Quotation
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“If the activity of philosophy is nothing more than study of existing beings and reflection on them as indications of the Artisan, and if the Law has recommended and urged reflection on beings, then what this name signifies is either obligatory or recommended by the Law.”
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) · Aristotelianism · Medieval · c. 1179; this English 1961
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is a legal argument. If philosophy is the study of existing things as signs of their maker, and if the Law already tells people to reflect on those things, then philosophy under that name is either obligatory or recommended. A competing reading hears a trick: define the activity as what the Law already praises, and the permission is won in advance. The definition is doing work, and a reader can reject it. The sentence is the opening move of the Decisive Treatise, before the claim, already here as a paraphrase, that truth does not oppose truth. Obligatory or recommended is a lawyer's distinction. He is not saying every person must become a philosopher. He is saying the Law does not forbid the study, and for those fitted to demonstration the study is required. Hourani's English is the translation.
Did Ibn Rushd (Averroes) really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Hourani's 1961 English of the opening argument. Butterworth's later translation differs in wording and agrees in the conclusion. This is not the separate claim, already in the library, that truth does not oppose truth.
Where it comes from
The Decisive Treatise, the opening argument, George F. Hourani's translation (1961)
Approximate date: c. 1179; this English 1961.
How to use it
A student is told that asking how a text fits the world is already disloyal. His sentence says the opposite, on his definition of the asking, and it still leaves the definition open to challenge. It does not say every question is a duty. A row that quotes him as 'philosophy always wins' has skipped both the Law and the word recommended.
A mindset reading
Watch a permission that is won by defining the activity as something the rules already praise. Sometimes the definition is fair. Sometimes it is the whole argument. The habit is to state the definition before accepting the permission.
Understand the philosophy
The Decisive Treatise is a legal opinion on whether demonstration is allowed. The key terms are the Law, reflection on beings, and obligatory or recommended. Hourani's translation is the English followed here. The harmony card is a later claim in the same work and is a paraphrase of a different sentence. The ranking of kinds of assent is a further card. The commentaries on Aristotle are not epigrams and are not quoted as if they were.
- knowledge
- meaning
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is a legal argument. If philosophy is the study of existing things as signs of their maker, and if the Law already tells people to reflect on those things, then philosophy under that name is either obligatory or recommended. A competing reading hears a trick: define the activity as what the Law already praises, and the permission is won in advance. The definition is doing work, and a reader can reject it. The sentence is the opening move of the Decisive Treatise, before the claim, already here as a paraphrase, that truth does not oppose truth. Obligatory or recommended is a lawyer's distinction. He is not saying every person must become a philosopher. He is saying the Law does not forbid the study, and for those fitted to demonstration the study is required. Hourani's English is the translation.
Did Ibn Rushd (Averroes) really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Hourani's 1961 English of the opening argument. Butterworth's later translation differs in wording and agrees in the conclusion. This is not the separate claim, already in the library, that truth does not oppose truth.
Which work is it in?
The Decisive Treatise, the opening argument, George F. Hourani's translation (1961) Approximate date: c. 1179; this English 1961.