Averroes on Intellection and Conjunction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3960883 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alfred L Ivry (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1966 |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 76 |
| Publication date | 1966-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Oriental Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0279 • E-ISSN: 2169-2289 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/596422 |
| OpenAlex | W2329262135 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
While it is Averroes' extreme position regarding the loss of a personal soul or intellect after death that has traditionally attracted attention, the fact that Averroes seems at times to have accepted this loss of individuality while the person is alive has generally been ignored. This is due in part to the absence of printed editions of all the relevant Averroian material. Averroes' Middle Commentary of Aristotle's De Anima as yet exists in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew manuscripts only,' and its contents have been largely unscanned. His Essay on the Possibility of Conjunction, preserved only in Hebrew as 'Iggereth 'Efshariith ha-Devjqftth, has fared somewhat better, having received a partial edition and German translation in the last century.2 These two important works of Averroes serve as the main sources of Moses of Narbonne's Ma'amar bi-Shelimftth ha-Nefesh, the Treatise on the Perfection of the Soul,3 and are in fact reproduced extensively there by that dedicated fourteenth century Jewish Averroist. The central part of this work of Narboni (as he is generally called) has now been edited and translated into English,4 and we thus have the opportunity to read a fair amount of the above-mentioned works of the Cordovan failasfif in succession, thereby realizing the significance of many philosophical points which have generally been overlooked. In the following analysis of Averroes' theories of intellection and conjunction I shall often follow Narboni's eminently sensible arrangement of the Averroian texts, though translated excerpts shall be drawn from the texts themselves and not from Narboni's presentation, however reliable, of them. Averroes' central thesis regarding man's intellect, in the Middle Commentary, is a revision of an earlier, Avempacian position to which Averroes subscribed in his Epitome of the De Anima.5 Following a familiar philosophical tradition, Averroes at first viewed man's potential intellect, also
Art · Conjunction (astronomy) · Epistemology · German · Hebrew · Intellect · Judaism · Linguistics · Literature · Perfection · Soul · Theology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Classics · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,08 |
| Citation span | 1978 - 2021 (44) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |