Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, on Intellect: Their Cosmologies, Theories of the Active Intellect, and Theories of Human IntellectA study of problems, all revolving around the subject of intellect in the philosophies of Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, this book starts by reviewing discussions in Greek and early Arabic philosophy which served as the background for the three Arabic thinkers. Davidson examines the cosmologies and theories of human and active intellect in the three philosophers and covers such subjects as: the emanation of the supernal realm from the First Cause; the emanation of the lower world from the transcendent active intellect; stages of human intellect; illumination of the human intellect by the transcendent active intellect; conjunction of the human intellect with the transcendent active intellect; prophecy; and human immortality. Davidson shows that medieval Jewish philosophers and the Latin Scholastics had differing perceptions of Averroes because they happened to use works belonging to different periods of his philosophic career. |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 7 | |
3 Alfarabi on Emanation the Active Intellect and Human Intellect | 44 |
4 Avicenna on Emanation the Active Intellect and Human Intellect | 74 |
5 Reverberations of the Theories of Alfarabi and Avicenna | 127 |
6 Averroes on Emanation and on the Active Intellect as a Cause of Existence | 220 |
7 Averroes on the Material Intellect | 258 |
8 Averroes on the Active Intellect as the Cause of Human Thought | 315 |
Index | 357 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abū acquired intellect active intellect actual human thought actual intellect al-Madīna Alexander Alfarabi and Avicenna anima animal Arabic Arabic text Arabic translation argument Aristotelian Aristotle aspects Averroes becomes body cause celestial spheres cogitative faculty concepts conjoining construed the material disposition for thought divine English translation Enneads Epitome eternal eudaemonia existence French translation generatione animalium German translation Gersonides Ghazali Hallevi Hebrew text human intellect human material intellect human soul Ibid Ibn Bājja Ibn Tufail images immortality incorporeal intelligences incorporeal substance individual insight intellect in habitu intelligible thoughts Latin light Long Commentary Maimonides manuscripts Metaphysics Middle Commentary mover Najāt natural forms Neoplatonic Nicomachean Ethics object of thought Paraphrase Parva naturalia passage perfection philosophers physical Plotinus portion of matter position Possibility of Conjunction prophetic proposition rational soul receives Risāla sense perception Siger soul soul-heat stage sublunar matter sublunar world substratum Suhrawardi supernal Tahāfut Themistius Theology of Aristotle theory things trans true dreams universe writes
Popular passages
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Page 349 - ... a bodily potency, then the reasons he mentions for this are possible ; but not everything which in its nature is possible can be done by man, for what is possible to man is well known. Most things which are possible in themselves are impossible for man, and what Is true of the prophet, that he can interrupt the ordinary course of nature, is impossible for man. but possible in itself; and because of this one need not assume that things logically impossible are possible for the prophets, and if...
Page 196 - ... and q', and so on. Then the total number of dollars spent for goods, ie S, is equal to pq + p'q' + etc. Since two things equal to the same thing are equal to each other, and since 5 = MV and also S = pq + p'q' + etc., therefore MV = pq + p'q
Page 123 - He recognizes the possibility of man's attaining instantaneous scientific knowledge without following scientific procedures, something rejected by Alfarabi and to be rejected by Averroes.
Page 88 - ... things equal to the same thing are equal to each other," or that the relation of different lengths each to a constant distance establishes their relation to each other.
Page 227 - Mover," reprinted in his Studies in the History of Philosophy and Religion 1, ed. I. Twersky and G. Williams (Cambridge, Mass. 1973) 426, n. 60; below, p. 291. receives perfection in proportion to its rank in the hierarchy of existence. We may conjecture that, in Averroes...
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