Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
1126-1198 · Islamic Philosophy · Prominent
Ibn Rushd was an Andalusian philosopher whose commentaries on Aristotle earned him one name in medieval Europe: the Commentator. Against Ghazali he defended philosophy, holding that what a demonstration proves and what scripture teaches are both true, so a proof and a verse of the Qur'an cannot contradict each other, and where they seem to, the verse is meant as allegory. He also taught that all people think with one shared intellect.
Signature
The position Averroes is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Truth
- strongly leans Objective
- Knowledge
- Pure Reason / Tradition / Receptive Intellect
Positions on the 10 axes the sources answer
- Natural Processes
- strongly leans Purposeful (93 on a 0–100 scale from Mechanistic to Purposeful)
- The Divine
- leans Describable (25 on a 0–100 scale from Describable to Indescribable)
- Universals
- mildly between Realism and Nominalism (50 on a 0–100 scale from Realism to Nominalism)
- Meaning
- mildly leans Inherent (67 on a 0–100 scale from Constructed to Inherent)
- Order
- leans Vertical (25 on a 0–100 scale from Vertical to Horizontal)
- Nature of Reality
- mildly between Unity and Multiplicity (50 on a 0–100 scale from Unity to Multiplicity)
- Ground of Being
- leans Transcendence (75 on a 0–100 scale from Immanence to Transcendence)
- Truth
- strongly leans Objective (94 on a 0–100 scale from Subjective to Objective)
- Polity
- leans Illiberalism (17 on a 0–100 scale from Illiberalism to Liberalism)
- Ignorance
- leans Bliss (75 on a 0–100 scale from Bondage to Bliss)
10 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Averroes refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Theology
- Non-Trinitarian Monotheism
What is your position on the existence and nature of God or gods? - Government
- Epistocracy / Monarchy
What is your ideal form of government? - Highest Good
- Knowledge
What is the highest good? - Good and Evil
- Moral Realism
What is the fundamental nature of good and evil? - End of Things
- No End
What is the ultimate end of all things? - Knowledge
- Pure Reason / Tradition / Receptive Intellect
What is the ultimate foundation of knowledge? - Ethics Basis
- Natural Law / Virtue
What is the ultimate basis of ethics? - Agency
- Compatibilism
What is the nature of human agency and freedom? - Beginning of Things
- Eternal Cosmos
What is the origin of reality? - Time
- Cyclical Return
What is the fundamental shape of time? - Authority
- Divine Revelation / Rational Expertise
What is the legitimate source of authority? - Law
- Natural Law / Sacred Law
What is the ultimate source of legitimate law? - Death
- Union with the One
What happens at death? - Primary Bond
- The Divine
What is your primary bond and loyalty?