This volume, Kaufmann's last major work and one of his best, is a collection of five of his seminal essays on Solomon Ibn Gabirol, the greatest of the medieval Jewish neo-platonists. The studies included are: "Pseudo-Empedocles als Quelle Salomon Ibn Gabirol" with the Hebrew text of a fragment of Pseudo-Empedocles; Solomon Ibn Gabirol's "Philosophische Allegorese"; Abraham ibn Daud's "Kritik der 'Lebensquelle"'; "Die Kenntniss von Ibn Gabirol's 'Lebensquelle' in der judischen Litteratur nach Ibn Daud"; "Ein philophisches gedicht Solomon Ibn Gabirol." When first published, these essays opened new vistas in the study of Ibn Gabirol. They gave, among other things, an account of the claimed relation between Ibn Gabirol and the earlier Greek work known as pseudo-Empedocles. Kaufmann's investigation of the extant Hebrew fragments of this earlier work is particularly noteworthy because this Hebrew translation of the Empedoclean source is the only evidence we have of its existence. Also thoroughly reviewed is Ibn Gabirol's use of allegory and the claim that he was the author of a now lost allegorical commentary on scripture. Finally, Kaufmann made a close study of the influence of Ibn Gabirol on later Jewish thought. These studies are still indispensable to students of medieval Jewish thought. German and Hebrew text
This volume, Kaufmann's last major work and one of his best, is a collection of five of his seminal essays on Solomon Ibn Gabirol, the greatest of the medieval Jewish neo-platonists. The studies included are: "Pseudo-Empedocles als Quelle Salomon Ibn Gabirol" with the Hebrew text of a fragment of Pseudo-Empedocles; Solomon Ibn Gabirol's "Philosophische Allegorese"; Abraham ibn Daud's "Kritik der 'Lebensquelle"'; "Die Kenntniss von Ibn Gabirol's 'Lebensquelle' in der judischen Litteratur nach Ibn Daud"; "Ein philophisches gedicht Solomon Ibn Gabirol." When first published, these essays opened new vistas in the study of Ibn Gabirol. They gave, among other things, an account of the claimed relation between Ibn Gabirol and the earlier Greek work known as pseudo-Empedocles. Kaufmann's investigation of the extant Hebrew fragments of this earlier work is particularly noteworthy because this Hebrew translation of the Empedoclean source is the only evidence we have of its existence. Also thoroughly reviewed is Ibn Gabirol's use of allegory and the claim that he was the author of a now lost allegorical commentary on scripture. Finally, Kaufmann made a close study of the influence of Ibn Gabirol on later Jewish thought. These studies are still indispensable to students of medieval Jewish thought. German and Hebrew text