![\"One](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2019\/02\/512MTaFWPBL._SX368_BO1204203200_.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having completed our reading of the twelfth-century\u00a0Andalusian philosophical fable that is at the center of\u00a0Lenn Evan Goodman,\u00a0Ibn Tufayl\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Hayy ibn Yaqzan: A Philosophical Tale<\/em>\u00a0(Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2009), my\u00a0Middle East Studies (Arabic) 467R class \u2014 also known as Philosophy 360R \u2014 has turned to\u00a0Charles E. Butterworth, ed. and trans., Averro\u00ebs:\u00a0<\/em>Decisive Treatise and Epistle Dedicatory<\/em> (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 2002).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n We published the two essays,\u00a0Decisive Treatise and Epistle Dedicatory,<\/em>\u00a0in their original Arabic, accompanied by a translation and a significant introductory essay by Charles Butterworth, an internationally distinguished (and internationally trained) scholar at the University of Maryland who was, at the time, the president of the\u00a0Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Internationale d\u2019Histoire des Sciences et de la Philosophie Arabes et Islamiques \/\u00a0International Society for the History of Arabic and Islamic Sciences and Philosophy.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here is the online description of the original author and of the book from the University of Chicago Press website:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Averro\u00ebs (Ibn Rushd, 1126-1198) emerged from an eminent family in Muslim Spain to become the first and last great Aristotelian of the classical Islamic world; his meticulous commentaries influenced Christian thinkers and earned him favorable mention (and a relatively pleasant fate) in Dante\u2019s\u00a0Divina Commedia<\/em>.\u00a0The Book of the Decisive Treatise<\/em>\u00a0was and remains one his most important works and one of history\u2019s best defenses of the legitimate role of reason in a community of faith. The text presents itself as a plea before a tribunal in which the divinely revealed Law of Islam is the sole authority; Averro\u00ebs, critical of the anti-philosophical tone of the Islamic establishment, argues that the Law not only permits but also mandates the study of philosophy and syllogistic or logical reasoning, defending earlier Muslim philosophers and dismissing criticisms of them as more harmful to the Islamic community than the philosophers\u2019 own views had been. As he details the three fundamental methods the Law uses to aid people of varied capacities and temperaments, Averro\u00ebs reveals a carefully formed and remarkably argued conception of the boundaries and uses of faith and reason.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ibn Rushd or Averro\u00ebs makes a very clearly-reasoned argument, just as one might expect from an author who was not only arguably the greatest Aristotle commentator of the medieval period but an influential judge and legal thinker. \u00a0I\u2019ve taught the text previously, including once in Arabic, and I\u2019m happy to be back to it this semester.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 Having completed our reading of the twelfth-century\u00a0Andalusian philosophical fable that is at the center of\u00a0Lenn Evan Goodman,\u00a0Ibn Tufayl\u2019s\u00a0Hayy ibn Yaqzan: A Philosophical Tale\u00a0(Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2009), my\u00a0Middle East Studies (Arabic) 467R class \u2014 also known as Philosophy 360R \u2014 has turned to\u00a0Charles E. Butterworth, ed. and trans., Averro\u00ebs:\u00a0Decisive […]<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-69946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n