The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Philosophers: the Ladder of Knowledge in Immanuel of Rome's Hell and Heaven

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

In Immanuel of Rome's description of Hell, Plato, Aristotle, al-Farabi, and Avicenna are all burning in a horrific bonfire. This suggests not only a negative view of philosophy, but a warning to the living not to engage in such practices. Indeed, many in Immanuel's Hell are guilty of intellectual crimes, one of which is the failure to realize one's philosophic potential. Heaven, too, is filled with philosophers of sorts, including Maimonides, Judah HaLevi and Judah Al-Ḥarizi. Heaven also holds Immanuel's cousin, the esteemed commentator on Aristotle, Judah of Rome. Immanuel, too, mentions his own philosophical interpretations of scripture as the reason he will be granted a place in heaven. Moreover, certain structural elements, indeed, those connected with the Ladder of Knowledge, grant Immanuel's Hell and Heaven a kind of philosophically derived organization. That is to say, Immanuel suggests that there are philosophers in Heaven and that not philosophizing can lead to damnation. Immanuel, it would seem, thus recommends the activity of philosophy, while in the same work condemning that very activity. What does he recommend in this high stakes situation? Should the reader study philosophy or not?
Original languageEnglish
StatePublished - 2016
EventPhilosophy For All The Medieval Popularization of Philosophy in Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, and the Vernacular - Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Duration: 4 Jul 20166 Jul 2016

Conference

ConferencePhilosophy For All The Medieval Popularization of Philosophy in Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, and the Vernacular
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityBerlin
Period4/07/166/07/16

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