Ibn-E- Rushd And His Services For Islamic Political And Philosophical Thoughts: Comparative Study Of His Thoughts With Philosophers Of His Era

Abstract

The Andalusian philosopher, physician and judge Ibn Rushd (1126–1198) is one of the great figures of philosophy within the Muslim contexts, and a foundational source for post-classical European thought. The hallmarks of Ibn Rushd’s work are his convictions that philosophy is capable of demonstrative certainty in many domains, that it is Aristotle who should be our preeminent guide in philosophy, and that philosophy should play a central role within religious inquiry, rather than being an alternative to religion. But part of what gives his ideas their enduring interest is the subtle way in which he promotes other methods of reasoning and persuasion in contexts where the rigors of Aristotelian demonstration are not a practical option. To grasp Ibn Rushd’s thought in full requires attending not only to the Aristotelian commentaries where he attempts to develop philosophy as a demonstrative science, but also to areas like religion, medicine, and law, where constraints of both subject-matter and audience require other argumentative and rhetorical techniques. Often improperly referred to as Averroes—the corrupted form his name took in Latin—Ibn Rushd quickly achieved such prominence in later European thought as to rival the influence of Aristotle himself, whose works Ibn Rushd tirelessly championed. Most modern scholarship orients itself around his reception in Christian Europe, where he was known simply as “the Commentator,” and so fails to appreciate Ibn Rushd’s own distinctive philosophical achievements.