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Commentaries on Aristotle — Ibn Rushd

1169 AD · Transmission: Silenced
PhilosophyCommentaryArab

Commissioned in 1169 by the Almohad caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf, Ibn Rushd produces between 1169 and 1198 the most systematic body of commentaries on Aristotle of the medieval world: short, middle, and long commentaries on almost the entire Aristotelian corpus. His Latin translations, begun in the 12th century, trigger Latin Averroism at the University of Paris and are the main channel through which Aristotle returns to Western Europe after centuries of neglect. Thomas Aquinas cites 'the Commentator' (with no proper name) in the Summa Theologiae. His medical work Al-Kulliyat (Colliget) was a university text in Europe until the 16th century. In the Islamic world his influence was paradoxically smaller: he was exiled in 1195 by the conservative Almohad faction and his works were burned.

InstitutionAlmohad court of Marrakesh; courts of Seville and Córdoba
Historical regionAlmohad Al-Andalus — Córdoba, Seville, Marrakesh
Primary sourceCommentaries on Aristotle, 1169-1198 — Latin translation begun by Michael Scot, c. 1220; complete Latin edition: Junta, Venice, 1550-1552 (11 vols.)
Secondary sourceSEP — plato.stanford.edu/entries/ibn-rushd; IEP — iep.utm.edu/ibn-rushd-averroes/; Britannica — britannica.com/biography/Averroes
Original languageClassical Andalusi Arabic
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