"The same is the case with those opinions of man to which he has been accustomed from his youth; he likes them, defends them, and shuns the opposite views"
About this Quote
Habit isn’t just a comfort in Maimonides; it’s a quiet tyrant. In one spare sentence, he sketches a psychology of belief that feels modern: opinions acquired early don’t merely sit in the mind like old furniture. They recruit the whole person. We “like” them (aesthetic attachment), “defend” them (identity and status protection), and “shun” their opposites (avoidance as a moral posture). The sequence matters. Affection comes first, then argumentation, then quarantine. Reason arrives late, often as hired counsel.
The intent is corrective, not merely descriptive. Maimonides is writing within a medieval world where inherited creed, communal authority, and philosophical inquiry regularly collided. His larger project, especially in the Guide for the Perplexed, is to make space for rigorous thinking inside a faith tradition without pretending that minds are neutral arenas. He knows that people don’t reject new ideas because the syllogisms fail; they reject them because the ideas threaten the emotional architecture built in youth, reinforced by family, teachers, and social belonging.
The subtext is bracing: if you want truth, you have to fight your own biography. “Shuns” signals more than disagreement; it suggests an almost ritual avoidance, as if opposing views are contaminating. That’s a critique of intellectual cowardice, but also an empathetic diagnosis. Maimonides isn’t amazed that people cling to inherited opinions; he’s warning that the hardest opponent of reason is not ignorance, but familiarity dressed up as certainty.
The intent is corrective, not merely descriptive. Maimonides is writing within a medieval world where inherited creed, communal authority, and philosophical inquiry regularly collided. His larger project, especially in the Guide for the Perplexed, is to make space for rigorous thinking inside a faith tradition without pretending that minds are neutral arenas. He knows that people don’t reject new ideas because the syllogisms fail; they reject them because the ideas threaten the emotional architecture built in youth, reinforced by family, teachers, and social belonging.
The subtext is bracing: if you want truth, you have to fight your own biography. “Shuns” signals more than disagreement; it suggests an almost ritual avoidance, as if opposing views are contaminating. That’s a critique of intellectual cowardice, but also an empathetic diagnosis. Maimonides isn’t amazed that people cling to inherited opinions; he’s warning that the hardest opponent of reason is not ignorance, but familiarity dressed up as certainty.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reason & Logic |
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