve-iqqarim). It is
also quite clear that these words are not mere rhetorical hyperbole, ad-
miringly attached to the name of Aristotle. As we have seen in various
instances above, wherever Maimonides employs the term usul he intends
it in the precise technical meaning that this term had in his milieu, and
there is no reason to assume that the case here is different. In categorizing
Aristotle’s books as “roots,” Maimonides makes a methodological state-
ment, establishing the relative rank of Aristotle in the philosophical and
scientifi c curriculum. The Aristotelian corpus receives the status of a
primary, foundational text, equivalent to the status of scriptures in legal
thought. Aristotle is established as scientifi c and philosophical asl: as such,
his teaching overrules any other authority in this category (regardless of
its utility), including that of Ptolemy.
ConclusionTilman Nagel, who pointed out certain similarities of Maimonides’ meta-
physics to that of Ibn Tumart, cautiously stated that “it remains unclear
whether Maimonides was familiar with Ibn Tumart’s writings.”^125 The ac-
cumulated evidence of the previous pages indicates, I believe, that despite
the absence of any explicit quotation, we must assume such familiarity.
(^123) See, for instance, Guide, 2.9– 11. Although written in Egypt, these chapters refl ect the
scientifi c education acquired by Maimonides in his youth in Andalus; see chap. 1, apud
note 49, above. This does not exclude the possibility that Maimonides was also infl uenced
by a similar critique of Aristotle, pronounced by the Egyptian astronomer Ibn al-
Haytham.
(^124) Epistles, 553.
(^125) Im Offenkundigen das Verborgene, 116.