In Search of the Good Life: Through the Eyes of Aristotle Maimonides and Aquinas

What is the Good Life? Learn from some of the greatest minds in Greek Jewish and Christian thought. Comparing their thought reveals a new apex reached in the age-old question concerning the relationship of Jerusalem and Athens faith and reason. Few have been more influential in Judaism and Christianity than Moses Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas yet Aristotle influenced them both in significant ways. By adopting and adapting some of Aristotles best thinking we can appreciate Maimonides and Aquinas search for the Good Life from their respective views ranging from the fall to human perfectibility. This examines human nature the human telos and how each would prescribe the route to the Good Life. For all three it is ultimately about the knowledge of God. But what does that mean? The comparative approach is more illuminating than if considered in isolation. Comparatively Aristotles approach may be characterized as informational Maimonides as instructional and Aquinas as pneumatic-relational. The role of faith as a virtue in both Maimonides and Aquinas makes a substantive difference over Aristotles in philosophical and practical ways. It is used to exploit their accounts of the human fall moral perfection and ultimate human perfection--the knowledge of God.