ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA
Abraham bar Hiyya, the Prince, as he is called, lived in Spain in the
first half of the twelfth century. He also seems to have stayed some
time in southern France, though we do not know when or how long. His
greatest merit lies not in his philosophical achievement which, if we
may judge from the only work of a philosophical character that has come
down to us, is not very great. He is best known as a writer on
mathematics, astronomy and the calendar; though there, too, his most
important service lay not so much in the original ideas he propounded,
as in the fact that he was among the first, if not the first, to
introduce the scientific thought current in the Orient and in Moorish
Spain into Christian Europe, and especially among the Jews of France and
Germany, who devoted all their energies to the Rabbinical literature,
and to whom the Arabic works of their Spanish brethren were a sealed
book.
So we find Abraham bar Hiyya, or Abraham Savasorda (a corruption of the
Arabic title Sahib al-Shorta), associated with Plato of Tivoli in the
translation into Latin of Arabic scientific works. And he himself wrote
a number of books on mathematics and astronomy in Hebrew at the request
of his friends in France who could not read Arabic. Abraham bar Hiyya is
the first of the writers we have treated so far who composed a
scientific work in the Hebrew language. All the others, with the
exception of Abraham ibn Ezra, wrote in Arabic, as they continued to do
until and including Maimonides.
The only one of his extant works which is philosophical in content is
the small treatise "Hegyon ha-Nefesh," Meditation of the Soul.[148] It
is a popular work, written with a practical purpose, ethical and
homiletic in tone and style. The idea of repentance plays an important
rôle in the book, and what theoretical philosophy finds place therein is
introduced merely as a background and basis for the ethical and
religious considerations which follow. It may be called a miniature
"Duties of the Hearts." As in all homiletical compositions in Jewish
literature, exegesis of Biblical passages takes up a good deal of the
discussions, and for the history of the philosophic movement in mediæval
Judaism the methods of reading metaphysical and ethical ideas into the
Bible are quite as important as these ideas themselves.
The general philosophical standpoint of Abraham bar Hiyya may be
characterized as an uncertain Neo-Platonism, or a combination of
fundamental Aristotelian ideas with a Neo-Platonic coloring. Thus matter
and form are the fundamental principles of the world. They existed
potentially apart in the wisdom of God before they were combined and
thus realized in actuality.[149] Time being a measure of motion, came
into being together with the motion which followed upon this
combination. Hence neither the world nor time is eternal. This is
Platonic, not Aristotelian, who believes in the eternity of motion as
well as of time. Abraham bar Hiyya also speaks of the purest form as
light and as looking at and illuminating the form inferior to it and
thus giving rise to the heavens, minerals and plants.[150] This is all
Neo-Platonic. And yet the most distinctive doctrine of Plotinus and the
later Neo-Platonists among the Arabs, the series of emanating
hypostases, Intellect, Universal Soul, Nature, Matter, and so on, is
wanting in the "Hegyon ha-Nefesh."[151] Form is the highest thing he
knows outside of God; and the purest form, which is too exalted to
combine with matter, embraces angels, seraphim, souls, and all forms
related to the upper world.[152] With the exception of the names angel,
seraphim, souls, this is good Aristotelian doctrine, who also believes
in the movers of the spheres and the active intellect in man as being
pure forms.
To proceed now to give a brief account of Abraham bar Hiyya's teaching,
he thinks it is the duty of rational man to know how it is that man who
is so insignificant was given control of the other animals, and endowed
with the power of wisdom and knowledge. In order to gain this knowledge
we must investigate the origins and principles of existing things, so
that we may arrive at an understanding of things as they are. This the
wise men of other nations have realized, though they were not privileged
to receive a divine Torah, and have busied themselves with philosophical
investigations. Our Bible recommends to us the same method in the words
of Deuteronomy (4, 39), "Know therefore this day, and reflect in thy
heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above, and upon the earth
beneath: there is none else." This means that if you understand
thoroughly the order of things in heaven above and the earth beneath,
you will at once see that God made it in his wisdom, and that he is the
only one and there is no one beside him. The book of Job teaches the
same thing, when it says (19, 26) "And from my flesh I shall behold
God." This signifies that from the structure of the body and the form of
its members we can understand the wisdom of the Creator. We need not
hesitate therefore to study the works of the ancients and the wise men
of other nations in order to learn from them the nature of existence. We
have the permission and recommendation of Scripture.[153]
Starting from a consideration of man we see that he is the last of
created things because we find in him additional composition over and
above that found in other creatures. Man is a "_rational animal_."
"Animal" means a body that grows and moves and at last is dissolved.
"Rational" refers to the power of knowledge, of inferring one thing from
another, and discriminating between good and evil. In this man differs
from other animals. Descending in the scale of existence we find that
the plant also grows and dies like the animal, but it does not move.
Stones, metals and other inanimate bodies on the earth, change their
forms and shapes, but unlike plants they have no power of growing or
increasing. They are the simplest of the things on the earth. They
differ from the heavenly bodies in that the latter never change their
forms. Proceeding further in our analysis, we find that body, the
simplest thing so far, means length, breadth and depth attached to
something capable of being measured. This definition shows that body is
also composed of two elements, which are theoretically distinct until
God's will joins them together. These are "hyle" (matter)--what has no
likeness or form, but has the capacity of receiving form--and form,
which is defined as that which has power to clothe the hyle with any
form. Matter alone is too weak to sustain itself, unless form comes to
its aid. Form, on the other hand, is not perceptible to sense unless it
clothes matter, which bears it. One needs the other. Matter cannot
_exist_ without form; form cannot _be seen_ without matter. Form is
superior to matter, because it needs the latter only to be seen but can
exist by itself though not seen; whereas matter cannot _exist_ without
form. These two, matter and form, were hidden in God, where they existed
potentially until the time came to produce them and realize them _in
actu_.
Matter is further divided into two kinds. There is pure matter, which
enters into the composition of the heavens, and impure matter, forming
the substance of terrestrial bodies. Similarly form may be divided at
first into two kinds; closed and sealed form, too pure and holy to be
combined with matter; and open and penetrable form, which is fit to
unite with matter. The pure, self-subsistent form gazes at and
illuminates the penetrable form, and helps it to clothe matter with all
the forms of which the latter is capable.
Now when God determined to realize matter and form _in actu_, he caused
the pure form to be clothed with its splendor, which no hyle can touch.
This gave rise to angels, seraphim, souls, and all other forms of the
upper world. Not all men can see these forms or conceive them in the
mind, because they do not unite with anything which the eye can
perceive, and the majority of people cannot understand what they cannot
perceive with their corporeal senses. Only those who are given to
profound scientific investigations can understand the essence of these
forms.
The light of this pure form then emanated upon the second form, and by
the word of God the latter united with the pure matter firmly and
permanently, so that there is never a change as long as they are united.
This union gave rise to the bodies of the heavens (spheres and fixed
stars) which never change their forms. Then the form united with the
impure matter, and this gave rise to all the bodies in the sublunar
world, which change their forms. These are the four elements, and the
products of their composition, including plants.[154]
So far we have bodies which do not change their places. Then a light
emanated from the self-subsisting form by the order of God, the splendor
of which spread upon the heaven, moving from point to point, and caused
the material form (_i. e._, the inferior, so-called penetrable form) to
change its place. This produced the stars which change their position
but not their forms (planets). From this light extending over the heaven
emanated another splendor which reached the body with changing form,
giving rise to the three species of living beings, aquatic, aerial and
terrestial animals, corresponding to the three elements, water, air,
earth; as there is no animal life in fire.
We have so far therefore three kinds of forms. (1) The pure
self-subsistent form which never combines with matter. This embraces all
the forms of the spiritual world. (2) Form which unites with body firmly
and inseparably. These are the forms of the heavens and the stars. (3)
Form which unites with body temporarily. Such are the forms of the
bodies on the earth. The forms of the second and third classes cannot
exist without bodies. The form of class number one cannot exist with
body. To make the scheme complete, there ought to be a fourth kind of
form which can exist with as well as without body. In other words, a
form which unites with body for a time and then returns to its original
state and continues to exist without body. Reason demands that the
classification should be complete, hence there must be such a form, and
the only one worthy of this condition is the soul of man. We thus have a
proof of the immortality of the soul.[155]
These are the ideas of the ancient sages, and we shall find that they
are drawn from the Torah. Thus matter and form are indicated in the
second verse of Genesis, "And the earth was _without form_ (Heb. Tohu)
and _void_ (Heb. Bohu)." "Tohu" is matter; "Bohu" [Hebrew: Bohu = Bo hu]
signifies that through which matter gains existence, hence form. "Water"
(Heb. Mayim) is also a general word for any of the various forms,
whereas "light" (Heb. Or) stands for the pure subsistent form. By
"firmament" (Heb. Rakia`) is meant the second kind of form which unites
with the pure matter in a permanent and unchangeable manner. "Let there
be a _firmanent_ in the midst of the _waters_" (Gen. 1, 6) indicates
that the "firmament" is embraced by the bright light of the first day,
that is the universal form, from which all the other forms come. "And
let it divide between _water_ and _water_" (_ib._) signifies that the
"firmament" stands between the self-subsistent form and the third kind
of form above mentioned, namely, that which unites with body and gives
rise to substances changing their forms, like minerals and plants. The
"luminaries" (Heb. Meorot) correspond to the second light mentioned
above. We shall find also that the order of creation as given in Genesis
coincides with the account given above in the name of the ancient
sages.[156]
It would seem as if the self-subsisting form and the two lights
emanating from it are meant to represent the Intellect, Soul and Nature
of the Neo-Platonic trinity respectively, and that Abraham bar Hiyya
purposely changed the names and partly their functions in order to make
the philosophical account agree with the story of creation in Genesis.
With regard to the intellectual and ethical condition of the soul and
its destiny, the speculative thinkers of other nations, arguing from
reason alone and having no divine revelation to guide or confirm their
speculations, are agreed that the only way in which the soul, which
belongs to a higher world, can be freed from this world of body and
change is through _intellectual excellence_ and _right conduct_.
Accordingly they classify souls into four kinds. The soul, they say, may
have health, sickness, life, death. Health signifies _wisdom_ or
_knowledge_; sickness denotes _ignorance_. Life means the _fear of God_
and _right conduct_; death is _neglect of God_ and _evil practice_.
Every person combines in himself one of the two intellectual qualities
with one of the two ethical qualities. Thus we have four classes of
persons. A man may be wise and pious, wise and wicked, ignorant and
pious, ignorant and wicked. And his destiny after death is determined by
the class to which he belongs. Thus when a man who is wise and pious
departs this world, his soul by reason of its wisdom separates from the
body and exists in its own form as before. Owing to its piety it will
rise to the upper world until it reaches the pure, eternal form, with
which it will unite for ever. If the man is wise and wicked, the wisdom
of the soul will enable it to exist without body; but on account of its
wickedness and indulgence in the desires of this world, it cannot become
completely free from the creatures of this world, and the best it can do
is to rise above the sublunar world of change to the world of the
planets where the forms do not change, and move about beneath the light
of the sun, the heat of which will seem to it like a fire burning it
continually, and preventing it from rising to the upper light.
If the man is ignorant and pious, his soul will be saved from body in
order that it may exist by itself, but his ignorance will prevent his
soul from leaving the atmosphere of the lower world. Hence the soul will
have to be united with body a second, and a third time, if necessary,
until it finally acquires knowledge and wisdom, which will enable it to
rise above the lower world, its degree and station depending upon the
measure of intellect and virtue it possesses at the time of the last
separation from the body. The soul of the man who is both ignorant and
wicked cannot be saved from the body entirely, and dies like a beast.
These are the views of speculative thinkers which we may adopt, but they
cannot tell us what is the content of the terms _wisdom_ and _right
conduct_. Not having been privileged to receive the sacred Law, which is
the source of all wisdom and the origin of rectitude, they cannot tell
us in concrete fashion just what a man must know and what he must do in
order to raise his soul to the highest degree possible for it to attain.
And if they were to tell us what they understand by wisdom and right
conduct, we should not listen to them. Our authority is the Bible, and
we must test the views of the philosophers by the teaching of the Bible.
If we do this we find authority in Scripture also for belief in the
immortality of the soul. Thus if we study carefully the expressions used
of the various creations in the first chapter of Genesis, we notice that
in some cases the divine command is expressed by the phrase, "Let there
be...," followed by the name of the thing to be created; and the
execution of the command is expressed by the words, "And there was...,"
the name of the created object being repeated; or the phrase may be
simply, "And it was so," without naming the object. In other cases the
expression "Let there be" is not used, nor the corresponding "And there
was."
This variation in expression is not accidental. It is deliberate and
must be understood. Upon a careful examination we cannot fail to see
that where the expression "Let there be" is used, the object so created
exists in this world permanently and without change. Thus, "Let there be
light" (Gen. i, 3). If in addition we have the corresponding expression,
"And there was," in connection with the same object and followed by its
name, it means that the object will continue its everlasting existence
in the next world also. Hence, "And there was light" (_ib._). In the
creation of the firmament and the luminaries we have the expression,
"Let there be"; the corresponding expression at the end is in each case
not, "And there was...," but, "And it was so." This signifies that in
this world, as long as it lasts, the firmament and luminaries are
permanent and without change; but they will have no continuance in the
next world. In the creation of the sublunar world we do not find the
phrase, "Let there be," at all, but such expressions as, "Let the waters
be gathered together" (_ib._ 9), "Let the earth produce grass" (_ib._
11), and so on. This means that these things change their forms and have
no permanent existence in this world. The phrase, "And it was so,"
recording the realization of the divine command, signifies that they do
not exist at all in the next world.
The case is different in man. We do not find the expression, "Let there
be," in the command introducing his formation; hence he has no
permanence in this world. But we do find the expression, "And the man
became (lit. _was_) a living soul" (_ib._ 2, 7), which means that he
will have permanent existence in the next world. The article before the
word man in the verse just quoted indicates that not every man lives
forever in the next world, but only the good. What manner of man he must
be in order to have this privilege, _i. e._, of what nation he must be a
member, we shall see later. This phase of the question the speculative
thinkers cannot understand, hence they did not investigate it. Reason
alone cannot decide this question; it needs the guidance of the Torah,
which is divine.
Consulting the Torah on this problem, we notice that man is
distinguished above other animals in the manner of his creation in three
respects. (1) All other living beings were created by means of something
else. The water or the earth was ordered to produce them. Man alone was
made directly by God. (2) There are three expressions used for the
creation of living things, "create" (Heb. bara), "form" (Heb. yazar),
and "make" (Heb. `asah). The water animals have only the first (_ib._ 1,
21), as being the lowest in the scale of animal life. Land animals have
the second and the third, "formed" and "made" (_ib._ 1, 25; 2, 19). Man,
who is superior to all the others, has all the three expressions (_ib._
26, 27; 2, 7). (3) Man was given dominion over the other animals (_ib._
1, 28).
As man is distinguished above the other animals, so is one nation
distinguished above other men. In Isaiah (43, 7) we read: "Every one
that is called by my name, and whom I have _created_ for my glory; I
have _formed_ him; yea, I have _made_ him." The three terms, created,
formed, made, signify that the reference is to man; and we learn from
this verse that those men were created for his glory who are called by
his name. But if we inquire in the Bible we find that the nation called
by God's name is Israel, as we read (_ib._ 1), "Thus said the Lord that
created thee, O Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have
called thee by thy name; thou art mine," and in many other passages
besides. The reason for this is their belief in the unity of God and
their reception of the Law. At the same time others who are not
Israelites are not excluded from reaching the same degree through
repentance.[157]
There is no system of ethics in Abraham bar Hiyya, and we shall in the
sequel select some of his remarks bearing on ethics and pick out the
ethical kernel from its homiletical and exegetical husk.
Man alone, he tells us, of all animal creation receives reward and
punishment. The other animals have neither merit nor guilt. To be sure,
their fortune in life depends upon the manner in which they respond to
their environment, but this is not in the way of reward and punishment,
but a natural consequence of their natural constitution. With man it is
different, and this is because of the responsible position man occupies,
having been given the privilege and the ability to control all animal
creation.[158]
The psychological basis of virtue in Abraham bar Hiyya is Platonic in
origin, as it is in Pseudo-Bahya, though we do not find the four
cardinal virtues and the derivation of justice from a harmonious
combination of the other three as in the Republic of Plato, to which
Pseudo-Bahya is ultimately indebted.
Man has three powers, we are told, which some call three souls. One is
the power by which he grows and multiplies like the plants of the field.
The second is that by which he moves from place to place. These two
powers he has in common with the animal. The third is that by which he
distinguishes between good and evil, between truth and falsehood,
between a thing and its opposite, and by which he acquires wisdom and
knowledge. This is the soul which distinguishes him from the other
animals. If this soul prevails over the lower two powers, the man is
called meritorious and perfect. If on the other hand the latter prevail
over the soul, the man is accounted like a beast, and is called wicked
and an evil doer. God gives merit to the animal soul for the sake of
the rational soul if the former is obedient to the latter; and on the
other hand imputes guilt to the rational soul and punishes her for the
guilt of the animal soul because she did not succeed in overcoming the
latter.[159]
The question of the relative superiority of the naturally good who feels
no temptation to do wrong, and the temperamental person who has to
sustain a constant struggle with his passions and desires in order to
overcome them is decided by Abraham bar Hiyya in favor of the former on
the ground that the latter is never free from evil thought, whereas the
former is. And he quotes the Rabbis of the Talmud, according to whom the
reward in the future world is not the same for the two types of men. He
who must overcome temptation before he can subject his lower nature to
his reason is rewarded in the next world in a manner bearing resemblance
to the goods and pleasures of this world, and described as precious
stones and tables of gold laden with good things to eat. On the other
hand, the reward of the naturally perfect who is free from temptation is
purely spiritual, and bears no earthly traces. These men are represented
as "sitting under the Throne of Glory with their crowns on their heads
and delighting in the splendor of the Shekinah."[160]
His theodicy offers nothing remarkable. He cites and opposes a solution
frequently given in the middle ages of the problem of evil. This is
based on the assumption that God cannot be the cause of evil. How then
explain the presence of evil in the world? There is no analysis or
classification or definition of what is meant by evil. Apparently it is
physical evil which Abraham bar Hiyya has in mind. Why do some people
suffer who do not seem to deserve it? is the aspect of the problem which
interests him. One solution that is offered, he tells us, is that evil
is not anything positive or substantial. It is something negative,
absence of the good, as blindness is absence of vision; deafness,
absence of hearing; nakedness, absence of clothing. Hence it has no
cause. God produces the positive forms which are good, and determines
them to stay a definite length of time. When this time comes to an end,
the forms disappear and their negatives take their place automatically
without the necessity of any cause.
Abraham bar Hiyya is opposed to this solution of the problem, though he
gives us no philosophic reason for it. His arguments are Biblical. God
is the cause of evil as well as good, and this is the meaning of the
word "judgment" (Heb. Mishpat) that occurs so often in the Bible in
connection with God's attributes. The same idea is expressed in Jeremiah
(9, 23) "I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment and
righteousness in the earth." Loving kindness refers to the creation of
the world, which was an act of pure grace on the part of God. It was not
a necessity. His purpose was purely to do kindness to his creatures and
to show them his wisdom and power. Righteousness refers to the kindness
of God, his charity so to speak, which every one needs when he dies and
wishes to be admitted to the next world. For the majority of men have
more guilt than merit. Judgment denotes the good and evil distributed in
the world according to the law of justice. Thus he rewards the righteous
in the next world, and makes them suffer sometimes in this world in
order to try them and to double their ultimate reward. He punishes the
wicked in this world for their evil deeds, and sometimes he gives them
wealth and prosperity that they may have no claim or defence in the next
world. Thus evil in this world is not always the result of misconduct
which it punishes; it may be inflicted as a trial, as in the case of
Job. Abraham bar Hiyya's solution is therefore that there is no reason
why God should not be the author of physical evil, since everything is
done in accordance with the law of justice.[161]