Averroes on Pathways to Divine Knowledge

Averroes sought to understand the divine independently of religious theology by turning to the philosophical works of Aristotle and, to a lesser extent, Plato. This volume explores the various pathways towards attaining divine knowledge that we find in Averroes’ commentaries on Aristotle and Plato and in his independent works. The twelfth-century Andalusian philosopher Averroes sought to understand the divine in a way independent of religious theology, by turning to the philosophical works of Aristotle and, to a lesser extent, Plato. In doing so, he established standards of scientific inquiry into God that were and remain highly influential on Jewish and Christian thought. Averroes, however, does not provide much in the way of demonstrative knowledge of God, and most of his arguments remain dialectical, rhetorical, or political. This volume explores the various pathways towards attaining divine knowledge that we find in Averroes’ commentaries on Aristotle’s De Anima, Metaphysics, and Nicomachean Ethics, and on Plato’s Republic, along with Averroes’ Epistle on Divine Knowledge, Decisive Treatise, and more.