Why Read Maimonides Today?

Maimonides (Moshe/Moses ben Maimon, 1138-1204) was not only the dominant rabbinic and Jewish intellectual figure of the later medieval period, but also one of history's greatest philosophers. As the author of the Mishneh Torah (ca. 1180), a compendium and systematization of the Jewish legal code, he remains an unsurpassed (if not uncontroversial) authority on halakha (Jewish law). His philosophical masterpiece, however, is the Guide of the Perplexed (1185-1190), in which he systematically presents his views on theology, metaphysics, cosmology, natural science, epistemology, Scriptural hermeneutics, law and ethics. This accessible and highly readable book introduces the reader to Maimonides' life and thought, and uses a number of enduring and popular philosophical topics - including the problem of evil, freedom of the will, and the relationship between virtue and happiness - to show that he continues to be interesting and relevant to readers today.

Steven Nadler is Vilas Research Professor and William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His many publications include Spinoza: A Life (Cambridge, 1999; second edition, 2018).