Ben Jungreis
Unit 7: Understanding Laws (cont.)
Chapter 27 of Part III of The Guide of the Perplexed establishes an overall rationale for the commandments. It opens with a declaration by Maimonides: “The Law as a whole aims at two things: the welfare of the soul and the welfare of the body” (Twersky 314). These two parts, the body and the soul, are the two parts which man must seek to perfect. Maimonides holds perfection of the soul as more important, calling it the “ultimate perfection”. First, Maimonides explains what it means for each part to be healthy. Bodily health is gained through improving the way people live and interact with each other, it is really societal health. A healthy soul is gained through “the multitude’s acquiring correct opinions” as far as they are capable (Twersky 314). Galston points out that there is only a small resemblance between the states of health and perfection for the two parts. Maimonides explains that the first perfection (the body) must be achieved before perfection of the soul can be because the needs of the body must be met so one can pursue the learning needed for the ultimate perfection. This first perfection is gained through fulfilling the basic human needs, such as food, shelter, and cleanliness. However, Maimonides caveats: “this cannot be achieved in any way by one isolated individual” (Twersky 315). Maimonides believed that this goal could only be achieved by those in society, or as Maimonides puts it “a political association” (Twersky 315). Galston interprets the text as indicating that the society necessary for bodily perfection allows more freedom and independence between individuals than the society which creates bodily health, so the two states (health and perfection) may not be able to coexist. As for the soul, its health can be obtained by acquiring “correct opinions”, whereas its perfection is obtained by becoming rational through knowing as much about all beings as one can. The two states are connected, unlike for the body. In the beginning of chapter 28 Maimonides asserts that the correct opinions that stem from health are necessary before achieving the ultimate perfection. Chapter 27 ends with Maimonides asserting the power of “the Law of Moses” to bring about both perfections.
Chapter 28 begins by outlining what correct opinions are, which is everything associated with believing in God. Maimonides gives examples: “His unity, His knowledge, His power, His will, and His eternity” (Twersky 316). The examples listed are explained to be end goal, which one can only reach by first having many other opinions. The commandments only describe which opinions should be your end goals, not the others that allow you to get there. According to Maimonides the opinions one must gather first must be of “the numerous kinds of all the theoretical sciences” (Twersky 317). Since opinions seems to mean knowledge of something, this means that one must understand the sciences before one can gain an understanding of God, an idea that Maimonides has presented before. Maimonides then continues by describing beliefs that the commandments prescribe in order to promote “political welfare.” Maimonides uses the example of fear: you must have the belief that God is angry with those that disobey his commandments so that you fear His wrath and do not disobey.
Maimonides draws from these rules about beliefs and opinions three purposes for commandements: abolishing wrongdoing, promoting good relationships by improving people’s’ “moral quality”, or teaching someone an opinion that leads to either of those. If it has one of these purposes then it has clear utility. You do not have to wonder why it exists, like the commandment which forbids murder. Maimonides says the commandments which have controversy over their purpose are those that do not meet one of those three criteria for clear utility, such as the prohibition on mixing meat and milk. He says that these commandments to do not appear to be related to the “welfare of the soul.” However, Maimonides assures the readers that even these seemingly purposeless commandments do have a purpose, and they fulfill one of his three purposes, and that he will explain how in a later chapter. Galston points out that chapter 28 takes the reader from the belief that all commandments must be believed for their own sake, to understanding that some commandments have a utility that improves life, to the realization that all commandments have this utility in some way. Don Seeman points out that understanding the utility of God’s Laws is necessary to love Him, a love that is achieved only through deep understanding.
Chapter 32 of The Guide of the Perplexed begins with Maimonides explaining how God shaped the human body, giving each part utility, likening it to how He also put purpose into every commandment. Maimonides shows how various commandments mandated and prohibited different kinds of worship with the purpose of ending idolatrous practices. This achieves what Maimonides calls God’s first intention: the understanding of God and not worshipping another god besides Him. He then comes to the question of why we have free will, why did God not simply makes us naturally inclined to be obedient to Him instead of creating a system of rewards and punishments? Maimonides says that God could make us naturally follow His commandments, but He clearly does not want to do that or the “sending of prophets and all giving of a Law would have been useless” (Twersky 332). In this chapter Maimonides lays out how God’s restrictions on idolatrous practices, such as restricting sacrifices to the Temple, were done to achieve what he calls God’s first intention. Maimonides rationally explains the purpose of commandments which seem to have no purpose, fulfilling his promise of an explanation from chapter 28.
Don Seeman’s article on The Guide of the Perplexed argues that Maimonides’ reasons for the commandments are Aristotelian in nature, and that his “pleasure-inducing contemplation of both nature and divine commandments should be considered analogous to Aristotle’s pleasure-inducing contemplation of both kosmos and human virtue” (Seeman 305). Maimonides breaks with many of his predecessors by arguing that all commandments are rational, and argues that saying some commandments have no rationality implies God is not perfect. Seeman writes: “Maimonides insists that any conception which is premised on the idea of a God who acts without purpose would impugn divine perfection” (Seeman 302). Seeman explains that Maimonides never substitutes faith for rational explanation when it comes to the purpose of the commandments. Seeman says that the purpose of the The Guide of the Perplexed is to show the reader how God’s Laws all have a rational purpose so that people can understand them (therefore understand God) so that they can truly love God.