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Sunday, October 7, 2018

Averroes and Islamic philosophy

 

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons, Andrea Bonaiuto

 

Averroes (1126-1198) was a Andalusian philosopher best known for incorporating Aristotelian philosophy with Islam. Wikipedia says,

 

"Averroes was a strong proponent of Aristotelianism; he attempted to restore what he considered the original teachings of Aristotle and opposed the Neoplatonist tendencies of earlier Muslim thinkers, such as Al-Farabi and Avicenna. He also defended the pursuit of philosophy against criticism by Ashari theologians such as Al-Ghazali." (Wikipedia: Averroes, 8.21.21 UTC 14:01)

 

The rest of this post is some quotes from Averroes.

 

Religion and philosophy

 

"Two truths cannot contradict one another." (Goodreads.com)

 

"If teleological study of the world is philosophy, and if the Law commands such a study, then the Law commands philosophy." (Quoted in An Introductions to Classical Islamic Philosophy by Oliver Leaman)

 

"To master this instrument the religious thinker must make a preliminary study of logic, just as the lawyer must study legal reasoning." (Quoted in Classical Arabic Philosophy by Jon McGinnis and David Reisman)

 

God

 

"The Law teaches that the universe was invented and created by God, and that it did not come into being by chance or by itself." (On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy)

 

"Philosophers do not claim that God does not know particulars; they rather claim that He does not know them the way humans do. God knows particulars as their Creator whereas humans known them as a privileged creations of God might know them." (Quoted in Voices of Islam: Voices of Change by Vincent Cornell)