At first blush it would seem anomalous to have a chapter on Maimonides in a book on autonomy. Not only did he regard all the commandments as binding, he extended the reach of the commandments from the realm of behavior to that of belief. According to Maimonides, there are thirteen principles every Jew must accept in order to have any hope of salvation. They include: (1) the existence of God; (2) the unity of God; (3) that God is incorporeal; (4) that God is eternal; (5) that only God should be worshiped; (6) the existence of prophecy; (7) that Moses is the greatest prophet; (8) that the Torah is from God; (9) that the Torah is immutable; (10) that God knows everything we do; (11) that God rewards and punishes people for what they do; (12) that the Messiah will come; (13) that there is resurrection.

In Maimonides' view, there is nothing mysterious about these claims, and no special act of faith is needed to accept them. On the contrary, he was convinced that the first four can be demonstrated by reason alone and that there is ample evidence for the other nine. Although this may seem implausible to a person living in the twentieth century, we should keep in mind that for Maimonides neither prophecy nor the coming of the Messiah involve miracles.