The Long ConversationA timeline of world philosophy

Philosopher

Averroes

1126–1198

Also known as Ibn Rushd, Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd

Andalusian judge and philosopher whose commentaries on Aristotle earned him the title 'the Commentator' in medieval Europe.

Stone statue of a seated, bearded man in a turban and robes, holding a book, beside a crenellated city wall
Modern statue by the old city walls of Córdoba, Spain, where he was born.Photo: Saleemzohaib · CC BY 3.0 · See the original

Ibn Rushd, known in Latin as Averroes, served as a judge and court physician in al-Andalus and Morocco. He wrote commentaries on almost all of Aristotle’s works and argued that philosophical demonstration and religious law, properly understood, cannot conflict. In The Incoherence of the Incoherence he defended philosophy against al-Ghazālī’s attack on it.

His commentaries had a greater influence in Latin Europe, where they fuelled the movement known as Averroism, than in the Islamic world.

Region
Al-Andalus and Morocco
Influenced by
Aristotle
Influenced
Thomas Aquinas

Key works

  • The Decisive Treatise (Fasl al-maqal)
  • The Incoherence of the Incoherence (Tahafut al-tahafut)

Sources

  1. Fouad Ben Ahmed and Robert Pasnau, Ibn Rushd [Averroes], Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy