Moses Maimonides aka Moshe ben Maimon aka the Rambam

Maimonides is one of the towering figures of Jewish intellectual history and the perfect place to kick off our series on Jewish thinkers. He thought that the life of the mind is the best life for human beings. And he meant all human beings, not just Jewish people: “Not only the tribe of Levi,” he said, “but also each and every individual whose knowledge gives him understanding.” Everybody has the opportunity to live a good life and get the reward from God, so long as they use their reason.

Easy enough for those of us already engaged in some form of a life of the mind. But is it really the best life for everybody? Maimonides definitely thought so: he said that if you use your reason properly, you’ll come to appreciate how great the world is, which in turn will bring you closer to God. It may sound odd to call on logic to get to God, but the idea is this: if you use your brain properly, you’ll come to see that the world around you is an amazing place, full of bees, butterflies, and bountiful beauty. And once you’ve seen that, you’ll be grateful to whoever created it.

Of course beyond the bees, butterflies, and beauty, the world is also full of disease, death, and disaster. You can still believe in God, but a lot of theologians think you have to look beyond the world to do that. Even within the Jewish tradition there are mystics who tell us to rise above the physical if we want to find God. That brings to mind an old joke. Two philosophers are talking, and one asks “Why is there something rather than nothing?” The other says “Gee, even if there was nothing, you’d still complain!”

Which is to say, yes, suffering does exist. But Maimonides thinks we focus too much on it and that we should stop complaining, The bad stuff is outweighed by the good stuff. Once we shift our perspective and see everything as a totality, Maimonides says we will “realize the divine wisdom manifested in [everything], [and] [our] love for God will increase.”

But consider what Kierkegaard says: believing in a higher power is all about the leap of faith. If you’re just being logical, you’re getting it all wrong. Of course Kierkegaard may have just had too narrow an understanding of reason. If you can use your reason to understand the universe and see how miraculously everything hangs together, you’ll end up in a vision that takes you beyond the everyday. Plenty of scientists talk this way. Reason isn’t just test tubes and calculators: it’s deep-sea submarines and James Webb telescopes. Reason is enchanting!

So can thinking on its own really what make for a flourishing human life? What would Maimonides say about our other capacities? What about mystery, or creative pursuits, or love? Hopefully our guest can help: it’s Ross Brann from Cornell University, author of Moses Maimonides: A Very Short Introduction.