Ibn Gabirol's Theology of Desire: Matter and Method in Jewish Medieval Neoplatonism

Sarah Pessin

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139424752

Drawing on Arabic passages from Ibn Gabirol's original Fons Vitae text, and highlighting philosophical insights from his Hebrew poetry, Sarah Pessin develops a 'theology of desire' at the heart of Ibn Gabirol's eleventh-century cosmo-ontology. She challenges centuries of received scholarship on his work, including his so-called Doctrine of Divine Will. Pessin rejects voluntarist readings of the Fons Vitae as opposing divine emanation. She also emphasizes pseudo-Empedoclean notions of 'divine desire' and 'grounding element' alongside Ibn Gabirol's use of a particularly Neoplatonic method with apophatic (and what she terms 'doubly apophatic') implications. In this way, Pessin reads claims about matter and God as insights about love, desire, and the receptive, dependent and fragile nature of human beings. Pessin reenvisions the entire spirit of Ibn Gabirol's philosophy, moving us from a set of doctrines to a fluid inquiry into the nature of God and human being – and the bond between God and human being in desire.

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Contents

Ibn Gabirol's Theology of Desire - Half title page
pp i-ii
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Ibn Gabirol's Theology of Desire - Title page
pp iii-iii
Matter and Method in Jewish Medieval Neoplatonism
- By Sarah Pessin
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Copyright page
pp iv-iv
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Dedication
pp v-vi
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Contents
pp vii-xii
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List of Figures
pp xiii-xiv
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1 - Introduction
pp 1-8
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2 - Text in Context
pp 9-27
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4 - Root Desire and the Pseudo-Empedoclean Grounding Element as Love
pp 41-52
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6 - IrādicUnfoldings: Ibn Gabirol's Hylomorphic Emanationism and the Neoplatonic Tripart Analysis
pp 66-90
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7 - Matter Revisited
pp 91-117
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10 - Embroidering the Hidden
pp 160-164
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Notes
pp 189-232
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Bibliography
pp 233-262
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Index
pp 263-269
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Ibn Gabirol's Theology of Desire

Matter and Method in Jewish Medieval Neoplatonism

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Contents

Ibn Gabirol's Theology of Desire - Half title page
pp i-ii

Ibn Gabirol's Theology of Desire - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-xii

List of Figures
pp xiii-xiv

1 - Introduction
pp 1-8

2 - Text in Context
pp 9-27

3 - From Human Being to Discourse on Matter? The Threefold Quest for Wisdom, Goodness, and God – and the Root of Life in Desire
pp 28-40

4 - Root Desire and the Pseudo-Empedoclean Grounding Element as Love
pp 41-52

5 - From Divine Will to DivineIrāda: On the Mistaken Scholarly Rejection of Ibn Gabirol's Emanationism
pp 53-65

6 - IrādicUnfoldings: Ibn Gabirol's Hylomorphic Emanationism and the Neoplatonic Tripart Analysis
pp 66-90

7 - Matter Revisited
pp 91-117

8 - Neoplatonic Cosmo-Ontology as Apophatic Response and as Prescription for Human Living (Methodological Reappraisal I)
pp 118-139

9 - Transcendental Grounding, Mythopoetic and Symbolic Transformation, and the Creation of New Worlds with Words (Methodological Reappraisal II)
pp 140-159

10 - Embroidering the Hidden
pp 160-164

Appendix Matter as God-Born Cradle of Life: A Sampling of Matter Imagery in Ibn Gabirol's Milieu
pp 165-188

Notes
pp 189-232

Bibliography
pp 233-262

Index
pp 263-269

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Matter and Method in Jewish Medieval Neoplatonism

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