GERSONIDE (Rabag = Rabbi Lévié ben Gérson). — Jewish philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and biblical commentator, born in 1288 at Bagnols (southern France), died on 20 April 1344, also called Leo de Balneolis or Leon de Bagnols, Leo Hebraens, Maestro Leon.
As a philosopher, G. is an interpreter of the Aristotelian system as expounded by Averroës and the author of the work Milhāmāth 'Adhānāj (“The Wars of the Lord”), a title which, given G.’s rationalism, one of his critics explains as “The wars against the Lord.” Unlike Sa'adjhāh Maimonides and Albo, G. does not seek to expound a complete system of Judaism, but concerns himself with individual problems, especially the human intellect in the light of Aristotelian thought as presented in the commentaries of Alexander of Aphrodisias and Themistius, Avicenna, and Averroës.
The material intellect is not a substance, but merely a disposition, a possibility of receiving ideas. The active intellect is not a problem of the human soul, but rather an emanation of the “separate intelligences,” specifically of the mover of the lunar sphere. The material intellect abstracts their conceptual essence from the images of the imagination and thus becomes intellect in actu. The active intellect contributes to this transformation. Only the rational part of the soul is immortal. Human beatitude post mortem depends on the degree of theoretical knowledge acquired during life. Beatitude in the hereafter consists in contemplation, no longer enriched by new knowledge.
In accordance with the spirit of the times, G. attaches importance to dream visions of divinatory value, determined by the position and movements of the heavenly bodies.
Prophecy belongs to this class of phenomena. Errors of prediction on the part of prophets, astrologers, and diviners are due to imperfections in astronomical observations, the intervention of acts of free will, or chance. Wisdom and the exercise of freedom give human beings the possibility of shaping their own destiny. In prophecy, the active intellect acts directly upon the material intellect. In dream visions and divination, it acts upon the imagination and only through it upon the intellect. In this way G. excludes divine inspiration from prophecy.
Divine omniscience does not extend to particulars, because particularity pertains only to materiality. The just God does not know particulars, and hence the injustices observed in life.
случайные accidents and acts of free will do not enter the sphere of divine foreknowledge, and thus divine Providence does not extend to particulars. Individual divine Providence consists in the proper use by human beings of their intelligence and their intellectual and moral gifts. Misfortune would indicate an intellectual decline. G. regards Aristotle’s opinion on the eternity of the world as erroneous.
The ideas contained in the Wars are reflected in his biblical commentaries. The Bible is an initiation into intellectual—the most important—and moral perfection. For him, biblical cosmogony is the basis of physiological physics. Water is divided into the four elements and the quintessence; therefore, it is matter that has existed ab aeterno. The Bible legislates; therefore, human beings are endowed with free will. God foretells future events; therefore, human destiny is determined through the natural order. With the aid of his own prudence, a person can escape destiny; hence we read: “God repented.”
BIBLI: J. Husik, A history of med. Jew. philos., 2nd ed., New York 1930, V. indice; id., s. V. in Enc. Ind., VII, pp. 324–38; J. Teicher, Studi preliminari sulla dottrina della conoscenza di G., in Atti Accad. Lincei, 6th series, 8 (1932), pp. 500–10; G. Vaida, Introduction à la pensée juive du moyen âge, Paris 1947, pp. 159–69 and 223 ff. Eugenio Zolli