Biomaterial Database

Criticism of authority in the writings of Moses Maimonides and Fakhr Al-Dīn Al-Rāzī. 2002

Y Tzvi Langermann

Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan.

Criticism of authority was a prominent feature of medieval philosophical writing. In this study the critiques of two contemporaneous scholars, Moses Maimonides and Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, are compared. Maimonides criticized Hellenistic authorities, mainly Aritotle. However, the starting point for his critique was Aristotle's admission of the limitations of his own inquiries. Maimonides admired Aristotle's questioning of his own conclusions, indeed, his own thought was characterized by constant selfdoubt. Al-Rāzī criticized an earlier Muslim scholar, Ibn Sinā (Avicenna), an intellectual giant whose imprint was strongly felt in philosophy and medicine. Al Rāzī used his commentaries on a number of Ibn Sīnā's books as a stage for criticizing the master and for arguing for his own, alternative viewpoints.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D005069	Evaluation Studies as Topic	Works about studies that determine the effectiveness or value of processes, personnel, and equipment, or the material on conducting such studies.	Critique,Evaluation Indexes,Evaluation Methodology,Evaluation Report,Evaluation Research,Methodology, Evaluation,Pre-Post Tests,Qualitative Evaluation,Quantitative Evaluation,Theoretical Effectiveness,Use-Effectiveness,Critiques,Effectiveness, Theoretical,Evaluation Methodologies,Evaluation Reports,Evaluation, Qualitative,Evaluation, Quantitative,Evaluations, Qualitative,Evaluations, Quantitative,Indexes, Evaluation,Methodologies, Evaluation,Pre Post Tests,Pre-Post Test,Qualitative Evaluations,Quantitative Evaluations,Report, Evaluation,Reports, Evaluation,Research, Evaluation,Test, Pre-Post,Tests, Pre-Post,Use Effectiveness
D001318	Authoritarianism	The personality pattern or syndrome consisting of behavioral and attitudinal characteristics reflecting a preoccupation with the factors of power and authority in interpersonal relationships.	Authoritarianisms
D049691	History, Medieval	The period of history from the year 500 through 1450 of the common era.	Medieval History,History of Medicine, Medieval,History of Medicine, Renaissance,Medicine, Medieval History,Medicine, Renaissance,Medieval History (Medicine),Renaissance Medicine,Histories, Medieval (Medicine),History Medicine, Medieval,History, Medieval (Medicine),Medieval Histories (Medicine),Medieval History Medicine
D018643	Arab World	A historical and cultural entity dispersed across a wide geographical area under the administrative, intellectual, social, and cultural domination of the Arab empire. The Arab world, under the impetus of Islam, by the eighth century A.D., extended from Arabia in the Middle East to all of northern Africa, southern Spain, Sardinia, and Sicily. Close contact was maintained with Greek and Jewish culture. While the principal service of the Arabs to medicine was the preservation of Greek culture, the Arabs themselves were the originators of algebra, chemistry, geology, and many of the refinements of civilization. (From A. Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, 2d ed, p260; from F. H. Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p126)