(Averroes was the last great philosopher in Islam in the t...)
Averroes was the last great philosopher in Islam in the twelfth century and is the most scholarly and scrupulous commentator of Aristotle. He is far better known in Europe than in the Orient, where few of his works are still in existence and where he had no influence, he being the last great philosopher of his culture. Renan, who wrote a big book about him, Averroes et l’Averro’asme, had never seen a line of Arabic by him. Lately, some of his works have been edited in Arabic, for instance, his Tahafut al Tahafut, in a most exemplary manner.
(An indispensable primary source in medieval political phi...)
An indispensable primary source in medieval political philosophy is presented here in a fully annotated translation of Averroes' discussion of the Republic. Averroes' book played a major role in both the transmission and the adaptation of the Platonic tradition in the West. In a closely argued critical introduction, Ralph Lerner addresses several of the most important problems raised by the work.
Faith and Reason in Islam: Averroes' Exposition of Religious Arguments
(Available for the first time in the English language, thi...)
Available for the first time in the English language, this is a complete and annotated translation of a key work by the twelfth-century Muslim philosopher, Averroes (Ibn Rushd). Acknowledged as the leading transmitter of Aristotelian thought, Averroes also held controversial views about the relationship between faith and reason, arguing that religion should not be allowed to impose limits on the exercise of rational thought. His theory of rationality, along with others on language, justice, and the interpretation of religious texts, is clearly presented here, in a work that provides the most comprehensive picture available of Averroes's great intellectual achievements.
(Ibn Rushd, known to Christian Europe as Averroes, came fr...)
Ibn Rushd, known to Christian Europe as Averroes, came from Córdoba in Spain and lived from 1126 to 1198. He is regarded as the last great Arab philosopher in the Classical tradition, and, under the patronage of the Almohad ruler Abu Ya'quib Yusuf, was a very prolific one. The Tahafut al-Tahafut, written not long after 1180, is his major work and the one in which his original philosophical doctrine is to be found. It takes the form of a refutation of Ghazali's Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers), a work begun in 1095 which attacked philosophical speculation and declared some of the beliefs of the Philosophers to be contrary to Islam. Averroes sets his Aristotelian views in contrast with the Neo-Platonist ones attributed to the philosophers by Ghazali. Published in the UNESCO Collection of Great Works under the auspices of the Gibb Memorial Trust and the International Commission for the Translation of Great Works.
(Averroës emerged from an eminent family in Muslim Spain t...)
Averroës emerged from an eminent family in Muslim Spain to become the first and last great Aristotelian of the classical Islamic world; his meticulous commentaries influenced Christian thinkers and earned him favorable mention (and a relatively pleasant fate) in Dante's Divina Commedia. The Book of the Decisive Treatise was and remains one his most important works and one of history's best defenses of the legitimate role of reason in a community of faith. The text presents itself as a plea before a tribunal in which the divinely revealed Law of Islam is the sole authority; Averroës, critical of the anti-philosophical tone of the Islamic establishment, argues that the Law not only permits but also mandates the study of philosophy and syllogistic or logical reasoning, defending earlier Muslim philosophers and dismissing criticisms of them as more harmful to the Islamic community than the philosophers' own views had been. As he details the three fundamental methods the Law uses to aid people of varied capacities and temperaments, Averroës reveals a carefully formed and remarkably argued conception of the boundaries and uses of faith and reason.
(Averroës, the greatest Aristotelian of the Islamic philos...)
Averroës, the greatest Aristotelian of the Islamic philosophical tradition, composed some thirty-eight commentaries on the "First Teacher's" corpus, including three separate treatments of De Anima ("On the Soul"): the works commonly referred to as the Short, Middle, and Long Commentaries. The Middle Commentary - actually Averroës's last writing on the text-remains one of his most refined and politically discreet treatments of Aristotle, offering modern readers Averroës's final statement on the material intellect and conjunction as well as an accessible historical window on Aristotle's work as it was interpreted and transmitted in the medieval period.
(Born in 1126 to a family of Maliki legal scholars, Ibn Ru...)
Born in 1126 to a family of Maliki legal scholars, Ibn Rushd, known as Averroes, enjoyed a long career in religious jurisprudence at Seville and Cordoba while at the same time advancing his philosophical studies of the works of Aristotle. This translation of Averroes’ Long Commentary on Aristotle’s De Anima brings to English-language readers the complete text of this influential work of medieval philosophy. Richard C. Taylor provides rich notes on the Long Commentary and a generous introduction that discusses Averroes’ most mature reflections on Aristotle’s teachings as well as Averroes' comprehensive philosophical views on soul and intellect. It is only in the Long Commentary that Averroes finally resolves to his satisfaction the much vexed issue of the nature of intellect, Taylor shows.
On Aristotle's Metaphysics: An Annotated Translation of the So-called Epitome
(This book contains the first English translation of an im...)
This book contains the first English translation of an important medieval treatise on Aristotle's Metaphysics. The original Arabic text was composed around 1160 by the famous Andalusian philosopher Averroes (Ibn Rushd). The present translation has been prepared on the basis of a wide range of documents including, apart from the available Arabic editions, various medieval manuscripts as well as a Latin translation prepared in the Renaissance. It is accompanied by a commentary dealing with the major philosophical topics and philological problems of the text.
Averroes' "De substantia orbis": Critical Edition of the Hebrew Text with English Translation and Commentary
(A collection of treatises by Averroes on the nature and p...)
A collection of treatises by Averroes on the nature and properties of the heavens. Includes a critical edition of the Hebrew text with English translation, commentary and introduction.
The Distinguished Jurist's Primer Volume I: Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqtasid
(Ibn Rushd's "Bidayat al-Mujtahid" ("The Distinguished Jur...)
Ibn Rushd's "Bidayat al-Mujtahid" ("The Distinguished Jurist's Primer") occupies a unique place among the authoritative manuals of Islamic law. It is designed to prepare the jurist for the task of the mujtahid, the independent jurist, who derives the law and lays down precedents to be followed by the judge in the administration of justice. In this manual Ibn Rushd traces most of the issues of Islamic law, describing not only what the law is, but also elaborating the methodology of some of the greatest legal minds in Islam to show how such laws were derived. This text provides a still-relevant basis for the interpretation and formulation of Islamic law. Combining his legal and philosophical knowledge, Ibn Rushd transcends the boundaries of different schools and presents a critical analysis of the opinions of the famous Muslim jurists and their methodologies. The legal subject areas covered include marriage and divorce; sale and exchange of goods; wages, crop-sharing and speculative partnership; security for debts and insolvency; gifts, bequests and inheritance; and offenses and judgements.
The Distinguished Jurist's Primer Volume 2: A Translation of Bidayat Al-Mujtahid
(Ibn Rushd's "Bidayat al-Mujtahid" ("The Distinguished Jur...)
Ibn Rushd's "Bidayat al-Mujtahid" ("The Distinguished Jurist's Primer") occupies a unique place among the authoritative manuals of Islamic law. It is designed to prepare the jurist for the task of the mujtahid, the independent jurist, who derives the law and lays down precedents to be followed by the judge in the administration of justice. In this manual Ibn Rushd traces most of the issues of Islamic law, describing not only what the law is, but also elaborating the methodology of some of the greatest legal minds in Islam to show how such laws were derived. This text provides a still-relevant basis for the interpretation and formulation of Islamic law. Combining his legal and philosophical knowledge, Ibn Rushd transcends the boundaries of different schools and presents a critical analysis of the opinions of the famous Muslim jurists and their methodologies. The legal subject areas covered include marriage and divorce; sale and exchange of goods; wages, crop-sharing and speculative partnership; security for debts and insolvency; gifts, bequests and inheritance; and offenses and judgements.
Averroes or Ibn Rushd was an influential Islamic religious philosopher and polymath. He integrated Islamic traditions with ancient Greek thought.
Background
Ibn Rushd, more known as Averroes, was born Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn ʾAḥmad Ibn Rushd on December 11, 1198, in Córdoba, Al-Andalus, Almoravid Emirate (now Córdoba, Andalucia, Spain) to a family with a long and well-respected tradition of legal and public service. His grandfather, the influential Abdul-Walid Muhammad, was the chief judge of Cordova, under the Almoravid dynasty, establishing himself as a specialist in legal methodology and in the teachings of the various legal schools. Ibn Rushd’s father, Abdul-Qasim Ahmad, although not as venerated as his grandfather, held the same position until the Almoravids were ousted by the Almohad dynasty in 1146.
Education
Averroes' education followed a traditional path, beginning with studies in hadith, linguistics, jurisprudence and scholastic theology. The earliest biographers and Muslim chroniclers speak little about his education in science and philosophy, where most interest from Western scholarship in him lies, but note his propensity towards the law and his life as a jurist. It is generally believed that Averroes was influenced by the philosophy of Ibn Bajjah (Avempace), and perhaps was once tutored by him. His medical education was directed under Abu Jafar ibn Harun of Trujillo. His aptitude for medicine was noted by his contemporaries and can be seen in his major enduring work Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb (Generalities) This book, together with Kitab al-Taisir fi al-Mudawat wa al-Tadbir (Particularities) written by Abu Marwan Ibn Zuhr, became the main medical textbooks for physicians in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim worlds for centuries to come.
Career
Ibn Rushd traveled to Marrakesh and came under the patronage of the caliph ‘Abd al-Mu’min, likely involved in educational reform for the dynasty. The Almohads, like the Almoravids they had supplanted, were a Northwest African Kharijite-influenced Berber reform movement. Founded in the theology of Ibn Tumart, who emphasized divine unity and the idea of divine promise and threat, he believed that a positive system of law could co-exist with a rational and practical theology. This led to the concept that law needed to be primarily based on revelation instead of the traditions of the jurists. Ibn Talmart’s theology affirmed that the existence and essence of God could be established through reason alone, and used that to posit an ethical legal theory that depended on divine transcendence.
Ibn Rushd’s relationship with the Almohad was not merely opportunistic, (considering the support his father and grandfather had given to the Almoravids) for it influenced his work significantly; notably his ability to unite philosophy and religion. Sometime between 1159 and 1169, during one of his periods of residence in Marrakesh, Ibn Rushd befriended Ibn Tufayl (Abubacer), a philosopher who was the official physician and counselor to Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf, son of ‘Abd al-Mu’min. It was Ibn Tufayl who introduced Ibn Rushd to the ruler. The prince was impressed by the young philosopher and employed him first as chief judge and later as a chief physician. Ibn Rushd’s legacy as the commentator of Aristotle was also due to Abu Yaqub Yusuf. Although well-versed in ancient philosophy, the prince complained about the challenge posed by the Greek philosopher’s texts and commissioned Ibn Rushd to write a series of commentaries on them.
Through most of Ibn Rushd’s service, the Almohads grew more liberal, leading eventually to their formal rejection of Ibn Talmart’s theology and adoption of Malikite law in 1229. Despite this tendency, public pressure against perceived liberalizing tendencies in the government led to the formal rejection of Ibn Rushd and his writings in 1195. He was exiled to Lucena, a largely Jewish village outside of Córdoba, his writings were banned and his books burned. This period of disgrace did not last long, however, and Ibn Rushd returned to Córdoba two years later, but died the following year. Doubts about Ibn Rushd’s orthodoxy persisted, but as Islamic interest in his philosophy waned, his writings found new audiences in the Christian and Jewish worlds.
Despite his philosophical achievements, Islamic philosophy of the sort Ibn Rushd practiced did not survive him. Actually, he did not have any significant Muslim disciple. In the world of Islam, his books were largely ignored, and several of his writings disappeared in their Arabic original versions. Fortunately, interest in his thought remained vivace among Jews and Christians, to the languages of whom his works were translated. In the Middle Ages, his ideas influenced the transformation of thought in medieval Europe. The last of the great Muslim thinkers, his beliefs were to have an effect of the minds of many of the Middle Ages intellectuals, living well beyond the borders of Moorish Spain. As a result, a philosophical doctrine, known as the Averroism, emerged among his Latin and Hebrew followers. The lunar crater ibn Rushd, and the asteroid 8318 Averroes and the plant genus Averrhoa (whose members include the starfruit and the bilimbi) were named after him.
Averroes' writings had strong connections with Islamic theology.
Politics
Averroes wasn't directly involved in politics. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the patronage and worked for a number of historically important political figures including the caliph ‘Abd al-Mu’min.
Views
A significative part of Ibn Rushd’s output consists in his commentaries on Aristotle. Besides the extant Arabic versions of these works, several of those writings have survived only in Latin or Hebrew translations after the loss of the original Arabic versions. The commentaries can be classified in three types: a short epitome or paraphrase (jâmi’) which presents just a summary of the subject; the middle commentary (talkhîs), an interpretive exposition, often including considerable expansions on the original, and finally the large or major commentary (tafsîr), where the original text is quoted and commented on sectionally. This monumental task of philosophical exegesis range over Aristotle’s entire corpus, including logic, natural philosophy, metaphysics, psychology, and other works. For some texts Ibn Rushd wrote all three types of commentaries; for others two or one. The exhaustively detailed study was applied only to the Posterior Analytics, Physics, The Heavens, The Soul and Metaphysics.
Ibn Rushd’s writings in medicine and astronomy shape his scientific contribution. His views in astronomy are exposed in his commentaries on Aristotle’s Heavens, in the epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest (Mukhtasar al-majistî), and in a treatise on the motion of the sphere, Kitâb fî-harakat al-falak. The former was translated into Latin whereas the latter survived only in a Hebrew translation. The Mukhtasar displays an early version of Ibn Rushd’s project of a radical reform of Ptolemaic astronomy. But until a new astronomy is elaborated, he is resigned to follow the theory upon which the “experts of the art” do not disagree. Proceeding from the works of his predecessors, especially Ibn al-Haytham and Jâbir ibn Aflah, he denounced the non-scientific character of the Ptolemaic system with respect to the Aristotelian doctrine and raised objections against the hypotheses of eccentrics and epicycles.
Since the early XIIth-century, criticisms were leveled in the Andalus by the philosophers Ibn Bâja and Ibn Tufayl against Ptolemy’s theories. Ibn Rushd took up these objections and formulated the program of a new astronomy based on Aristotelian principles. His program was realized by the astronomer al-Bitrûjî (Alpetragius), who represented the heavens exclusively by nested homocentric spheres and perfect uniform circular motions around the Earth. However, his model was completely useless from a mathematical point of view, and it was neither numerically verifiable nor could it be used for predicting planetary positions.
Ibn Rushd’s medical production includes commentaries on some of Galen’s and Ibn Sînâ’s works, a treatise On Theriac, and a major medical work, Kitâb al-Kulliyyât (Book of Generalities), well known in its Latin version as the Colliget. The structure of the treatise was organized so as to produce a compendium of the art of medicine which would form a vital basis of knowledge acting as a springboard for more detailed investigations, and an aide-mémoire for those already versed in the subject. The text is oriented by the idea considering that in the field of medicine general truths lie beyond those gathered by observation, in the linking up of phenomena with their causes. As it is stated in Book I, the medicine reposes on demonstrations founded in natural philosophy, challenging the kind of medicine which is centered entirely on results. But when it comes to the treatment, the author founds his remedies on an inductive approach based on observing the effects of medicines.
The philosophical works of Ibn Rushd relate mainly to the defense of philosophy against the severe attack of the scholar Al-Ghazâlî (Algazel, d. 1111). They include Tahâfut al-Tahâfut (The Incoherence of the incoherence), a systematic response to al-Ghazâlî, and three closely related texts: Fasl al-maqâl (The decisive treatise), a defense of philosophy in terms of Islamic legal categories, al-Kashf ‘an manâhij al-adilla (Exposition of the methods of proof), presenting a theological system based on the interpretation of scriptural language, and al-Dhamîma (Appendix), a short tract where it is argued that the philosophers do not deny God knowledge of particulars.
Ibn Rushd did not present his philosophy as a system. His philosophical doctrine has to be reconstructed from his numerous works. This doctrine is rich and multifaceted enough to be summarized easily. A survey of two emblematic themes, his causal theory and his thesis of the relation of religion to philosophy, shall provide an idea on his practice of theoretical discourse.
Ibn Rushd developed his causal theory against al-Ghazâlî’s occasionalist doctrine embodied in the latter’s denial of necessary causal connection in nature. Al-Ghazâlî had claimed indeed that the world order has no inherent necessity, and the uniformity of nature is only a habit (‘âda) arbitrarily decreed by God who can disrupt it at will. In contrast to this occasionalist account, Ibn Rushd relies on a central metaphysical argument based on his concept of real essence, which intimately relates essence to causal action. Things, he maintains, “have essences and attributes that determine the specific action of each existent and by virtue of which the essences, names and definitions of things are differentiated.” If this were not the case, then all the existents would either become one existent or cease to exist altogether. For, if it is one, the question arises as to whether such an existent has or does not have a specific act (for example, whether or not fire has the specific act of burning). If the answer is that it has, then the existence of a specific act proceeding from a specific nature is acknowledged. If the answer is that it does not, then “the one is no longer one. But if the nature of oneness is removed, the nature of existence is removed and the necessary consequence is nonexistence.” For al-Ghazâlî, it is possible for fire to contact cotton without burning it. Ibn Rushd answers that this can happen only when there is an impediment, but this does not deprive fire of having the property of conflagration “so long as it retains the name and definition of fire.” Fire, to be fire, must have the property of burning something. A denial of this is not only a denial of objective truth, but a violation of the normal way we name things and speak about them.
Another important concern of Ibn Rushd was to prove the harmony between philosophy and religion, and hence to build a specific defense of philosophy. Al-Ghazâlî not only endeavored to refute the Islamic philosophers logically, but condemned them as infidels for affirming the world’s eternity, for their denial that God knows terrestrial particulars, and for their denial of bodily resurrection. The charge of infidelity was a serious one in terms of Islamic law. It was also a challenge to the deeply religious commitment of Ibn Rushd. In several of his writings, he defends the philosophers against the charge of infidelity. He begins by raising a more general question, namely, whether Islamic religious law allows or prohibits the study of philosophy. Basing himself on certain Qur’ânic statements, he argues that the study of philosophy is allowed, for philosophy is the proper study of nature that leads to the proof of the existence of God.
In Fasl al-maqâl, Ibn Rushd formulates a conception of philosophy which was in accordance with the Islamic teachings as it was considered as a rational view of creation which leads to the knowledge of the Creator. Thus formulated, philosophy becomes a valid path for the discovery of truth which is also to be found in revealed texts. Because different individuals have different levels of comprehension, God speaks to humans through three kinds of discourses: dialectical, rhetorical and demonstrative syllogism.
The distinction between three levels of discourse and of the audiences to which they are addressed is an important device in Ibn Rushd’s attempt to contextualise philosophy in the Islamic environment. Hence, the philosophy can be practiced only by the demonstrative class, the members of which possess a specific capacity and training. The two other classes are capable of reasoning only on the dialectical or rhetorical levels. The scriptural statements are also divided into three classes: those that must be accepted literally because they have clear and unambiguous intent, those that should not be taken literally, and error in their metaphorical understanding or in their interpretation is permissible; finally, a class of statements that must be interpreted by each class according to its intellectual capacity. Error here again is permissible. It is within the framework of this theory of interpretation that Ibn Rushd defends the Islamic philosophers against the charge of infidelity. Their condemned doctrines relate to scriptural statements where error in interpretation is permissible. Furthermore, in practical matters, it is the consensus of the Muslim community that rules on whether or not an act constitutes infidelity. On this basis, Ibn Rushd shows that consensus in matters of theoretical belief is impossible.
Personality
Averroes was a profoundly religious yet considerably progressive intellectual. His high spirituality did not prevent him, in any way, from having ideas, values, and philosophies that were ahead of his time. It even cost him his freedom, as he was imprisoned and exiled for a while, allegedly for his stance on the compatibility of religion with philosophy.
Averroes loved books. It is said that he never missed reading or writing except the day he got married and the day his father died.
Interests
Philosophers & Thinkers
Aristotle, Plato, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Bajja
Connections
Averroes was married but it is not known whether he had children.
