The following concise presentations are intended as a convenience for readers of this volume alone. The list of philosophers should not be viewed as exhaustive, but rather as presenting the major figures discussed in the foregoing chapters. Nor is the information presented here meant to replace the more substantive accounts to be found in the Encyclopedia Judaica, the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and the Stanford Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Additional information can be found as well in Sirat 1990. In many cases, little of a personal nature is known about these figures. We have tried to provide, at the very least, the following information: author’s name (along with most common variants); dates; and most important philosophical texts. Secondary material is provided in the comprehensive bibliography that follows.

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ABNER OF BURGOS (Alfonso of Valladolid, Alfonso of Burgos)

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: ca. 1270–1340. Anti-Jewish polemicist and apostate who converted because of difficulties understanding the suffering of God’s chosen people. Many of his works engaged Jewish scholars in dialogue and debate over this and other similar theo-philosophical issues. Much of Abner’s writings were written in Hebrew and later translated into Castilian. Abner wrote in efforts to formulate arguments for conversion from Judaism to Christianity. His philosophy accepts predestination, astrology, and determinism.