"You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes"
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Truth does not carry a passport. Maimonides, the 12th-century Jewish philosopher and physician, argued that the worth of an idea rests on its evidence and coherence, not on the identity or tribe of the speaker. Living between Hebrew scripture, Greek philosophy, and the Islamic intellectual world in which he wrote, he modeled a fearless openness to learning. He studied Aristotle through Arabic commentators like Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, drew on Hippocrates and Galen in medicine, and still remained a rigorous Jewish legal scholar. That blend was not an accident; it was a principle.
The line resonates with the rabbinic teaching, Who is wise? He who learns from every person. For Maimonides, such learning demanded both humility and discipline. Humility, because truth can appear in unfamiliar accents and from rivals, critics, or outsiders. Discipline, because openness is not credulity. He insisted on testing ideas by demonstration, sound reasoning, and observed reality, and on interpreting revelation in ways that do not contradict what has been firmly established. He accepted much of Aristotelian logic and ethics while rejecting the eternity of the universe when he judged its proofs insufficient. In medicine he respected classical authorities yet corrected them when observation and experience required it.
The maxim also pushes back against ad hominem thinking and the gatekeeping of knowledge. In his time, many feared foreign wisdom as a threat to faith. His answer was that truth, wherever found, ultimately harmonizes, and that shielding oneself from inquiry weakens both science and religion. The message is not relativism; it is a universalism of standards. A claim deserves acceptance because it is true, not because it flatters our group.
In an age of polarized media and tribal loyalties, this stance feels radical. It calls for an ethic of intellectual hospitality: listen widely, verify carefully, and let the merit of the argument, not the pedigree of the speaker, decide.
The line resonates with the rabbinic teaching, Who is wise? He who learns from every person. For Maimonides, such learning demanded both humility and discipline. Humility, because truth can appear in unfamiliar accents and from rivals, critics, or outsiders. Discipline, because openness is not credulity. He insisted on testing ideas by demonstration, sound reasoning, and observed reality, and on interpreting revelation in ways that do not contradict what has been firmly established. He accepted much of Aristotelian logic and ethics while rejecting the eternity of the universe when he judged its proofs insufficient. In medicine he respected classical authorities yet corrected them when observation and experience required it.
The maxim also pushes back against ad hominem thinking and the gatekeeping of knowledge. In his time, many feared foreign wisdom as a threat to faith. His answer was that truth, wherever found, ultimately harmonizes, and that shielding oneself from inquiry weakens both science and religion. The message is not relativism; it is a universalism of standards. A claim deserves acceptance because it is true, not because it flatters our group.
In an age of polarized media and tribal loyalties, this stance feels radical. It calls for an ethic of intellectual hospitality: listen widely, verify carefully, and let the merit of the argument, not the pedigree of the speaker, decide.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
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