To sum up: all the first Mutakallimun from among the Greeks who had adopted Christianity and from among the Moslems did not conform in their premises to the appearance of that which exists, but considered how being ought to be in order that it should furnish a proof for the correctness of a particular opinion, or at least should not refute it. And when such a fantasy held good, they assumed that what exists corresponds to that form and started to argue in order to establish the truth of the assertions from which are taken the premises that show the correctness of their doctrine or that at least do not refute it. This is the way of the men of intellect who 19. This is an anachronism, for Yahya Ibn 'Adi — a Christian (monophysitic) theologian and an Aristotelian philosopher — died in 974, more than two centuries after the beginning of the Mu'tazilite kalam. Cf. Translator’s Introduction.
96a ] The Guide of the Perplexed 1-71 779 first used this method, put it down in books, and claimed that speculation alone impelled them to do so and that they did not seek thereby to protect a doctrine or a preconceived opinion. Men of later periods who study these books know nothing about all this and consequently find in | these ancient books a vigorous argumentation and a powerful endeavor to establish the truth of a certain thing or to refute a certain thing and think thereupon that its establishment or its refutation is in no way required for these foundations of the Law that are required. They believe accordingly that their predecessors did what they did only in order to confuse the opinions of the philosophers and to make them doubt of what they regarded as a demonstration. Those who say this are not aware, and do not know, that matters are not as they thought, but that their predecessors toiled to establish the truth of what they desired to establish as true and to refute what they desired to refute because of the harm that would come if this were not done — even if it were after a hundred propositions— to an opinion whose recognition as correct was desired by them. These ancient Mutakallimun 20 did away with the disease starting with its root.
To sum up: I shall say to you that the matter is as Themistius puts it: that which exists does not conform to the various opinions, but rather the correct opinions conform to that which exists.
When I studied the books of these Mutakallimun, as far as I had the opportunity — and I have likewise studied the books of the philosophers, as far as my capacity went — I found that the method of all of the Mutakal¬ limun was one and the same in kind, though the subdivisions differed from one another. For the foundation of everything is that no consideration is due to how that which exists is, for it is merely a custom; and from the point of view of the intellect, it could well be different. Furthermore, in many places they follow the imagination and call it intellect. Thus when they propound the premises that we will let you hear, they found by their demonstrations the [affirmative] judgment that the world is created in time. And when it is thus established that the world is created in time, it is likewise undoubtedly established that it has a maker | who has created it in time. Then they adduced arguments in favor of the inference that this maker is one; whereupon, basing themselves upon his being one, that he is not a body. This is the way of every Mutakallim from among the Moslems in anything concerning this subject. Thus also do those belonging to our community who imitate them and follow their ways. While the ways in which they adduce the arguments in favor of the inference as to, and ao. Literally: most ancient of the Mutakallimun.
i So The Guide of the Perplexed 1-71 [966 propound the premises with regard to, the establishment of the temporal creation of the world or to the refutation of its pre-eternity, differ from one another, the universal thesis of all of them consists in the first place in the affirmation of the temporal creation of the world. And by means of its temporal creation, it is established as true that the deity exists.
Now when I considered this method of thought, my soul felt a very strong aversion to it, and had every right to do so. For every argument deemed to be a demonstration of the temporal creation of the world is accompanied by doubts and is not a cogent demonstration except among those who do not know the difference between demonstration, dialectics, and sophistic argument. As for those who know these arts,21 it is clear and evident to them that there are doubts with regard to all these proofs and that premises that have not been demonstrated have been used in them. The utmost power of one who adheres to a Law22 and who has acquired knowledge of true reality consists, in my opinion, in his refuting the proofs of the philosophers bearing on the eternity of the world. How sublime a thing it is when the ability is there to do it! And everyone who engages in speculation, who is perceptive, and who has acquired true knowledge of reality and does not deceive himself, knows that with regard to this question — namely the eternity of the world or its temporal creation — no cogent demonstration can be reached and that it is a point before which the intellect stops. Later we shall speak about this at length. At present it will be enough for you to know with regard to this question that the philosophers of the various epochs disagree with respect to it for the last three thousand years up to this our time, as we can find in their works and the reports concerning them.
Now if this is the state of this question, how | can we take the doctrine of the temporal creation of the world as a premise upon which we found the existence of the deity? For in that case the existence of the deity would be doubtful. One would have to say that if the world were created in time, there would be a deity; and if it were eternal, there would be no deity in existence. Things either would be like that or we would claim that we have a demonstration of the creation of the world in time and we would use the sword23 to prove it so that we should claim to know God by means of a demonstration. All this is remote from truth. For according to me the correct way, which is the method of demonstration about which there can be no doubt, is to establish the existence and the oneness of the deity and the 2 1. Apparently the arts of demonstration and argument.
22. Or: to the [Jewish] Law. 23. Literally: smite with the sword.
negation of corporeality through the methods of the philosophers, which methods are founded upon the doctrine of the eternity of the world. This is not because I believe in the eternity of the world or because I concede this point to the philosophers 5 but because it is through this method that the demonstration becomes valid and perfect certainty is obtained with regard to those three things: I mean the existence of the deity, His oneness, and His not being a body — and all this without making a judgment upon the world’s being eternal or created in time. Thereupon, when these three great and sublime problems have been validated for us through a correct demonstration, we shall return to the question of the creation of the world in time and we shall enounce with regard to it all the argumentation that is possible.
If you are one of those who are persuaded by what the Mutakallimun say, and if you believe that the demonstration with regard to the creation of the world in time is correct, bravo for you. If, however, it is not demon¬ strated in your opinion, and if you take over from the prophets, through obeying their authority, the doctrine that it was created in time, there is no harm in that. And you should not ask how prophecy can be true if the world is eternal, before you have heard our discourse concerning prophecy; however, at present we are not dealing with this notion. You ought to know that the premises that are established by those concerned with the roots, | I mean among the Mutakallimun, with a view to affirming the creation of the world in time, imply — in a measure that you will hear defined — an upsetting of the world and a change in the order established at the time of creation. For I shall certainly set forth their premises and their way of drawing inferences.
As to this my method, it is as I shall describe to you in a general way now. Namely, I shall say: the world cannot but be either eternal or created in time. If it is created in time, it undoubtedly has a creator who created it in time. For it is a first intelligible that what has appeared at a certain moment in time has not created itself in time and that its creator is other than itself. Accordingly the creator who created the world in time is the deity. If, however, the world is eternal, it follows necessarily because of this and that proof that there is an existent other than all the bodies to be found in the world; an existent who is not a body and not a force in a body and who is one, permanent, and sempiternal; who has no cause and whose becoming subject to change is impossible. Accordingly he is a deity. Thus it has become manifest to you that the proofs for the existence and the oneness of the deity and of His not being a body ought to be procured from the starting point afforded by the supposition of the eternity of the world, for in this way the demonstration will be perfect, both if the world is eternal and if it is created in time. For this reason you will always find that whenever, in what I have written in the books of jurisprudence, I happen to mention the foundations and start upon establishing the existence of the deity, I establish it by discourses that adopt the way of the doctrine of the eternity of the world. The reason is not that I believe in the eternity of the world, but that I wish to establish in our belief the existence of God, may He be exalted, through a demonstrative method as to which there is no disagree¬ ment in any respect. Thus we shall not cause the true opinion, which is of immense importance, to be supported by a foundation that everyone can shake and wish to destroy, while other men think that it has never been constructed. This method is particularly justified in view of the fact that these philosophic proofs concerning the three problems in question are derived | from the nature of existence that can be perceived and that is not denied except with a view to safeguarding certain opinions.
The proofs of the Mutakallimun, on the other hand, are derived from premises that run counter to the nature of existence that is perceived so that they resort to the affirmation that nothing has a nature in any respect. In this Treatise, when speaking of the creation of the world in time, I shall devote for your benefit a chapter explaining to you some proof for the creation of the world in time. For I reach the goal that every Mutakallim desires, without abolishing the nature of existence and without disagreeing with Aristotle with regard to any point he has demonstrated. For whereas the proof, with the aid of which some Mutakallimun prove by inference the creation of the world in time and which is their most powerful proof, is not consolidated for them until they abolish the nature of all existence and disagree with everything that the philosophers have made clear, I reach a similar proof without running counter to the nature of existence and without having recourse to violating that which is perceived by the senses. I saw fit to mention to you the general premises of the Mutakallimun by means of which they establish the creation of the world in time, the existence of the deity, His oneness, and the rejection of His corporeality; and I shall show you their way in this and shall make clear to you what follows necessarily from each of those premises. After that I shall mention to you the proximate premises of the philosophers regarding this and I shall show you their way.
Do not, however, demand from me in this Treatise that I should establish the correctness of those philosophic premises that I shall formu¬ late for your benefit. For doing this constitutes the greater part of the natural and the divine science. Likewise you should not desire that I should let you hear in this Treatise the argumentation of the Mutakallimun that is intended to establish the correctness of their premises. For | their lives passed away in this argumentation, and the lives of those who will come after them will likewise pass away in this, and their books have grown numerous. For every one of their premises, with few exceptions, is contra¬ dicted by what is perceived of the nature of that which exists, so that doubts come up with regard to them. Accordingly, the Mutakallimun resort to compilations and disputations in order to establish this and that particular premise and to dispel the doubts coming with regard to it and to ward off that which is perceived and runs counter to the premise if there is no possibility of a stratagem with a view to getting around this. As for the philosophic premises that I shall formulate for your benefit with a view to a demonstration regarding the three problems in question — I mean the existence and oneness of the deity and the refutation of the doctrine of His corporeality — most of them are premises regarding which you achieve certainty as soon as you first hear them and understand their meaning.
However, some of them refer you to the passages in which their demonstra¬ tion occurs in the books concerning natural science or metaphysics. Accord- ingly you should have the intention of looking up the relevant passage and thus establishing the correctness of what may be required to have its cor¬ rectness established.
I have already let you know that there exists nothing except God, may He be exalted, and this existent world and that there is no possible inference proving His existence, may He be exalted, except those deriving from this existent taken as a whole and from its details. Accordingly it necessarily behooves one to consider this existent as it is and to derive premises from what is perceived of its nature. For this reason it follows that you should know its perceptible form and nature, and then it will be possible to make an inference from it with regard to what is other than it. For this reason I judged that in the first place it behooves me to set down a chapter in which I would explain to you that which exists as a whole by informing you of what is demonstrated and is indubitably correct. After that I shall set down for your benefit other chapters in which I shall mention the premises of the Mutakallimun and shall make clear their methods by means of which they elucidate the four problems in question. After that I shall set down for your benefit other chapters in which I shall make clear to you | the premises of the philosophers and their methods of inference with regard to these problems. After that I shall summarize for your benefit the method 184 The Guide of the Perplexed I • 72 [99a that I shall adopt, as I have already informed you, with regard to these four problems.
CHAPTER 72 Know that this whole of being is one individual and nothing else. I mean . to say that the sphere of the outermost heaven with everything that is within it is undoubtedly one individual having in respect of in¬ dividuality the rank of Zayd and Umar. The differences between its sub¬ stances, I mean the substances of this sphere with everything that is within it, are like unto the differences between the limbs of a man, for instance. Thus just as Zayd, for instance, is one individual and is at the same time composed of various parts of the body such as the flesh and the bones and of various mixtures and of several spirits,1 the sphere in question as a whole is composed of the heavens, the four elements, and what is compounded of the latter. In that sphere there is absolutely no vacuum; it is solid and filled up. Its center is the sphere of the earth, while water encompasses the earth, air encompasses the water, fire encompasses the air, and the fifth body encompasses the fire. There are many spheres, one contained within the other, with no hollows between them and no vacuum in any way whatever. For they are perfectly spherical and cling to each other, all of them moving in a circular uniform motion in no part of which there is acceleration or deceleration. I mean to say that none of these spheres moves more quickly at some times and more slowly at others. On the contrary, every one of them follows its nature | in its velocity and the direction of its motion. However some of these spheres have a more rapid motion than others; the most rapid of all being the motion of the heaven encompassing the universe. This heaven is endowed with the diurnal motion and moves all the other heavens simultaneously with itself, as a part is moved in a whole, for all these heavens are parts of it.
These heavens have different centers. The center of some of them is identical with the center of the world, while the center of others is eccentric to the center of the world. Some of them move perpetually in a motion proper to them from the east to the west, while others move perpetually from the west to the east. Every star in these heavens is a part of the heavens 1. The animal spirits are meant.
99&] The Guide of the Perplexed 1-72 in which it is fixed in its place and has no motion proper to it. It is seen as being in motion only because of the motion of the body of which it is a part. The matter of this fifth body as a whole, which is endowed with circular motion, is not like the matter of the bodies composed of the four elements that are contained within it.
It is not possible in any respect or in any fashion that the number of the spheres encompassing the world should be less than eighteen. It is, however, possible that their number should be greater than eighteen. This is a matter of speculation. It is also a matter of speculation whether there are epicycles, that is, spheres that do not encompass the world.2 In the interior of the nethermost sphere, which is near us, there is one kind of matter that differs from the matter of the fifth body and receives four primary forms. Through these four forms, earth, water, air, and fire come into being. Every one of these four elements has a natural place proper to it and is not found elsewhere if left to its nature. These four elements are inanimate bodies in which there is no life and no perception, | and they do not move of their own accord, but are at rest in their natural places. If, however, one of them is made by violence to leave its natural place, it moves, when the agent exerting violence has ceased to act, so as to return to its natural place. For there subsists in it a principle that makes it move in order to return to its place in a straight line. There is, however, no principle in it that would make it to be at rest3 or that would make it move in other than a straight line. The motions in a straight line, which are found to belong to these four elements when they move in order to return to their places, are two: a motion toward the encompassing sphere, which motion belongs to fire and to air, and a motion toward the center of the world, which belongs to water and to earth. Every body belonging to these four elements comes to rest when it reaches its natural place.
As for the bodies that move in circles, they are animate, endowed with a soul that makes them move. And there is in time no principle at all that would make them to be at rest. No change attains them, except with regard to position, as they move in a circle. As regards the question whether they a. On the astronomical problems referred to, cf. Translator’s Introduction.
3. The principle to which Maimonides refers is closely connected with what medieval philosophy designates as the natural inclination of the elements, i.e., the heaviness of earth and water and the lightness of fire and air. In their natural places the elements have no natural inclination, according to Avicenna. If, however, a portion of one of them has been displaced, it tends to move downward, if it is heavy, or upward, if it is light. In this passage Maimonides apparently wishes to assert, among other things, that a displaced portion of an element does not have a principle of rest, but has the impulse to move toward its natural place.
XI have an intellect by means of which they make mental representations: this does not become clear except after subtle speculation.
Inasmuch as the fifth body as a whole is engaged perpetually in a circular motion, it thus engenders forced motion in the elements because of which they leave their places. I have in view fire and air, which are pushing toward the water. All of them penetrate toward the body of the earth, in the valleys. In consequence a mixture of the elements comes about. After¬ wards they start to move in order to return to their places; and because of this, portions of the earth in their turn are made to leave their places as they accompany the water, the air, and the fire. In all this, the elements exert influence upon one another and are influenced by one another. Accordingly changes occur in the mixture so that, in the first place, | the various species of vapors come into being from it, then the various species of minerals, then all the species of plants, then many species of living beings in accordance with what is determined by the composition4 of the mixture. Everything that is subject to generation and corruption is generated from the elements and, being corrupted, passes away into them. The elements likewise are generated from one another and, being corrupted, pass away into one another; for the matter of the all is one; and the existence of matter without form is impossible and, on the other hand, no natural form subject to generation and corruption exists without matter. Thus the state of things with regard to the generation and corruption of the elements and with regard to the generation of everything that is generated of them and is corrupted so as again to be changed into them, comes back in a circle similar to the circular movement of heaven; so that the movement of this matter endowed with forms is, in respect to the succession of the forms subsisting in it, like the movement of heaven in respect to the “where,” every part of heaven returning repeatedly to the selfsame positions.
And just as in the body of man there are ruling parts and ruled parts requiring for their continued existence the governance of the ruling part governing them, so are there in the world as a whole ruling parts — namely, the fifth encompassing body — and ruled parts requiring a governor — they are the elements and what is composed of them. And just as the ruling part, which is the heart, is always in motion and is the principle of every motion to be found in the body, whereas the other parts of the body are ruled by the heart, which in virtue of its motion sends toward them the forces they require for their functions; so heaven in virtue of its motion exerts govern¬ ance over the other parts of the world and sends to every generated thing 4. Or: temperament.
ioia] The Guide of the Perplexed 1-72 i8j the forces that subsist in the latter. Accordingly, every motion existing in the world has as its first principle the motion of heaven, and every soul existing in the beings endowed with souls that are in the world | has as its principle the soul of heaven.
Know that, as has been made clear, the forces that come from heaven to this world are four: [l] the force that necessitates the mixture and composition — there is no doubt that this force suffices to engender the minerals; [2] the force that gives to every plant a vegetal soul; [3] the force that gives to every animal an animal soul; [4] the force that gives to every rational being a rational faculty.5 All this takes place through the inter¬ mediary of the illumination and the darkness [on earth] resulting from the light in heaven and from heaven’s motion round the earth [which is the cause of the succession of days and nights]. And just as an individual would die and his motions and forces would be abolished if the heart were to come to rest even for an instant, so the death of the world as a whole and the abolition of everything within it would result if the heavens were to come to rest. And just as a living being lives as a whole in virtue of the motion of its heart, even if there subsist in it parts of the body that are at rest and not sentient — as for instance bones, cartilage, and others; so is this whole being one individual that lives in virtue of the movement of heaven, which