Torah Personalities
The Rambam on Character and the Soul: Lessons from the Eight Chapters
Understanding the Golden Mean, free will, the five parts of the soul, and the foundations of Jewish ethical psychology
The Eight Chapters of the Rambam is the traditional name given to Maimonides’ introduction to his commentary on Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). Since Pirkei Avot deals extensively with character development and the human soul, the Rambam devotes this introduction to topics relating to human psychology, ethics, and the purpose of man in the world.
Written in Judeo-Arabic and Later Translated
Like all of the Rambam’s Mishnah commentary, this introduction was originally written in Judeo-Arabic. The most widespread Hebrew translation is by Rabbi Shmuel Ibn Tibbon, one of the Rambam’s greatest translators.
The Structure of the Introduction
The introduction is divided into two main parts:
Chapters 1–5: The Rambam presents his views on the human soul and moral character.
Chapters 6–8: He places these ideas within a broader Jewish context, addressing commandments, Divine providence, free will, and more.
The Five Parts of the Soul
The Rambam states that the human soul is one unified entity consisting of five faculties:
The nutritive faculty – everything related to food and digestion
The sensory faculty – the five senses
The imaginative faculty – imagination and visualization
The appetitive/facultative faculty – desires, ambitions, aversions, and fears
The rational faculty – the intellect, enabling a person to learn and acquire wisdom
Health and Illness of the Soul
In Chapter 3, the Rambam teaches that just as the body can be healthy or ill, so too can the soul.
He writes: “The health of the soul is that its qualities enable it to consistently perform good and proper actions. The illness of the soul is when its qualities cause it to perform evil and disgraceful actions.”
Thus, bad character traits leading to harmful actions are considered a form of spiritual illness. Just as physical patients consult doctors, the Rambam says: “So too must those whose souls are ill consult the sages, who are the physicians of the soul.”
This applies to those who act wrongly because of misunderstanding. But regarding those who knowingly choose evil, the Rambam cites King Solomon: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but the wise man listens to counsel.”
The “Golden Mean” – The Balanced Path
In the Eight Chapters, the Rambam introduces the concept known as the Golden Mean. The ideal path in every character trait is the middle path, not either extreme.
“Good actions are the actions that are balanced — between two negative extremes, one excessive and the other deficient. Virtues are the balanced soul-qualities between two bad traits, one of excess and one of deficiency.”
Examples from the Rambam:
Generosity is the mean between stinginess and wastefulness
Courage is the mean between recklessness and cowardice
Moderation/contentment is the mean between greed and laziness
How to repair an extreme trait
If a person has become extreme in one direction, the Rambam advises: Lean toward the opposite extreme temporarily, until the middle path becomes natural.
What Are the Soul’s Faculties For?
The Rambam explains the ultimate purpose of all human faculties: “A person must subordinate all the powers of his soul to the intellect… and place before his eyes one ultimate goal:
the knowledge of God, to the extent that man can know Him.
All his actions — movements, rest, and everything he does, should lead toward this goal.”
The Rambam, who was also a famous physician, wrote extensively on health. However, in the Eight Chapters he stresses that someone who lives healthily only to be healthy has not achieved a spiritual level. He merely chose the pleasure of health, while another chooses the pleasure of food. Rather, even health is intended to serve the higher purpose of Divine service.
Which Is Greater: One Who Overcomes Desire or One Who Has No Desire?
In Chapter 6, the Rambam discusses a classic philosophical question: Who is superior — one who desires to sin but conquers his urge, or one who has no desire to sin at all?
The Rambam answers that it depends on the type of mitzvah.
Two categories of commandments:
(1) Rational commandments (mitzvot sichliyot)
These are laws that human reason itself dictates — such as prohibitions against idolatry, murder, and theft.
Here, the person who still desires evil is on a lower level, because the wrongness is inherently obvious.
(2) “Revealed” commandments (mitzvot shimiyot)
These are laws we would never have conceived without God’s command, such as:
Meat and milk
Shaatnez
Red Heifer
Other ritual laws
In these areas, the one who must conquer his desire is greater, because the test comes solely from commitment to God’s will.
Character Refinement and the Level of Prophecy
The Rambam closely links moral perfection with prophetic ability.
The barriers between a person and God, he says, are moral deficiencies: “No prophet received prophecy until he possessed all intellectual virtues and most of the moral virtues.”
The more refined a prophet’s character, the fewer the barriers between him and God.
Moshe reached the highest level of seeing through what the Sages call: “a clear, illuminated lens”.
The Rambam’s Conclusion: Free Will
The Rambam concludes the Eight Chapters with a detailed explanation of free will.
Key points:
A person is not born inherently righteous or wicked.
All actions — good or bad, are in one’s control.
People are born with natural tendencies, such as:
Inclination toward courage or fear
Quick intellect or slower cognition
These tendencies do not determine a person’s destiny. They only determine how much effort will be required to acquire the desired traits.
Example from the Rambam:
Someone whose nature is overly warm may easily become brave, while someone whose nature is cold may incline toward fear.
With habituation and training, even the fearful can become courageous, and even the slow thinker can become wise.
The Rambam’s message: Human nature influences, but does not rule. Education, discipline, and free choice ultimately shape who we become.
