Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon (c. 1150 – c. 1230), more commonly known as Samuel ibn Tibbon (Hebrew: שמואל בן יהודה אבן תבון, Arabic: ابن تبّون), was a Jewish philosopher and doctor who lived and worked in Provence, later part of France.
Samuel ibn Tibbon wrote his own philosophical works, including "Sefer ha-Mikhtav" (The Book of the Letter), which dealt with ethics and spirituality.
Samuel ibn Tibbon's translations and commentaries had a significant impact on Jewish thought and scholarship during the Middle Ages.
[1] He received a Jewish education in rabbinic literature from his father Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon.
[2] In 1213, while returning from Alexandria, Samuel ibn Tibbon wrote on shipboard Biur meha-Millot ha-Zarot, an explanation of the philosophical terms of Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides.
In the introduction to the glossary, he divided these words into five classes: He gives also a list of corrections which he desired to be made in the copies of his translation of the Guide.
He held that many Bible narratives are to be considered simply as parables (meshalim) and the religious laws as guides (hanhagot) to a higher, spiritual life.
While such statements were not unusual in his age, adherents of the literal interpretation of the Bible, the anti-Maimonidean party (see Maimonides for more details), created strong opposition to the work.
When the struggle between the Maimonists and anti-Maimonists arose, Samuel was reproached for contributing to the spread of the ideas of Maimonides.