Averroes

Averroës
(Ibn Rušd ابن رشد)

Statue of Averroes in Córdoba, Spain
Born April 14, 1126
Córdoba, Al-Andalus, Almoravid emirate (in present-day Spain)[1][2][3]
Died December 10, 1198 (aged 72)
Marrakesh, Maghreb, Almohad Caliphate (in present-day Morocco)
Religion Islam
Era Medieval philosophy (Islamic Golden Age)
Region Islamic philosophy
School Averroism
Main interests
 Islamic theology, Philosophy, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, Astronomy
Notable ideas
 Reconciliation of Aristotelianism with Islam

Averroës (/əˈvɛroʊˌiːz/; April 14, 1126 – December 10, 1198) is the Latinized form of Ibn Rushd (Arabic: ابن رشد‎), full name ʾAbū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn ʾAḥmad Ibn Rušd (أبو الوليد محمد ابن احمد ابن رشد), a medieval Andalusian polymath. He wrote on logic, Aristotelian and Islamic philosophy, theology, the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, psychology, political and Andalusian classical music theory, geography, mathematics, and the mediæval sciences of medicine, astronomy, physics, and celestial mechanics. Averroes was born in Córdoba, Al Andalus (present-day Spain), and died at Marrakesh in present-day Morocco. His body was interred in his family tomb at Córdoba.[6] The 13th-century philosophical movement based on Averroes's work is called Averroism.

Averroes was a defender of Aristotelian philosophy against Ash'ari theologians led by Al-Ghazali. Although highly regarded as a legal scholar of the Maliki school of Islamic law, Averroes's philosophical ideas were considered controversial in Ash'arite Muslim circles.[7] Averroes had a greater impact on Christian Europe: he has been described as the "founding father of secular thought in Western Europe"[7][8][9] and was known by the sobriquet the Commentator for his detailed emendations to Aristotle. Latin translations of Averroes's work led the way to the popularization of Aristotle.[10]

Name

Averroes's name is the Medieval Latin form of the Hebrew translation Aben Rois or Rosh of the Arabic Ibn Rushd. It is also seen as Averroës, Averrhoës, or Averroès to mark that the o and e are separate vowels and not an œ or diphthong.[11] Other forms of the name include Ibin-Ros-din, Filius Rosadis, Ibn-Rusid, Ben-Raxid, Ibn-Ruschod, Den-Resched, Aben-Rassad, Aben-Rasd, Aben-Rust, Avenrosdy Avenryz, Adveroys, Benroist, Avenroyth, and Averroysta.[12]

Biography

Averroes was the preeminent philosopher in the history of Al-Andalus.

Averroes was born in Córdoba to a family with a long and well-respected tradition of legal and public service. His grandfather Abu Al-Walid Muhammad (d. 1126) was chief judge of Córdoba under the Almoravids. His father, Abu Al-Qasim Ahmad, held the same position until the Almoravids were replaced by the Almohads in 1146.[13]

Averroes's education followed a traditional path, beginning with studies in Hadith, linguistics, jurisprudence and scholastic theology. Throughout his life he wrote extensively on Philosophy and Religion, attributes of God, origin of the universe, Metaphysics and Psychology. It is generally believed that he was perhaps once tutored by Ibn Bajjah (Avempace). His medical education was directed under Abu Jafar ibn Harun of Trujillo in Seville.[14] Averroes began his career with the help of Ibn Tufail ("Aben Tofail" to the West), the author of Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and philosophic vizier of Almohad king Abu Yaqub Yusuf who was an amateur of philosophy and science. It was Ibn Tufail who introduced him to the court and to Ibn Zuhr ("Avenzoar" to the West), the great Muslim physician, who became Averroes's teacher and friend. Averroes's aptitude for medicine was noted by his contemporaries and can be seen in his major enduring work Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb (Generalities), influenced by the Kitab al-Taisir fi al-Mudawat wa al-Tadbir (Particularities) of Ibn Zuhr.[15] Averroes later reported how it was also Ibn Tufail that inspired him to write his famous commentaries on Aristotle:

Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl summoned me one day and told me that he had heard the Commander of the Faithful complaining about the disjointedness of Aristotle's mode of expression — or that of the translators — and the resultant obscurity of his intentions. He said that if someone took on these books who could summarize them and clarify their aims after first thoroughly understanding them himself, people would have an easier time comprehending them. "If you have the energy, " Ibn Tufayl told me, "you do it. I'm confident you can, because I know what a good mind and devoted character you have, and how dedicated you are to the art. You understand that only my great age, the cares of my office — and my commitment to another task that I think even more vital — keep me from doing it myself. "
—[16]

Averroes also studied the works and philosophy of Ibn Bajjah ("Avempace" to the West), another famous Islamic philosopher who greatly influenced his own Averroist thought.

However, while the thought of his mentors Ibn Tufail and Ibn Bajjah were mystic to an extent, the thought of Averroes was purely rationalist. Together, the three men are considered the greatest Andalusian philosophers.[13] Averroes devoted the next 30 years to his philosophical writings.

In 1160, Averroes was made Qadi (judge) of Seville and he served in many court appointments in Seville, Cordoba, and Morocco during his career. Sometime during the reign of Yaqub al-Mansur, Averroes's political career was abruptly ended and he faced severe criticism from the Fuqaha (Islamic jurists) of the time.[17]

A contemporary of Averroes, Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi writing in 1224, reported that there were secret and public reasons for his falling out of favor with Yaqub al-Mansour:[17]

And in his days [Yaqub al-Mansur], Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd faced his severe ordeal and there were two causes for this; one is known and the other is secret. The secret cause, which was the major reason, is that Abu al-Walid [Averroes] —may God have mercy on his soul— when summarizing, commenting and expending upon Aristotle's book "History of Animals" wrote: "And I saw the Giraffe at the garden of the king of the Berbers".
And that is the same way he would mention another king of some other people or land, as it is frequently done by writers, but he omitted that those working for the service of the king should glorify him and observe the usual protocol. This was why they held a grudge against him [Averroes] but initially, they did not show it and in reality, Abu al-Walid wrote that inadvertently...Then a number of his enemies in Cordoba, who were jealous of him and were competing with him both in knowledge and nobility, went to Yaqub al-Mansur with excerpts of Abu Walid's work on some old philosophers which were in his own handwriting. They took one phrase out of context that said: "and it was shown that Venus is one of the Gods" and presented it to the king who then summoned the chiefs and noblemen of Córdoba and said to Abu al-Walid in front of them "Is this your handwriting?". Abu al-Walid then denied and the king said "May God curse the one who wrote this" and ordered that Abu al-Walid be exiled and all the philosophy books to be gathered and burned...And I saw, when I was in Fes, these books being carried on horses in great quantities and burned[17]
—Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, "The Pleasant Book in Summarizing the History of the Maghreb", (1224)

Averroes's strictly rationalist views collided with the more orthodox views of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur, who therefore eventually banished Averroes in 1195 and ordered his writings burned, though he had previously appointed him as his personal physician. Averroes was not allowed to return to Marrakesh until 1197, shortly before his death in the year 1198 AD. His body was returned to Córdoba for burial.

Works

Imaginary debate between Averroes and Porphyry. Monfredo de Monte Imperiali Liber de herbis, 14th century.[18]

Averroes's first writings date from his age of 31 (year 1157).[19] His works were spread over 20,000 pages covering a variety of different subjects, including early Islamic philosophy, logic in Islamic philosophy, Islamic medicine, mathematics, astronomy, Arabic grammar, Islamic theology, Sharia (Islamic law), and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). In particular, his most important works dealt with Islamic philosophy, medicine and Fiqh. He wrote at least 80 original works, which included 28 works on philosophy, 20 on medicine, 8 on law, 5 on theology, and 4 on grammar, in addition to his commentaries on most of Aristotle's works and his commentary on Plato's The Republic.[13]

Averroes commentaries on Aristotle were the foundation for the Aristotelian revival in the 12th and 13th centuries. Averroes wrote short commentaries on Aristotle's work in logic, physics, and psychology. Averroes long commentaries provided an in depth line by line analysis of Aristotle's "Posterior Analytics," "De Anima," "Physics," "De Caelo," and the "Metaphysics."[20]

His most important original philosophical work was The Incoherence of the Incoherence (Tahafut al-tahafut), in which he defended Aristotelian philosophy against al-Ghazali's claims in The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-falasifa).

In Fasl al-Maqal fi ma bayn al-Hikma wa al-Shariah min Ittisal (فصل المقال في ما بين الحكمة و الشريعة من إتصال translated as The Harmony of Religion and Philosophy, or The Decisive Treatise, Determining the Nature of the Connection between Religion and Philosophy), Averroes proves that philosophy and revelation do not contradict each other, and are essentially different means of reaching the same truth. However, he warns against teaching philosophical methods to the general populace.

Other works include Kitab al-Kashf an Manahij al-Adilla كتاب الكشف عن مناهج الادلة .

Averroes is also a highly regarded legal scholar of the Maliki school. Perhaps his best-known work in this field is Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid ( بداية المجتهد و نهاية المقتصد), a textbook of Maliki doctrine in a comparative framework.

Jacob Anatoli translated several of the works of Averroes from Arabic into Hebrew in the 13th century. Many of them were later translated from Hebrew into Latin by Jacob Mantino and Abraham de Balmes. Other works were translated directly from Arabic into Latin by Michael Scot. Many of his works in logic and metaphysics have been permanently lost, while others, including some of the longer Aristotelian commentaries, have only survived in Latin or Hebrew translation, not in the original Arabic. The fullest version of his works is in Latin, and forms part of the multi-volume Juntine edition of Aristotle published in Venice 1562-1574.

Science

Medicine

Colliget

Averroes wrote a medical encyclopedia called Kulliyat (Colliget) ("Generalities", i. e. general medicine), known in its Latin translation as Colliget.[21] He also made a compilation of the works of Galen, and wrote a commentary on the Canon of Medicine (Qanun fi 't-tibb) of Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980–1037).

Physics

Averroes also authored three books on physics namely: Short Commentary on the Physics, Middle Commentary on the Physics and Long Commentary on the Physics. Averroes defined and measured force as "the rate at which work is done in changing the kinetic condition of a material body" and correctly argued "that the effect and measure of force is change in the kinetic condition of a materially resistant mass". He took a particular and keen interest in the understanding of "motor force".[22][23]

Averroes also developed the notion that bodies have a (non-gravitational) inherent resistance to motion into physics. This idea in particular was adopted by Thomas Aquinas and subsequently by Johannes Kepler, who referred to this fact as "Inertia".[24][25]

In optics, Averroes followed Alhazen's incorrect explanation that a rainbow is due to reflection, not refraction.[26]

Astronomy

Regarding his studies in astronomy, Averroes argued for a strictly concentric model of the universe, and explained sunspots and scientific reasoning regarding the occasional opaque colors of the moon. He also worked on the description of the spheres, and movement of the spheres.[27]

Psychology

Averroes also made some studies regarding Active intellect and Passive intellect, both of the following were formerly regarded subjects of Psychology.[7][28][29]

Philosophy

The tradition of Islamic philosophy

Averroes furthered the tradition of Greek philosophy in the Islamic world (falsafa). His commentaries removed the neo-Platonic bias of his predecessors.[2] Criticizing al-Farabi's attempt to merge Plato and Aristotle's ideas, Averroes argued that Aristotle's philosophy diverged in significant ways from Plato's.[30] Averroes rejected Avicenna's Neoplatonism[31] which was partly based on the works of neo-Platonic philosophers, Plotinus and Proclus, that were mistakenly attributed to Aristotle.[32]

In metaphysics, or more exactly ontology, Averroes rejects the view advanced by Avicenna that existence is merely accidental. Avicenna holds that "essence is ontologically prior to existence". The accidental, i. e. attributes that are not essential, are additional contingent characteristics. Averroes, following Aristotle, holds that individual existing substances are primary. One may separate them mentally; however, ontologically speaking, existence and essence are one.[33][34][35] According to Fakhry,[36] this represents a change from Plato's theory of Ideas, where ideas precede particulars, to Aristotle's theory where particulars come first and the essence is "arrived at by a process of abstraction. "

Commentaries on Aristotle and Plato

Commentarium magnum Averrois in Aristotelis De Anima libros. French Manuscript, third quarter of the 13th century.

Averroes wrote commentaries on most of the surviving works of Aristotle working from Arabic translations. He wrote three types of commentaries. The short commentary (jami) is generally an epitome; the middle commentary (talkhis) is a paraphrase; the long commentary (tafsir) includes the whole text with a detailed analysis of each line.[37]

Not having access to Aristotle's Politics, Averroes substituted Plato's Republic. Averroes, following Plato's paternalistic model, advances an authoritarian ideal. Absolute monarchy, led by a philosopher-king, creates a justly ordered society. This requires extensive use of coercion,[38] although persuasion is preferred and is possible if the young are properly raised.[39] Rhetoric, not logic, is the appropriate road to truth for the common man. Demonstrative knowledge via philosophy and logic requires special study. Rhetoric aids religion in reaching the masses.[40]

Following Plato, Averroes accepts the principle of women's equality. They should be educated and allowed to serve in the military; the best among them might be tomorrow's philosophers or rulers.[41][42] He also accepts Plato's illiberal measures such as the censorship of literature. He uses examples from Arab history to illustrate just and degenerate political orders.[43]

Independent philosophical works

His most important original philosophical work was The Incoherence of the Incoherence (Tahafut al-tahafut), in which he defended Aristotelian philosophy against al-Ghazali's claims in The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-falasifa). Al-Ghazali argued that Aristotelianism, especially as presented in the writings of Avicenna, was self-contradictory and an affront to the teachings of Islam. Averroes's rebuttal was two-pronged: he contended both that al-Ghazali's arguments were mistaken and that, in any case, the system of Avicenna was a distortion of genuine Aristotelianism so that al-Ghazali was aiming at the wrong target.

In Fasl al-Maqal, Averroes argues for the legality of philosophical investigation under Islamic law, and that there is no inherent contradiction between philosophy and religion.

In Kitab al-Kashf, which argued against the proofs of Islam advanced by the Ash'arite school and discussed what proofs, on the popular level, should be used instead.

System of philosophy

Main article: Averroism

Averroes tried to reconcile Aristotle's system of thought with Islam. According to him, there is no conflict between religion and philosophy, rather that they are different ways of reaching the same truth. He believed in the eternity of the universe. He also held that the soul is divided into two parts, one individual and one divine; while the individual soul is not eternal, all humans at the basic level share one and the same divine soul. Averroes has two kinds of Knowledge of Truth. The first being his knowledge of truth of religion being based in faith and thus could not be tested, nor did it require training to understand. The second knowledge of truth is philosophy, which was reserved for an elite few who had the intellectual capacity to undertake its study.

Significance

Averroes, detail of the fresco The School of Athens by Raphael.

Averroes is most famous for his commentaries of Aristotle's works, which had been mostly forgotten in the West. Before 1150, only a few of Aristotle's works existed in translation in Latin Europe (i. e. excluding Greek Byzantium). It was in large part through the Latin translations of Averroes's work beginning in the thirteenth century, that the legacy of Aristotle was recovered in the Latin West.

Averroes's work on Aristotle spans almost three decades, and he wrote commentaries on almost all of Aristotle's work except for Aristotle's Politics, to which he did not have access. Hebrew translations of his work also had a lasting impact on Jewish philosophy. Moses Maimonides, Samuel Ben Tibbon, Juda Ben Solomon Choen, and Shem Tob Ben Joseph Falaquera were Jewish philosophers influenced by Averroes.[44] His ideas were assimilated by Siger of Brabant and Thomas Aquinas and others (especially in the University of Paris) within the Christian scholastic tradition which valued Aristotelian logic. Famous scholastics such as Aquinas did not refer to him by name, simply calling him "The Commentator" and calling Aristotle "The Philosopher." Averroes had no discernible influence on Islamic philosophic thought until modern times.[45] His death coincides with a change in the culture of Al-Andalus. In his work Fasl al-Maqāl (translated a. o. as The Decisive Treatise), he stresses the importance of analytical thinking as a prerequisite to interpret the Qur'an.

Jurisprudence and law

Averroes is also a highly regarded legal scholar of the Maliki school. Perhaps his best-known work in this field is "Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid, " a textbook of Maliki doctrine in a comparative framework, which is rendered in English as The Distinguished Jurist's Primer[46]—. He is also the author of "al-Bayān wa'l-Taḥṣīl, wa'l-Sharḥ wa'l-Tawjīh wa'l-Ta`līl fi Masā'il al-Mustakhraja, " a long and detailed commentary based on the "Mustakhraja" of Muḥammad al-`Utbī al-Qurtubī.

Legacy

See also

References

  1. ↑ Liz Sonneborn: Averroes (Ibn Rushd):He is an Arab, Muslim scholar, philosopher, and physician of the twelfth century, The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005 (ISBN 1404205144, ISBN 978-1-4042-0514-7) p.31
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 (Leaman 2002, p. 27)
  3. ↑ (Fakhry 2001, p. 1)
  4. ↑ "H-Net Reviews". H-net.org. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  5. ↑ "Spinoza on Philosophy and Religion: The Averroistic Sources" (PDF).
  6. ↑ Duignan, Brian (2010). Medieval Philosophy: From 500 to 1500 Ce. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 102. ISBN 1615302441. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Averroës (Ibn Rushd) > By Individual Philosopher > Philosophy". Philosophybasics.com. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  8. ↑ "John Carter Brown Library Exhibitions – Islamic encounters". Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "Ahmed, K. S. "Arabic Medicine: Contributions and Influence". The Proceedings of the 17th Annual History of Medicine Days, March 7th and 8th, 2008 Health Sciences Centre, Calgary, AB." (PDF). Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  10. ↑ Sonneborn, Liz (2006). Averroes (Ibn Rushd): Muslim Scholar, Philosopher, and Physician of the Twelfth Century. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 89. ISBN 1404205144. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  11. ↑ Robert Irwin (2006). Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and its Discontents. The Overlook Press. ISBN 978-1-58567-835-8.
  12. ↑ Ernest Renan, Averroès et l'Averroïsme: essai historique, 1882.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Ahmad, Jamil (September 1994), "Averroes", Monthly Renaissance 4 (9), retrieved 2008-10-14
  14. ↑ H. Chad Hillier (2006). Averroes (Averroes) (1126–1198 CE), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  15. ↑ Bynum, WF & Bynum, Helen (2006), Dictionary of Medical Biography, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-32877-3
  16. ↑ Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman (1996), History of Islamic Philosophy, p. 314, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-13159-6.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, al-Mojib fi Talkhis Akhbar al-Maghrib [The Pleasant Book in Summarizing the History of the Maghreb], pp. 150–151 (1224), King Saud University
  18. ↑ "Inventions et decouvertes au Moyen-Age", Samuel Sadaune, p.112
  19. ↑ Kenny, Joseph. "Chronology of the works of Ibn-Rushd". Archived from the original on August 31, 2002. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  20. ↑ Richard C. Taylor (2005). Richard C. Taylor and Peter Adamson, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0521520690.
  21. ↑ http://www.wdl.org/ar/item/10673/
  22. ↑ http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof: oso/9780199567737.001.0001/acprof-9780199567737
  23. ↑ IBN RUSHD: AVERROES PB - Urvoy. 1991-04-25. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  24. ↑ Rushdī Rāshid, Régis Morelon. Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  25. ↑ Abdus Salam, H. R. Dalafi, Mohamed Hassan. Renaissance of Sciences in Islamic Countries. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  26. ↑ Hüseyin Gazi Topdemir (2007). "Kamal Al-Din Al-Farisi's Explanation of the Rainbow" (PDF). Humanity & Social Sciences Journal 2 (1): 75–85 [p. 77].
  27. ↑ "Ibn Rushd (Averroes) [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]". Iep.utm.edu. 2010-01-05. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  28. ↑ The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  29. ↑ Ibn Rushd's Metaphysics: A Translation with Introduction of Ibn Rushd's ... – Averročs. 1986-12-31. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  30. ↑ (Fakhry 2001, p. 6)
  31. ↑ (Fakhry 2001, p. 7)
  32. ↑ Popkin, Richard H., ed. (1999). The Columbia History of Western Philosophy. MJF Books. pp. 184–185.. The works in question were the Liber de Causis and The Theology of Aristotle.
  33. ↑ Hyman, Arthur, ed. (2010). Philosophy in the Middle Ages: The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions (3rd ed.). Hackett Publishing Co. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-60384-208-2.
  34. ↑ (Fakhry 2001, pp. 8–9)
  35. ↑ (Leaman 2002, p. 35)
  36. ↑ (Fakhry 2001, pp. 8)
  37. ↑ McGinnis, Jon, ed. (2007). Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources. Hackett Pub Co Inc. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-87220-871-1.
  38. ↑ Black, Antony (2011). The History of Islamic Political Thought (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-7486-3987-8.
  39. ↑ (Fakhry 2001, p. 106)
  40. ↑ Robert Pasnau (Nov–Dec 2011). "The Islamic Scholar Who Gave Us Modern Philosophy". Humanities 32 (6).
  41. ↑ (Averroes 2005, p. xix)
  42. ↑ (Fakhry 2001, p. 110)
  43. ↑ (Fakhry 2001, p. 114)
  44. ↑ (Fakhry 2001, p. 132)
  45. ↑ (Leaman 2002, p. 28)
  46. ↑ Nyazee, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, 2 vols. (Reading: Garnet Publishing 1994 & 1996)

Further reading

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