Access to the full content is only available to members of institutions that have purchased access. If you belong to such an institution, please log in or find out more about how to order.


Print

Contents

Delmedigo, Elijah (c.1460–93)

DOI
10.4324/9780415249126-J030-1
DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-J030-1
Version: v1,  Published online: 1998
Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/delmedigo-elijah-c-1460-93/v-1

Article Summary

Throughout the treatises and translations commissioned by his many patrons in Italy, Elijah Delmedigo championed Aristotle and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). In Latin texts prepared for Pico della Mirandola, Delmedigo affirmed such cardinal Averroist notions as the absolute unity of all human minds and the role of God as the unmeditated principle of intelligibility in the universe. In the Hebrew Behinat ha-Dat (The Examination of Religion), Delmedigo urges the superiority of a rationalistic Judaism over other religions, especially Christianity, and over the nonphilosophic, improperly philosophic and antiphilosophic versions of Judaism. Sections of this work amount to a nuanced critique of Kabbalah. Combining ardent Averroism with qualified admiration for Maimonides, Delmedigo repeatedly argued for the compatibility of Judaism with secular philosophic speculation.

Print
Citing this article:
Bland, Kalman. Delmedigo, Elijah (c.1460–93), 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-J030-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/delmedigo-elijah-c-1460-93/v-1.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Routledge.

Related Searches

Periods

Religions

Related Articles