Science in Medieval Jewish Cultures

Science in Medieval Jewish Cultures provides the first comprehensive overview by world-renowned experts of what we know today of medieval Jews' engagement with the sciences. Many medieval Jews, whether living in Islamic or Christian civilizations, joined Maimonides in accepting the rationalist philosophical-scientific tradition and appropriated extensive bodies of scientific knowledge in various disciplines: astronomy, astrology, mathematics, logic, physics, meteorology, biology, psychology, science of language and medicine. The appropriated texts ? in the original or in Hebrew translation ? were the starting points for Jews' own contributions to medieval science and also informed other literary genres: religious-philosophical works, biblical commentaries and even Halakhic (legal) discussions. This volume's essays will provide readers with background knowledge of medieval scientific thought necessary to properly understand canonical Jewish scientific texts. Its breadth reflects the number and diversity of Jewish cultures in the Middle Ages and the necessity of considering the fortunes of science in each within its specific context.

Introduction Gad Freudenthal; Part I. The Greek-Arabic Scientific Tradition, Its Appropriation, Adaptation, and Development in Medieval Jewish Cultures, East and West: 1. The assimilation of Greek-Arabic learning by medieval Jewish cultures: a brief bibliographic introduction Gad Freudenthal; 2. Medieval Hebrew translations of philosophical and scientific texts: a chronological table Mauro Zonta; 3. Arabic and Latin cultures as resources for the Hebrew translation movement: comparative considerations, both quantitative and qualitative Gad Freudenthal; 4. The medieval Hebrew scientific book: production, circulation Malachi Beit-Arié; Part II. Individual Sciences as Studied and Practised by Medieval Jews: 5. Logic: its roles in the curriculum and as the organon of science Charles H. Manekin; 6. Astronomy among medieval Jews Bernard R. Goldstein; 7. Interactions between Jewish and Christian astronomers in the Iberian peninsula José Chabás; 8. Hebrew mathematics and Jewish culture in the Middle Ages Tony Lévy; 9. Mathematical and physical optics in medieval Jewish scientific thought Eyah Meiron; 10. The evolution of the genre of philosophical-scientific commentary: Hebrew supercommentaries on Aristotle's Physics Ruth Glasner; 11. Latin scholastic influences on late-medieval Hebrew physics: the state of the art Mauro Zonta; 12. Meteorology and zoology in medieval Hebrew science Resianne Fontaine; 13. The mental faculties and the psychology of sleep and dreams Hagar Kahana-Smilansky; 14. Toward a history of astrological literature in Hebrew: a bibliographical survey Reimund Leicht; 15. Astrology among medieval Jews Shlomo Sela; 16. Astral magic in medieval Hebrew thought Dov Schwartz; 17. Medicine among medieval Jews; the science, the art, and the practice Carmen Caballero-Navas; 18. Medieval alchemy in Hebrew: a noted absence Gad Freudenthal; 19. The science of language in medieval Jewish thought Judith Olszowy-Schlanger; Part III. Scientific Knowledge in Context: 20. Science in the Karaite communities Daniel Lasker; 21. Science in the Jewish communities of the Byzantine cultural orbit: new perspectives Y. Tzvi Langermann; 22. Science in medieval commentaries on the Bible James T. Robinson; 23. Scientific elements in Kabbalah Hava Tirosh-Samuelson; 24. History, language and the sciences in medieval Spain Eleazar Gutwirth.

Gad Freudenthal is a Senior Research Fellow (Emeritus) at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in Paris. He is the author and editor of several volumes on the history of science in antiquity and in the Middle Ages, especially in Jewish cultures, most recently, Science in the Medieval Hebrew and Arabic Traditions (2005). He is also editor of the journal Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism.