MY LATEST
A review of Koert Debeuf's study of Averroism
As everyone knows, I try to stay on the cutting edge what’s relevant. This is why I’ve published a book review of the latest word on Averroism. Exactly what Averroism is or was is a matter of debate, and its very existence has been doubted; but scholars and theologians of the high Middle Ages and Renaissance seemed to think that a fellow whom they called Averroes was very influential on European intellectual history for good or ill before being totally forgotten in early modern times. This ‘Averroes’ was really a Maliki jurist from Almohad Spain by the name of Ibn Rushd (1126–1198) who made his name as a commentator—the commentator, as he came to known—on the works of Aristotle. Many strange, fanciful, and free-thinking ideas were attributed to him and his influence but only in the West. He had practically no impact outside Europe. Anyway, the learned Koert Debeuf published a book called The Influence of Averroes on European Thought: The Disappearance of Latin Averroism from the History of Philosophy, and I have reviewed it for The Philosopher’s Magazine. Click on the picture below to read it!


