ISACCO ben SALOMON ISRAELI. — Jewish philosopher, born in Egypt ca. 1865, died in Tunis ca. 955. He practiced medicine at the court of the caliphs of Qajrawān.
A skilled physician and a mere compiler as a philosopher: such, roughly, was the judgment of the physician-philosopher Maimonides in his own time, and of E. Gilson in our own. The Jewish-biblical element in I.’s thought is submerged by the influence of Neoplatonism, which at times blends with Aristotelian elements. His merit consists chiefly in having given the initial impetus to Jewish philosophical studies, which subsequently strongly reflect the influence of Arabic philosophical inquiry. His works (Il libro delle definizioni; Il libro degli elementi; Il libro dello spirito e dell'anima) present a mixture of medical, physical, and philosophical speculations, revealing “a spirit more curious than systematic and original” (Gilson).
I. accepts the idea of creation and makes a clear distinction between God’s creative act ex nihilo and natural genera-
tion, which takes place upon an already existing substratum. Creation reveals God’s goodness and wisdom. As for prophecy: revelation in sensible form is due to the nature of the organs of reception; revelation in a dream is half corporeal and half spiritual. If, moreover, the prophetic writings at times employ the spiritual form and at other times the sensible form, this is due to the intention of adapting the prophet’s word to the understanding of the various classes of readers.