What is it about?
Maimonides respected Galen and cited him. For example he quotes De Usu Partium in explaining why the human body should not be expected to last forever. He agrees with Galen that one cannot prove the world created or eternal. But he finds Galen baffled about the nature of time and criticizes him sharply for writing that apes were made just to make people laugh, and he rejects Galen's critique of the Torah for proposing that Moses believed God "commanded" the eyelashes not to grow too long. God, Maimonides explains wanted the world to be full of a great variety of things, including apes. And God issues commands only to free and rational beings. He creates by imparting design to things, not by mere fiats.
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Why is it important?
We see a mix here of Maimonides' respect for Galen as a scientific physician, a respect tempered by unwillingness to let Galen's rude remarks pass. Like others who reject astrology as superstitious pseudo-science, Maimonides bypasses Galen's occasional reliance on astrology. A critical thinker, Maimonides knows when Galen has gone too far and is unwilling to accept his views on mere authority.
Perspectives
My piece in the Gerrit Bos Festschrift was written in appreciation of Bos' ready help with any questions I posed on Maimonides' medical references when I was at work on the new translation from the Arabic and philosophical commentary on The Guide to the Perplexed, co-authored with Phillip Lieberman and accompanied by my Guide to the Guide, both published by Stanford University Press, 2024.
Lenn Goodman
Vanderbilt University
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This page is a summary of: Galen in the Guide—and beyond, August 2024, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004705883_015.
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