Avempace (born c. 1095,Zaragoza, Spain—died 1138/39,Fès, Morocco) was the earliest known representative inSpain of the Arabic Aristotelian–Neoplatonic philosophical tradition (seeArabic philosophy) and forerunner of the polymath scholarIbn Ṭufayl and of the philosopherAverroës.

Avempace’s chief philosophical tenets seem to have included belief in the possibility that the human soul could become united with the Divine. This union was conceived as the final stage in anintellectual ascent beginning with the impressions of sense objects that consist of form and matter and rising through ahierarchy of spiritual forms (i.e., forms containing less and less matter) to the Active Intellect, which is an emanation of the deity. Many Muslim biographers consider Avempace to have been an atheist.

Avempace’s most important philosophical work isTadbīr al-mutawaḥḥid (“The Regime of the Solitary”), anethicaltreatise which argued that philosophers can optimize their spiritual health only in a righteousenvironment, which in many cases may be found only in solitude and seclusion. The work remained incomplete upon his death, but its conclusions can beascertained from his earlier works. His other philosophical works included commentaries on the works ofAristotle andal-Fārābī. He also wrote a number of songs and poems and a treatise on botany; he is known to have studiedastronomy,medicine, andmathematics.

Britannica Quiz

Philosophy 101