Time Matters

T. M. Rudavsky is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies at The Ohio State University. She is the editor of Divine Omniscience and Omnipotence in Medieval Philosophy: Islamic, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives and Gender and Judaism: The Transformation of Tradition.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. TIME AND COSMOLOGY IN ATHENS AND JERUSALEM IntroductionBiblical Conceptions of TimeRabbinical Models of Time and CreationTime, Order, and Creation in the Greek Philosophical TraditionAncient Greek Astronomy and CosmologyPlotinus and the Neoplatonist TraditionConclusion 2. TIME, CREATION, AND COSMOLOGY IntroductionAstronomy and Cosmology: The True Perplexity RevealedCreation Models in MaimonidesCreation, Time, and the Instant in GersonidesCreation, Time and Duration in CrescasThe Subjectivity of Time according to AlboScripture, Philosophy, and the First Instant of CreationConclusion 3. TIME, MOTION, AND THE INSTANT: JEWISH PHILOSOPHERS CONFRONT ZENO IntroductionTraversing the Infinite: Zeno, Aristotle, and John PhiloponusJewish Neoplatonic Considerations of Infinite DivisibilityMeeting the Kalam Challenge: Kalam Atomism DescribedRejection of Kalam Atomism: Saadia Gaon, Halevi, Ibn Daud, and MaimonidesGersonides on the ContinuumCrescas on Infinity, Space, and the VacuumConclusion 4. TEMPORALITY, HUMAN FREEDOM, AND DIVINE OMNISCIENCE IntroductionThe Problem Defined: Aristotle's Sea-Flight ParadoxAstrological Determinism and Human FreedomCompatibilism in Jewish Kalam: Saadia Gaon and HaleviMaimoides' CompatibilismIncompatibilist Response of Ibn DaudOmniscience and Human Freedom in GersonidesIndeterminism and ProphecyThe Challenge of Determinism: Crescas on Divine Knowledge and PossibilityConclusion 5. PRELUDE TO MODERNITY IntroductionNewton and His Philosophical PrecursorsSpinoza's Metaphysical MonismTime, Duration, and Creation: Spinoza and Descartes ComparedSubstance, Infinity, and Divisibility in SpinozaThe Role layed by ImaginationSpinoza on Divine Omniscience and Human FreedomConclusion CONCLUSION: ETERNITY A PARTE POST, INDIVIDUATION AND, IMMORTALITY NotesBibliography Index

"The topic is significant, especially now in view of the renewed interest in scientific cosmology and its relation to religion, but it is also of great importance for the history of medieval Jewish, Christian, and Islamic philosophy. The book covers a wide range of difficult, often technical philosophical ideas and theories in a highly analytical and systematic fashion, and I especially like the author's consistent ability to sketch out the arguments of these thinkers in a careful and lucid way. She also displays considerable erudition in both original sources and scholarly literature, regardless of whether the discussions are historical or philosophical. I found the book interesting and illuminating." — Barry S. Kogan, author of Averroes and the Metaphysics of Causation