Averroes
Think with texts and their disagreements.
Ibn Rushd, known in Latin as Averroes, was born in Córdoba in 1126 into a family of jurists in the Maliki tradition. His father and grandfather held judicial responsibilities. His education included law, the sciences and medicine within the intellectual world of al-Andalus and the Maghreb. These multiple skills matter for understanding a body of work reducible neither to commentary on Aristotle nor to a simple conflict between religion and reason.
How can demonstration and interpretation be reconciled?
Biography
Ibn Rushd, known in Latin as Averroes, was born in Córdoba in 1126 into a family of jurists in the Maliki tradition. His father and grandfather held judicial responsibilities. His education included law, the sciences and medicine within the intellectual world of al-Andalus and the Maghreb. These multiple skills matter for understanding a body of work reducible neither to commentary on Aristotle nor to a simple conflict between religion and reason.
02 /Philosophy
Rational investigation of beings asks about their causes and order.
03 /Reading guides
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
04 /Bibliography
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
A first reading.
Law and demonstration
Averroes examines the relationship between philosophical demonstration and revealed law. Rational study of the world can be a religious obligation, while different forms of discourse address different audiences.
The Decisive TreatiseReading a controversy
Averroes responds point by point to al-Ghazali’s criticisms of philosophers. The debate concerns causation, divine knowledge and the eternity of the world without reducing opponents to caricatures.
The Incoherence of the IncoherenceIntellect and soul
Averroes reads Aristotle on sensation, imagination and intellect. His account of intellect and its relation to individuals generated enduring philosophical debate.
Long Commentary on the De anima