Philosopher
Saadia Gaon
882–942 CE
Also known as Saadya Gaon, Saadya ben Joseph, Sa'id ibn Yusuf al-Fayyumi
Rabbi and head of the Sura academy whose Book of Doctrines and Beliefs, written in Arabic, argues that reason and revelation confirm each other.
He prepared in our minds a place for the acceptance of reliable tradition and in our souls a quiet corner for trusting it so that His Scriptures and stories should remain safely with us.
Saadia was born in 882 at Fayyum in Upper Egypt, and he died in Baghdad in 942. He was a leading figure in the Jewish community of his time, took part in a disputed reform of the Jewish calendar, and rose, not without opposition, to head the rabbinic academy of Sura. Besides philosophy and theology he wrote two Arabic translations of the Bible, a Hebrew dictionary, grammatical and mathematical works, liturgical poetry and a prayer book.
His Book of Doctrines and Beliefs, written in Arabic, sets out to rescue its readers from error and doubt by showing how reason and revelation support one another. Its confidence in reason reflects the Mu’tazili theologians of Islamic kalam, and Maimonides later criticised this style of argument. Saadia was the first Jewish writer to discuss philosophically the rabbinic distinction between laws known by reason and laws known only through revelation.
Key ideas
- Four sources of knowledge
- We know things through the senses, through reason, through inference and through reliable tradition. Tradition, a trustworthy report handed down, arrives all at once and is certain to those who receive it, unlike the slower work of the other three.
- Laws of reason and laws of revelation
- Some of the Bible’s commandments, such as those against murder, theft and lying, are “laws of reason”: any rational person could arrive at them. Others, such as the Sabbath and the dietary laws, are “laws of revelation”, about which reason passes no judgement either way.
- Reason proves what revelation teaches
- For some beliefs, such as the unity of God and the creation of the world, reason alone can reach the truth and prove it. Saadia still confirms each demonstration from scripture: the two sources support each other.
- Creation from nothing
- Drawing on the arguments of Islamic kalam theology, Saadia offers four proofs that the world was created, argues that it needs a creator outside it, and defends creation from nothing against a dozen rival cosmologies.
- Tradition
- Jewish
- Region
- Egypt and Baghdad
- Period
- Judaeo-Arabic
Key works
- The Book of Doctrines and Beliefs (Kitab al-amanat wa-l-i'tiqadat)
- Read free at Wikisource (in Hebrew, translated by Judah ibn Tibbon, the medieval Hebrew translation)
Sources
- Sarah Pessin, Saadya [Saadiah], Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy