Ibn Rushd, a great Islamic scholar and philosopher
One of the earliest enlightenment philosophers was René Descartes, who gave us the immortal phrase: ‘Cogito ergo sum’, or ‘I think, therefore I am.’ Such a simple philosophical concept contains within it millennia of accumulated thought. Reason, and the ability to reason, opened the door of human consciousness, allowing our species to embark upon a journey into the universal.
The Islamic world, or the Arab world perhaps, gifted the human race with many of its original concepts of medicine, hygiene, calculation, mathematics, literacy and law. There are numerous Arab and Islamic scholars and philosophers to chose from, but we have chosen Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd, better known in philosophical circles simply as ‘Averroes’.
This gift of Arab philosophy to the west very much informs the life and career of Averroes, since he was active precisely as Islamic interest in philosophy was waning, and European interest emerging. The centre of Islamic philosophy, and science and arts in the 12th century was Spain, and among the foremost of that school was Ibn Rushd. He was without doubt one of the last, and certainly one of the most influential Muslim philosophers of that vital, transitionary period.
He was a jurist and a physician, and if he is remembered for anything, it is his re-examination of classical philosophy, and his juxtaposition of that against an ideal Islam. He was intercepted by conservative elements of his faith, and he therefore stood very much for a dying tradition within Islam. In this regard, he is also viewed as one of the great Islamic scholars, and again, one hailing back to a regime of freer thinking and more open expression. He nonetheless alerted an emerging school of European philosophy to something that had almost been forgotten in time. Classical philosophy. The great European philosophical revival had begun.
This, however, reflects on Averroes’ career mainly for the effect that it had on others. The specific merits of his work are that he was a polymath, supremely competent, original in thought and accomplished in numerous professional fields. His field of study was broad, and his originality of thought still echoes through many modern philosophical concepts that we all take for granted today. It is also an ironic fact that a watered down version of his message is claimed by Islam today, and a much-embellished version claimed by Christendom. He certainly was a man for all seasons.