The Fountain of Life:

by Solomon ibn Gabirol

Solomon ibn Gabirol is now best known for his work Fons Vit� ('Fountain of Life') and for his philosophical doctrine that all things, including soul and intellect, are composed of matter and form, and for his emphasis on Divine Will. Fons Vit� is a Neo-Platonic philosophical dialogue between master and disciple on the nature of Creation and how understanding what we are (our nature) can help us know how to live (our purpose). The work was originally composed in Arabic, of which no copies are extant. It has come down to us throughout the ages due to its translation into Latin (in 1150) by the Toledo School of Translators. NOTE: This edition by Azafran Books was published in September 2017 and has been edited and formatted by a team of dedicated real people - not an algorithm! Our books have been carefully published to the highest of standards.

Genres: Philosophy, Religion

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1042

About the author

Solomon ibn Gabirol was an 11th-century Andalusian poet and Jewish philosopher with a Neo-Platonic bent. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical exegesis, philosophy, ethics, and satire. One source credits Ibn Gabirol with creating a golem, possibly female, for household chores.

In the 19th century it was discovered that medieval translators had Latinised Gabirol's name to Avicebron and had translated his work on Jewish Neo-Platonic philosophy into a Latin form that had in the intervening centuries been highly regarded as a work of Islamic or Christian scholarship. As such, Ibn Gabirol is well known in the history of philosophy for the doctrine that all things, including soul and intellect, are composed of matter and form (“Universal Hylomorphism”), and for his emphasis on Divine Will.