Philosopher
Joseph Albo
c. 1380 – c. 1444
Jewish philosopher of Christian Spain whose Book of Principles reduced the necessary beliefs of a divine law to three: God's existence, revelation, and reward and punishment.
Joseph Albo was born before 1380 in Monreal, in Aragon, studied with Hasdai Crescas in Saragossa, and became a rabbi and preacher. After the community of Daroca, which he had represented at Tortosa, was devastated in 1415, he moved to Soria in Castile, where he completed the Book of Principles in 1425. He died around 1444.
His work mixes careful logical analysis with biblical interpretation, and shows his knowledge of earlier Jewish philosophers, above all Maimonides and Crescas, as well as of Christian thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas. The persecution of Jews in Christian Spain drew him into anti-Christian polemic.
Key ideas
- Three principles
- To belong to a divine law, a person must hold three fundamental beliefs: that God exists, that God revealed the law, and that there is reward and punishment. Albo offered this as an alternative to Maimonides’ thirteen principles of faith.
- Three kinds of law
- Albo distinguished divine law, which comes from revelation, as Judaism does; conventional law, which people agree among themselves to keep society in moral order; and natural law, the basic moral rules against injustice. He sought the principles of divine law in general, not just of the Torah.
- Defending Judaism in public
- At the Disputation of Tortosa in 1413–1414, a great public debate staged by the papacy, Albo spoke for the Jewish community of Daroca against the convert Geronimo de Santa Fe.
- Tradition
- Jewish
- Region
- Aragon and Castile
- Period
- Provence and Spain
- Themes
- Faith and reason
Influences
Influenced by
Joseph Alboc. 1380 – c. 1444
Influenced by
Joseph Alboc. 1380 – c. 1444
Where these links come from
- Joseph Albo drew on and argued against Maimonides. Source: Dror Ehrlich and Shira Weiss, Joseph Albo, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Joseph Albo studied with Hasdai Crescas. Source: Dror Ehrlich and Shira Weiss, Joseph Albo, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- Book of Principles (Sefer ha-'Ikkarim), 1425
- Read free at Wikisource (in Hebrew)
Sources
- Dror Ehrlich and Shira Weiss, Joseph Albo, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy