Jedaiah Ha-Penini, Student of Al-Farabi’s Dialectic

Only part of the first chapter of Al-Farabi`s Art of Dialectic was translated into Hebrew in the Middle Ages, and this early, anonymous translation was non-Tibbonide, fragmented, terminologically inconsistent, and difficult to read. Even so, Al-Farabi`s Dialectic had an outsize impact on the 14th century Provencal thinker Jedaiah Ha-Penini. Primarily known for his Sefer Behinat `Olam, Jedaiah Ha-Penini also wrote a number of scientific works on logic and physics. These include super-commentaries on Averroes` Middle Commentaries on Aristotle`s Organon, Physics, and De Caelo, an epitome of Al-Farabi`s De Intellectu, and a number of other short physical treatises. Two of these treatises are written as controversies with another scholar, whom Ruth Glasner has identified in her important edition and analysis with Levi Gersonides, about opposite motions and confutation. These latter two works, particularly the Treatise on Opposite Motions, are written in a form that is directly derived from Al-Farabi`s Dialectic. Indeed, Ha-Penini has numerous sentences describing the structure of the controversy that are taken directly from the distinctive, anonymous Hebrew translation of the Art of Dialectic. That is, while he argues with Gersonides on physical questions concerning the proper interpretation of Averroes and Aristotle, he adopts a formal debate structure taken from Al-Farabi. Moreover, comparison of those structural sentences to a short marginal commentary on the Hebrew translation of Al-Farabi`s Dialectic found in two manuscripts shows that they are quite similar. Indeed, Ha-Penini may even be the author of that commentary. This commentary is also terminologically similar to Ha-Penini`s epitome of Al-Farabi`s De Intellectu, another factor suggesting the he is either the author of that commentary or that the author was among his intellectual circle. In any case, it shows clearly that while Ha-Penini was an avid student of Averroes` physics, he was also an avid student of Al-Farabi`s dialectic.