PHILOSOPHERS - IBN RUSHD (AVERROES)

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>IBN RUSHD<BR> (AVERROES)</FONT><BR> (1126-1198)</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <BLOCKQUOTE>"God is the nonhuman and transcendent first cause of all being."<P> ("The Incoherence of the Incoherence")</BLOCKQUOTE> Averroës is the Latin name given to Spanish-Arabic philosopher Ibn Rushd who became the most famous <A HREF="../05/05f01.html" TARGET="_top">Aristotelian</A> scholar in the Islamic world. He was later to become the most famous Aristotelian scholar in the Christian world when Latin translations of his works became available. <A HREF="t06f02.html" TARGET="_top">Thomas Aquinas</A>, who was important in establishing Aristotelianism as the basis for medieval scholastic teaching, acknowledged his debt to Averroës by dubbing him the "commentator". The later Latin Averroists extrapolated his proclamation of the primacy of reason to insist on the supremacy of reason over faith.<P> Averroës' scholarship extended beyond Aristotle. His writings included works on astronomy, medicine and Muslim canonic law. After studying medicine and law, he served as a judge in Seville and Cordoba, his birthplace. He later became chief physician to the caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf whose patronage he enjoyed until the caliph's death in 1184.<P> His major work, "The Incoherence of the Incoherence", is a defence of Aristotelian and <A HREF="../t03/g034.html" TARGET="_top">Neoplatonic</A> philosophy from the attacks of another Arabic philosopher. A key issue in his works is that philosophy and religion are in agreement. The same truth may be expressed in philosophic or symbolic form. Philosophers teach the same principles as the religious prophets but in a more abstract form. This did not protect him from official disapproval. He was banished from court, for heretical philosophic views. He was recalled after a 3 year exile but died soon after. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>