HIST-281 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Ancient Greek Philosophy, Immortal Souls, Skill
5 Nov 2020
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Another great islamic thinker had arose in the 13th century. Like avicenna, he wanted to make the best of greek philosophy within an islamic context. Early islamic thinkers had already named aristotle as one of the best greek philosophers. Averroes wanted to take aristotelianism to the next level. Averroes thought aristotle"s rational grasp of the truth of nature was the best humankind had yet discovered. It didn"t matter if aristotle knew nothing of abraham"s god. Averroes was willing to say he was right, even if aristotle disagreed with the holy book. His position won him enemies in al-andalus: aristotle. Abraham"s god created the universe all at once. Aristotle suggested that individual souls are not naturally immortal. Abraham"s god promised to save our immortal souls. Many latin christians read averroes in translation and agreed with him. They made abrahamic tradition fit into aristotelian categories: siger de brabant. Reason can push back against and clarify revelation when necessary: anselm.
