Maimonides on the Perils, Promises, and Propriety of Metaphysical Inquiry

In this lecture I argue that, according to Maimonides, engaging in metaphysical inquiry is improper—not religiously improper, but intellectually improper—for everyone, everywhere. On the other hand, I argue, Maimomides thinks that one can successfully pull off such an inquiry, and that one who pulls it off enjoys the greatest blessing that a human being can experience: metaphysical knowledge. Seeing how these can be reconciled (a) requires attending to the difference between norms that govern inquiry (what some have recently called ‘zetetic norms’) and those that govern belief, and (b) allows us to in turn reconcile the apparently conflicting evidence as to whether Maimonides was a metaphysical skeptic.