Oliver Leaman - Averroes and His Philosophy

Averroes and his Philosophy

OLIVER LEAMAN

First published in 1988
by Curzon Press

Published 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1988 Oliver Leaman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested

ISBN 13: 978-0-700-70675-4 (pbk)

PREFACE

THIS book has a clear purpose. It is intended to provide an introduction to the philosophical thought of a remarkable thinker, ibn Rushd, whose name was Latinized to Averroes. I have taken the rather self-indulgent line of dealing with those aspects of his thought which interest me most, and which strike me as the most significant. This book is in no way an exhaustive account of his philosophy, nor of his work on Aristotle and in the many other fields of theology, law, medicine, and so on which he explored. Nor is it primarily concerned with the historical phenomenon of Averroism and its effect upon the development of philosophy in the Christian and Jewish worlds. It does not deal at any length with the response to Averroes thought in the Muslim world today. All these issues are touched on, but they are not central to the book itself. I am mainly concerned with the way in which Averroes develops his arguments to defend his view of the importance of philosophy in acquiring an understanding of the world, the principles behind its structure, and the language we use to describe it.

The study of Islamic philosophy is something of a minority activity at the moment, and it is unfortunate that so much acerbity characterizes the relationships between its various practitioners. Many commentators fail to regard Islamic philosophy as really philosophy at all, and tackle it with the instruments of philological scholarship and literary criticism. This book is firmly opposed to any such approach and argues throughout that Averroes produced intriguing and complex philosophical theories which require and deserve serious philosophical analysis. I am sure that I have not managed to produce the definitive guide to Averroes philosophy, and I have not even made the attempt. But I hope that by the time readers approach the end of the book they will feel that the philosophical thought of Averroes is a considerable intellectual achievement which raises many profound and exciting questions.

There are a number of people and institutions which I should like to thank for their assistance in writing this book. The Leverhulme Trust kindly provided me with a grant to assist with the research. Many librarians in a number of academic libraries were very helpful, and those in my own college particularly so. My work was constantly encouraged by Dr Erwin Rosenthal, whose enthusiasm for falsafa has only increased with his years. I have had many fruitful and enjoyable discussions with Alan Sinyor on Averroes. Peter Edwards has provided a lot of help. I am very grateful for the help of Hilary Walford in improving the style of the book. My thanks go to them all. Any errors which remain are to be laid directly at my door.

O.N.H.L.

Liverpool
April 1987

Where there are Oxford Classical Texts of the works of Plato and Aristotle these have generally been used, and the Oxford translation employed, although sometimes modified.

The following abbreviations of Aristotles works have been used:

The following abbreviations of Averroes works have been used: