DOCSLIB.ORG

AVERROES and the LOGICAL STATUS of METAPHYSICS Matteo

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
AVERROES and the LOGICAL STATUS of METAPHYSICS Matteo AVERROES AND THE LOGICAL STATUS OF METAPHYSICS Matteo Di Giovanni The status and the nature of logic have represented a problem for Aris- totelians of every age. Most clues to Aristotle’s conception of logic can be found in the Organon, but what emerges therefrom is a con- ception that is difficult to frame in an unequivocal way: on the one hand, Aristotle’s logical treatises leave us with a body of doctrines and claims that are fairly consistent with an idea of logic as a full-fledged and self-contained discipline, based on a set of fundamental intuitions and developed in accordance with them. Logic appears, in this respect, as a stand-alone science of the thinkable and of its conditions in the mind. On the other hand, unlike other sciences in the Aristotelian system, the body of doctrines that is developed in the Organon is not about some particular aspect of the world but, rather, about the way in which the sciences themselves can be approached and developed. In this sense, logic appears to be not so much a science in its own right as an introduction to, and a preparation for, science itself, and is more similar to an instrument than a substantive component of philosophy. A promising way to deal with the status of logic is to analyze its relationship to metaphysics. The two disciplines have in common some essential features, the most important of which is, no doubt, their generality in scope. Logic deals with everything that is think- able and metaphysics deals with everything that exists. Both logic and metaphysics have some claims to universality and both consider the totality of what there is, either in the realm of thought or in the realm of actual existence. This special connection is already, in itself, a valid reason to embark on a close comparison between logic and metaphys- ics. However, such a comparison is all the more to the point when it comes to the general interpretation of the relationship between logic and metaphysics that we find in Averroes (1126–1198), the Cordoban Philosopher and Commentator of Aristotle who perpetuated the tra- dition of Arabic Aristotelianism in Muslim and in Christian Europe. Averroes considers logic to be not merely related in a special manner to metaphysics, but even fully integrated into metaphysics itself. Logic 54 matteo di giovanni is, to an extent, a part of metaphysics and an essential element in its configuration; conversely, metaphysics is the inquiry that most appro- priates and gives a new orientation to the basic teachings of logic. Metaphysics, in this sense, has a ‘logical’ status. Within an Aristotelian framework, the status of a science is defined in terms of its subject-matter and demonstrative premises. For Averroes, accordingly, it is in the light of both these components that the logical status of metaphysics can be established. With regard to demonstra- tive premises, Averroes assumes that metaphysics can take some of its starting points from logic and that the doctrines from which logic, as a science, is constituted can occasionally appear within the metaphysical investigation. As regards the subject-matter of metaphysics, Averroes maintains that if it is possible to combine logic and metaphysics at all, this is because logic and metaphysics have the same subject-matter, which is ‘absolute being’ or being without qualification. The characterisation of logic as having the same subject-matter of metaphysics is a crucial aspect of Averroes. The rationale behind this view probably lies in Aristotle’s theory of demonstration and, particu- larly, in the condition of appropriateness that Aristotle sets for demon- strative premises in the Posterior Analytics. Its theoretical foundation is represented by one of Averroes’ most distinctive doctrines, namely, that substantial form, which is absolute being and the subject-matter of metaphysics, is really identical with species, which is mental being and the subject-matter of logic. Both of these views, that logic shares the same subject-matter of metaphysics, and that metaphysics relies on the doctrines of logic, are combined by Averroes into a coher- ent picture, where philosophical assumptions play a major role along with exegetical concerns. The following analysis will attempt to bring to light the meaning and the philosophical implications of the main issues that are involved in Averroes’ account of logic, of metaphysics, and of their mutual relations. Different Views of Logic Occasionally, Aristotle presents his inquiries as conducted in accor- dance with a ‘logical method’ (λογικῶς) and interpreters have long sought to understand what such a ‘logical method’ consists in. On the one hand, it is tempting to understand it as somehow bearing either on logic as a discipline or on Aristotle’s logical treatises; on the .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Aristotelian Metaphysics: Essence and Ground
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Editorial Aristotelian Metaphysics: Essence and Ground Riin Sirkela, Tuomas Tahkob aDepartment of Philosophy, University of Vermont bDepartment of Philosophy, University of Helsinki is special issue of Studia Philosophica Estonica centers around Aristotelian metaphysics, construed broadly to cover both scholarly research on Aristo- tle’s metaphysics as well as work by contemporary metaphysicians on Aris- totelian themes. Aristotelian metaphysics is a growing tradition. ere are increasingly more metaphysicians identifying themselves as ‘Aristotelians’, and there are more scholars looking at work in contemporary metaphysics to advance scholarship. Indeed, there have already been a number of vol- umes showcasing this ‘Aristotelian turn’, including Daniel D. Novotný’s and Lukáš Novák’s Aristotelian Perspectives in Metaphysics (óþÕ¦), Edward Feser’s Aristotle on Method and Metaphysics (óþÕì), and Tuomas Tahko’s Contempo- rary Aristotelian Metaphysics (óþÕó). e contribution this special issue makes to the ongoing discussion is twofold. First, the special issue promotes a deeper interaction between schol- ars of Aristotle and contemporary metaphysicians. We hope that the pa- pers encourage people working in the history of philosophy to relate to con- temporary discussions and people working in contemporary metaphysics to engage with Aristotle and Ancient scholarship. Second, the special issue is unied in its focus on two themes in Aristotelian metaphysics, essence and grounding. e papers address questions concerning fundamentality and dependence, ontological independence or priority, the causal priority of forms, the unity of grounding, the reduction of grounding to essence, the unity of essence, the roles of essence, and explanation and denition.
    [Show full text]
  • Hendrik Lorenz/Benjamin Morison Aristotle: Metaphysics Z PHI501, Fall/Spring 2018/2019
    Hendrik Lorenz/Benjamin Morison Aristotle: Metaphysics Z PHI501, Fall/Spring 2018/2019 Aims of the course In this class, we aim to go through systematically the 17 chapters of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, book Z (sometimes called book VII), and chapter 1 of book H of the Metaphysics (the one immediately following Z), since we hold, as do many other scholars, that it is best read as a continuation of book Z. The goal is to understand Aristotle’s famous theory of ‘substance’ as presented in book Z. Substances are the central items in Aristotle’s ontology, and there are a cluster of other notions in the vicinity of ‘substance’ which we will also be trying to clarify: ‘being’, ‘account’, ‘form’, ‘this’, ‘subject’, ‘matter’, ‘essence’ or ‘being what it is’, etc. We also want to assess what kind of treatise Metaphysics Z is: its train of thought is notoriously hard to follow, with apparent digressions, or even insertions, so it might not even have been considered a unified treatise by Aristotle. There is also the question of its relation to the science of metaphysics: is it a preliminary contribution to it, or an actual exposition of (a fragment of) it? Is there even a science of metaphysics (in the sense of ‘science’ defined in the Posterior Analytics) to which it could be related? Brief list of some themes of Metaphysics Z Fall: Z1: Being is said in many ways; the central one is being as substance; so the question ‘what is being’ is the question ‘what is substance?’; Z2: Catalogue of some items which philosophers have thought count as substances;
    [Show full text]
  • God As Both Ideal and Real Being in the Aristotelian Metaphysics
    God As Both Ideal and Real Being In the Aristotelian Metaphysics Martin J. Henn St. Mary College Aristotle asserts in Metaphysics r, 1003a21ff. that "there exists a science which theorizes on Being insofar as Being, and on those attributes which belong to it in virtue of its own nature."' In order that we may discover the nature of Being Aristotle tells us that we must first recognize that the term "Being" is spoken in many ways, but always in relation to a certain unitary nature, and not homonymously (cf. Met. r, 1003a33-4). Beings share the same name "eovta," yet they are not homonyms, for their Being is one and the same, not manifold and diverse. Nor are beings synonyms, for synonymy is sameness of name among things belonging to the same genus (as, say, a man and an ox are both called "animal"), and Being is no genus. Furthermore, synonyms are things sharing a common intrinsic nature. But things are called "beings" precisely because they share a common relation to some one extrinsic nature. Thus, beings are neither homonyms nor synonyms, yet their core essence, i.e. their Being as such, is one and the same. Thus, the unitary Being of beings must rest in some unifying nature extrinsic to their respective specific essences. Aristotle's dialectical investigations into Being eventually lead us to this extrinsic nature in Book A, i.e. to God, the primary Essence beyond all specific essences. In the pre-lambda books of the Metaphysics, however, this extrinsic nature remains very much up for grabs.
    [Show full text]
  • Advancing the Aristotelian Project in Contemporary Metaphysics a Review Essay
    Philosophia Christi Vol. 21, No. 2 © 2019 Advancing the Aristotelian Project in Contemporary Metaphysics A Review Essay Robert C. Koons University of Texas at Austin Abstract: In a recent book, Substance and the Fundamentality of the Familiar, Ross Inman demonstrates the contemporary relevance of an Aristotelian approach to metaphysics and the philosophy of nature. Inman successfully applies the Aristotelian framework to a number of outstanding problems in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of physics. Inman tackles some intriguing questions about the ontological status of proper parts, questions which constitute a central focus of ongoing debate and investigation. Ross D. Inman. Substance and the Fundamentality of the Familiar: A Neo- Aristotelian Mereology. New York: Routledge, 2018. 304 pages. $140.00. Ross Inman’s book is an excellent new installment in the ongoing renais- sance of Aristotelian metaphysics in analytic philosophy. Central Aristote- lian notions, such as substance, essence, causal powers, dependent parts, and matter/form combination, have reemerged in recent years, beginning with the work of Teodore Scaltsas, Peter van Inwagen, Kit Fine, David Oderberg, and Michal Rea in the 1990s.1 Te movement began to develop and fourish afer the turn of the millennium. Kit Fine, David Oderberg, Michael Loux, and E. J. Lowe built upon their own earlier work,2 while new collaborators 1. See Peter van Inwagen, “Material Beings,” Philosophy 67 (1990): 126–7; Teodore Scalt- sas, Substances and Universals in Aristotle’s Metaphysics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994); Kit Fine, “Tings and Teir Parts,” Midwest Studies in Philosophy 23 (1999): 61–74; David S.
    [Show full text]
  • Metaphysics of Soul and Self in Plotinus Gwenaëlle Aubry
    Metaphysics of soul and self in Plotinus Gwenaëlle Aubry To cite this version: Gwenaëlle Aubry. Metaphysics of soul and self in Plotinus. P. Remes; S. Slaveva-Griffin. The Routledge Handbook of Neoplatonism, pp.310-323, 2014. hal-02387195 HAL Id: hal-02387195 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02387195 Submitted on 29 Nov 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 20 Metaphysics of soul and self in Plotinus Gwenaëlle Aubry One of the great singularities of the philosophy of Plotinus consists in thinking of the self1 for its own sake and, in particular, in producing a concept of it diff erent from that of soul.2 Th is philosophical breakthrough is inseparable from the discovery of immedi- ate refl exivity, that is, the subject’s ability to apprehend itself independently of its rela- tion to an object or to another subject.3 In Plotinus, however, this refl exivity occurs only in an interrogative form, which can be read, in particular, in Enn. I.1[53] and Enn. VI.4[22]. In other words, it does not, as in Descartes, assume the form of an intuition by means of which the subject, grasping itself as consciousness, would, at the same time, have an evident revelation of its essence.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Averroists Between Two Expulsions (1306-1492): from Conflict to Reconciliation
    JEWISH AVERROISTS BETWEEN TWO EXPULSIONS (1306-1492): FROM CONFLICT TO RECONCILIATION Basem Mahmud Freie Universität Berlin ABSTRACT This article investigates the intellectual production of Jewish authors influenced by Averroes in the 14th and 15th Centuries in northern Spain and southern France. The primary objective is to determine the main features of Jewish Averroism in this period, and to understand it within its socio-historical context. The outcomes suggest that there was a relationship between the new social and political trends toward democratization and reconciliation in the heart of Jewish communities on one hand, and the growing interest in Averroes’ original works on the other. Original here means the works that are not commentaries or summaries of other works. Key words: Aristotelianism, Averroes, Averroism, Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, Maimonides, Scripture. INTRODUCTION «There is nothing worse in social government than a policy that makes one single society into several, just as there is no greater good in communities than a policy that joins and unifies» (Averroes)1 The 14th Century was a very difficult time for Jewish communities in northern Spain and southern France, they faced great threats from outside as well as significant domestic division. The domestic conflict emerged not only because of religious and philosophical issues, but also due to economic and social matters related to the distribution of wealth and power within Jewish communities.2 In addition, these communities lived in delicate conditions due to threats from the Christians. This situation also had an effect on demographics. Since the last years of 13th Century, the Jewish community started to encounter sizeable obstacles in its demographic development.3 Under these conditions, Hebraic Averroism continued its development which had begun in XIII century.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato's (Metaphysics))
    ~o v . A. Vntcrnational Library of Philosophy Studies in and ScientificMethod)C (".1 FOUNDED BY: A. J. AYER PLATO'S EDITOR: BERNARD WILLIAMS ASSISTANT EDITOR: E. R. D. HONDERICK (METAPHYSICS) INDUCTIVE PROBABILITY by John Patrick Day. ) SENSATION AND PERCEPTION: A History of the Philosophy of Perception by D. W. Hamlyn. TRACTATUS LOGICO-PHILOSOPHICUS: Ludwig Wittenstein's Logiseh- philoJrJphiseheAbhandlung with a new Translation by D. F. Pears and B. F. McGuinness and with the Introduction by Bertrand Russell. PERCEPTION AND THE PHYSICAL WORLD by D. M. Armstrong. HUME'S PHILOSOPHY OF BELIEF: A Study of his First Inquiry by Antony Flew. KANT'S THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE: An Outline of One Central Argument in the Critiqueof Pure Reasonby Graham Bird. CONDITIONS FOR DESCRIPTION by Peter Zinkernagel, translated from the Danish by Olaf Lindum. AN EXAMINATION OF PLATO'S DOCTRINES by I. M. Crombie. Two volumes. I: Plato on Man and Society. II: Plato on Knowledge and Reality. PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTION by M. Merleau-Ponty, translated from the French by Colin Smith. THE IDEA OF JUSTICE AND THE PROBLEM OF ARGUMENT by Ch. Perelman, translated from the French by John Petrie. LECTURES ON PSYCHICAL RESEARCH by C. D. Broad. Incorporating the Perrott Lectures given in Cambridge University in 1959 and 1960. THE VARIETIES OF GOODNESS by George Henrik von Wright. METHOD IN THE PHYSICAL SOENCES by G. Schlesinger. METHOD IN ETHICAL THEORY by Abraham Edel. SOENCE, PERCEPTION AND REALITY by Wilfrid Sellars. NORM AND ACTION: A Logical Enquiry by Georg Henri, von Wright. PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENTIFIC REALISM by J. J. C.Smart. STUDIES IN METAPHILOSOPHY by Morris Lazerowitz.
    [Show full text]
  • The Two Solons in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
    The Two Solons in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics Studies of Aristotle’s engagement with Solon in the Nicomachean Ethics 1.10 typically focus solely on the philosophical arguments (e.g. Irwin, 1985), not questioning the sources of the relevant ideas (or seeing this as besides the point). But, if we do just this, something quite intriguing comes to light. This paper argues that Aristotle knowingly refutes the Solon of Herodotus’ Histories, distinct from the historical Solon of the extant poems, with an idea found in the very poems of Solon himself. Aristotle invokes Solon and his maxim, “look to the end” (τέλος ὁρᾶν), as a natural conclusion to the fact that man can cease to live well, i.e. lose his eudaimonia (1100a10). Eudaimonia is not merely a thing of chance nor God-given, but severe misfortune can deny eudaimonia to a man previously eudaimôn, like Priam (1099b8- 1100a9). But eudaimonia is lasting (μονίμη), so shouldn’t we wait to see that man’s life ends eudaimôn before declaring it truly so (1110a25-1100b7)? No, Aristotle argues, for, among other reasons, the stability (βεβαιότης) of virtue (ἀρετή) and its essentialness to eudaimonia enables us to declare a living man eudaimôn despite the possibility of its negation (1100b8-1101a21). It seems clear that Aristotle refers explicitly to the Herodotean Solon and not Solon himself (that they are not the same: e.g., Chiasson, 1986; Irwin, 2012). The maxim “look to the end” is found only in Herodotus’ account, and this notion of telos is substantively distinct from the telos in Solon’s poetic fragments (Chiasson, 1986).
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Aristotelian Method and Aristotelian
    1 The Aristotelian Method and Aristotelian Metaphysics TUOMAS E. TAHKO (www.ttahko.net) Published in Patricia Hanna (Ed.), An Anthology of Philosophical Studies (Athens: ATINER), pp. 53-63, 2008. ABSTRACT In this paper I examine what exactly is ‘Aristotelian metaphysics’. My inquiry into Aristotelian metaphysics should not be understood to be so much con- cerned with the details of Aristotle's metaphysics. I am are rather concerned with his methodology of metaphysics, although a lot of the details of his meta- physics survive in contemporary discussion as well. This warrants an investigation into the methodological aspects of Aristotle's metaphysics. The key works that we will be looking at are his Physics, Meta- physics, Categories and De Interpretatione. Perhaps the most crucial features of the Aristotelian method of philosophising are the relationship between sci- ence and metaphysics, and his defence of the principle of non-contradiction (PNC). For Aristotle, natural science is the second philosophy, but this is so only because there is something more fundamental in the world, something that natural science – a science of movement – cannot study. Furthermore, Aristotle demonstrates that metaphysics enters the picture at a fundamental level, as he argues that PNC is a metaphysical rather than a logical principle. The upshot of all this is that the Aristotelian method and his metaphysics are not threatened by modern science, quite the opposite. Moreover, we have in our hands a methodology which is very rigorous indeed and worthwhile for any metaphysician to have a closer look at. 2 My conception of metaphysics is what could be called ‘Aristotelian’, as op- posed to Kantian.
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle Metaphysics 2014
    METAPHYSICS Aristotle Translated by W. D. Ross BOOK I (A) 980a22-980a27 p. 1552 1 · All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer sight to almost everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things. 980a28-980b25 p. 1552 By nature animals are born with the faculty of sensation, and from sensation memory is produced in some of them, though not in others. And therefore the former are more intelligent and apt at learning than those which cannot remember; those which are incapable of hearing sounds are intelligent though they cannot be taught, e.g. the bee, and any other race of animals that may be like it; and those which besides memory have this sense of hearing, can be taught. 980b26-981a12 p. 1552 The animals other than man live by appearances and memories, and have but little of connected experience; but the human race lives also by art and reasonings. And from memory experience is produced in men; for many memories of the same thing produce finally the capacity for a single experience. Experience seems to be very similar to science and art, but really science and art come to men through experience; for 'experience made art', as Polus says, 'but inexperience luck'.
    [Show full text]
  • The Distinction of Essence and Existence in Avicenna's
    THE DISTINCTION OF ESSENCE AND EXISTENCE IN AVICENNA’S METAPHYSICS: THE TEXT AND ITS CONTEXT* Amos Bertolacci In his groundbreaking monograph Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition and in many other magisterial essays, Dimitri Gutas has underscored the key role that metaphysics plays in Avicenna’s phil- osophical system.1 Gutas’ account of metaphysics (as well as of the other main philosophical disciplines), in Avicenna’s œuvre is based on a full fledged methodology resulting from the critical evaluation of the assumptions of previous scholarship, an insightful analysis of the fundamental texts, and a thorough reconstruction of their doctrinal and historical context. All scholars interested in Avicenna’s metaphys- ics (not to say of his psychology, noetics and epistemology) and Arabic metaphysical speculation in general, can only be thankful to Gutas’ pioneering research for having explored and mapped what had been, to a large extent, virgin territory and for having provided a solid, bril- liant and comprehensive outline of the whole, thus paving the way to subsequent, more specific investigations. As a sign of personal heartfelt gratitude and in the footsteps of Gutas’ masterly approach outlined above, the present contribution wishes to provide the analysis of a crucial issue of Avicenna’s metaphysics. The * Earlier versions of the present article have been presented in the following mee- tings: the seminar “La Métaphysique d’Avicenne,” Centre d’histoire des sciences et de philosophies arabes et médiévales (CNRS-UMR 7062), Ecole Normale Supérieure- Ulm, Paris (November 2006); a research meeting organized at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa in December 2006; and a Forschungskolloquium held at the Albert- Ludwigs-Universität of Freiburg in May 2007.
    [Show full text]
  • Avicenna's Metaphysics in Ṭodros Ṭodrosi's Incomplete Hebrew
    appendix Avicenna’s Metaphysics in Ṭodros Ṭodrosi’s Incomplete Hebrew Translation of Kitāb al-Najāt, iii 1 Introduction The Metaphysics (al-Ilāhiyyāt) is the third and concluding section of Avicenna’s The Salvation. Avicenna composed The Salvation shortly after completing The Cure, drawing for both on some of his earlier writings. While for the Physics he copied mostly from the al-Majmūʿ; al-Ḥikma al-ʿArūḍīya (The Compilation or Philosophy of ʿArūḍī), and for the psychology he used The State of the Human Soul, in the Metaphysics section, he incorporated passages from al-Mabdaʾ wa-l-maʿād (The Provenance and Destination).1 Generally, the difference between physics and metaphysics can be defined as follows: whereas physics is concerned with the existence of a being related to matter that is subject to motion and rest, metaphysics is concerned with the existent of a non-physical being or object that is abstracted from mat- ter. The question of the content of the Metaphysics was an issue of interest for thinkers and commentators on Aristotle. In his autobiography, in one of the most instructive paragraphs describing the intellectual development of philosophers, Avicenna tells the reader about the turning point in his under- standing of the purpose of Aristotelian Metaphysics: Having mastered Logic, Physics and Mathematics, I had now reached Theology [al-ʿilm al-ilāhī]. I read the Metaphysics of Aristotle [mā baʿd al-Ṭabīʿah] but did not understand what it contained and was confused about the author’s purpose to the point that I reread it forty times and consequently memorized it. In spite of this I still did not understand it or what was intended by it, and I said, despairing of myself, “There is no way to understand this book!” One afternoon I was at the booksellers’ quarter when a crier came up holding a volume which he was hawking for sale.
    [Show full text]