Separate Material Intellect in Averroes' Mature Philosophy Richard C
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Radin Centre for the Study of Religion University of Toronto [email protected]
Long Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle. Written by Averroes (Ibn Rushd) of Cordoba. Translated and with introduction and notes by Richard C. Taylor, with Therese-Anne Druart, subeditor. New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 2009. 498 pages. ISBN: 978-0-0300-11668-7. $85.00 US, $97.95 CDN. Born in Andalusia in 1126, Averroes (or Ibn Rushd) is generally considered one of the most influential Arabic classical philosophers, and his impact on Western thought, through the interpretations of Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and others, can hardly be overestimated. Although Averroes wrote extensively in the fields of religious law (Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqtasad), philosophy (The Incoherence of the Incoherence) and their relationship (Decisive Treatise), his nickname, the Great Commentator, is a result of Averroes’ prolific commentaries on Greek philosophy, and particularly the works of Aristotle. The date of completion of Averroes’ Long Commentary is, although debatable, usually given at around 1186 C.E., and while its chronological relationship to the Short and Middle Commentaries (and therefore status as Averroes’ ‘final opinion’ on the De Anima) is debatable, the Long Commentary certainly presents Averroes’ most detailed examination of the De Anima. In form, it is basically a line-by-line exegesis, with Averroes reproducing Aristotle’s work and then proceeding to provide explanation, extension, and interpretation. Averroes’ Long Commentary is key to tracing how Averroes interpreted Aristotle’s work on the soul and how his own concept of the soul developed from his reading of Aristotle. The current translation of Averroes’ Long Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle by Richard C. -
How St. Thomas Goes Beyond Aristotle in His Treatment of the Soul
Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1934 How St. Thomas Goes Beyond Aristotle in His Treatment of the Soul John F. Callahan Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Callahan, John F., "How St. Thomas Goes Beyond Aristotle in His Treatment of the Soul" (1934). Master's Theses. 87. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/87 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1934 John F. Callahan HOW ST. THOMAS GOES BEYOND ARISTOTLE IN HIS TREATMENT OF THE SOUL by John F. Callahan A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Loyola University. June. 1934 VITA Born in Chicago, Illinois, 1912; graduated from Corpus Christi School, 1925, and from St. Ignatius High School, 1929; received degree of Bachelor of Arts from Lo.yola University, Chicago, 1933. CONTENTS Page I. Introduction: St. Thomas and Aristotle 1 II. Aristotle on the. Soul • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . 5 III. Other Doctrines on the Soul • . 9 IV. St. Thomas on the Substantiality of the Soul ••• • •• 16 v. The Intellect as Form of the Body ••• . • • 17 VI. The Production of the Soul . • 21 VII. The Immortality of the Soul •••••••••• • • • • • 25 VIII. -
Avoiding the Void: Avicenna on the Impossibility of Circular Motion in a Void*
Created on 24 December 2006 at 20.51 hours page 1 Avoiding the Void: Avicenna on the Impossibility of Circular Motion in a Void* Jon McGinnis The topic of the void was of significant philosophical and scientific importance in the ancient and medieval world. Some, such as the atomists, maintained that the void was essential if one were to explain motion. Others, such as Aristotle, argued that the exis- tence of the void would absolutely preclude the possibility of motion. Moreover, there were disputes concerning even how to characterize the void. Thus the atomists claimed that interstitial voids were dispersed throughout every body and existed alongside bo- dies in an infinite space. Others, such as the Stoics, held that all bodies were localized in a plenum that was itself situated in an extra-cosmic, infinite void. Still others, such as the Neoplatonist John Philoponus, thought that the void was finite, and although as a matter of fact it is never devoid of a body, it at least is capable of existing independent of any body. The above roughly provides the gamut of positions concerning the void as it reached the medieval Arabic philosopher Avicenna ( 370–428/ 980–1037). In one form or another, Avicenna was aware of the various moves and counter-moves associated with the notion of the void. Like Aristotle, he maintained that the existence of the void would absolutely preclude the possibility of motion. His arguments in some cases simply rehearse those of Aristotle; in other places they expand on the thought of Aristotle in order to respond to new threats that arose after Aristotle’s own time; and in certain situations Avicenna constructs new arguments against the void used neither by Aristotle nor, from what we can gather, Aristotle’s later Greek commentators. -
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. -
Fsofime 22.Indb
COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN PHILOSOPHY AND MAGIC IN THE WORK OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS Compatibilidad entre Filosofía y Magia en la obra de Alberto Magno Rinotas Athanasios Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece) ABSTRACT Albertus Magnus (1193?-1280), also known as doctor universalis, delved into several fields of science and philosophy, a pursuit which resulted in a massive production of works. Within these works, however, one discerns a provocative paradox, in which a cleric is involved in a forbidden art: magic. In this paper I argue that a paradox of this kind can be justified and explained in terms of philosophy. To this end, I advance three case studies to shed light on the afore-mentioned problem. First, I scrutinize indirect and direct sources in order to clarify Albertus’s relation to magic, thus addressing whether it is possible to trace any supportive data that permits a connection between magic and philosophy. Next, I show that this connection is achievable, since some parts of Albertus’s philosophy, such as psychology, cosmology and the liberum arbitrium, seem to be associated with magia naturalis in terms of astrology. Finally, I argue that the German philosopher was not successful in legitimizing magic through philosophy, and thus failed to prove himself a unique pioneer of an innovative body of knowledge. Keywords: Albertus Magnus, Magic, Astrology, Science, Philosophy. RESUMEN Alberto Magno (1193?-1280), también conocido como doctor universalis, profundizó en distintos campos de la ciencia y la filosofía, una búsqueda que dió como resultado una producción masiva de obra. No obstante, en este conjunto de obras uno puede descubrir una provocativa paradoja, en la que un clérigo se relaciona con un arte prohibido como la magia. -
Averroes on Psychology and the Principles of Metaphysics Richard C
Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of 10-1-1998 Averroes on Psychology and the Principles of Metaphysics Richard C. Taylor Marquette University, [email protected] Published version. Journal of the History of Philosophy, Vol. 36, No. 4 (October, 1998): 507-523. DOI. Copyright © 1998 Journal of the History of Philosophy, Inc. This article first appeared in Journal of the History of Philosophy 36:4 (1998), 507-523. Reprinted with permission by The oJ hns Hopkins University Press. Averroes on Psychology and the Principles of Metaphysics I RICHARD C. TAYLOR FIRST TRANSLATED FROM Arabic into Latin in the early thirteenth century, the philosophical works of Averroes were initially respected as valuable aids to understanding the true philosophy of Aristotle. William of Auvergne, Bishop of Paris and author of a philosophically astute theological synthesis of Greek and Arabic thought with Christian doctrine, openly expressed his appreciation with praise for Averroes. But by the mid-thirteenth century many of Averroes' teachings were under attack with his conceptions of human nature and separate immaterial intellect the subject of sharply focussed and heated argumentative assaults by Aquinas, Albert and others3 Their arguments were not primarily theological but rather philosophical criticisms which charged that Averroes, Drafts of this paper were presented at a conference sponsored by the International Society for the History of Arabic and Islamic Science and Philosophy at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, March 28, 1996, and at the annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America in Toronto, Canada, April 19, 1997. I benefited from discussions of this article with Alfred Ivry, my colleagues, David B. -
A Brief Account of the Relation Between Prudence and Decision in Aristotle’S Nicomachean Ethics ______
Beytulhikme An International Journal of Philosophy ISSN: 1303-8303 Volume 5 Issue 1 June 2015 Research ArticleDoi: 10.18491/bijop.35105 ___________________________________________________________ A Brief Account of the Relation between Prudence and Decision in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics ___________________________________________________________ Aristoteles’in ‘Nikomakhos’a Etik’ Eserinde Karar ve Basiret Arasındaki İlişkinin Kısa Bir İzahı YAKUP HAMDİOĞLU s o p h y Cumhuriyet University o Received: 19.02.15Accepted: 13.04.15 Abstract: Aristotle’s ethical theory tells us how happiness gives shape to the human life. Happiness containing within itself the ef- fort toward the end especially manifests itself in using the tools, which will enable us to acquire our ultimate end, skillfully. This study aims to give a brief account of how the relationship between prudence and decision, which correspond to two of these tools, is established in his Nicomachean Ethics for understanding the concep- tual framework of his moral philosophy. Keywords: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, ecision, prudence, happi- ness, virtue, soul. Beytulhikme An International Journal of Phil ___________________________________________________________ Yakup Hamdioğlu, Yrd. Doç. Dr. Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Felsefe Bölümü 58140, Sivas, [email protected] 96 Yakup Hamdioğlu −Why? “For one swallow does not make spring, nor does one day; nor, similarly, does one day or a short time make us blessed and happy.” (Aristotle, NE: 1098a21-2) It could serve a convenient starting point to note that literature abounds with numerous analyses, which take Aristotle to be among first-rate phi- s o p h y losophers as far as the history of philosophy is concerned. His monumen- o tal impact on the direction of medieval philosophy, modern philosophy and contemporary philosophy is unquestionable. -
Philosophy 305 a Early Medieval Philosophy (4Th to the 12Th Century CE)
1 Philosophy 305 A Early Medieval Philosophy (4th to the 12th Century CE) This course begins with a brief presentation of the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus insofar as these were influential on medieval philosophical thought. It then considers major thinkers in the Christian traditions from the 4th to the 12th century CE, and includes a brief introduction to major Islamic and Jewish philosophers within that time period insofar as their speculations were influential on medieval Christian philosophy. Instructor: E-H. W. Kluge Office: CLE B313 Phone: (250)721-7519 e-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: Mondays and Thursdays 10:00am - 11:20am Text: Arthur Hyman, James J. Walsh, & Thomas Williams, eds. Philosophy in the Middle Ages (3rd ed.) Cambridge, MA: Hackett. Formal Course Requirements and Grading Procedures Grades will be based on two mid-terms and a final examination. The mid-term examinations are fifty minutes long and the final examination is three hours in length. The mid-term examinations are each worth 20% of the course grade; the final examination is worth 60%. Students who have taken (and received a grade for) both mid-term examinations have the option of having the final examination count for 100% of their course grade. The mid-term examinations cover only the material that has not been tested before in the semester; the final examination is cumulative and covers all of the material dealt with in the course. Students are encouraged to discuss their mid- term examination with the instructor. Significant dates: - Mid-term examination #1: app. October 1 - Mid-term examination #2: app. -
Matter and Form, Body and Soul, in De Anima • Follow-Up on Final Argument in Plato’S Phaedo
24.01: Classics of Western Philosophy Matter and Form, Body and Soul, in De Anima • Follow-up on Final argument in Plato’s Phaedo. • Introduction to Aristotle (see additional biographical handout). 1. Hylomorphism Unlike Plato, Aristotle was fascinated by the natural world. Instead of Plato’s division between two vastly different realms, Aristotle distinguishes two aspects of ordinary things – form and matter. Form only exists when it enforms matter; moreover, matter is just potential to be enformed. Aristotle identifies matter with potentiality, form with actuality. Think of a carved statue: the wood is the matter, the potential statue; the shape is the form, which makes it an actual statue; the matter/form complex is the individual thing, the statue. In the case of artifacts like statues, we impose form on the matter. But the form/matter in statues is just an analogy to help us understand the basic idea. Aristotle was mainly interested in explaining the characteristic changes in and growth and development of natural things. Why does water boil when heated and freeze when cold? Why do some trees produce apples and others oranges? Why do human embryos develop into adult humans and dog embryos develop into adult dogs? This can’t be explained simply by their matter (which is basically the same stuff), but by the form that makes something water, or an apple tree, or a human, i.e., in virtue of which the things are what they are. In ‘On the Soul’ we find Aristotle applying his wider metaphysical views to the topic of living things. -
Catholic Theology in the Thirteenth Century and the Origins of Secularism
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Mary Immaculate Research Repository and Digital Archive Article Catholic Theology in the Thirteenth Century and the Origins of Secularism Rik Van Nieuwenhove Mary Immaculate College, Limerick Abstract This article examines two distinct responses to the reception of Aristotle in the thirteenth century: the Bonaventurean and the Thomist. The outcome of this debate (and the Condemnations of 1277) led to the modern separation of faith and reason. Rather than seeing voluntarism and nominalism as the cause of the modern separation of faith and reason, and theology and philosophy, it will be suggested that it is actually the other way around: the Bonaventurean response indirectly resulted in the growing separation of faith and reason, which led, in turn, to voluntarism. It is important not to confuse the Thomist and Franciscan responses, as sometimes happens in recent scholarship, including in the work of Gavin D’Costa, as will be shown. Both the Thomist and the Bonaventurean approaches are legitimate resources to respond to the (post)-secular context in which we find ourselves, and the former should not be reduced to the latter. Keywords Aquinas and Bonaventure, faith and reason, origins of modernity n this article I want to revisit debates that took place at the end of the thirteenth cen- Itury. From a historical point of view it is exactly in this period that we find the origins of secularism and modernity, especially the growing separation of faith -
A Cultural History of Physics
Károly Simonyi A Cultural History of Physics Translated by David Kramer Originally published in Hungarian as A fizika kultûrtörténete, Fourth Edition, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1998, and published in German as Kulturgeschichte der Physik, Third Edition, Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main, 2001. First Hungarian edition 1978. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Version Date: 20111110 International Standard Book Number: 978-1-56881-329-5 (Hardback) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowl- edged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. -
Aristotle on the Soul (De Anima I.1, I.4, II.1, III.4)
Aristotle on the Soul (De Anima I.1, I.4, II.1, III.4) History of Ancient Philosophy New York University Guest Lecture by Vera Flocke, November 12, 2018 Why Study Philosophy? Plato Aristotle 2 / 31 Why Study Philosophy? Plato Aristotle 3 / 31 Why Study Philosophy? Plato Aristotle 4 / 31 Why Study Philosophy? Plato Aristotle 5 / 31 Why Study Philosophy? Plato Aristotle \[T]he one aim of those who \All human beings by nature practice philosophy in the desire to know". proper manner is to practice for (Metaphysics I.1, 980a, 20) dying and death". (Phaedo 64a) 6 / 31 Roadmap 1. What is the Soul? 2. What makes us Human? 7 / 31 1. What is the Soul? 8 / 31 Recap: Aristotle's Four Causes 9 / 31 Recap: Natural Things nature: natural things: 10 / 31 Recap: Natural Things nature: \a type of principle and cause of motion and stability within those things to which it primarily belongs in their own right and not coincidentally" (Physics II.1, 192b, 23-24) natural things: matter-form compounds (Physics II.2, 194a, 15) 11 / 31 living beings 12 / 31 This is a striking idea! the matter of anger is \a boiling of the blood and of the hot [element] around the heart". (De Anima I.3, 403b) 13 / 31 Souls as the Forms of Living Beings I I I 14 / 31 Souls as the Forms of Living Beings I what the living being is for I its nature, an inner principle of change and rest I the essence of a living being 15 / 31 potentiality and actuality \We say, then, that one kind of being is substance.