Joseph Albo ( he, יוסף אלבו; c. 1380–1444) was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

who lived in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

during the fifteenth century, known chiefly as the author of ''

Sefer ha-Ikkarim ''Sefer HaIkkarim'' (Hebrew: ספר העיקרים "Book of Principles") is a fifteenth-century work by rabbi Joseph Albo, a student of Hasdai Crescas. It is an eclectic, popular work, whose central task is the exposition of the principles of Jud ...

'' ("Book of Principles"), the classic work on the fundamentals of Judaism.

Biography

Albo's birthplace is generally assumed to be

Monreal del Campo Monreal del Campo is a municipality in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. Th ...

, a town in

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

. This is based on Astruc ha-Levi's report of the religious debate held at Tortosa in 1413-14, which mentions Albo as one of the Jewish participants and notes he was the delegate of the congregation of Monreal. However, the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

account of this debate makes no reference to this locality.

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielkopo ...

believes that Albo could not have been less than thirty years of age when he was sent to take part in the disputation, and he accordingly places the date of Albo's birth not later than 1380. His date of death is given variously as 1444 (most likely) or 1430. He is mentioned, however, as preaching at

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 (INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial population. ...

in 1433. The use Albo makes of medical illustrations creates the presumption that he was adept in medical science, which suggests that he may have practiced

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

. He was versed to some degree in the writings of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Aristotelians Aristotelianism ( ) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by Prior Analytics, deductive logic and an posterior analytics, analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics. ...

. His teacher was

Hasdai Crescas Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas (; he, חסדאי קרשקש; c. 1340 in Barcelona – 1410/11 in Zaragoza) was a Spanish-Jewish philosopher and a renowned halakhist (teacher of Jewish law). Along with Maimonides ("Rambam"), Gersonides ("Ralbag"), a ...

, author of ''

Or Hashem Or Adonai (Hebrew: אור אֲדֹנָי), The Light of the Lord, is the primary work of Rabbi Hasdai Crescas (c. 1340 - 1410/1411), a Jewish philosopher. As some Jews prefer to not use even the respectful title ''Adonai'' (Lord) other than in pray ...

.'' Opinions vary on whether Crescas was still alive when ''

'' was published.

''Sefer ha-Ikkarim''

Albo is best known for his philosophical work, ''Sefer ha-Ikkarim'' ("Book of Principles"), completed in 1425 in

References

* Philippe Bobichon, ''Sefer ha-'Iqqarim « Livre des Principes » III, 25 Un chapitre de la controverse judéo-chétienne dans l'Espagne du XV e siècle'' (texte hébreu traduction, commentaires), Madrid, CSIC, 201
online
* Philippe Bobichon, "Polémique anti-chrétienne et théologie dans le Sefer ha-‘Iqqarim (« Livre des Principes ») de Joseph Albo (xve s.)" Yod 15/2010, pp. 115- 14
online

External links

Adventures in Philosophy * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albo, Joseph 1380 births 1444 deaths 15th-century philosophers Philosophers of Judaism 15th-century Aragonese rabbis Jewish apologists