Episode 101: Maimonides on God

Summary: On Guide for the Perplexed (1168).<br> What is God? Central to Judaism, at least, is the idea that He's a unity: "God is One." Maimonides thinks that this means you can't attribute properties to God at all. Why? Because (according to M's Aristotelian metaphysics, anyway) size, color, spatial and temporal location, mental state, etc. are really parts of a thing. Unity = no parts = no properties, not even essential properties, i.e. those that define a thing. So God has no definition, and all the statements about God (He's good, he's all-powerful, omniscient, etc.) central to religion are strictly speaking false. You can only say what God is not.<br> Mark and Seth are joined by Danny Lobell, comedian host of the <a href="http://www.moderndayphilosophers.net/" target="_blank">Modern Day Philosophers</a> podcast to figure out what this could possibly amount to. <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2014/08/11/topic101-maimonides/" target="_blank">Read more and get the text</a>.<br> End song: "Double Negative Theology" by Mark Lint. <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2014/09/01/double-negative-theology/" target="_blank">Read about it</a>.<br> Please support the podcast by <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/membership-options/" target="_blank">becoming a PEL Citizen</a> or <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/shopdonate/" target="_blank">making a donation</a>.<br> Also, please support our sponsor, <a href="http://www.squarespace.com/" target="_blank">Squarespace</a> for your web-site creation needs. Use the checkout code "Examined" for a free trial and 10% off.<br> The picture is by <a href="http://existentialcomics.com/" target="_blank">Corey Mohler</a> for PEL.<br>