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Work #229 · Mid (the major legal work, between the early Commentary on the Mishnah and the late Guide of the Perplexed)

Mishneh Torah

Moses Maimonides (Rambam)
c. 1170-80 (the second of Maimonides's three major works; preceding the Guide of the Perplexed of c. 1190) · Mishnaic Hebrew
Comprehensive legal code in fourteen books · Medieval Jewish theology and law

The "Second Torah" — Maimonides's comprehensive code organising the entire Jewish legal tradition into fourteen systematic books

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Mishneh Torah (Mid (the major legal work, between the early Commentary on the Mishnah and the late Guide of the Perplexed))
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Scripture
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Mishneh Torah

The systematic temporal organisation of Jewish liturgical and legal life — sabbath, festivals, life-cycle observances.

Space

Mishneh Torah

The Jewish community and its institutions as the social space of halakhic life.

Matter

Mishneh Torah

The embodied practice of Jewish law — kashrut, ritual purity, embodied observance.

Observer

Mishneh Torah

The observant Jew — plural, embodied, subject to the divine law as systematised in the code. Personal-providential God as framework.

Energy

Mishneh Torah

The energies of religious practice — study, prayer, observance, ethical action.

Information

Mishneh Torah

The vast halakhic tradition preserved in systematic organisation; the code as the comprehensive memory of Jewish legal tradition.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Mishneh Torah

The Mishneh Torah's philosophical framework was sharply controversial in its own time — the "Maimonidean controversies" of the thirteenth century saw vigorous opposition from anti-philosophical rabbinic circles. The code's bypassing of talmudic citation has been continuously debated. The relation between Maimonides the legal codifier (Mishneh Torah) and Maimonides the philosophical theologian (Guide of the Perplexed) is the central interpretive question of Maimonides scholarship — are the two works compatible, or do they represent different esoteric and exoteric voices?