[Avodah] sun and moon

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 01:26:47PM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
> On 26/08/2011 1:16 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
>> But the Rambam tells us his theoretical basis, and it's Aristo's impetus
>> theory. Dismissed science.
>
> Where does he tell us this?  I don't see it anywhere.  If his only reason
> were Aristotelian physics then they would not have to be intelligent;
> they would only need whatever it is that Aristotle thought an animal
> needed in order to move itself...

... which is intellect.

I'm referring to the MN 1:72, 2:1, 2:6, 2:10, etc... Quoting the
opening of Friedlander's rendtion of 2:4:
    THE enunciation that the heavenly sphere is endowed with a soul
    will appear reasonable to all who sufficiently reflect on it; but at
    first thought they may find it unintelligible or even objectionable;
    because they wrongly assume that when we ascribe a soul to the
    heavenly spheres we mean something like the soul of man, or that
    of an ass, or ox. We merely intend to say that the locomotion of
    the sphere undoubtedly leads us to assume some inherent principle
    by which it moves; and this principle is certainly a soul. For it
    would be absurd to assume that the principle of the circular motion
    of the spheres was like that of the rectilinear motion of a stone
    downward or of fire upwards, for the cause of the latter motion is a
    natural property and not a soul; a thing set in motion by a natural
    property moves only as long as it is away from the proper place of
    its element, but when it has again arrived there, it comes to rest;
    whilst the sphere continues its circular motion in its own place. It
    is, however, not because the sphere has a soul, that it moves in this
    manner; for animate beings move either by instinct or by reason....

> And in fact there is no connection between his belief that the tzeva
> hashamayim are intelligent and the need for a motive force to keep them
> moving; on the contrary...

I think this quote proves otherwise.

Although here he speaks of the sphere that holds the moon, not the moon
itself. The Rambam doesn't actually say the moon has an intellect. One
could argue he takes the medrash to mean the galgal of the yareiach,
not the yareiach itself. But I think it's more reasonable he didn't
take this story historically. Recall also that in 2:30 the Rambam is
quite clear that day 4 is actually the 4th step in a logical process of
unfolding creation, and not part of a temporal sequence at all. So /when/
did this story occur?

>                   .  It's Hashem, he says, that keeps the galgal moving;
> not the galgal itself.  Asserting intelligence on the part of the galgal
> tends to undermine his argument rather than support it...

And yet he explicitly says it, repeatedly.

The Rambam proposes a chain of intellects from the Divine through the
angels to the galgalim down to us and inanimate matter. Yesodei haTorah 2.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I thank God for my handicaps, for, through them,
micha at aishdas.org        I have found myself, my work, and my God.
http://www.aishdas.org                - Helen Keller
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