Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera

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Shem-Tov ben Joseph ibn Falaquera, also spelled Palquera (1225-ca. 1290) (Hebrew: שם טוב בן יוסף אבן פלקירה) was a Spanish philosopher and poet. He was well versed in Arabic and Greek philosophy, and had a fine critical sense. Falaquera unfortunately gives no information concerning his own personality.

[edit] Works

Iggeret Hanhagat ha-Guf we ha-Nefesh, a treatise in verse on the control of the body and the soul.

Ẓeri ha-Yagon, on resignation and fortitude under misfortune. Cremona, 1550.

Iggeret ha-Wikkuaḥ, a dialogue between an orthodox Jew and a philosopher on the harmony of philosophy and religion, being an attempt to prove that not only the Bible, but even the Talmud, is in perfect accord with philosophy. Prague, 1810.

Reshit Ḥokmah, treating of moral duties (and giving the so-called "ethical epistles" of Aristotle), of the sciences, and of the necessity of studying philosophy. In this Shem-Ṭob treats of the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato. This and the preceding work have been translated into Latin (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, MS. Latin, No. 6691A).

Sefer ha-Ma'alot, on the different degrees of human perfection; ed. L. Venetianer, 1891.

Ha-Mebaḳḳesh, a survey of human knowledge in the form of a dialogue in rimed prose interspersed with verse. This work is a remodeling of the Reshit Ḥokmah. Amsterdam, 1779.

Sefer ha-Nefesh, a psychological treatise according to the Arabian Peripatetics, especially Avicenna. Brody, 1835.

Moreh ha-Moreh, commentary on the philosophical part of the Moreh Nebukim (Guide to the Perplexed) of Maimonides, with an appendix containing corrections of the Hebrew translation of Samuel ibn Tibbon. Presburg, 1837.

Letter in defense of the Moreh Nebukim, which had been attacked by several French rabbis; published in the Minḥat Ḳena'ot. Presburg, 1838.

Extracts from Ibn Gabirol's Meḳor Ḥayyim, published by Solomon Munk in his Mélanges de Philosophie Juive et Arabe. Paris, 1859.

De'ot ha-Filusufim, containing Aristotle's Physics and Metaphysics according to Ibn Roshd's interpretations (Steinschneider, Cat. Hebr. MSS. Leyden, No. 20).

Iggeret ha-Musar, a compilation of ethical sentences (comp. Orient, Lit. 1879, p. 79).

Megillat ha-Zikkaron, a historical work, no longer in existence, quoted in the Mebaḳḳesh.

Iggeret ha-Ḥalom, a treatise on dreams, mentioned in Moreh ha-Moreh, iii., ch. 19, p. 131.

[edit] Jewish Encyclopedia Bibliography

Munk, Mélanges de Philosophie Juive et Arabe, pp. 494-496;
Renan, Averroès et l'Averroïsme, pp. 183, 187;
Kaufmann, Studien über Salomon ibn Gabirol 1899, pp. 1-3;
Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 2537-2548;
idem, Hebr. Uebers. pp. 8, 18, 37, 356, 380, 422;
Güdemann, Das Jüdische Unterrichtswesen, i. 155-157;
Grätz, Gesch. vii. 219 et seq.;
Straschoun, Pirḥe Ẓafon, i. 46;
L. Venetianer, Semtob ibn Fala-Kéra, in Magyar Zsido Szemle, 1890, viii. 74-82, 144-155
This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.