Averroes' Physics: A Turning Point in Medieval Natural Philosophy

by Ruth Glasner

Overview

Ruth Glasner presents an illuminating reappraisal of Averroes' physics. Glasner is the first scholar to base her interpretation on the full range of Averroes' writings, including texts that are extant only in Hebrew manuscripts and have not been hitherto studied. She reveals that Averroes changed his interpretation of the basic notions of physics—the structure of corporeal reality and the definition of motion—more than once. After many hesitations he offers a bold new interpretation of physics which Glasner calls "Aristotelian atomism." Ideas that are usually ascribed to scholastic scholars, and others that were traced back to Averroes but only in a very general form, are shown not only to have originated with him, but to have been fully developed by him into a comprehensive and systematic physical system. Unlike earlier Greek or Muslim atomistic systems, Averroes' Aristotelian atomism endeavors to be fully scientific, by Aristotelian standards, and still to provide a basis for an indeterministic natural philosophy. Commonly known as "the commentator" and usually considered to be a faithful follower of Aristotle, Averroes is revealed in his commentaries on the Physics to be an original and sophisticated philosopher.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199567737
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/17/2009
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Ruth Glasner studied mathematics, physics and philosophy at the Hebrew University. She is currently a professor at the program for the history and philosophy of science at the Hebrew University

Table of Contents

Part 1: The Complexity of Averroes' Writing
Chapter 1 Description of the Corpus
Chapter 2 The Order of Writing
Chapter 3 The Changing Cultural Contexts
Chapter 4 Versions and Revisions
Chapter 5 The Late Stratum of the Long Commentary

Part 2: Averroes' New Physics
Chapter 6 The Turning Point of Physics VIII: The Breakdown of Determinism
Chapter 7 The Turning-Point of Physics VI: The Breakdown of Motion
Chapter 8 The Turning-Point of Physics VII: The Breakdown of Physical Body

Editorial Reviews

"Highly recommended." —CHOICE

"This work will be indispensable for any new studies of the history of Aristotelianism: it has made Averroes's own status in that history indisputable." —Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

From the Publisher