Averroes (Ibn Rushd)
MedievalAs Your Guide
“Averroes will defend your right to reason without apology. He sees philosophy and faith as the same truth spoken in different voices. Choose him if you want a guide who champions the intellect as the highest form of devotion.”
Who They Were
Andalusian philosopher who defended philosophy against Al-Ghazali and wrote Aristotle commentaries.
How They Saw the World
Averroes fires back at Al-Ghazali's demolition of philosophy with a counter-demolition of his own, arguing that reason is not the enemy of revelation but its most faithful servant. Aristotle, in his reading, got closer to the truth about the structure of the world than any theologian, and the Quran itself commands the use of demonstrative reasoning. He proposes that philosophy and religion describe the same truths in different registers — the philosopher through proof, the believer through persuasion and imagery. His commentaries on Aristotle are so authoritative that medieval Europe knows him simply as 'The Commentator.'
What They Left Behind
Words that outlived their authors.
The Incoherence of the Incoherence, Commentaries on Aristotle
What Haunts Them
These are the questions that wouldn't let them rest.
Their Echo
What they left rippling through everyone who came after.
Latin Averroism, European scholasticism, secular philosophy