{"id":69457,"date":"2019-01-21T18:30:02","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T01:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=69457"},"modified":"2019-01-27T20:34:08","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T03:34:08","slug":"conceivably-he-could-get-along-without-his-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/conceivably-he-could-get-along-without-his-head.html","title":{"rendered":"“Conceivably he could get along without his head”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Statue<\/a>
A statue of the great twelfth-century Andalusian Arab philosopher, jurist, and Aristotle commentator Ibn Rushd (Averro\u00ebs) in C\u00f3rdoba, Spain \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never previously read Lenn Evan Goodman,\u00a0Ibn Tufayl\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Hayy ibn Yaqzan: A Philosophical Tale\u00a0<\/em>(Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2009), including its translation of the remarkable twelfth-century Andalusian Arabic text that is at its heart. \u00a0In fact, it\u2019s been a fair amount of time since I last read Hayy ibn Yaqzan<\/em> at all, and I\u2019m noticing quite a few things in rereading it now that I hadn\u2019t noticed before, or don\u2019t recall having noticed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll share a small item that\u2019s related to a controversial passage in the Book of Mormon. \u00a0First the Book of Mormon, from Ether 15:30-32:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it came to pass that when Coriantumr had leaned upon his sword, that he rested a little, he smote off the head of Shiz. \u00a0And it came to pass that after he had smitten off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raised up on his hands and\u00a0fell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died. \u00a0And it came to pass that\u00a0Coriantumr\u00a0fell to the earth, and became as if he had no life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many have mocked that account, claiming it to be impossible.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most interesting Latter-day Saint response to the controversy has been that of Dr. M. Gary Hadfield,\u00a0a professor of neuropathology in Virginia:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow Could Shiz Move and Breathe After Being Beheaded?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reading in Hayy ibn Yaqzan<\/em> today, though, I was struck by a passage in which the eponymous hero of the tale, trying to understand the death of the doe who, in the story, has raised him from infancy alone on a desert island, reasons his way to the indispensability of a beating heart. \u00a0Here is part of his thought process:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

He could restrict the action of his other organs \u2014 hands, feet, eyes, nose, and ears; he could lose these parts and conceivably get along without them. \u00a0Conceivably he could get along without his head. \u00a0(112)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Curiously, ancient scientists and philosophers often failed to recognize the function of the brain. \u00a0For instance, Aristotle (384-322 BC)\u00a0thought that the heart was the seat of intelligence \u2014 an idea that Ibn Tufayl appeared to share \u2014 while the\u00a0brain\u00a0was merely a mechanism for cooling the blood.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his footnote to the passage from Ibn Tufayl quoted above, Professor Goodman, the translator and commentator, offers the following, though unfortunately without supplying references:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alexander of Aphrodisias knew that an organism might survive (for a short time!) without its head. \u00a0Ibn Rushd writes \u2018I myself have seen a ram with head cut off run this way and that again and again.'\u201d \u00a0(195, note 100)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

New, on the website of the Interpreter Foundation<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHas Anyone Seen God?\u201d \u00a0A Video Supplement for\u00a0Come, Follow Me<\/em>\u00a0Lesson 4:\u00a0We Have Found the Messiah<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From Ireland\u2019s remarkably prolific Latter-day Saint writer Robert Boylan<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere I agree 100% with John Dehlin\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTruth and Method: Reflections on Dan Vogel\u2019s Approach to the Book of Mormon\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some will enjoy this account:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow an Atheist Came Back to the Church and Found Peace Despite Doubt\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

More news from the grounds of the Rome Italy Temple:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Religious Leaders and Others Are Saying After Touring the Rome Italy Temple\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA look at how the Christus and 12 Apostle statues went from Copenhagen to the Rome Italy Temple grounds\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whether you missed Sunday night\u2019s striking lunar eclipse or not, I think there\u2019s a reasonably good chance that you\u2019ll enjoy these images:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStargazers share images of the super blood wolf moon\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c9 Stunning Blood Moon Temple Photos\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019ve never previously read Lenn Evan Goodman,\u00a0Ibn Tufayl\u2019s\u00a0Hayy ibn Yaqzan: A Philosophical Tale\u00a0(Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2009), including its translation of the remarkable twelfth-century Andalusian Arabic text that is at its heart. \u00a0In fact, it\u2019s been a fair amount of time since I last read Hayy ibn Yaqzan at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3127,3118,56,3121,3130,3124,656,3115],"class_list":["post-69457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-averroes","tag-beheading","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-decapitation","tag-gary-hadfield","tag-ibn-rushd","tag-ibn-tufayl","tag-shiz"],"yoast_head":"\n"Conceivably he could get along without his head"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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