IBN ZADDIK, JOSEPH BEN JACOB
(d. 1149)

Joseph ben Jacob ibn Zaddik, like other Jewish philosophers of a Neoplatonic cast, such as Yehuda Halevi and Abraham ibn Ezra, was a poet as well as a philosopher and legist. Very few of his poems survive, and although he was highly praised as a Talmudist and served for the last eleven years of his life (1138–1149) as judge (dayyan ) of the Jewish community of Córdoba, he does not seem to have written any systematic legal work. His philosophic work, on which his chief reputation rests, was originally written in Arabic, but the original no longer survives; a Hebrew translation, under the title Olam Katon (The Microcosm), was circulated in manuscript during the Middle Ages but was not printed until the mid-nineteenth century.

The general thesis of Joseph ibn Zaddik's work is that since man's nature duplicates in reduced form the nature of the universe, knowledge of the self provides a key to all knowledge. It is unnecessary to study the special sciences. The study of man, the microcosm, will lead to the understanding of the universe, the macrocosm.

Ibn Zaddik's Olam Katon, in fulfillment of this program, develops in its first part a metaphysical basis for the theory of man as the microcosm. Here the author showed acquaintance with both the Platonic and the Aristotelian traditions in the form in which they were maintained by Muslim philosophers. The second part of the work discusses both the physical and the psychological natures of man; it asserts a point-for-point correspondence between human nature and the physics of the universe. In the third part Ibn Zaddik turned to theological questions, particularly the question of divine unity. His theological discussion includes a proof of creation from the finiteness of the world: Where there is creation, there must be a Creator; hence God exists. The philosopher was aware of the difficulties presented by a naive doctrine of divine attributes and resolved these difficulties by denying to the attributes a positive character. The fourth and final division of the work, continuing the pattern established by the Muslim philosophers, is devoted to God's justice and the implications of the divine government of the universe for man's duties. Ibn Zaddik was firmly committed to a belief in human free will; he believed that a man must use his freedom to imitate the goodness of God and to seek knowledge of him. Success or failure in so doing leads to reward or punishment in the future life, but apparent rewards and punishments in this world are merely natural happenings and should not be understood as indications of divine favor or disfavor.

See also Aristotelianism; Determinism and Freedom; Halevi, Yehuda; Jewish Philosophy; Macrocosm and Microcosm; Platonism and the Platonic Tradition.

Bibliography

works by ibn zaddik

The Microcosm. Translated by J. Haberman. London: Associated University Press, 1954.

works on ibn zaddik

Samuelson, N. "Medieval Jewish Aristotelianism: An Introduction." In History of Jewish Philosophy, edited by D. Frank and O. Leaman. London: Routledge, 1997.

J. L. Blau (1967)

Bibliography updated by Oliver Leaman (2005)