Gaonic Society and Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Gaonic Society and Culture - Research Paper Example The first â€Å"Gaon of Sura† was Mar Rab who took the charge in 609 and the last was Samuel ben Hofni who died in 1034. The last â€Å"Gaon of Pumbedita† was Hezekiah Gaon who was agonized and he died in 10401. During the â€Å"Golden Age† of Arabs Jews were prominent in the society and their religious and cultural practices and economic living flourished. After 681, the Jews were severely victimized by â€Å"Christian Visigoths† and therefore they invited the Muslim Arabs mainly the â€Å"Berber† conquerors. These conquerors successfully removed the â€Å"Christian Visigoths† and brought an end to their tyranny, providing the Jews their religious autonomy2. Thereafter a period of tolerance began as Jews devoted themselves in studying the sciences, commerce and industry to augment the prosperity of the country. They engaged themselves in translating Arabic texts into Roman and Greek and Hebrew texts into Arabic. The involvement of the Jews w as also found in several other disciplines such as â€Å"botany, geography, medicine, mathematics, poetry and philosophy.3† During this time Jewish ideas blossomed leading to partial Jewish autonomy. Again insecurity of the Jews developed around 976 and the situation further deteriorated in 1090 with the attack of â€Å"Almoravids†, a Muslim protestant sect from Morocco. Under their rule Islamic belief was imposed on the Jews. The famous educational bodies of the Jews were closed. Then by 1085 there was invasion by the Christian forces. Jewish community was still prominent. Some scholars such as Maimonides, born in 1135, were well-known figures in Judaism. Jewish existence still continued until they were powerfully debarred or converted by the â€Å"Christian Monarchs†4 The purpose of this paper is to show that the uniqueness of the gaons could be attributed to their piety and practices apart from their scholarly talents and achievements which reflect discipline , integrity and wisdom. The Gaons, their practice and religion During the Islamic period, due to the absence of corporate groups, the commercialized and crafted guild of the European variety was not restricted to those members having majority belief in Islamic culture. There was significant resemblance among the Muslim and Jewish practices. This encouraged flexible interactions between the Jews and Muslims in economic activities and led the Jewish to adopt liberal attitude towards the Muslims. They preferred to in developing business contracts and settling disputes in the Muslim religious courts as opposed to early Talmudic prohibition. According to one of the Babylonian Geonim this practice was implicitly recognized by the Jewish judiciary on account of mutual faith. â€Å"Ashkenazic rabbis† persisted on stringent observance of Talmudic controls. Therefore the Geonim and later halakhic authorities in the â€Å"medieval Arab world† objected on Jews relevance to Muslim courts and emphasized on continual Talmudic ban. The Gaon after considering many contradictory biblical verses exhibits that they do not include abrogation. Islamic religious expressions were used in â€Å"Judaeo- Arabic† writing of the Jewish scholars. Saadya Gaon, the first great â€Å"rabbinic† who wrote in Arabic referred deliberately to the â€Å"Torah†. His Arabic translation of the Bible reflected an integration of â€Å"Arabic-Islamic† culture. The considerable resemblance between the Jewish and Islamic law, the corresponding operation of both of their legal systems and their sharing of linguistic discourse across

Descartes And Letters Exchanged Between Elizabeth of Bohemia On the Essay

Descartes And Letters Exchanged Between Elizabeth of Bohemia On the Body-Mind Problem - Essay Example In this letter, she appears to suggest that the reason for her departure is the murder of Francois d’Espinay (who had courted not only mother but also her younger sister) by Phillipe (her brother) in broad daylight (Atherton 25). Ironically this act seems to have been carried out with Elizabeth’s knowledge. She tells Descartes that she will carry a draft of The Passions of the Soul treatise that he had given to her, but remarks that previously his presence had had provided the remedy to her passions, since both his reasoning and maxims had failed to do so. Letter II: Descartes to Elizabeth, September 1646. The response to Elizabeth commences with a reference to a correspondence they exchanged recently about Machiavelli’s The Prince; Elizabeth had asked him to read it. Descartes remarks that he has discovered in the Prince a lot of precepts which have been very good to him, but his major criticism is that Machiavelli has failed to provide a clear contrast between princes who have acquired power through illegitimate methods and those who have done so through just means. He says that the former are bereft of solid foundations, and the states they create will inevitably slip into tyranny (Descartes & Griffith 22). Descartes also criticizes Machiavelli’s arguments concerning the prince’s relations to enemies, the common people, allies and prominent personalities. He rebukes Machiavelli’s suggestions that people should feign friendship if that is what they have to do in order to satisfy the desires, stating that â€Å"friendship is something too sacred to abuse in this way†. Descartes also take issue with Machiavelli’s recommendation that the prince should sometimes feel free to dishonor promises (Descartes says this would ruin the prince’s reputation), and insists that the prince should steer clear of the people’s contempt and hatred. In an important passage for the interpretation by Regnault, Des cartes examines Machiavelli’s suggestion, in chapter 15, that because the world is corrupt, it is inevitable that one will self-destruct if he always wants to be a good man, and that when the occasion calls for it a prince must always prepare to be wicked so as to maintain and sustain oneself (Atherton 32). Descartes does not agree with this maxim, unless by a good man Machiavelli means a simple and superstitious man who does not wage war on the Sabbath, and whose conscience can remain clear only when if he changes his people’s religion. However, if by a good man we mean he who relies on his true reasoning for everything he does, then it is obvious that the best thing is to always try to be good. In response to Princess Elizabeth’s own dilemmas, Descartes simply recommends that she adopt and put into action those maxims which show that everybody’s felicity depends only on him/herself, and that it is very important to conduct oneself outside the rules and boundaries of fortune so that, while one fails to miss the opportunities to grab the advantages it offers, one does not make him/herself unhappy when it refuses to grant them. Considering that in all earthly affairs there are always reasons for and against, one should mainly focus on those that convince one to approve and sanction what happens (Peursen 28). Letter III: Elizabeth to Descartes, 10 October 1646. Now settled in Berlin, Elizabeth starts her letter by stating that the