Quotation
Last reviewed:
“For the natures of men are on different levels with respect to [their paths to] assent…”
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) · Aristotelianism · Medieval · c. 1179; this English 1961
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is a division of audiences, not a sneer. People assent by demonstration, by dialectical argument, or by rhetoric, and the Law, on his account, speaks in all three ways because natures differ. A competing reading hears an elitist claim that only philosophers get the truth and everyone else gets a story. He thinks the truth is one, which is why the harmony claim matters, and that the ways of bringing assent differ. The sentence is in the Decisive Treatise, after the opening argument that the Law recommends philosophy. Hourani's 1961 English is the translation. Demonstration is the philosopher's way. Rhetoric is not dismissed as lies. It is a way the same truth is conveyed to people who will not follow a proof. That is the generous reading, and it is also the reading his critics thought concealed a double doctrine.
Did Ibn Rushd (Averroes) really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Hourani's 1961 English of the opening of the passage, including his bracket “[their paths to]”. The ellipsis marks that the sentence continues. Butterworth's later translation differs in wording. The card stops before the three routes (demonstration, dialectic, rhetoric) that the same passage goes on to name. It is not the opening argument of the treatise and not the harmony paraphrase.
Where it comes from
The Decisive Treatise, on the three ways of assent, George F. Hourani's translation (1961)
Approximate date: c. 1179; this English 1961.
How to use it
A public explanation of a clinical risk and a seminar paper on the same risk are not, on this division, two different facts. They are two ways of bringing assent. The sentence does not say the public version may be false. It says the method of persuasion can change with the hearer. A version that becomes false in order to be simple has left the passage.
A mindset reading
Separate the content of a claim from the route by which someone is brought to accept it. The habit stops a hard argument and a plain story from being treated as rival truths. It also stops the plain story from being written as if accuracy were optional.
Understand the philosophy
This is the three-level account of assent in the Decisive Treatise, in Hourani's English. The key triad is demonstration, dialectic, and rhetoric, taken from Aristotle and put to legal work. The opening argument is the previous card. The claim that truth does not oppose truth is the other card and is a paraphrase of a different sentence. A further motto was not invented from the long commentaries.
- knowledge
- society
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is a division of audiences, not a sneer. People assent by demonstration, by dialectical argument, or by rhetoric, and the Law, on his account, speaks in all three ways because natures differ. A competing reading hears an elitist claim that only philosophers get the truth and everyone else gets a story. He thinks the truth is one, which is why the harmony claim matters, and that the ways of bringing assent differ. The sentence is in the Decisive Treatise, after the opening argument that the Law recommends philosophy. Hourani's 1961 English is the translation. Demonstration is the philosopher's way. Rhetoric is not dismissed as lies. It is a way the same truth is conveyed to people who will not follow a proof. That is the generous reading, and it is also the reading his critics thought concealed a double doctrine.
Did Ibn Rushd (Averroes) really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Hourani's 1961 English of the opening of the passage, including his bracket “[their paths to]”. The ellipsis marks that the sentence continues. Butterworth's later translation differs in wording. The card stops before the three routes (demonstration, dialectic, rhetoric) that the same passage goes on to name. It is not the opening argument of the treatise and not the harmony paraphrase.
Which work is it in?
The Decisive Treatise, on the three ways of assent, George F. Hourani's translation (1961) Approximate date: c. 1179; this English 1961.