Quotation
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“Truth does not oppose truth; rather, it agrees with it and bears witness to it.”
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) · Aristotelianism · Medieval · c. 1179
What does it mean?
If a sound demonstration and a revealed text seem to clash, the usual reading says the clash is only apparent, because one of them is being read badly and truth cannot oppose truth. A rival reading hears a polite way of letting philosophy overrule the Law whenever they differ, which is the charge his critics pressed. The sentence gives the sense of a well-known claim in the Decisive Treatise, where demonstration is defended as lawful for those fitted to it. English renderings differ, and this wording is a standard paraphrase rather than one canonical sentence.
Did Ibn Rushd (Averroes) really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. The sense of a well-known claim in the Decisive Treatise: demonstrative truth and scriptural truth cannot really contradict. English renderings differ. This wording is a standard paraphrase of that claim, not one canonical published sentence.
Where it comes from
The Decisive Treatise (Faṣl al-Maqāl)
Approximate date: c. 1179.
How to use it
On an Edinburgh ward, a clinical guideline and a family's religious objection seem to cancel each other before anyone has asked which reading is crude. His sentence is a hypothesis that forces the better reading, not a spell that ends the conflict or decides the treatment. It refuses the shortcut of throwing one trusted source away at the first clash, and it still leaves the ward with a decision to make.
A mindset reading
Harmony claims are ambitious, and they can hide a real contradiction under a proverb about agreement. Use the sentence as a demand for interpretation, and keep open the possibility that the two truths do not in fact agree. That possibility is the test of whether the claim is doing work or only spreading calm over a clash.
Understand the philosophy
Ibn Rushd is defending the study of philosophy inside Islamic law, against the charge that demonstration is disobedience. The key term is demonstration, burhan, the highest grade of argument, which he says the Law itself summons qualified people to pursue. Where scripture and demonstration seem to conflict, interpretation has gone wrong. The Aristotle commentaries are the other half of the same life, not a separate hobby.
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- meaning
FAQ
What does it mean?
If a sound demonstration and a revealed text seem to clash, the usual reading says the clash is only apparent, because one of them is being read badly and truth cannot oppose truth. A rival reading hears a polite way of letting philosophy overrule the Law whenever they differ, which is the charge his critics pressed. The sentence gives the sense of a well-known claim in the Decisive Treatise, where demonstration is defended as lawful for those fitted to it. English renderings differ, and this wording is a standard paraphrase rather than one canonical sentence.
Did Ibn Rushd (Averroes) really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. The sense of a well-known claim in the Decisive Treatise: demonstrative truth and scriptural truth cannot really contradict. English renderings differ. This wording is a standard paraphrase of that claim, not one canonical published sentence.
Which work is it in?
The Decisive Treatise (Faṣl al-Maqāl) Approximate date: c. 1179.