David Bakan & David S. Weiss 
Maimonides’ Cure of Souls [PDF ebook] 
Medieval Precursor of Psychoanalysis

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations

1. The Will to Illness

Aristotelian Premises of Maimonides’ Psychology,
Aristotelian Forms, Actualization, Al-Farabi’s Political
Philosophy, Maimonides’ Behavioral Therapy, Sin
Causes Ignorance, Repentance, Conclusions

2. Worship of the Heart

The Commandments of Monotheistic Beliefs and
Affects, Maimonides’ Curriculum, Maimonides’
Intellectualist Mysticism, The Rational Character of
Maimonides’ Intellectualist Mysticism, The Mystical
Character of Maimonides’ Rationalism, Maimonides’
Practice of the Presence of God, The Therapeutic
Effects of Meditation, Conclusions

3. Imagination and the Interpretation of Prophecy

Imagination and Anthropomorphism, Intellectualist
Mysticism and Prophecy, Dreams and Visions of
Prophecy, The Psychology of Imagination, The Place of
Imagination in the Interpretation of Scripture, The
Prophecies of Abraham, Confirmation from Ezekiel,
Conclusions

4. Perplexity and the World to Come

Maimonides’ Esotericism, The World to Come, The
Thirteen Foundational Principles of the Law, The Four
Who Entered Paradise, Monistic Mystical Union,
Conclusions

5. Secrets of the Law

Arayot, The Account of the Beginning, Maimonides on
Sexuality, The Account of the Chariot, Conclusions

6. Maimonides’ Psychotherapy Client Population

7. Convergences of Maimonides and Freud

Freud’s Access to Maimonides, Dream Interpretation,
The Privileged Place of Sexuality, Sociocultural Conflict
Model, Theories of Pathology and Therapy, Psychic
Reality, Understanding on One’s Own, The Unconscious,
Views of Judaism, Prophetic Ambition, Conclusions

References
Index

Dan Merkur is a psychoanalyst in private practice and a research reader in the study of religion at the University of Toronto. He is the author of many books, including Unconscious Wisdom: A Superego Function in Dreams, Conscience, and Inspiration, also published by SUNY Press.