Publication Details

Abstract

This study presents an early phase of Jewish Averroism by means of an example of one of its representatives from the 14th century, Yeda’ya Bedersi ha-Penini. On the basis of his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics, which is available only as an unedited Hebrew manuscript, Yeda’ya is shown to be a proponent of weak emergentism in the modern sense of the word. This is demonstrated by a detailed analysis of Yeda’ya’s views about substantial changes in nature. Furthermore, the article points out some Neoplatonic metaphysical hints in his conception of Aristotelian natural philosophy. Moreover, Yeda’ya considers the mixture of elementary qualities, mezeg, to be a substrate bearing both accidental and substantial change. This substrate can be defined as a necessary corporeal condition for receiving an incorporeal form that would otherwise not have lasted a single moment.