

HoP 165 - Neither the Time Nor the Place - Hasdai Crescas
6 snips Mar 2, 2014
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Crescas's Life and the 1391 Pogroms
- Crescas, a scholar from Barcelona, rose to become a prominent legal authority for Jews in Aragon.
- He faced the 1391 pogroms, losing his son and witnessing the destruction of Barcelona's Jewish community.
Crescas's Critique of Maimonides
- Crescas criticized Maimonides for basing Jewish law on Aristotelian science, considering it shaky.
- He aimed to create a stronger foundation for Jewish principles by exposing flaws in Maimonides's arguments.
Crescas's Critique of Infinity
- Crescas challenged Aristotle's concept of actual infinity, proposing that an infinitely large entity doesn't necessitate infinitely fast motion.
- He used the analogy of an asymptote, where lines approach indefinitely without meeting, to illustrate his point.