Happiness in Premodern Judaism
Virtue, Knowledge, and Well-Being
Tirosh-Samuelson shows how Aristotle's reflections on happiness were very much a part of rabbinic thought and how Jewish philosophers in the Hellenistic period read the Jewish Scriptures in light of the Greek conception of happiness. The fusion of Greek and Judaic perspectives reached its zenith during the Middle Ages, especially in the works of Moses Maimonides. Tirosh-Samuelson shows how even the controversies that arose regarding Maimonides' ideas can be viewed as discussions of the relationship of virtue to knowledge. Much of this book, then, concerns the reception of Aristotle's ethics in medieval Jewish philosophy.
"Her exposition of difficult and arcane philosophical ideas is exemplary.
-Charles Manekin, University of Maryland
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson is Professor of History at Arizona State University.
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson
2003 / 608 pp / Monograph No. 29 / ISBN 0-87820-453-9, cloth: $50.00
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