Editing Jewish philosophy (section)

=== Shemtob Ben Joseph Ibn Falaquera ===
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[[Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera]] was a Spanish-born philosopher who pursued reconciliation between Jewish dogma and philosophy.  Scholars speculate he was a student of Rabbi [[David Kimhi]] whose family fled Spain to Narbonne.<ref>The encyclopædia britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences ..., Volume 13 edited by Hugh Chisholm, Pg 174</ref> Ibn Falaquera lived an ascetic live of solitude.<ref>A short biographical article about Rabeinu Shem Tov Ben Yosef Falaquera, one of the great Rishonim who was a defender of the Rambam, and the author of the Moreh HaMoreh on the Rambam's Moreh Nevuchim. Published in the Jewish Quarterly Review journal (Vol .1 1910/1911).</ref> Ibn Falaquera's two leading philosophic authorities were Averroes and Maimonides. Ibn Falaquera defended the ''"Guide for the Perplexed"'' against attacks of anti-Maimonideans.<ref>Torah and Sophia: The Life and Thought of Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera (Monographs of the Hebrew Union College) by Raphael Jospe</ref> He knew the works of the Islamic philosophers better than any Jewish scholar of his time, and made many of them available to other Jewish scholars – often without attribution (''Reshit Hokhmah''). Ibn Falaquera did not hesitate to modify Islamic philosophic texts when it suited his purposes. For example, Ibn Falaquera turned Alfarabi's account of the origin of philosophic religion into a discussion of the origin of the "virtuous city". Ibn Falaquera's other works include, but are not limited to Iggeret Hanhagat ha-Guf we ha-Nefesh, a treatise in verse on the control of the body and the soul.

* ''Iggeret ha-Wikkuaḥ'', a dialogue between a religious Jew and a Jewish philosopher on the harmony of philosophy and religion.
* ''Reshit Ḥokmah'', treating of moral duties, of the sciences, and of the necessity of studying philosophy.
* ''Sefer ha-Ma'alot'', on different degrees of human perfection.
* ''Moreh ha-Moreh'', commentary on the philosophical part of Maimonides' "Guide for the Perplexed".