I have been studying philosophy for years now in my spare time and I am amazed how wiser people were in the past compared to the present where philosophy is almost non-existent. It seems like people are now consumed in this hedonistic nihilist world, thus wisdom, logic and excellence is almost lost in this crazy world.

Amongst the great ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, Maimonides was pretty much the greatest philosopher of the middle ages with his distilled insights into morality and wisdom, which was all but lost until the Age of Enlightenment and pretty much never repeated again since.

Bio

Maimonides, born Moses ben Maimon (מֹשֶׁה בֶּן־מַימוֹן‎), also known as "Rambam", was a Jewish rabbi, philosopher, astronomer and physician who reformed Jewish law and ethics, wrote several books on medicine, and had an overwhelming positive influence on society, not just Jewish but on the entirety of Western/Christian and even Arabic society. Read More

Analysis and Commentary

I would like to analyze and comment on some of his popular quotes from his works. No doubt most of these quotes you have already heard of even though you probably didn't knew it came from him. I will give my analysis on them.

• “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

This is no doubt the most famous quote from him. This is basically the most direct and obvious argument against the current welfare system. Basically giving money to people, who might or might not deserve it, is much much worse than actually teaching them to work, giving them skills that they can capitalize on. By giving people money, you subjugate them and make them dependent on you, if you teach people to make money, then you liberate and empower them. I think this is what Maimonides tries to put forth, I am sure Socialism didn’t started with Marx, there were plenty of romanticism of “free stuff” since the inception of humanity. But it corrupts people.

You know give somebody 100$ for free and watch him immediately spend it on useless or quite harmful addictive stuff, like alcohol, tobacco, women, and such. But if that somebody would be taught how to be responsible with his money, then he would have invested his own earned 100$ into Bitcoin in 2009 and now would only reap the benefits of his skills instead of having to rely on somebody for subsidy.

• “Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar who will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen.”

This is a classic one. It shows you that authority can’t always be trusted, if at all. Lies are everywhere, and just because something is popular doesn’t mean that it’s true. Many people read books, or in these days the equivalent would probably be the media or perhaps a school book, but the popularity or the authority of these sources of information have always have to be questioned. Lies spread just as easily in any medium. I think this is an argument against the “Argument from Majority” fallacy.

• “If men possessed wisdom, which stands in the same relation to the form of man as the sight to the eye, they would not cause any injury to themselves or to others; for the knowledge of truth removes hatred and quarrels, and prevents mutual injuries.”

A very powerful one. It emphasizes on the importance of truth and wisdom. Wisdom in very important for a human, as we see many fools roaming around. Especially roaming around doing harmful things, which perhaps can come back on them via some sort of “karma” or just from society turning against them.

This can be perhaps a person in powerful position that just did so much evil that eventually people will turn against him. And you can only maintain your power once their loyalty fades away, by violence. And thus causing more violence in society will eventually lead to people turning against him. So it’s really inevitable.

However if they would have wisdom, they would have never even considered violence as an option, a truly wise person can probably resolve any issue without violence, if others would be too.

So it’s really the ultimate wisdom to have a voluntary society, nobody hurting eachother. And this can only be achieved by realizing the truth that has been hidden under mountains of lies.

• “You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.”

I have always observed this phenomena where as somebody who has a lot of “credibility” is leveraging that credibility to spread lies, whereas a know liar might reveal a big truth and nobody believes him.

It just really shows you that people are not fact based, and spend more time analyzing the person itself rather than what they are saying. Be that a racist dismissal, or they might not like the person, but that doesn’t mean that what they are saying can’t be truth.

In worst case, “even a broken clock is right 2 times a day” so it’s literally impossible for even a know liar to lie all the time, and when he doesn’t he might reveal something huge, and if nobody pays attention then, then that truth can be lost.

So the truth itself is the truth, and it doesn’t matter who says it. That is the truth. Now if you don’t know whether it’s true or not, then you might be skeptical about it, who wouldn’t, but that just proves to you that you should spend less time in analyzing the person that says it, and spend more time actually figuring out whether it’s true or not.

Once you establish that it’s true, then it doesn’t matter after who says what about it.

• “Teach thy tongue to say 'I do not know', and thou shalt progress”

This suggests that people should have humility. How many times have arrogance won people anything? The point that people can admit if and when they are wrong, is one of the greatest virtues out there. A lot of damage can be done if people think that they are right, when in fact they are not, but they conceal this and persistently try to justify their position with any means necessary, even at great evidence to prove them wrong. It’s the absolute shameless arrogance to do that.

Perhaps it’s some scientist, perhaps it’s some politician, definitely a politician, who thinks he knows what’s best for others, and when he does something and have caused great harm to people, he fails to admit that he was wrong and continues.

True progress is made when people admit their faults, and if they don’t know something, then they don’t do it, certainly don’t try to force it on others.

• “Transient bodies are only subject to destruction through their substance and not through their form, nor can the essence of their form be destroyed; in this respect, they are permanent.”

A dynamic system is eternal. Something that can always adapt to something, very quickly, can last for a very long time. The world is always changing, and the changing dynamic nature of it, can make it last a very long time, but if that thing is always the same corrupt entity, then it will end.

It’s like how the Government is trying to survive by changing itself every 4 years. You know you basically have 2-3 parties, and after the people are fed up with one party, you get another one, and after that you get the first one hoping that people will forget the bad things they did previously.

It’s really necessary for them to do this, since people will hardly put up with an absolute monarchy or a dictatorship anymore. However just because they are flexible, dynamic and quickly adapting, that doesn’t mean that it will last forever.

Since it’s always the same rotten political system, build on the same immorality of the initiation of force against innocent people. It’s the same rotten substance always. And that might mean that something which is just as adaptive, but it is based on morally solid foundations might replace it, perhaps a Libertarian Utopia might be possible eventually.

• “One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed the scale is tipped to the good - he and the world is saved. When he does one evil deed the scale is tipped to the bad - he and the world is destroyed.”

Very wise words, it’s basically the concept of “karma”. It certainly does exist. Whether it’s something spiritual or just the consequence of people’s actions spreading through society and influencing others as sort of a game of dominoes, nontheless it’s real.

So if people behave immorally, then they will live in Hell. Perhaps not in the Biblical hell, but they have created Hell on Earth under which they have to suffer now. They create wars, poverty, violence, and now they have to suffer under it. It is the consequence of people’s actions or inactions, after all an inaction is a choice too.

• “No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means.”

You definitely don’t need all these vaccines and pharmaceuticals. A good healthy diet already eliminates an overwhelming majority of diseases and it’s very probable that all this GMO, pesticide, chemical filled food that is going through ionizing (changing molecular structure) radiation might have more to do with the disease that you are suffering from than anything else. Together of course with the Fluoride in the water, and all the polluants in the air.

A wise old man knew this secret a thousand years ago, why can’t people realize this now again. Bio food all the way!

Conclusion

Indeed he was a great wise philosopher and a lot of things you can learn from him if you read his works. I think anyone who likes the ancient philosophers would definitely like the work of Maimonides, he covers more or less the same essential issues as other philosophers did, but he does it from a very good perspective, a perspective of ethics, morality and spirituality. No doubt he left a unique and highly positive legacy to the world.

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Sources:

• https://commons.wikimedia.org
• https://www.brainyquote.com
• https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

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