Averroes (1198-1126), philosopher and authority on Muslim law from Cordoba in Spain, was of critical importance to the philosophical traditions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity alike. He was esteemed especially for his commentaries on most of Aristotle's writings, which were considered authoritative by Muslims and even more so by Jews and Christians. Some of his commentaries were lost in the Arabic original and have survived only in Hebrew or Latin translation. The Israel Academy's series of critical editions of the Hebrew translations of Averroes' commentaries is part of the Corpus Averrois project of the Union Academique Internationale. The Middle Commentary on Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics is the only work by Averroes that deals with Aristotle's political philosophy, and as such it is highly important to understanding Averroes' own ethical and political thought. Only a few paragraphs of the original Arabic version have been found, and the work has survived in its Latin translation and in this Hebrew version composed early in the fourteenth century by Samuel ben Judah of Marseilles.

Averroes' Middle Commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics in the Hebrew Version of Samuel Ben Judah (Averroes Hebraicus) (Hebrew and English Edition)

Politics & Social Sciences

Berman, Lawrence V

Philosophy

Israel Academy of Sciences

In his Middle Commentary to Aristotle's De Anima, Averroes stayed close to Aristotle's own conception, and that of the interpretive tradition of his writings, regarding the nature and powers of the soul. However, he refrained from discussing a central aspect of Aristotle's doctrine of the soul, namely, the nature of the human intellect and its relationship to the Active Intellect, nor does he discuss the eternity of the soul. Notwithstanding the neglect of this commentary by Muslim thinkers, to the point that almost all no copies of it have survived in Arabic, and its disregard by Christian scholars, it was the focus of great interest among Jewish readers. In the mid-thirteenth century it was translated twice into Hebrew, by the famous translator Moses ibn Tibbon, whose translation forms the backbone of this edition, and by Shem Tov ben Yitzhak of Tortosa.

Averroes' Middle Commentary on Aristotle's De Anima in the Translation of Moses Ibn Tibbon (Averroes Hebraicus) (Hebrew Edition)

Ivry, Alfred L.

In the Middle Ages, Jews in Arab lands used both Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew as their literary languages. Mediaeval Judaeo-Arabic texts are written in Middle Arabic, which contains classical and later elements. The latter do not appear in standard dictionaries of Classical Arabic, and it is to these post-classical, neo-Arabic, and pseudo-correct terms and expressions, which to a great extent are identical with Middle Arabic elements found in other Arabic writings of the period, that Joshua Blau's Dictionary of Mediaeval Judaeo-Arabic Texts is primarily devoted. The Dictionary is based largely on the works of the leading Jewish scholars of the period, including Saadia Gaon, Judah Halevi, and Maimonides, but it also refers to the Responsa literature, legal documents, and personal and commercial letters. This first comprehensive dictionary of Mediaeval Judaeo-Arabic contains about 9,000 entries. The lemmas are presented in both Arabic and Hebrew scripts, and are translated into Hebrew and English. A special section is devoted to lexicographical literature.

Dictionary of Mediaeval Judaeo-arabic Texts (Judeo Arabic Edition)

Reference

Blau, Joshua

Foreign Language Study & Reference

Maimonides and the Cairo Geniza (Hebrew Edition)

History

Europe

Studies in Arabic and Islam: Papers in Honour of Professor Yohanan Friedmann on His Eightieth Birthday (Arabic and Hebrew Edition)

Social Sciences

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