טבע ומדע בהשקפתו של אהרן בן אליהו הקראי

A major issue of controversy between Aristotelian philosophy and Kalam was the question of the composition of the physical world. The philosophers taught the world is made up of matter and form, while the Mutakallimun maintained that it is composed of indivisible atoms. Most Jewish thinkers followed the Aristotelians while many Karaites adopted the atomistic theory. The last significant Karaite philosopher was Aaron ben Elijah (the Younger, d. 1369). His philosophical work, Ez Hayyim has usually been regarded merely as a defense of Karaite Kalam against the attacks of Maimonides in his Guide of the Perplexed. Indeed, Aaron begins his work with the assertion that Kalam originated among Jews and that philosophy was adopted by the Greeks because of their hatred of Judaism. Nevertheless, it would seem that in the final analysis Aaron was much more influenced by Aristotelianism than has previously been noted. It the case of the structure of the world, Aaron explains at length the scientific reasons why the Mutakallimun adopted the atomic theory. Yet, he never states explicitly that he himself considered this theory to be true. From a close examination both of Aaron's discussion of the Kalam view and of other sections in Ez Hayyim, as well as Aaron's other works, it is claimed here that Aaron accepted the Aristotelian position of form and matter. From his point of view, the question of the composition of the world is a scientific issue (because creation can be proved in any event). Aaron's explanation of atomism should be understood as a defense of his Karaite predecessors, not of their doctrines. His major concern was to show that the Mutakallimun were intellectually honest even if their scientific judgments were not correct. Aaron ben Elijah whs neither a thorough-going Aristotelian nor a complete Mutakallim. He tried to accomodate earlier Karaite views with the teachings of Maimonides, sometimes favoring one side, then the other. Aaron should be seen as the major link between earlier Karaite Kalam and later Karaite Aristotelianism.