Platonic Cosmologies in the Dialoghi d’Amore of Leone Ebreo (Judah Abravanel)

Abstract

The Spanish-Jewish exile in Italy Judah Abravanel, or Leone Ebreo, wrote a philosophical dialogue on the topic of love, a major part of which is devoted to several cosmological themes in which Plato’s Symposium and Timaeus are utilized and interpreted to accord with Jewish cosmological thought. Initially adopting Plato’s doctrine, as interpreted by Aristotle and the medieval philosophers, of creation out of eternal matter along with the role of a paradigm, Leone proceeds to develop a theory of how these cosmological factors are generated out of God, the creator. Eventually the thrust of his argument leads him to relegate matter to the background in favor of a Plotinian narrative that emphasizes the roles of Intellect and the World-Soul in the creative process. Nevertheless, Leone doesn’t entirely exclude matter, but reintroduces it into his metaphysical scheme by “redeeming” it through love.