Gerson, Levi ben
Gerson, Levi ben
(Gersonides) Bible commentator, astronomer, and philosopher (1288-1340). He invented an instrument for astronomical observation which is described in his Sefer ha-Ttkunah (Hebr.) Book on Astronomy. His philosophy embodied in the Milhamot Elohim i.e., The Wars of God, is distinguished by its thoroughgoing Aristotehanism and by its general free spirit. His theory of the soul teaches that the passive or material intellect is only a potentiality for developing pure thought which is accomplished through the influence of the Universal Active Intellect, and that it is that part of the soul which contains the sum total of the exalted thoughts which remains immortal, thus making intellectuality a condition of immortality. He also teaches that God knows things from their general aspect but does not know the particulars in their infinite ramifications. — See Jewish Philosophy. — M.W.