Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Translator’S Note xi
5. Maimon’S Autobiography: A Guide For The Perplexed xiii
6. Original Editor’S Preface xxxvii
7. Introduction 1
8. Chapter 1: My Grandfather’s Household 4
9. Chapter 2: Earliest Childhood Memories 11
10. Chapter 3: Private Education and Independent Study 13
11. Chapter 4: Jewish Schools. The Joy of Being Delivered from Them Results in a Stiff Foot 19
12. Chapter 5: My Family Is Driven into Poverty, and an Old Servant’s Great Loyalty Costs Him a Christian Burial 22
13. Chapter 6: New Residence, New Misery. The Talmudist 24
14. Chapter 7: Happiness Turns Out to Be Short- Lived 28
15. Chapter 8: The Student Knows More Than the Teacher. A Theft à la Rousseau Is Discovered. The Pious Man Wears What the Godless Man Procures 31
16. Chapter 9: Love Affairs. Marriage Proposals. The Song of Solomon Can Be Used as a Matchmaking Device. Smallpox 34
17. Chapter 10: People Fight over Me. I Suddenly Go from Having No Wives to Having Two. In the End, I Wind Up Being Kidnapped 37
18. Chapter 11: Marrying as an Eleven Year Old Makes Me into My Wife’s Slave and Results in Beatings at the Hands of My Mother- in- Law. A Spirit of Flesh and Blood 41
19. Chapter 12: Marital Secrets. Prince R., or the Things One Isn’t Allowed to Do in Poland 44
20. Chapter 13: Striving for Intellectual Growth amidst the Eternal Struggle against All Kinds of Misery 49
21. Chapter 14: I Study the Kabbalah, and Finally Become a Doctor 52
22. Chapter 15: Brief Account of the Jewish Religion, from Its Origins to the Present 62
23. Chapter 16: Jewish Piety and Exercises in Penance 75
24. Chapter 17: Friendship and Rapture 78
25. Chapter 18: Life as a Tutor 82
26. Chapter 19: Another Secret Society and Therefore a Long Chapter 86
27. Chapter 20: Continuation of the Story, as well as Some Thoughts on Religious Mysteries 101
28. Chapter 21: Trips to Königsberg, Stettin, and Berlin, to Further My Understanding of Humanity 108
29. Chapter 22: My Misery Reaches Its Nadir. Rescue 113
30. Preface to the Second Book
31. Introduction to the Second Book 121
32. Introduction: Expansion of My Knowledge and Development of My Character. On Both of Which the Writings of the Famous Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon Had the Greatest Influence. Precise Account of These Writings 127
33. Chapter 1: More Newochim: Its Plan, Goal, and Method. Theologica Politica 133
34. Chapter 2: Continuation. Interpretation of Expressions with Multiple Meanings. Language in the Hands of Theologians, like Clay in the Hands of the Potters. Anti- Rousseauean Refutation of an Objection. Cautionary Rule for Aspiring Metaphysicians: One Must First Learn to Swim before Plunging into the Great Oceans of the World 140
35. Chapter 3: Continuation. The Crow Is Robbed of the Feathers Stolen from Other Birds, or the Denial of God’s Positive Characteristics 147
36. Chapter 4: Continuation. Explanation of the Manifold Names of God as Names for His Actions. Destiny of Metaphysics. It Becomes the Slave of Theology. Its Degeneration into Dialectics 152
37. Chapter 5: Continuation. The Concept of Angels. Some Remain at Their Stations as Ambassadors, Others Have Been Ordered Back. Genesis and Influence of the Uniform Beings. Aristotelians’ Reasons for the Eternity of the World 161
38. Chapter 6: Continuation. Counter- Reasons. A Psychological Explanation of Prophesy That Doesn’t Undermine the Dignity of Prophesy 167
39. Chapter 7: Continuation. Relation of All Natural Events to God. A Very Comfortable and Pious Method. Divine Equipage, a Cosmological Idea That the Prophet Ezekiel Wouldn’t Have Dreamed of. Excellent Morals, but Not in Line with Today’s Taste. Origins of Evil. Prophesy. Final Causes 172
40. Chapter 8: Continuation. Overcoming Doubts about God’s Omniscience. The Book of Job as the Vehicle for a Metaphysical Treatise on Providence 177
41. Chapter 9: Mosaic Jurisprudence. The Silly Paganism of the Sabians, an Impetus to Many Otherwise Inexplicable Laws, of Which the Beard Still Remains 181
42. Chapter 10: Conclusion of the More Newochim. Excellent Morals. Definition of the True Worship of God, Which Makes Priests Unnecessary 186
43. Admonition 189
44. Chapter 11: My Arrival in Berlin. Acquaintances. Mendelssohn. Doubting Metaphysical Systems. Teaching Locke and Adelung 192
45. Chapter 12: Mendelssohn. A Chapter Dedicated to the Memory of a Great Friend 198
46. Chapter 13: My Initial Aversion to Belle Lettres and My Ensuing Conversion. Departure from Berlin. A Stay in Hamburg. I Get Drunk the Way a Bad Actor Shoots Himself. A Foolish Old Woman Falls in Love with Me— and Is Rejected 205
47. Chapter 14: I Return to Hamburg. A Lutheran Pastor Calls Me a Mangy Sheep and Claims That I Am Unworthy of Being Taken into the Christian Flock. I Become a Gymnasium Student and Make the Chief Rabbi as Mad as a Ram 215
48. Chapter 15: Third Journey to Berlin. Failed Plan to Become a Hebrew Author. Journey to Breslau. Divorce 222
49. Chapter 16: Fourth Trip to Berlin. Atrocious Conditions and Help. Study of Kant’s Writings. A Depiction of My Own Works 230
50. Concluding Chapter: The Merry Masquerade Ball 240
51. Afterword: Maimon’s Philosophical Itinerary 245
52. Abbreviations 263
53. Bibliography 265
54. Index 275