A History of Mediaeval Jewish PhilosophyHusik, Isaac
ReligionJewish
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy
Husik, Isaac
Philosophy, Jewish; Philosophy, Medieval
In the rest of his psychology and ethics the anonymous author follows
Platonic theories, modified now and then in the manner of Aristotle.
Thus we are told that the soul consists of three powers, or three souls,
the vegetative, the animal and the rational. We learn of the existence
of the vegetative soul from the nourishment, growth and reproduction
evidenced by the individual. The animal soul shows its presence in the
motions of the body. The existence of the rational soul we have already
shown from the attributes of knowledge and ignorance.
The vegetative soul comes from certain spheral influences, themselves
due to the universal soul, and ultimately to the will of God. It is the
first of the three to make its appearance in the body. It is already
found in the embryo, to which it gives the power of motion in its own
place like the motion of a plant or tree. Its seat is in the liver,
where the growth of the embryo begins. Its function ceases about the
twentieth year, when the growth of the body reaches its limit.
The animal soul springs from the heart. Its functioning appears after
birth when the child begins to crawl, and continues until the person
loses the power of locomotion in old age. The rational soul resides in
the middle of the brain. She knows all things before joining the body,
but her knowledge is obscured on account of the material coverings which
she receives on her way down from her divine source.[143]
The virtue of the vegetative soul is temperance; of the animal soul,
courage; of the rational soul, wisdom. When these are harmoniously
combined in the individual, and the two lower souls are controlled by
the higher, there results the fourth virtue, which is justice, and which
gives its possessor the privilege of being a teacher and a leader of his
people. In Moses all these qualities were exemplified, and Isaiah (11,
1-4) in describing the qualities of the Messianic King also enumerates
these four cardinal virtues. "The spirit of wisdom and understanding"
represents wisdom, "the spirit of counsel and strength" stands for
courage; "the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord" denotes
temperance; and justice is represented in the phrase, "and he will judge
the poor with righteousness."[144]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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