Microcosm

Joseph Ibn Tsadik’s Judeo-Arabic philosophical work survives in a medieval Hebrew translation under the title Microcosm (‘Olam katan). It addresses a perennial question of medieval philosophy, namely, determining the good that humans should pursue. Ibn Tsadik asserts that knowledge of God can be attained through knowledge of the self, because a human is a microcosm of the divine worlds. Ibn Tsadik’s speculative thought combines aspects of Neoplatonism and kalām, and he adopts certain ideas from the Ikhwān al-ṣafā’ (Brethren of Purity), like many of his medieval Andalusi Jewish contemporaries. These excerpts focus on the nature of humanity, including the physical effects on the body of the emotions. “Potencies” are faculties of the soul.