AVERROES' EPISTLE on DIVINE KNOWLEDGE AS A DIALECTICAL WORK: Between FORBIDDEN INTERPRETATION and PHILOSOPHICAL TRAINING

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Abstract

Averroes' Epistle on Divine Knowledge presents four different dialogues on two textual levels. These dialogues, the syllogistic structure of the arguments in them, and their use of contradictories indicate that the Epistle on Divine Knowledge is structured nearly entirely in accordance with the descriptions of dialectic we find in Averroes' commentaries on Aristotle's Topica. Accordingly, Averroes' solution to the question of how God can have universal knowledge of particular things is a dialectical account of the distinction between Divine and human knowledge. Moreover, at a crucial point in the Epistle on Divine Knowledge Averroes refers to Aristotle, Metaphysics Β, which he considers to a dialectical exposition of questions on metaphysics. This reference suggests that Averroes sees the Epistle on Divine Knowledge as a kind of dialectical inquiry aimed at answering questions that arise at the outset of studying metaphysics. So, while it is possible to view the Epistle on Divine Knowledge as a dialectical interpretation of Quran 67:14, its primary purpose is to introduce its readers to metaphysical speculation. Thus it does not violate Averroes' legal prohibition given in the Decisive Treatise against declaring dialectical interpretations in books available to the general public.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)119-137
Number of pages19
JournalArabic Sciences and Philosophy
Volume34
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 12 Mar 2024

Bibliographical note

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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press.

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