DOCSLIB.ORG

Aristotle's Journey to Europe: a Synthetic History of the Role Played

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Aristotle's Journey to Europe: a Synthetic History of the Role Played Aristotle’s Journey to Europe: A Synthetic History of the Role Played by the Islamic Empire in the Transmission of Western Educational Philosophy Sources from the Fall of Rome through the Medieval Period By Randall R. Cloud B.A., Point Loma Nazarene University, 1977 M.A., Point Loma University, 1979 M. Div., Nazarene Theological Seminary, 1982 Submitted to the: School of Education Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Program: Educational Policy and Leadership Concentration: Foundations of Education and the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Committee: _______________________________________ Suzanne Rice, Chairperson _______________________________________ Ray Hiner _______________________________________ Jim Hillesheim _______________________________________ Marc Mahlios _______________________________________ Sally Roberts Dissertation Defended: November 6, 2007 The Dissertation Committee for Randall R. Cloud certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Aristotle’s Journey to Europe: A Synthetic History of the Role Played by the Islamic Empire in the Transmission of Western Educational Philosophy Sources from the Fall of Rome through the Medieval Period Dissertation Committee: _______________________________________ Suzanne Rice, Chairperson _______________________________________ Ray Hiner _______________________________________ Jim Hillesheim _______________________________________ Marc Mahlios _______________________________________ Sally Roberts Approved: _____________________________ ii Table of Contents Abstract vi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 The Research Question 2 1.2 The Interplay between Philosophy and Education 10 1.3 Sources of Influence for this Dissertation 27 1.31 Philosophy of Education Textbooks 28 1.32 Ancient and Medieval History of the Christian Church 31 1.33 Thomas Cahill’s “Hinges of History” 47 1.4 Research Methodology 52 Chapter 2: The Greek Foundation 62 2.1 The Context of Plato and Aristotle’s Work 66 2.2 Non-Western Influences on Greek Thought 73 2.21 Mesopotamian 79 2.22 Egyptian 80 2.23 Hebrew 82 2.3 The Philosophical Priorities of Platonic and Aristotelian Thought 90 2.31 Plato 93 2.32 Aristotle 97 2.4 List of Works by Plato 108 2.5 List of Works by Aristotle 111 2.6 What Do We Mean by “Western” Tradition? 116 Chapter 3: Hellenism, the Roman Empire, and the Propagation of Christianity 124 3.1 Definition of Hellenism 126 3.2 Competing Schools of Philosophy 131 3.3 The Roman Period 138 3.4 The Rise of Christianity 143 3.5 Plato and the Academy through the Later Hellenistic Period 151 3.6 Aristotle and the Lyceum through the Later Hellenistic Period 157 3.7 Ancient Textual Transmission and Early Greek Commentators 161 iii Chapter 4: The Fall of Rome and the Byzantine Era 170 4.1 The Roman Empire Divided 172 4.2 The Fall of Rome and the Barbarian Invasion of the West 177 4.3 The Fate of Greek Philosophy after the Demise of the Western Roman Empire 180 4.31 Augustine 186 4.32 Boethius 189 4.33 Western Monasteries 192 4.34 Irish Centers of Learning 194 4.35 The Carolingian Renaissance 196 4.4 The Fate of Greek Philosophy after the Rise of the Eastern Byzantine Empire 200 4.41 The Effects of Christianity on Philosophy in the Byzantine Empire 201 4.42 The East-West Schism 222 Chapter 5: The Connection between Greek Philosophy and the Islamic Empire 229 5.1 The Origin and Expansion of Islam 229 5.2 Greek Philosophy: From Syriac to Arabic 238 5.3 The Abbasid Dynasty Translation Movement 243 5.4 Philosophical Genres used in Islam Culture 253 5.5 Arabic-Speaking Philosophers in the Islamic Empire 258 5.51 Al-Kindi 262 5.52 The Peripatetics of Baghdad 265 5.53 Al-Rhazi 266 5.54 Al-Farabi 266 5.55 Ibn Sina (Avicenna) 268 5.56 Al-Ghazali 271 5.57 Islamic Philosophers in Andalusia 274 5.58 Ibn Rushd (Averroes) 275 5.59 Ibn Maimun (Maimonides) 281 5.6 The Fate of Philosophy within Islam 282 Chapter 6: Greek Philosophy Revived in Medieval Europe: Aquinas and the Twelfth-Century Renaissance 291 6.1 Reconquista and Convivencia : Christians and Muslims in Spain 292 6.2 Greek Philosophy: Arabic into Latin 298 6.3 The Twelfth-Century Renaissance 307 6.31 Scholasticism and the Rise of Universities 314 iv 6.32 Averroism 323 6.4 Aquinas 329 6.5 Renaissance 337 Chapter 7: Conclusion 343 7.1 The Greek Path to Europe 343 7.2 The Myth of Westerness 347 7.3 Directions for Further Research 355 7.4 Hesperos is Phosphoros 358 Appendices Appendix A The Philosophical/Educational “Hole in History” 360 Appendix B Averroes in “The School of Athens” 361 Appendix C Map: The Hellenistic World 362 Appendix D Map: The Extent of the Roman Empire 363 Appendix E Chart: Reason vs. Faith 364 Appendix F Map: The Extent of the Islamic Empire 365 Appendix G Map: The Reconquest of Spain 366 Appendix H Arabic-Latin Translations 367 Appendix I Map: Pre-Renaissance Europe 368 Appendix J Chart: The Journey of Greek Philosophy to the West 369 Bibliography 371 v Abstract After the fall of Rome, how did the work and words of the ancient Greek philosophers make their way, textually and intellectually, into later European thought? There were two primary and obvious paths that this Greek literature could have taken to reach medieval Europe after the split of the Roman Empire into east and west sectors, but these two potential paths functionally became, instead, dual roadblocks to its transmission. In the western portion of the former Roman Empire, there was an overwhelming passive indifference to Greek philosophy coupled with a decline of culture generally in Western Europe during the so-called Dark Ages. In the eastern portion of the former Roman Empire, the attitude toward Greek philosophy was tempered by the imperial authority of Constantinople and eastern Christianity, and ranged from cautious acceptance to occasionally active censorship. In response to the research question, here is my thesis: The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages was the primary and indispensable force behind the preservation, transmission and acceptance of the Greek philosophical tradition to later European thinking. I will contend that without the influence of Muslim scholars during the medieval period, the foundational impact of Greek philosophy on later Western philosophy (including specifically, Western sources of educational philosophy) may have been greatly reduced (or potentially lost), used differently, and/or forced to find other sources of transmittal. vi My research will pursue the historical connections between classical Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe on three interrelated levels—textual, philosophical, and cultural. First, I will examine the textual transmission of specific works by Plato and Aristotle, looking at the translation and transmission work done over time and through several language and cultural groups. Second, I will seek to find how the ideas of Plato and Aristotle were used and transmitted, moving from text to philosophical patterns of thinking. Third, I will look more broadly at the acceptance of philosophical inquiry and the development of critical thinking within culture itself, in Greek, Arabic, and Latin settings, to see how the often competing ideas of faith and reason play out over the course of our historical framework. vii Chapter 1 Introduction This research project begins with an important philosophical and educational assertion: We who claim lineage in the Western philosophical tradition have one common and indisputable foundation from which we view ourselves and our ideas, namely, that of the early Greek thinkers. Alfred North Whitehead, the noted twentieth-century philosopher, made the now famous comment, “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”1 Certainly, Whitehead is not proposing that everyone in the West agrees with Plato’s scheme of thought, or that we all are in some fashion idealists. But he does mean to say that Western philosophy and education are indebted to the ancient Greeks for their wealth of ideas and for their disciplined inquiry into these ideas, particularly Plato and his able student Aristotle. Charles Freeman restates Whitehead’s basic thesis by asserting that, “the Greeks provided the chromosomes of Western civilization.”2 He goes on to state that “Greek ways of exploring the cosmos , defining the problems of knowledge . creating the language in which such problems are explored, representing the physical world and human society in the arts, defining the nature of value, describing the past, still underlie the 1 Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality: Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of Edinburgh During the Session 1927-28, Corrected Edition ed. David Ray Griffin and Donald W. Sherburne (New York: The Free Press, 1978), 39. 2 Charles Freeman, The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World (New York: Penguin Books, 1999), 435. 1 Western cultural tradition.” 3 More to the point of this dissertation, Sheila Dunn observes, “It was during this early period . that Western educational thought and theory had its beginnings . Fundamental issues between these two Greek philosophers have continued to shape contemporary education throughout the centuries.”4 From this shared starting point of the ancient Greeks, Western thought, along with its most common mode of transmission—education—has evolved into the many modern philosophical branches that are known and studied today. Indeed, Bernard Williams clearly states, “the legacy of Greece to Western philosophy is Western philosophy.” 5 1.1 The Research Question To simply state that the Greeks supply the cornerstone to Western thinking is certainly to state the obvious. So I will move on to state what is not obvious: The path that the early Greek writings and ideas took in finding their way into later European thought is far more complicated and far less direct than many sources on the history of philosophy describe.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 the Problem of Life's Definition the Philosophical Literature Is Positively
    Chapter 1. The Problem of Life's Definition The 'mystery' of consciousness today is in roughly the same shape that the mystery of life was before the development of molecular biology or the mystery of electromagnetism was before Clerk-Maxwell's equations. It seems mysterious because we do not know how the system of neuro-physiology/ consciousness works, and an adequate knowledge of how it works would remove the mystery. (Searle 1992, 101-2) The philosophical literature is positively rife1 with claims similar to those made in the epigraph, claims to the effect that the nature of life no longer presents interesting philosophical questions. The field of Artificial Life — a field which bears essentially the relationship to biology that Artificial Intelligence research bears to psychology2 — is currently bringing the nature of life and 1 In addition to Searle's comment, see Searle (1997, 201), Cornman (1992, 5), Crane (1995, 4-5), McGinn (1991, 6, 8, & 45), & Chalmers (1996, 25). The view is commonplace in science as well. Boyce Resenberg says, "life is just so much chemistry and physics", and he quotes biologist Harold Erikson as saying, "The secret of life is not a secret anymore. We have known for twenty or thirty years now that life is not more mysterious than the chemical reactions on which it is based." Cell biologist Tom Pollard is quoted as saying (what may be something quite different) that "What molecular biologists have believed for two generations is now generally regarded as proved beyond any doubt. Life is entirely the result of physics and chemistry inside cells and among cells" (Rensberger 1996, 25.
    [Show full text]
  • The Black Platonism of David Lindsay
    Volume 19 Number 2 Article 3 Spring 3-15-1993 Encounter Darkness: The Black Platonism of David Lindsay Adelheid Kegler Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons Recommended Citation Kegler, Adelheid (1993) "Encounter Darkness: The Black Platonism of David Lindsay," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 19 : No. 2 , Article 3. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol19/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Mythopoeic Society at SWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature by an authorized editor of SWOSU Digital Commons. An ADA compliant document is available upon request. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To join the Mythopoeic Society go to: http://www.mythsoc.org/join.htm Mythcon 51: A VIRTUAL “HALFLING” MYTHCON July 31 - August 1, 2021 (Saturday and Sunday) http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-51.htm Mythcon 52: The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien Albuquerque, New Mexico; July 29 - August 1, 2022 http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-52.htm Abstract Characterizes Lindsay as a “belated symbolist” whose characters are “personifications of ontological values.” Uses Neoplatonic “references to transcendence” but his imagery and technique do not suggest a positive view of transcendence. Additional Keywords Lindsay, David—Neoplatonism; Lindsay, David—Philosophy; Lindsay, David. A Voyage to Arcturus; Neoplatonism in David Lindsay This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R.
    [Show full text]
  • A Diluted Al-Karaji in Abbacus Mathematics Actes Du 10^ Colloque Maghrebin Sur I’Histoire Des Mathematiques Arabes
    Actes du 10 Colloque Maghrebin sur THistoire des Mathematiques Arabes (Tunis, 29-30-31 mai 2010) Publications de 1’Association Tunisienne des Sciences Mathematiques Actes du 10^ colloque maghrebin sur I’histoire des mathematiques arabes A diluted al-Karajl in Abbacus Mathematics Jens H0yrup^ In several preceding Maghreb colloques I have argued, from varying perspectives, that the algebra of the Italian abbacus school was inspired neither from Latin algebraic writings (the translations of al-Khw5rizmT and the Liber abbaci) nor directly from authors like al-KhwarizmT, Abu Kamil and al-KarajT; instead, its root in the Arabic world is a level of algebra Actes du 10*“® Colloque Maghrebin (probably coupled to mu^Smalat mathematics) which until now has not been scrutinized systematically. sur THistoire des Mathematiques Going beyond this negative characterization I shall argue on the present Arabes occasion that abbacus algebra received indirect inspiration from al-KarajT. As it will turn out, however, this inspiration is consistently strongly diluted, (Tunis, 29-30-31 mai 2010) and certainly indirect. 1. Al-KhwSrizml, Abu Kamil and al-KarajI Let us briefly summarize the relevant aspects of what distinguishes al-KarajT from his algebraic predecessors. Firstly, there is the sequence of algebraic powers. Al-KhwarizmT [ed., trans. Rashed 2007], as is well known, deals with three powers only: census (to adopt the translation which will fit our coming discussion of abbacus algebra), roots, and simple numbers. So do ibn Turk [ed., trans. Say_l_ 1962] and Thabit ibn Qurrah [ed., trans. Luckey 1941] in their presentation of proofs for the basic mixed cases, which indeed involve only these same powers.
    [Show full text]
  • John Pecham on Life and Mind Caleb G
    University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 2014 John Pecham on Life and Mind Caleb G. Colley University of South Carolina - Columbia Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Colley, C. G.(2014). John Pecham on Life and Mind. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/ 2743 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. JOHN PECHAM ON LIFE AND MIND by Caleb Glenn Colley ! Bachelor of Arts Freed-Hardeman !University, 2006 Bachelor of Science Freed-Hardeman !University, 2006 Master of Liberal Arts ! Faulkner University, 2009 ! ! Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2014 Accepted by: Jeremiah M.G. Hackett, Major Professor Jerald T. Wallulis, Committee Member Heike O. Sefrin-Weis, Committee Member Gordon A. Wilson, Committee Member Lacy Ford, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! © Copyright by Caleb Glenn Colley, 2014 All Rights !Reserved. !ii ! ! ! ! DEDICATION To my parents, who have always encouraged and inspired me. Et sunt animae vestrae quasi mea. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !iii ! ! ! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A number of people have spent generous amounts of time and energy to assist in the preparation of this dissertation. Professor Girard J. Etzkorn, the editor of Pecham’s texts, is not listed as a committee member, but he read my manuscript in its early form and made many helpful suggestions.
    [Show full text]
  • Strategies of Defending Astrology: a Continuing Tradition
    Strategies of Defending Astrology: A Continuing Tradition by Teri Gee A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology University of Toronto © Copyright by Teri Gee (2012) Strategies of Defending Astrology: A Continuing Tradition Teri Gee Doctorate of Philosophy Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology University of Toronto 2012 Abstract Astrology is a science which has had an uncertain status throughout its history, from its beginnings in Greco-Roman Antiquity to the medieval Islamic world and Christian Europe which led to frequent debates about its validity and what kind of a place it should have, if any, in various cultures. Written in the second century A.D., Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos is not the earliest surviving text on astrology. However, the complex defense given in the Tetrabiblos will be treated as an important starting point because it changed the way astrology would be justified in Christian and Muslim works and the influence Ptolemy’s presentation had on later works represents a continuation of the method introduced in the Tetrabiblos. Abû Ma‘shar’s Kitâb al- Madkhal al-kabîr ilâ ‘ilm ahk. âm al-nujûm, written in the ninth century, was the most thorough surviving defense from the Islamic world. Roger Bacon’s Opus maius, although not focused solely on advocating astrology, nevertheless, does contain a significant defense which has definite links to the works of both Abû Ma‘shar and Ptolemy. As such, he demonstrates another stage in the development of astrology.
    [Show full text]
  • SOCRATES in the CLASSROOM Rationales and Effects of Philosophizing with Children Ann S
    SOCRATES IN THE CLASSROOM Rationales and Effects of Philosophizing with Children Ann S. Pihlgren Socrates in the Classroom Rationales and Effects of Philosophizing with Children Ann S. Pihlgren Stockholm University ©Ann S. Pihlgren, Stockholm 2008 Cover: Björn S. Eriksson ISSN 1104-1625-146 ISBN (978-91-7155-598-4) Printed in Sweden by Elanders Sverige AB Distributor: Stockholm University, Department of Education To Kjell with love and gratitude. Contents Contents ........................................................................................................ vii Preface ............................................................................................................ 1 1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 3 1.1 Philosophizing and teaching ethics ..................................................................... 4 1.2 Some guidance for the reader ............................................................................ 5 1.3 Considerations ................................................................................................... 8 2 Research Goals and Design .................................................................. 9 2.1 Classroom interaction ......................................................................................... 9 2.2 Studying Socratic interaction ............................................................................ 10 2.3 Research questions .........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Ibn Rushd and the Enlightenment Project in the Islamic World
    Religions 2015, 6, 1082–1106; doi:10.3390/rel6031082 OPEN ACCESS religions ISSN 2077-1444 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Article Qur’anic Interpretation and the Problem of Literalism: Ibn Rushd and the Enlightenment Project in the Islamic World Chryssi Sidiropoulou Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Boğaziçi University, TB 350, Bebek 343 42, Istanbul, Turkey; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +90-212-3595400 (ext. 7210); Fax: +90-212-2872469 Academic Editor: Jonathan Hill Received: 4 May 2015 / Accepted: 26 August 2015 / Published: 11 September 2015 Abstract: This article examines the claim that Ibn Rushd of Cordoba (“Averroës,” 12th century B.C.) is a precursor of the Enlightenment and a source of inspiration for the emancipation of contemporary Islamic societies. The paper critically discusses the fascination that Ibn Rushd has exercised on several thinkers, from Ernest Renan to Salman Rushdie, and highlights the problem of literalism in Qur’anic interpretation. Based on Ibn Rushd’s Decisive Treatise (Fasl al-maqāl), the paper investigates Ibn Rushd’s proposed division of (Muslim) society into three distinct classes. The main question here is whether there is a substantial link between the people of the Muslim community, given the three distinct kinds of assent (tasdīq) introduced by Ibn Rushd. I argue that if such a link cannot be supplied, then it is hard to see in Ibn Rushd an enlightened social model for today’s Muslim societies. Furthermore, that the great majority of people are prevented from having any contact with non-literal interpretation of the Scripture and non-revealed ways of thinking.
    [Show full text]
  • Continuity Thesis in World System History - B
    WORLD SYSTEM HISTORY – One World System or Many: Continuity Thesis in World System History - B. K. Gills and R. A. Denemark ONE WORLD SYSTEM OR MANY: THE CONTINUITY THESIS IN WORLD SYSTEM HISTORY B. K. Gills School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK R. A. Denemark Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware, USA Keywords: continuity, historical materialism, center-periphery-hinterland complex, hegemony, super-hegemony, oikos, humanocentrism. Contents 1. Continuity in World History 2. Historical Materialism 3. Economic Cycles 4. Core-Periphery Hierarchies 5. Hegemony and Super-Hegemony 6. Continuity Thesis and Historical Dialectics 6.1. Capital versus Oikos 6.2. Unfree Labor versus Free Commodified Labor 6.3. Organization versus Entropy 7. Humanocentrism Glossary Bibliography Biographical Sketches Summary The continuity thesis in world system history expresses the idea of long-term historical continuity in contrast to the idea of perpetual change and progression through a series of epoch-alteringUNESCO transformations. This perspective – hasEOLSS important conceptual roots in non- western philosophical traditions. Drawing much inspiration from historical materialism, the continuity thesis nonetheless problematizes any hypothesized transition to capitalism. There are vital processes that remain unchanged across the period of the alleged transition,SAMPLE and the model itself is (poor CHAPTERSly) drawn from the experience of a single world region. Important characteristics of the thesis include concern for economic cycles, the development of core-periphery-hinterland complexes, hegemony and super- hegemony, a set of three dialectical tensions including capital versus oikos, unfree labor versus free commodified labor, and organization versus entropy. In contradistinction to the profoundly Eurocentric nature of much contemporary social thought, the continuity thesis is humanocentric.
    [Show full text]
  • Jeffrey Eli Pearson
    UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Contextualizing the Nabataeans: A Critical Reassessment of their History and Material Culture Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4dx9g1rj Author Pearson, Jeffrey Eli Publication Date 2011 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Contextualizing the Nabataeans: A Critical Reassessment of their History and Material Culture By Jeffrey Eli Pearson A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Erich Gruen, Chair Chris Hallett Andrew Stewart Benjamin Porter Spring 2011 Abstract Contextualizing the Nabataeans: A Critical Reassessment of their History and Material Culture by Jeffrey Eli Pearson Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology University of California, Berkeley Erich Gruen, Chair The Nabataeans, best known today for the spectacular remains of their capital at Petra in southern Jordan, continue to defy easy characterization. Since they lack a surviving narrative history of their own, in approaching the Nabataeans one necessarily relies heavily upon the commentaries of outside observers, such as the Greeks, Romans, and Jews, as well as upon comparisons of Nabataean material culture with Classical and Near Eastern models. These approaches have elucidated much about this
    [Show full text]
  • The Agent Intellect As" Form for Us" and Averroes's. Critique of Al-Farabi
    Tópicos, Revista de Filosofía ISSN: 0188-6649 [email protected] Universidad Panamericana México Taylor, Richard C. The Agent Intellect as "form for us" and Averroes's. Critique of al-Farabi Tópicos, Revista de Filosofía, núm. 29, 2005, pp. 29-51 Universidad Panamericana Distrito Federal, México Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=323027318003 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative The Agent Intellect as "form for us" and Averroes's Critique of al-FarabT Richard C. Taylor Marquette University This article explicates Averroes's understanding of human knowing and abstraction in this three commentaries on Aristotle's De Anima. While Averroes's views on the nature of the human material intellect changes through the three commentaries until he reaches is famous view of the unity of the material intellect as one for all human beings, his view of the agent intellect as 'form for us' is sustained throughout these works. In his Long Commentary on the De Anima he reveals his dependence on al-Farabi for this notion and provides a detailed critique of the Farabian notion that the agent intellect is 'form for us' only as agent cause, not as our true formal cause. Although Averroes argues that the agent intellect must somehow be intrinsic to us as our form since humans 2tieper se rational and undertake acts of knowing by will, his view is shown to rest on an equivocal use of the notion of formal cause.
    [Show full text]
  • In. ^Ifil Fiegree in PNILOSOPNY
    ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE: A CRITICAL STUDY O F HOSSAIN NASR Dis««rtation Submitted TO THE Aiigarh Muslim University, Aligarh for the a^ar d of in. ^Ifil fiegree IN PNILOSOPNY BY SHBIKH ARJBD Abl Under the Kind Supervision of PROF. S. WAHEED AKHTAR Cbiimwa, D«ptt. ol PhiloMphy. DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY ALIGARH IWIUSLIIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH 1993 nmiH DS2464 gg®g@eg^^@@@g@@€'@@@@gl| " 0 3 9 H ^ ? S f I O ( D .'^ ••• ¥4 H ,. f f 3« K &^: 3 * 9 m H m «< K t c * - ft .1 D i f m e Q > i j 8"' r E > H I > 5 C I- 115m Vi\ ?- 2 S? 1 i' C £ O H Tl < ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In the name of Allah« the Merciful and the Compassionate. It gives me great pleasure to thanks my kind hearted supervisor Prof. S. Waheed Akhtar, Chairman, Department of Philosophy, who guided me to complete this work. In spite of his multifarious intellectual activities, he gave me valuable time and encouraged me from time to time for this work. Not only he is a philosopher but also a man of literature and sugge'sted me such kind of topic. Without his careful guidance this work could not be completed in proper time. I am indebted to my parents, SK Samser All and Mrs. AJema Khatun and also thankful to my uncle Dr. Sheikh Amjad Ali for encouraging me in research. I am also thankful to my teachers in the department of Philosophy, Dr. M. Rafique, Dr. Tasaduque Hussain, Mr. Naushad, Mr. Muquim and Dr. Sayed.
    [Show full text]
  • Kenneth Hamilton
    Kenneth Hamilton THE FALSE GLITTER OF THE GOLDEN MEAN A cYNICAL OPINION holds that the great thinkers of the past had but one thing in common-their thoughts were wrong. It may be more nearly true to say that all great thinkers tend to encourage wrong thinking in us. For we are inclined to take over the phrases they have made famous, imagining that we have been given magic formulae to solve our problems without having to do any thinking ourselves. A case in point is Aristotle's doctrine of the Mean. This doctrine has a certain cogency in the context of classical ethics: that, and no more than that. Yet today it is often lifted out of its context and put forward as a general principle both simple and authoritative. The Good (it is urged) stands in a middle place; and therefore any~ thing which can be shown to occupy a middle place must be a Good Thing. Obviously, Aristotle cannot be blamed for later distortions of his doctrine. And the doctrine of the Mean was not entirely his invention. Tracing virtue to a "middle way" between extremes was almost a habit of the Greeks, as we learn from Plato, who tells us of the inscription "Nothing in excess" in the temple at Delphi. Nevertheless, Aristotle's account of the Mean in the Nichomachean Ethics is de­ cisive in the history of this particular tradition. The person who "loves well the Golden Mean" (the phrase is from Horace) may not have the Ethics directly in mind, but the argument of that treatise will lie at the back of what he believes.
    [Show full text]