Averroism, also known asRushdism, refers to a school ofmedieval philosophy based on the application of the works of 12th-centuryAndalusianphilosopherAverroes, (Ibn Rushd in Arabic; 1126–1198) a commentator onAristotle, in 13th-centuryLatin Christianscholasticism andIslamic Golden Age.
Latin translations of Averroes' work became widely available at the universities which were springing up inWestern Europe in the 13th century, and were received by scholasticists such asSiger of Brabant andBoetius of Dacia, who examined Christian doctrines through reasoning and intellectual analysis.[1][2]
The termAverroist was coined byThomas Aquinas in the restricted sense of the Averroists' "unity of the intellect" doctrine in his bookDe unitate intellectus contra Averroistas.[3] Based on this,Averroism came to be near-synonymous withatheism in late medieval usage.[4]
As a historiographical category,Averroism was first defined byErnest Renan inAverroès et l'averroïsme (1852) in the sense of radical or heterodoxAristotelianism.[5]
The reception of Averroes in Jewish thought has been termed "Jewish Averroism". Jewish Averroist thought flourished in the later 14th century, and gradually declined in the course of the 15th century. The last representative of Jewish Averroism wasElia del Medigo, writing in 1485.
The teachings of Averroism resulted in theCondemnations of 1210–1277 byBishopEtienne Tempier of theCatholic Church. Tempier specified 219 unacceptable theses, some of which were clearly directed against the supposed "Averroists" at the University of Paris.[6] It has been pointed out[7] that Tempier's main accusations are almost identical to those brought byal-Ghazali against philosophers in general in hisThe Incoherence of the Philosophers, which Averroës had tried to demonstrate to be unjustified inThe Incoherence of the Incoherence.
In his preamble to the 1277 condemnations, Tempier accuses the philosophers of maintaining philosophical stances irreconcilable with Catholic dogmas while at the same time upholding their Catholic faith. Modern historians called this the "double truth" theory, the idea of the existence of two simultaneous yet contradictory truths: a factual or "hard" truth that is reached through science and philosophy, and a "religious" truth that is reached through religion. This idea differed from that of Averroes: he taught that there is only one truth, but reached in two different ways, not two truths. He did however believe that Scripture sometimes uses metaphorical language, but that those without the philosophical training to appreciate the true meaning of the passages in question were obliged to believe the literal meaning.[citation needed]
Modern scholarship showed, however, that no Latin Christian medieval thinker ever upheld the "double truth" theory.[8] WhetherbishopEtienne Tempier accused them of doing so because of malice or ignorance remains unclear.
The later philosophical concept of Averroism was the idea that the philosophical and religious worlds are separate entities. However, upon scrutinizing the 219 theses condemned by Tempier, it was obvious that not many of them originated in Averroes.RadicalAristotelianism andheterodoxAristotelianism were the terms commonly used for a while to refer to the actual philosophical movement started bySiger of Brabant andBoetius of Dacia and differentiate it from Averroism; nowadays most scholars just call it Averroism as well.[citation needed]
Thomas Aquinas specifically attacked the "unity of the intellect" doctrine held by the Averroists in his bookDe unitate intellectus contra Averroistas.[3]
Although condemned in 1277, many Averroistic theses survived to the sixteenth century, particularly in theUniversity of Padua, and can be found in the philosophies ofGiordano Bruno,Pico della Mirandola, andCesare Cremonini. These theses talk about the superiority of philosophers to the common people and the relation between the intellect and human dignity.
In the centuries following Averroes' death there were many Jewish Averroist philosophers, notablyElijah Delmedigo;Gersonides wrote a supercommentary on Averroes' Aristotelian commentaries.[9] Some Averroist influence has been traced inLeone Ebreo'sDialoghi d'Amore, andBaruch Spinoza was likely influenced by Averroes' commentaries on Aristotle.[10]
There was no formal school or movement ofRushdiyya ("Averroism") in the Islamic tradition. The decline ofKalam or "Islamic scholastic theology"[citation needed] andMuʿtazila or "Islamic rationalism" has precluded a reception of Averroes in Islamic thought that would parallel that in Christian or Jewish philosophy. Nevertheless, a revival of rationalist traditions in medieval Islamic philosophy has been called for in modernArab nationalism.[11] Averroes became something of a symbolic figure in the debate over the decline and proposed revitalization of Islamic thought and Islamic society in the later 20th century. A notable proponent of such a revival of Averroist thought in Islamic society wasMohammed Abed al-Jabri with hisCritique of Arab Reason (1982).[12]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Through the works ofMoses Maimonides and the commentaries of the ArabAverroës, Spinoza would have become acquainted withAristotle
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