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Abu 'l-Walid Mu?ammad ibn A?mad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes (1126 – December 10, 1198), was an Andalusian-Arab Muslim polymath: a master of early Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics and physics. He was born in Córdoba, modern day Spain, and died in Marrakech, modern day Morocco. His school of philosophy is known as Averroism.
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Abu 'l-Walid Mu?ammad ibn A?mad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes (1126 – December 10, 1198), was an Andalusian-Arab Muslim polymath: a master of early Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics and physics. He was born in Córdoba, modern day Spain, and died in Marrakech, modern day Morocco. His school of philosophy is known as Averroism. He has been described as the founding father of secular thought in Western Europe.
His name is also seen as Averroës, Averročs or Averrhoës, indicating that the "o" and the "e" form separate syllables. Averroes is a Latinate distortion of the actual Arab name Ibn Rushd.
Biography
Ibn Rushd came from a family of Islamic legal scholars; his grandfather Abu Al-Walid Muhammad (d. 1126) was chief judge of Córdoba under the Almoravid dynasty. His father, Abu Al-Qasim Ahmad, held the same position until the coming of the Almohad dynasty in 1146. Despite his Arab origins, Ibn Rushd considered Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) to be his home and even claimed that it possessed the best climate in the world.
Ibn Rushd 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 amir Abu Yaqub Yusuf. It was Ibn Tufail who introduced him to the court and to Ibn Zuhr ("Avenzoar" to the West), the great Muslim physician, who became Ibn Rushd's teacher and friend. Ibn Rushd later reported how it was also Ibn Tufail that inspired him to write his famous Aristotelian commentaries:
Ibn Rushd was also a student 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 Ibn Rushd was purely rationalist. Together, the three men are considered the greatest Andalusian philosophers.
In 1160, Ibn Rushd was made Qadi (judge) of Seville and he served in many court appointments in Seville and Cordoba, and in Morocco during his career. At the end of the 12th century, following the Almohads conquest of Al-Andalus, his political career was ended. Ibn Rushd's strictly rationalist views which collided with the more orthodox views of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur led to him banishing Averroes though he had previously appointed him as his personal physician. Averroes was not rehabilitated until shortly before his death. He devoted the rest of his life to his philosophical writings.
Works
Ibn Rushd's works were spread over 20,000 pages covering a variety of different subjects, including early Islamic philosophy, logic in Islamic philosophy, Arabic medicine, Arabic mathematics, Arabic 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 67 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.
He wrote commentaries on most of the surviving works of Aristotle. These were not based on primary sources (it is not known whether he knew Greek), but rather on Arabic translations. There were three levels of commentary: the Jami, the Talkhis and the Tafsir which are, respectively, a simplified overview, an intermediate commentary with more critical material, and an advanced study of Aristotelian thought in a Muslim context. The terms are taken from the names of different types of commentary on the Qur'an. It is not known whether he wrote commentaries of all three types on all the works: in most cases only one or two commentaries survive.
He did not have access to any text of Aristotle's Politics. As a substitute for this, he commented on Plato's The Republic, arguing that the ideal state there described was the same as the original constitution of the Arab Caliphate, as well as the Almohad state of Ibn Tumart.
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' 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. Other works were the Fasl al-Maqal, which argued for the legality of philosophical investigation under Islamic law, and the 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.
Averroes is also a highly-regarded legal scholar of the Maliki school. Perhaps his best-known work in this field is Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqta?id ( ?????? ??????? ? ?????? ???????), a textbook of Maliki doctrine in a comparative framework. He is also the author of al-Bayan wa’l-Ta??il, wa’l-Shar? wa’l-Tawjih wa’l-Ta`lil fi Masa’il al-Mustakhraja, a long and detailed commentary based on the Mustakhraja of Mu?ammad al-`Utbi al-Qurtubi.
In medicine, Averroes wrote a medical encyclopedia called Kulliyat ("Generalities", i.e. general medicine), known in its Latin translation as Colliget. He also made a compilation of the works of Galen (129-200) and wrote a commentary on The Law of Medicine (Qanun fi 't-tibb) of Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980-1037).
Jacob Anatoli translated several of the works of Averroes from Arabic into Hebrew in the 1200s. 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.
Contributions
Philosophy
According to Ibn Rushd, 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. Ibn Rushd 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 this study.
The concept of "existence precedes essence", a key foundational concept of existentialism, can also be found in the works of Ibn Rushd, as a reaction to Ibn Sina's concept of "essence precedes existence". Ibn Rushd's most famous original philosophical work was The Incoherence of the Incoherence, a rebuttal to Al-Ghazali's The Incoherence of the Philosophers. In medieval Europe, his school of philosophy known as Averroism exerted a strong influence on Christian philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas and Jewish philosophers such as Gersonides.
Astronomy
At the age of 25, Ibn Rushd conducted astronomical observations near Marrakech, Morocco, during which he discovered a previously unobserved star.
In astronomical theory, Ibn Rushd rejected the eccentric deferents introduced by Ptolemy. He rejected the Ptolemaic model and instead argued for a strictly concentric model of the universe. He wrote the following criticism on the Ptolemaic model of planetary motion:
Ibn Rushd also argued that the Moon is opaque and obscure, and has some parts which are thicker than others, with the thicker parts receiving more light from the Sun than the thinner parts of the Moon. He also gave one of the first descriptions on sunspots.
Celestial mechanics
In celestial mechanics, while discussing the celestial spheres, Averroes rejected John Philoponus' 'anti-Aristotelian' solution to his refutation of Aristotelian celestial dynamics, and instead restored Aristotle's law of motion by adopting the 'hidden variable' approach to resolving apparent refutations of parametric laws that posits a previously unaccounted variable and its value(s) for some parameter, thereby modifying the predicted value of the subject variable. For, he posited a non-gravitational, previously unaccounted, inherent resistance to motion, as hidden within the celestial spheres. This was a non-gravitational inherent resistance to motion of superlunary quintessential matter, whereby R > 0 even when there is neither any gravitational, nor any media resistance, to motion.
Hence, in refuting the prediction of Aristotelian celestial dynamics:
[ (i) v a F/R & (ii) F > 0 & (iii) R = 0 ] entail v is infinite
the alternative logic of Averroes' solution was to reject its third premise "R = 0" instead of rejecting its first premise as Philoponus had.
Thus Averroes most significantly revised Aristotle's law of motion "v a F/R" into "v a F/M" for the case of celestial motion with his auxiliary theory of what may be called celestial inertia M, whereby R = M > 0. But Averroes restricted inertia to celestial bodies and denied sublunar bodies have any inherent resistance to motion other than their gravitational (or levitational) inherent resistance to violent motion, just as in Aristotle's original sublunar physics.
However, Thomas Aquinas, also a student of Aristotelianism, rejected this denial of sublunar inertia and extended Averroes' innovation in the celestial physics of the spheres to all sublunar bodies. He posited all bodies universally have a non-gravitational inherent resistance to motion constituted by their magnitude or mass. In his Systeme du Monde, the pioneering historian of medieval science Pierre Duhem, stated:
Some five centuries after Averroes' and Aquinas' innovations, it was Johannes Kepler who first dubbed this non-gravitational inherent resistance to motion in all bodies universally 'inertia'. Hence the crucial notion of 17th century early classical mechanics of a resistant force of inertia inherent in all bodies was born in the heavens of medieval astrophysics, in the Aristotelian physics of the celestial spheres, rather than in terrestrial physics or in experiments.
However, having discounted the possibility of any resistance due to a contrary inclination to move in any opposite direction or due to any external resistance, in concluding their impetus was therefore not corrupted by any resistance, Jean Buridan also discounted any inherent resistance to motion in the form of an inclination to rest within the spheres themselves, such as the inertia posited by Averroes and Aquinas. For otherwise, that resistance would destroy their impetus, as the anti-Duhemian historian of science Annaliese Maier maintained the Parisian impetus dynamicists were forced to conclude, because of their belief in an inherent inclinatio ad quietem (tendency to rest) or inertia in all bodies. But in fact, contrary to that inertial variant of Aristotelian dynamics, according to Buridan, prime matter does not resist motion.
Law and jurisprudence
As a Qadi (judge), Ibn Rushd wrote the Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqtasid, a Maliki legal treatise dealing with Sharia (law) and Fiqh (jurisprudence) which, according to Al-Dhahabi in the 13th century, was considered the best treatise ever written on the subject. Ibn Rushd's summary the opinions (fatwa) of previous Islamic jurists on a variety of issues has continued to influence Islamic scholars to the present day, notably Javed Ahmad Ghamidi. While Ibn Rushd himself claimed that women in Islam were equal to men in all respects and possessed equal capacities to shine in peace and in war, he summarized the opinions of previous jurists and Imams on the status of women's testimony in Islam as follows:
He also discussed Islamic economic jurisprudence, particularly the concept of Riba (usury). He reported that Ibn ‘Abbas, a sahaba (companion) of Muhammad, did not accept Riba al-Fadl (interest in excess) because, according to him, the Prophet Muhammad had clarified that there was no Riba except in credit. He also discussed the role of Islamic criminal jurisprudence in the Islamic dietary laws in regards to the consumption of alcohol. He stated that physical punishment for alcoholic consumption was not originally established as part of the Sharia in Muhammad's time but was later decided by the Shura (consultive council) of the Rashidun Caliphate. He wrote:
In his Islamic philosophy of law, Ibn Rushd also discussed the concept of natural law. In his treatise on Justice and Jihad and his commentary on Plato's Republic, he writes that the human mind can know of the unlawfulness of killing and stealing and thus of the five maqasid or higher intents of the Islamic Sharia or to protect religion, life, property, offspring, and reason. The concept of natural law entered the mainstream of Western culture through his Aristotelian commentaries, influencing the subsequent Averroist movement and the writings of Thomas Aquinas.
Logic
Ibn Rushd was the last major Muslim logician from Al-Andalus. He is known for writing the most elaborate commentaries on Aristotelian logic.
Medicine
As a physician, Ibn Rushd wrote twenty treatises on Arabic medicine, including a seven-volume medical encyclopedia entitled Kitabu’l Kulliyat fi al-Tibb (General Rules of Medicine), better known as Colliget in Latin. This encyclopedic work was completed at some time before 1162 and elaborated on physiology, general pathology, diagnosis, materia medica, hygiene and general therapeutics. He argued that no one can suffer from smallpox twice, and fully understood the function of the retina. However, his Colliget was largely overshadowed by the earlier medical encyclopedias, Continents by Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi (Rhazes) and The Canon of Medicine by Ibn Sina (Avicenna). As a result, Averroes' fame as a physician was eclipsed by his own fame as a philosopher. His Kulliyat was translated into Latin by the Jewish translator Bonacosa in the late 13th century and again by Syphorien Champier in circa 1537, and it was also translated into Hebrew twice. Max Meyerhof notes that the prototypes for the physician-philosophers that predominated in Spain were "Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes)".
Ibn Rushd discussed the topic of human dissection and autopsy. Although he never undertook human dissection, he was aware of it being carried out by some of his contemporaries, such as Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), and appears to have supported the practice. Ibn Rushd stated that the "practice of dissection strengthens the faith" due to his view of the human body as "the remarkable handiwork of God in his creation." Despite his criticism of Al-Ghazali's theological views, Ibn Rushd agreed with him on the issue of anatomy and dissection, and wrote:
In urology, Ibn Rushd identified the issues of sexual dysfunction and erectile dysfunction, and was among the first to prescribe medication for the treatment of these problems. He used several methods of therapy for this issue, including the single drug method where a tested drug is prescribed, and a "combination method of either a drug or food." Most of these drugs were oral medication, though a few patients were also treated through topical or transurethral means.
In neurology and neuroscience, Ibn Rushd suggested the existence of Parkinson's disease, and in ophthalmology and optics, he was the first to attribute photoreceptor properties to the retina. In his Colliget, he was also the first to suggest that the principal organ of sight might be the arachnoid membrane (aranea). His work led to much discussion in 16th century Europe over whether the principal organ of sight is the traditional Galenic crystalline humour or the Averroist aranea, which in turn led to the discovery that the retina is the principal organ of sight.
Music theory
As an Arabic music theorist, Ibn Rushd contributed to music theory with his commentary on Aristotle's On the Soul, where Ibn Rushd dealt perspicuously with the theory of sound. This text was translated into Latin by Michael Scot (d. 1232).
Physics
In Averroes' commentary on Aristotle's Physics, he commented on the theory of motion proposed by Ibn Bajjah (Avempace) in Text 71, and also made his own contributions to physics, particularly mechanics. Averroes was the first to define and measure force as "the rate at which work is done in changing the kinetic condition of a material body" and the first to correctly argue "that the effect and measure of force is change in the kinetic condition of a materially resistant mass." It seems he was also the first to introduce the notion that bodies have a (non-gravitational) inherent resistance to motion into physics, subsequently first dubbed 'inertia' by Kepler. But he only attributed it to the superlunary celestial spheres, and in order to explain why they do not move with infinite speed as was predicted by the application of Aristotle's general law of motion v a F/R to celestial motion, given the assumption that the spheres have movers and thus F > 0, but no resistance to their motion, whereby R = 0.
John Philoponus had earlier rejected Aristotle's theory of motion because of this celestial empirical refutation in favour of his alternative theory v a F - R that avoided it because v is finite even when R = 0 and when F > 0 and is finite. But contra Philoponus, Averroes restored it by positing inertia instead, whereby R > 0 even in the absence of any external resistance to motion and of any inherent gravitational resistance, as in the quintessential heavens in Aristotelian cosmology. But Averroes denied sublunar bodies have inertia, and it was Thomas Aquinas, also a student of Aristotelianism, who extended this inherent force to terrestrial bodies as well, thus also rejecting Aristotle's prediction that the speed of gravitational fall of all bodies in a vacuum would be infinite because there would be no resistance to motion in the absence of an external resistant medium (i.e. R = 0). For Aristotle had assumed the only inherent resistance to motion in bodies is that of gravity, without which bodies would not inherently resist any motion, and which does not resist gravitational (i.e. 'natural') motion where it acts as the motor rather than as a brake as it does in violent motion. The Averroes-Aquinas notion of inertia was eventually adopted by Kepler, but not by scholastic Aristotelian impetus dynamics nor Galileo Galilei who maintained like Jean Buridan, for example, that prime matter does not inherently resist any motion and so is indifferent to motion or rest. It eventually became the central concept of Newton's dynamics in its notion of the inherent force of inertia in all bodies, with the minor revision that the force of inertia resists all motion except for uniform straight motion, a purely fictitious ideal motion whose perseverance it would cause. But Newton's inherent force of inertia resists all actual motion, given it is all accelerated motion in the Newtonian cosmos populated by many gravitationally attractive massive bodies. Thus on this analysis Averroes is creditable with one of the two most crucial innovations in the history of the development of Aristotelian dynamics into Newtonian dynamics, namely its two auxiliary notions of the force of impetus and of the force of inertia.
Politics
Ibn Rushd did not have access to any text of Aristotle's Politics. As a substitute for this, he commented on Plato's The Republic, arguing that the ideal state there described was the same as the original constitution of the Arab Caliphate, as well as the Almohad state of Ibn Tumart.
Ibn Rushd also claimed that women were equal to men in all respects and possessed equal capacities to shine in peace and in war, citing examples of female warriors among the Arabs, Greeks and Africans to support his case. In Muslim history, examples of notable female Muslims who fought as soldiers or generals included Nusaybah Bint k’ab Al Maziniyyah, Aisha, Kahula and Wafeira, and Um Umarah.
Psychology
H. Chad Hillier writes the following on Ibn Rushd's contributions to psychology:
Significance
Averroes is most famous for his translations and commentaries of Aristotle's works, which had been mostly forgotten in the West. Before 1150, only a few translated works of Aristotle existed in Latin Europe, and they were not studied much or given much credence by monastic scholars. It was through the Latin translations of Averroes's work beginning in the 12th century that the legacy of Aristotle became more widely known in the medieval West.
In medieval Europe, Averroes' school of philosophy, known as Averroism, exerted a strong influence on Christian philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas and Jewish philosophers such as Gersonides. Despite negative reactions from Jewish Talmudists and the Christian clergy, Averroes' writings were taught at the University of Paris and other medieval universities, and Averroism remained the dominant school of thought in Europe through to the 16th century.
Averroes' argument in The Decisive Treatise provided a justification for the emancipation of science and philosophy from official Ash'ari theology, thus Averroism has been regarded as a precursor to modern secularism, and Averroes has been described as one of the founding fathers of secular thought in Western Europe.
George Sarton, the father of the history of science, writes:
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. Averroes greatly influenced philosophy in the Islamic world. His death coincides with a change in the culture of Al-Andalus. In his work Fasl al-Maqal (translated a. o. as The Decisive Treatise), he stresses the importance of analytical thinking as a prerequisite to interpret the Qur'an; this is in contrast to orthodox Ash'ari theology, where the emphasis is less on analytical thinking but on extensive knowledge of sources other than the Qur'an, i.e. the hadith.
Hebrew translations of his work also had a lasting impact on Jewish philosophy, in particular Gersonides, who wrote supercommentaries on many of the works. In the Christian world, 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 believed him to be so important they did not refer to him by name, simply calling him "The Commentator" and calling Aristotle "The Philosopher." Averroes's treatise on Plato's Republic has played a major role in both the transmission and the adaptation of the Platonic tradition in the West. It has been a primary source in medieval political philosophy. On the other hand he was feared by many Christian theologians, who accused him of advocating a "double truth" and denying orthodox doctrines such as individual immortality, and an underground mythology grew up stigmatising him as the ultimate unbeliever; these accusations were largely based on misunderstandings of his work.
A later importation of Averroism into Europe is associated with the University of Padua in the early Renaissance, important names being Zabarella, Cremonini and Niphus.
Cultural influences
Reflecting the respect which medieval European scholars paid to him, Averroes is named by Dante in The Divine Comedy with the great pagan philosophers whose spirits dwell in "the place that favor owes to fame" in Limbo.
Averroes appears in a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, entitled "Averroes's Search", in which he is portrayed trying to find the meanings of the words tragedy and comedy. He is briefly mentioned in the novel Ulysses by James Joyce alongside Maimonides. He appears to be waiting outside the walls of the ancient city of Cordoba in Alamgir Hashmi's poem In Cordoba. He is also the main character in Destiny, a Youssef Chahine film.
The asteroid "8318 Averroes" was named in his honor.
List of Works
Logic
Short Commentary
- [1] Short Commentary on Aristotle's Organon / Tajrid al-?aqawil al-?aruriya min ?ina?at al-man?iq (Aka: Al-?aruri; Al-?aruri fi l-man?iq; Kitab fi l-man?iq; Mu?ta?ar fi l-man?iq) ca. 552/1157
Middle Commentaries
- [2] Middle Commentary on the Isagoge / Tal?i? mad?al fi Furfuriyuš (Aka: Tal?i? kitab ?Isaguji)
Tal?i? kitab ?Aris?u fi l-man?iq
- [3] Middle Commentary on the Categories / Tal?i? kitab al-maqulat
- [4] Middle Commentary on Peri hermeneias / Tal?i? kitab al-?ibara
- [5] Middle Commentary on the Prior Analytics / Tal?i? kitab al-qiyas
- [6] Middle Commentary on the Posterior Analytics / Tal?i? kitab al-burhan (Aka: Tal?i? kitab al-burhan li-?Aris?u?alis; Tal?i? kitab al-burhan lahu)
- [7] Middle Commentary on the Topics / Tal?i? kitab al-jadal
- [8] Middle Commentary on the Sophistici Elenchi / Tal?i? kitab al-safsa?a
- [9] Middle Commentary on the Rhethorics / Tal?i? al-?i?aba [570/1175 or 571/1176]
- [10] Middle Commentary on the Poetics / Tal?i? kitab al-ši?r
Long Commentaries
- [11] Long Commentary on the Prior Analytics / Šar? kitab al-qiyas li-?Aris?u?alis (Aka: Kitab šar? kitab al-qiyas li-?Aris?u)
- [12] Long Commentary on the Posterior Analytics / Šar? kitab al-burhan
Questions
- [13] Questions on Logic / Qućsita in libros logicć Aristotelis (Part of: Masa?il fi l-?ikma, aka: Muqaddimat fi l-?ikma)
Questions on the Isagoge
- [13.1] On Alfarabi on the Isagoge about genus and differentia / Kalam ?ala qawl ?Abi Na?r fi l-mad?al wa-l-jins wa-l-fa?l yuštarikan
Questions on the Categories
- [13.2] On substantial and accidental universals / Al-qawl fi kulliyat al-jawhar wa-kulliyat al-?a?ra? (Aka: Bab ?ala maqula ?awwal kitab ?Abi Na?r, Maqala ?ala ?awwal maqula ?Abi Na?r)
Questions on Peri hermeneias
- [13.3] On the copula and on derived nouns / Maqala fi l-kalima wa-l-ism al-muštaqq (Aka: Kalam lahu ?ala l-kalima wa-l-ism al-muštaqq, Min kitab al-?ibara li-?Abi Na?r)
- [13.4] On compound and simple predicates / Min kitab al-?ibara (Aka: De prćdicatis compositis et divisis)
Questions on the Prior Analytics
- [13.5] On the definition: Critique of the positions of Alexander and Alfarabi / Al-qawl fi l-?add wa-naqd ma ?ahaba ?ilayhi al-?Iskandar wa-?Abu Na?r (Aka: Maqala fi l-?add (juz? al-qiyas) wa-naqd ma?ahabay al-?Iskandar wa-?Abi Na?r; De definitione termini)
- [13.6] Critique of Avicenna's position on the conversion of premises / Naqd ma?hab Ibn Sina fi in?ikas al-qa?aya (Aka: Maqala fi naqd ma?hab Ibn Sina fi ?aks al-qa?aya; De conversionibus)
- [13.7] Critique of Themistius's position on the contingent syllogisms in the first and second figure / Naqd ma?hab Tamis?iyus fi l-maqayis al-mumkina fi l-šaklayn al-?awwal wa-l-?ani (Aka: De conditione syllogismorum contingentium circa duo eorum attributa, videlicet de numerositate illationis, et de figura in qua non concludunt)
- [13.8] Chapter on absolute premises / Maqala fi l-muqaddima al-mu?laqa (Aka: Quid sit propositio absoluta id est de inesse)
- [13.9] On the types of conclusions in compound syllogisms / Al-qawl fi jihat al-nata?ij fi l-maqayis al-murakkaba wa-fi ma?na al-maqul ?ala l-kull
- [13.10] Chapter on the dependency of the types of conclusions from the types of premises / Maqala [...] fi luzum jihat al-nata?ij li-jihat al-muqaddimat
- [13.11] On the mixing of contingent and necessary premises / De mistione contingentis et necessarii
- [13.12] Chapter on the dependency of the conclusions from mixed syllogisms
- [13.13] Chapter on the meaning of "predicated on everything" / Maqala [...] fi ma?na al- maqul ?ala l-kull wa-gayr ?alika
- [13.14] Chapter on conditional syllogisms / Maqala fi l-maqa?is al-šar?iya (Aka: Maqala fi l-qiyas; De conditionali, an per ipsum ostendatur qućsitum primum ignotum)
- [13.15] Exposition of Alfarabi's commentary on the first book of the Prior Analytics / Tal?i? šar? ?Abi Na?r [li-]l-maqala al-?ula min al-qiyas li-l-?akim
Questions on the Posterior Analytics
- [13.16] On the predicates in demonstrations / Al-qawl fi l-ma?mulat al-barahin (Aka: Epistola de primitate prćdicatorum in demonstrationibus)
- [13.17] On Alfarabi's Book on Demonstration / Min kitab al-burhan li-?Abi Na?r
- [13.18] On the definition of individuals / Al-qawl fi ?add al-ša?? (Aka: An definitio sit particularis aut universalis tantum)
- [13.19] On the three types of definition in relation to demonstrations / De triplici genere diffinitionum in ordine ad demonstrationem
- [13.20] On whether the middle term is the cause of the major term / De medio demonstrationis an sit causa maioris extremi
- [13.21] Treatise on the disagreement of Alfarabi and Aristotle on the order of the Posterior Analytics and the rules of demonstrations and definitions / Kitab fi ma ?alafa ?Abu Na?r li-?Aris?u fi kitab al-burhan min tartibihi wa-qawanin al-barahin wa-l-?udud (Aka: De conditionibus prćmissarum demonstrationis)
- [13.22] On the conditions for the necessity of the premises of demonstrations / De conditionibus quć requiruntur ad necessitatem prćmissarum demonstrationum
- [13.23] On how a demonstration can be transferred from one science to another / Quomodo fiat translatio ab una arte in aliam
- [13.24] On demonstrations quia / De demonstrationibus quia
- [13.25] On the sense in which the definition is better known than the thing defined / Quomodo definitio sit notior ipso definito
- [13.26] On the definitions which are said to differ from demonstrations in their order / De definitionibus quć dicuntur positione differentes a demonstratione
Philosophy of Nature
Physics
- [14] Short Commentary on the Physics / Jawami? al-sama? al-?abi?i (Part of: Al-jawami? fi l-falsafa; Jawami? kutub ?Aris?u?alis fi l-?abi?iyat wa-l-?ilahiyat)
- [15] Middle Commentary on the Physics / Tal?i? kitab al-sama? al- al-?abi?i (Aka: [...] li-?Aris?u?alis; Tal?i? al- ?abi?i; Wa-la?a?a kitab al-sama? al-?abi?i li-?Aris?u?alis)
- [16] Long Commentary on the Physics / Šar? [kitab] al-sama? al-?abi?i
On the Heaven
- [17] Short Commentary on De cćlo / Jawami? al-sama? wa-l-?alam (Part of: Al-jawami? fi l-falsafa; Jawami? kutub ?Aris?u?alis fi l-?abi?iyat wa-l-?ilahiyat)
- [18] Middle Commentary on De cćlo / Tal?i? [kitab] al-sama? wa-l-?alam
- [19] Long Commentary on De cćlo / Šar? kitab al-sama? wa-l-?alam (Aka: Šar? kitab al-sama? wa-l-?alam li-?Aris?u?alis; Šar? al-sama? wa-l-?alam)
- [20] De substantia orbis
On Generation and Corruption
- [21] Short Commentary on De generatione et corruptione / Jawami? kitab al-kaun wa-l-fasad (Part of: Al-jawami? fi l-falsafa; Jawami? kutub ?Aris?u?alis fi l-?abi?iyat wa-l-?ilahiyat)
- [22] Middle Commentary on De generatione et corruptione / Tal?i? [kitab] al-kaun wa-l-fasad 567/1172
Meteorology
- [23] Short Commentary on the Meteorology / Jawami? kitab al-?a?ar al-?ulwiya (Part of: Al-jawami? fi l-falsafa; Jawami? kutub ?Aris?u?alis fi l-?abi?iyat wa-l-?ilahiyat)
- [24] Middle Commentary on the Meteorology / Tal?i? [kitab] al-?a?ar al-?ulwiya
Biology
- [25] Middle(?) Commentary on De animalibus / Tal?i? tis? maqalat min kitab al-?ayawan (Aka: Tal?i? tis? maqalat min kitab al-?ayawan wa-?alika min al-?adiya ?ašr ?ila ?a?ar al-diwan; Tal?i? fi l-maqala al-?adiya ?ašara min kitab al-?ayawan li-?Aris?u?alis wa-?alika tis? maqalat; Kitab al-?ayawan) 565/1169
- [26] Chapter on animals / Maqala fi l-?ayawan (Aka: Kalam lahu ?ala l-?ayawan)
- [27] Short Commentary on De plantis
Questions
- [28] Questions on the Philosophy of Nature / Sefer ha-derušim ha-?ib?iyim
Psychology
Commentaries
- [29] "Book on the Soul" or Short Commentary on De anima / Kitab al-nafs
- [30] Middle Commentary on De anima / Tal?i? kitab al-nafs 577/1181
- [31] Long Commentary on De anima / Šar? kitab al-nafs (Aka: Šar? kitab al-nafs li-?Aris?u?alis)
- [32] Commentary on the Parva naturalia / Tal?i? al-?iss wa-l-ma?sus. Sevilla, 13. Rabi? al-?a?ar 565 [ca. 01/04/1170]
Treatises on the Intellect
- [33] Enquiry whether the intellect in us, named the material intellect, is able to know in the end the separate forms or not =Epistle on the possibility of conjunction / Kitab fi l-fa?? hal yumkin al-?aql ?alla?i fina wa-huwa al-musamma bi-l-hayulani ?an ya?qila al-?uwar al-mufariqa bi-?a?irihi ?au la yumkin ?alika wa-huwa al-ma?lub ?alla?i kana ?Aris?u?alis wa?adana bi-l-fa?? ?anhu fi kitab al-nafs (Aka: ?Iggeret ?efšarut ha-debequt)
- [34] Chapter on the conjunction of the separate intellect with man / Maqala fi tti?al al-?aql al-mufariq bi-l-?insan (Aka: Mas?ala fi ?ilm al-nafs su?ila ?anha fa-?ajaba fiha; Epistola de connexione intellectus abstracti cum homine)
- [35] Chapter on the conjunction of intellect with man / Maqala fi tti?al al-?aql bi-l-?insan (Aka: Maqala ?ai?an fi tti?al al-?aql bi-l-?insan; Maqala fi ?alika ?ai?an)
- [36] Chapter on the intellect / Maqala fi l-?aql (Aka: Maqala ?u?ra fi ?ilm al-nafs ?ai?an)
- [37] Commentary on Alexander's treatise on the intellect / Šar? maqalat al-?Iskandar fi l-?aql
- [38] Commentary on Avempace's epistle on the conjunction of the intellect with man / Šar? risalat itti?al al-?aql bi-l-?insan li-bn al-?a?ig
?Abd Allah Ibn Rušd (son of Averroes)
- [39] On whether the active intellect unites with the material intellect whilst it is clothed with the body / Hal yatta?ilu bi-l-?aql al-hayulani al-?aql al-fa??al wa-huwa multabis bi-l-jism
Anonymous
- [40] De animć beatudine / Tractatus Aueroys de perfectione naturali intellectus secundum mentem philosophi
Metaphysics
Commentaries
- [41] Short Commentary on the Metaphysics / Jawami? kitab ma ba?d al-?abi?a (Part of: Jawami? kutub ?Aris?u?alis fi l-?abi?iyat wa-l-?ilahiyat; Al-gawami? fi l-falsafa)
- [42] Middle Commentary on the Metaphysics / Tal?i? ma ba?d al-?abi?a (Aka: Tal?i? kitab ma ba?d al-?abi?a li-?Aris?u?alis; Kitab tal?i? ma ba?d al-?abi?a li-?Aris?u?alis; Averrois in septem libros media expositio ab Hćlia Cretensi in latinum conversa, Ante hac nunquam excusa, summis vigiliis elaborata) Cordova, 25. Rabi? al-?a?ar 570 [11/23/1174].
- [43] Long Commentary on the Metaphysics / Šar? ma ba?d al-?abi?a.
Practical Philosophy
- [44] Middle Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics
- [45] Epitome of Plato's Republic
Mathematics
- [46] Epitome of the Almagest
See also
Further reading
Matter, Space and Motion Duckworth 1988
External links
Encyclopćdia Britannica, most recent edition, full-article click "next page". , Islamic Philosophy Online , including full bibliography of his works , BBC Radio 4 discussion, 5 October 2006, "In Our Time" programme. at The Online Library of Liberty translation by Simon van den Bergh. [N.B.: This also contains a translation of most of the tahafut as the refutations are mostly commentary of al-Ghazali statements that were quoted verbatim.]
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