how far Christian thinking, which rested on much the same
foundation with it, was influenced and confined by Christian dogmas,
especially by those of the Trinity and the Incarnation.

Ibn Gabirol's thought exerted a profound influence, not only on
subsequent Hebrew thinkers, like Joseph ben Saddig, Maimonides, Spinoza,
but also on the Christian Schoolmen, by whom he is often quoted, and on
Giordano Bruno. Through Spinoza and Bruno this influence has passed into
the modern world, where it still lives. Dante, though naming many Arab
philosophers, never alludes to Ibn Gabirol; yet he borrowed more of his
sublimest thoughts from the 'Fountain of Life' than from any other book.
(Cf. Ibn Gabirol's 'Bedeutung fuer die Geschichte der Philosophie,'
appendix to Vol. i. of M. Joel's 'Beitraege zur Gesch. der Philos.,'
Breslau, 1876.) If we set aside the hypostatic form in which Ibn Gabirol
puts forward his ideas, we shall find a remarkable similarity between
his system and that of Kant, not to speak of that of Schopenhauer. For
the whole subject, see J. Guttman's 'Die Philosophic des Salomon Ibn
Gabirol' (Goettingen, 1889).

ON MATTER AND FORM

From the 'Fountain of Life,' Fifth Treatise

Intelligence is finite in both directions: on the upper side, by reason
of will, which is above it; on the lower, by reason of matter, which is
outside of its essence. Hence, spiritual substances are finite with
respect to matter, because they differ through it, and distinction is
the cause of finitude; in respect to forms they are infinite on the
lower side, because one form flows from another. And we must bear in
mind that that part of matter which is above heaven, the more it ascends
from it to the principle of creation, becomes the more spiritual in
form, whereas that part which descends lower than the heaven toward
quiet will be more corporeal in form. Matter, intelligence, and soul
comprehend heaven, and heaven comprehends the elements. And just as, if
you imagine your soul standing at the extreme height of heaven, and
looking back upon the earth, the earth will seem but a point, in
comparison with the heaven, so are corporeal and spiritual substance in
comparison with the will. And first matter is stable in the knowledge of
God, as the earth in the midst of heaven. And the form diffused through
it is as the light diffused through the air....

We must bear in mind that the unity induced by the will (we might say,
the will itself) bin