Celebrating Ibn Rushd’s Eight-Hundredth Anniversary

In the context of the world-wide celebrations of the eight-hundrth anniversary of Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd, known to Western scholars as Averroes (1126-1198), the Tunisian Cultural Foundation (Bayt al- Hikmah) held an International Averroes Symposium, sponsored jointly with UNESCO, in Carthage, Tunis,...

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Main Author: Majid Fakhry
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: International Institute of Islamic Thought 1998-07-01
Series:American Journal of Islam and Society
Online Access:https://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/2193
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author Majid Fakhry
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description In the context of the world-wide celebrations of the eight-hundrth anniversary of Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd, known to Western scholars as Averroes (1126-1198), the Tunisian Cultural Foundation (Bayt al- Hikmah) held an International Averroes Symposium, sponsored jointly with UNESCO, in Carthage, Tunis, on February 16 to February 22, 1998. The symposium was hosted by Abd al-Wahab Buhdiba, Director of Bayt al-Hikmah, and was inaugurated by the President of Tunisia, Zayn al-Abidin Ali, who declared 1998 Ibn Rushd’s year. This symposium was attended by a large number of scholars from France, England, Spain, the United States, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Libya, and Tunisia. It was my good fortune to open the symposium with a lecture titled “Averroes, Aquinas and the Rise of Latin Scholasticism in Western Europe,” in which I tried to highlight the decisive role Ibn Rushd‘s Commentaries on Aristotle played in the rediscovery of Aristotle in Western Europe, the resurgence of interest in Greek-Arabic philosophy, and the consequent rise of Latin Scholasticism. Through translations by such eminent scholars as Michael the Scot and Heman the German during the first decades of the thirteenth century, Ibn Rushd’s work triggered a genuine intellectual revolution in leamed circles. Before long, Latin philosophers and theologians had split into two rival groups, the pro- Averroists, with Siger of Bradbant (d. 1281) at their head, and the anti- Averroists, with St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) at their head. ”he principal issues around which the controversy tumed were the unity of the intellect, the eternity of the world, the immortality of the soul and the denial of divine providence. The confrontaton between the two rival groups became so acute that in 1270, the Bishop of Paris, Etienne ...
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spelling doaj.art-c8cfe6e6de9a49d9b1d603922351a88e2022-12-21T20:15:13ZengInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtAmerican Journal of Islam and Society2690-37332690-37411998-07-0115210.35632/ajis.v15i2.2193Celebrating Ibn Rushd’s Eight-Hundredth AnniversaryMajid FakhryIn the context of the world-wide celebrations of the eight-hundrth anniversary of Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd, known to Western scholars as Averroes (1126-1198), the Tunisian Cultural Foundation (Bayt al- Hikmah) held an International Averroes Symposium, sponsored jointly with UNESCO, in Carthage, Tunis, on February 16 to February 22, 1998. The symposium was hosted by Abd al-Wahab Buhdiba, Director of Bayt al-Hikmah, and was inaugurated by the President of Tunisia, Zayn al-Abidin Ali, who declared 1998 Ibn Rushd’s year. This symposium was attended by a large number of scholars from France, England, Spain, the United States, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Libya, and Tunisia. It was my good fortune to open the symposium with a lecture titled “Averroes, Aquinas and the Rise of Latin Scholasticism in Western Europe,” in which I tried to highlight the decisive role Ibn Rushd‘s Commentaries on Aristotle played in the rediscovery of Aristotle in Western Europe, the resurgence of interest in Greek-Arabic philosophy, and the consequent rise of Latin Scholasticism. Through translations by such eminent scholars as Michael the Scot and Heman the German during the first decades of the thirteenth century, Ibn Rushd’s work triggered a genuine intellectual revolution in leamed circles. Before long, Latin philosophers and theologians had split into two rival groups, the pro- Averroists, with Siger of Bradbant (d. 1281) at their head, and the anti- Averroists, with St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) at their head. ”he principal issues around which the controversy tumed were the unity of the intellect, the eternity of the world, the immortality of the soul and the denial of divine providence. The confrontaton between the two rival groups became so acute that in 1270, the Bishop of Paris, Etienne ...https://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/2193
spellingShingle Majid Fakhry
Celebrating Ibn Rushd’s Eight-Hundredth Anniversary
American Journal of Islam and Society
title Celebrating Ibn Rushd’s Eight-Hundredth Anniversary
title_full Celebrating Ibn Rushd’s Eight-Hundredth Anniversary
title_fullStr Celebrating Ibn Rushd’s Eight-Hundredth Anniversary
title_full_unstemmed Celebrating Ibn Rushd’s Eight-Hundredth Anniversary
title_short Celebrating Ibn Rushd’s Eight-Hundredth Anniversary
title_sort celebrating ibn rushd s eight hundredth anniversary
url https://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/2193
work_keys_str_mv AT majidfakhry celebratingibnrushdseighthundredthanniversary