Tao Te Ching
14th-century painting by Andrea di Bonaiuto
Averroes, Ibn Rushd ابن رشد
1126 – 1198 CE
Polymath, famous Islamic philosopher and scientist, theologian, and physician; Averroes took the position that the Koran and sacred writings were allegories and not to be taken literally. Arguing for an understanding deeper than just the literal meaning of texts, he popularized Aristotle and started a major Jewish and Christian philosophical movement but didn’t become influential in the Muslim world until the 19th century. In fact, during his lifetime, all his books that could be found were burned, he was removed from his positions, and exiled. Dante described him as he "who made the Great Commentary,” Chaucer listed him as a great medical authority, Raphael painted him into a fresco in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican that depicts major philosophers, Borges featured him in one of his books, and a plant genus, a lunar crater and an asteroid were named after him.
Eras
Chinese
5 Kingdom of Dali 大理国 (937 – 1253 CE)Southern Song (1127 – 1279 CE)
Jin dynasty (1115 – 1234 CE)
Western Xia 西夏 (1038 – 1227 CE)
Western Liao (1124 – 1218 CE)
Unlisted Sources
Quotes by Averroes, Ibn Rushd (9 quotes)
“Only in the mathematical sciences are things known to us identified with those known absolutely.”
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“Thought brings about the generality in forms.”
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“Much of the poverty and distress of our times arises from the fact that women are kept like domestic animals or house plants for purposes of gratification.”
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“God would never give us reason, then give us divine laws that contradict such reason.”
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“The world is divided into men who have wit and no religion and men who have religion and no wit.”
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“Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. This is the equation.”
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“If someone denies the existence of the effects arranged according to the causes, or if their wisdom cannot understand it, they have no true knowledge.”
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“Double meanings are given to suit people's diverse intelligence. The apparent contradictions are meant to stimulate the learned to deeper study.”
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Quotes about Averroes, Ibn Rushd (3 quotes)
“Averroes was accused of cultivating the philosophy of the ancients at the expense of the true faith. All the books that could be found on logic and metaphysics were given to the flames and Muslim philosophy in Spain ended with Averroes; and in the rest of the Mohammedan world a rigid orthodoxy put an end to speculation.”
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“Averroes is more important in Christian than in Mohammedan philosophy. In the latter he was a dead end; in the former, a beginning… [he] regarded religion as containing philosophic truth in allegorical form.”
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“My father was such an admirer of Ibn Rushd's philosophy, he decided to change the family name to Rushdie. I realized why my father was so interested in him, because he was really an incredibly modernizing voice inside our Islamic culture.”
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