The Obligations of the Heart [חובות לבבות] brings in his introduction the obligation to learn a kind of science that he considers not to be Torah but to be necessary for Torah that is what was called in Arabic אלעלם אלהאהי which to my mind surely means the metaphysics of Aristotle. He was not referring to mysticism which the Muslims in Spain in his time were not learning.
Clearly this meant to him not just the Metaphysics of Aristotle and Plotinus but also the later commentaries of Al Farabi. []
The Hovot Levavot/Obligations of the Heart also mentions this idea in the section of Service of God where he says people that know Torah but not logic [Aristotelian] will be fooled by the evil inclination to misinterpret Torah since they are not good at logical reasoning. [So we see that both Aristotle's Logic and Metaphysics are necessary for the service of God. This would be according to the basic approach of the Obligations of the Heart, Saadia Gaon and Rambam. The Ramban (Nachmanides) obviously would disagree.]
This is also reflected in the Rambam who holds for Torah one needs to know both Aristotelian Physics and Metaphysics.
[However along with Aristotle's Physics I think Modern Physics ought to be added. After all the Rambam did not specifically mention Aristotle in this connection but rather the subject that the in ancient Athens was called Physics. So he means the subject matter.
The same goes for Metaphysics. I feel along with Aristotle the Rambam must have meant to subject matter.
Clearly this meant to him not just the Metaphysics of Aristotle and Plotinus but also the later commentaries of Al Farabi. []
The Hovot Levavot/Obligations of the Heart also mentions this idea in the section of Service of God where he says people that know Torah but not logic [Aristotelian] will be fooled by the evil inclination to misinterpret Torah since they are not good at logical reasoning. [So we see that both Aristotle's Logic and Metaphysics are necessary for the service of God. This would be according to the basic approach of the Obligations of the Heart, Saadia Gaon and Rambam. The Ramban (Nachmanides) obviously would disagree.]
This is also reflected in the Rambam who holds for Torah one needs to know both Aristotelian Physics and Metaphysics.
[However along with Aristotle's Physics I think Modern Physics ought to be added. After all the Rambam did not specifically mention Aristotle in this connection but rather the subject that the in ancient Athens was called Physics. So he means the subject matter.
The same goes for Metaphysics. I feel along with Aristotle the Rambam must have meant to subject matter.
