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Falaquera (Palquera), Shem-Ṭob ben Joseph

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Spanish philosopher and poet: born 1225; died after 1290. He was well versed in Arabic and Greek philosophy, and had a fine critical sense. Falaquera unfortunately gives no informationconcerning his own personality. He was the author of:

• Iggeret Hanhagat ha-Guf we ha-Nefesh, a treatise in verse on the control of the body and the soul.
• Ẓeri ha-Yagon, on resignation and fortitude under misfortune. Cremona, 1550.
• Iggeret ha-Wikkuaḥ, a dialogue between an orthodox Jew and a philosopher on the harmony of philosophy and religion, being an attempt to prove that not only the Bible, but even the Talmud, is in perfect accord with philosophy. Prague, 1810.
• Reshit Ḥokmah, treating of moral duties (and giving the so-called "ethical epistles" of Aristotle), of the sciences, and of the necessity of studying philosophy. In this Shem-Ṭob treats of the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato. This and the preceding work have been translated into Latin (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, MS. Latin, No. 6691A).
• Sefer ha-Ma'alot, on the different degrees of human perfection; ed. L. Venetianer, 1891.
• Ha-Mebaḳḳesh, a survey of human knowledge in the form of a dialogue in rimed prose interspersed with verse. This work is a remodeling of the "Reshit Ḥokmah." Amsterdam, 1779.
• Sefer ha-Nefesh, a psychological treatise according to the Arabian Peripatetics, especially Avicenna. Brody, 1835.
• Moreh ha-Moreh, commentary on the philosophical part of the "Moreh Nebukim" of Maimonides, with an appendix containing corrections of the Hebrew translation of Samuel ibn Tibbon. Presburg, 1837.
• Letter in defense of the "Moreh Nebukim," which had been attacked by several French rabbis; published in the "Minḥat Ḳena'ot." Presburg, 1838.
• Extracts from Ibn Gabirol's "Meḳor Ḥayyim," published by Solomon Munk in his "Mélanges de Philosophie Juive et Arabe." Paris, 1859.
• De'ot ha-Filusufim, containing Aristotle's "Physics and Metaphysics" according to Ibn Roshd's interpretations (Steinschneider, "Cat. Hebr. MSS." Leyden, No. 20).
• Iggeret ha-Musar, a compilation of ethical sentences (comp. "Orient, Lit." 1879, p. 79).
• Megillat ha-Zikkaron, a historical work, no longer in existence, quoted in the "Mebaḳḳesh."
• Iggeret ha-Ḥalom, a treatise on dreams, mentioned in "Moreh ha-Moreh," , ch. 19, p. 131.