averroes middle commentary on aristotle's poetics

“His thought about this problem was based on specific ideas about the logical character of different kinds of speech, their proximity to certain knowledge, and the investigative or practical purposes to which each might be put” (21). Each treatise presents “ways of imitating or abridging correct reason in order to influence other human beings,” especially as regards their “political decisions and religious beliefs” (19).

And indeed all three commentaries are concerned with assent, a problem at or near the core of politics. We are likely intended to notice that in his second formulation of these three topics, Butterworth has shifted politics to the central position. “Starting with the particular perspective of Islam, Averroës was able to raise the universal question of the relation between philosophy, politics, and religion” (ix). With a succession of deft omissions and additions to Aristotle’s actual arguments, Averroës makes a “consideration of the logical arts” into “little more than a veil behind which evoked the problematic relation between philosophic thought, religious belief, and political conviction” (ix). But on the contrary, “the art of the commentary was completely transformed” by Averroës, as he presented “a unique interpretation of Aristotle’s ideas under the guise of a commentary” (viii). These scholars esteemed commentary as a philosophic genre far more than most do today “with the spread of the assumption that all things evolve through time, inventiveness has come to be acclaimed the mark of excellent thought and commentary condemned as imitative or servile” (vii). In them, Averroës measures not only the Koran’s teachings in accordance to a logical hierarchy he measures Aristotle’s teachings, as well.īutterworth recalls that Averroës was considered “ the commentator on Aristotle” by medieval scholars, not only by Muslims but by Jews and Christians (vii). These commentaries form part of a series of commentaries on Aristotelian treatises, the majority of which concern logic. Butterworth translation.Īverroës’ name, synonymous with skepticism, might better be associated with coherent skepticism’s only basis: a rigorous standard for the establishment of certainty. Butterworth, ed.: Averroës’ Three Short Commentaries on Aristotle’s “Topics,” “Rhetoric,” and “Poetics.” Albany: University of New York Press, 1977.

Averroes middle commentary on aristotle's poetics