Moses ben Joshua Narboni

Life and Historical Context

Moses ben Joshua Narboni (also known as Moses of Narbonne) was a fourteenth‑century Jewish philosopher active in Provence and Christian Spain, roughly between c.1300 and c.1362. Exact biographical details are sparse, but manuscript colophons and internal references suggest a life spent primarily in the intellectual centers of southern France and the Iberian Peninsula, regions where Jewish communities were deeply engaged with Arabic Aristotelianism transmitted through Hebrew translation.

Narboni belonged to the generation following the major controversies over Moses Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. In the wake of these disputes, Jewish communities remained divided between philosophical rationalists and more traditionalist or mystical tendencies. Narboni clearly aligned himself with the rationalist camp, drawing heavily on Averroes (Ibn Rushd), whose works had become central in both Jewish and Latin scholastic circles.

Trained in medicine as well as philosophy, Narboni exemplifies the medieval figure of the physician‑philosopher. Medicine provided social status and mobility, and his medical expertise likely facilitated his movement across Provençal and Spanish communities. His philosophical writings, however, reveal a thinker primarily concerned with reconciling Aristotelian metaphysics and psychology with Jewish theology, and with defending philosophical inquiry as an integral part of religious life.

Works and Commentarial Method

Narboni wrote predominantly in Hebrew and is best known for his extensive commentaries and super‑commentaries rather than for original systematic treatises. His oeuvre demonstrates a deliberate strategy: to read Jewish texts through the lens of the Arabic Aristotelian tradition and, conversely, to appropriate that philosophical tradition into a Jewish framework.

Among his most important works are:

• Commentary on Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed: Narboni produced a detailed Hebrew commentary that both explicates and critically engages with Maimonides. He often clarifies Maimonides using Averroes’ interpretations of Aristotle, and occasionally suggests that Maimonides concealed deeper views that align with Averroist positions.

• Super‑commentaries on Averroes: Narboni composed influential commentaries on Averroes’ works, including the Epistle on the Possibility of Conjunction with the Separate Intellect and other treatises concerning the intellect, soul, and prophecy. These writings helped standardize Averroist terminology and arguments within Hebrew philosophical discourse.

• Commentary on Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy ibn Yaqzan: In his commentary on this allegorical philosophical tale, Narboni elaborates themes of intellectual perfection and the ascent to conjunction with the Active Intellect, using the narrative to articulate his own views on the path of the philosopher.

• Biblical commentaries: Narboni wrote commentaries on various parts of the Hebrew Bible, including the Song of Songs and other books, tending to interpret them allegorically. He approached Scriptural narratives as symbolic vehicles conveying metaphysical, ethical, and psychological truths accessible to trained philosophers.

Narboni’s method is characteristically esoteric and layered. He frequently distinguishes between an exoteric level, appropriate for the broader community, and a deeper philosophical meaning intended for the few. This strategy follows Maimonidean precedent but is often more explicitly Averroist in orientation. Narboni reads key terms—such as “angels,” “glory,” or “spirit”—as technical philosophical concepts, typically denoting intelligences, emanations, or aspects of the human intellect.

Philosophical Themes and Doctrines

Narboni’s thought centers on several interrelated themes: intellect and prophecy, divine providence, the nature of the law, and the interpretation of Scripture.

1. Intellect, Conjunction, and Prophecy

Following Averroes, Narboni developed a sophisticated philosophy of the intellect. He distinguished between the material (or potential) intellect, the acquired intellect, and the Active Intellect. Human perfection, in his view, lies in achieving conjunction (devequt) with the Active Intellect, a state characterized by stable intellectual apprehension of universal truths.

Narboni interprets prophecy as a natural outgrowth of this intellectual perfection, rather than as a purely miraculous intervention. A prophet is one whose rational faculty has been perfected through philosophical study and whose imaginative faculty is strong enough to translate abstract intelligibles into symbolic images and narratives accessible to non‑philosophers. This perspective integrates prophecy into an Aristotelian psychology while still preserving its religious prestige. Critics, however, worried that such naturalization threatens traditional views of prophecy as a sovereign act of divine will.

2. Divine Providence and the Order of Nature

On providence, Narboni aligns closely with the rationalist tradition that views divine governance as mediated through the stable order of nature and the hierarchy of intelligences. Providence, he suggests, is not arbitrary intervention but the necessary outcome of a wisely ordered cosmos. Individual humans participate in providence in proportion to their intellectual perfection: the more a person’s intellect is actualized, the more they are “under providence” in a strong sense.

This stance aims to reconcile biblical depictions of God’s care with an Aristotelian universe governed by causality. Proponents of Narboni’s view saw it as providing a coherent philosophical underpinning for faith; detractors contended that it risks undermining the simple believer’s trust in a responsive, personal God.

3. Law, Commandments, and Allegory

Narboni devoted considerable attention to the commandments of the Torah, following Maimonides in seeking their rational purposes. He tended to classify mitzvot into those promoting correct beliefs, those fostering ethical and political order, and those providing disciplinary practices that refine character and prepare the mind for intellectual pursuits.

At the level of Scriptural interpretation, Narboni made systematic use of allegorical exegesis. Anthropomorphic descriptions of God and many miraculous accounts were read as symbolic expressions of metaphysical or psychological truths. For example, narratives of divine “descent” might signify a heightened mode of knowledge or prophecy rather than a physical change in God. Narboni regarded this approach as essential to preserving both the transcendence of God and the integrity of philosophical reasoning.

Critics within the Jewish community argued that such allegorization risks emptying the biblical text of concrete historical meaning and distancing religion from the everyday life of ordinary believers. Supporters saw it as protecting Judaism against theological anthropomorphism and superstition.

4. Relationship to Maimonides and Averroes

Narboni is often described as one of the most prominent Jewish Averroists. He used Averroes extensively to interpret and sometimes correct Maimonides, yet he did not simply replace Maimonides with Averroes. Instead, he sought a nuanced synthesis: Maimonides provided the Jewish framework and concern for law and prophecy; Averroes supplied technical precision in metaphysics and psychology.

On contentious issues such as the eternity of the world, the unity of the intellect, and the limits of human knowledge of God, Narboni tends to lean toward Averroist solutions while still acknowledging the religious commitments of Judaism. This balancing act made his work a focal point in later debates over whether philosophical Judaism was compatible with traditional doctrine.

Reception and Influence

Narboni’s writings circulated widely in Hebrew manuscript and were studied by later Jewish philosophers in Spain, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire. His commentaries on Averroes and Maimonides became standard reference points for students of philosophy in late medieval and early modern Jewish communities.

In the Jewish intellectual world, Narboni helped consolidate a line of radical Maimonidean interpretation that emphasized the philosophical, sometimes esoteric, dimensions of the Guide of the Perplexed. Later figures—such as Isaac Abravanel, who was more critical of extreme rationalism, and various early modern scholars—engaged with Narboni either to draw on his analyses or to refute them.

In the broader history of philosophy, Narboni stands as a key intermediary in the transmission of Averroism from Arabic into Hebrew culture. Through him and his contemporaries, themes such as the theory of the Active Intellect, naturalized prophecy, and the layered reading of religious texts passed into early modern debates on reason and revelation.

Modern scholarship views Moses Narboni as a representative of a highly rationalized form of medieval Judaism, striving to preserve religious tradition while fully embracing an Aristotelian scientific worldview. His works continue to be studied for what they reveal about the complex negotiations between faith, philosophy, and textual interpretation in the late medieval Mediterranean world.