Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera
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Shem-Tov ben Joseph ibn Falaquera, also spelled Palquera (1225 – c. 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
- Salomon Munk, Mélanges de Philosophie Juive et Arabe, pp. 494-496;
- Ernest Renan, Averroès et l'Averroïsme, pp. 183, 187;
- David Kaufmann, Studien über Salomon ibn Gabirol 1899, pp. 1-3;
- Moritz Steinschneider, Catalogus Librorum Hebræorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana cols. 2537-2548;
- idem, Hebräische Übersetzungen, pp. 8, 18, 37, 356, 380, 422;
- Moritz Güdemann, Das Jüdische Unterrichtswesen, i. 155-157;
- Heinrich Grätz, Geschichte der Juden, vii. 219 et seq.;
- Mattityahu Strashun, 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 article "Falaquera (Palquera), Shem-Ṭob ben Joseph" by Richard Gottheil and Isaac Broydé, a publication now in the public domain.
