Various Times in Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Works and Their Reflection in Modern Thought

Abstract

Abraham Ibn Ezra is one of the most many-sided medieval intellectuals, widely admired for his unique combination of scientific ideas with religious feeling, philosophical thought and poetical perception. This paper focuses on selected issues from hisoeuvrethat are of interest to time researchers.In modern English, the term “time” has a fairly broad spectrum of meanings, which can refer to a long list of distinct temporalities in medieval Hebrew texts. Unfortunately, the sharp difference between various Hebrew words such as “et” or “zman” goes unrecognized by those who read Ibn Ezra in translation. As a result, Abraham Ibn Ezra’s temporological thought and his philosophical poetry present a real challenge to historians of time-studies. The goal of this paper is to supply fresh insights on Jewish medieval thought on temporalities and to measure its impact on recent theories and discoveries.