This study presents an early phase of Jewish Averroism by means of an example of one of its representatives from the 14th century, Yeda’ya Bedersi ha-Penini. On the basis of his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics, which is available only as an unedited Hebrew manuscript, Yeda’ya is shown to be a proponent of weak emergentism in the modern sense of the word. This is demonstrated by a detailed analysis of Yeda’ya’s views about substantial changes in nature. Furthermore, the article points out some Neoplatonic metaphysical hints in his conception of Aristotelian natural philosophy. Moreover, Yeda’ya considers the mixture of elementary qualities, mezeg, to be a substrate bearing both accidental and substantial change. This substrate can be defined as a necessary corporeal condition for receiving an incorporeal form that would otherwise not have lasted a single moment.
This paper analyses the concept of “divine property” in the context of the works of Yeda’yah ha‑Penini, a Jewish Aristotelian and Averroist philosopher living at the turn of the fourteenth century in southern France. Specific property in Aristotelian philosophical terminology refers to property shared by one species. In medical and mystical literature, it means a specific property of an unusual nature that is difficult to perceive by the senses. I demonstrate that three original concepts of specific properties can be found in Yeda’yah’s conception: (1) a specific property that accounts for individual differences between individuals, (2) a specific intellectual property that is shared by a small group of intellectually gifted ones, and finally (3) a specific divine property that is a power which God places into things. I point out that he connects it to a teleological structure which helps to understand the emergence of new life out of inanimate matter.
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