How did Moses Maimonides reconcile empirical knowledge and religious revelation?

Moses Maimonides sought to safeguard both religious law and philosophy in his work, The Guide for the Perplexed, without suppressing the tensions between them or imposing a final, universally binding solution.1

Rather than viewing revelation as a suprarational source of truth, Maimonides argued that prophets—excluding Moses—combined intellectual ability with a powerful imagination, receiving an overflow from the active intellect. He maintained that religious laws serve to ensure communal welfare and facilitate the attainment of intellectual truths for those capable of uncovering the hints within them.1

Maimonides utilized a system of precautions, including deliberately contradictory statements, to protect philosophical inquiry from those who might misinterpret it and abandon religious observance. He categorized some religious beliefs as expressions of philosophical truth adapted for the common people, while others were deemed false but necessary for maintaining public order and justice. Ultimately, he viewed the study of natural science as the primary means to understand how God acts, while simultaneously upholding the necessity of religious law for the survival of Judaism.12