[Avodah] Rav Elchanan Wasserman & Why People Sin

[H Lampel via Avodah]

Micha Berger:

>> Rabbi Akiva said, ... "Even as a house proclaims its builder,a garment
>> >     its weaver or a door its carpenter, so does the world proclaim the
>> >     Holy Blessed One Who created it.
>> >
>> >Not very rigorous. Rabbi Aqiva's reply revolves around giving a parable
>> >to make the conclusion self-evident. Not contructing a deductive argument.
>> >
>> > ...there are truths that can
>> be justified even when they are not amenable to formal proofs.
>> ... I'll quote Qovetz Maamariv par 5-7 from a translation
>> provided by Pirchei Shoshanim. You'll notice it's nothing like the
>> Rambam's attempt to formally prove an Argument from Design in Moreh
>> sec. II.

Indeed, the Rambam himself in the Moreh Nevuchim recognizes this 
distinction and supports the superior validity of the non-formal 
approach. Chapters after he devotes chapters to formal philosophic 
proofs for Creation ex nihilo, he describes how a healthy (and unbiased) 
mind thinks:

    And know that one of the strongest proofs for Creation ex nihilo,
    /for one who is  modeh al ha-ememmes/ (Ibn Tibbon; KPCH: /baal
    tsedek/; Pines: an equitable man) [contra Aristotle—see 2:20-23], is
    his confirming the fact that every one of all natural entities
    serves a specific purpose, with each one benefiting still another;
    and that this fact is a proof for the purposeful intent of an
    intender, and that such purposeful intent necessarily implies the
    production of something new [and not something that always existed
    along with the one who bears the purposeful intention for its
    existence]. (MN 3:13)

Aristotle agreed to the premise that everything in Nature serves a 
certain purpose, and that every being contributes to the existence of 
still another being, but he refused to concede to the conclusion the 
Rambam considers something a /modeh al ha-emmess/baal tsedek/ is 
naturally convinced of.

Zvi Lampel




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