The twelfth-century Andalusian philosopher Averroes sought to understand the divine in a way independent of religious theology, by turning to the philosophical works of Aristotle and, to a lesser extent, Plato. In doing so, he established standards of scientific inquiry into God that were and remain highly influential on Jewish and Christian thought. Averroes, however, does not provide much in the way of demonstrative knowledge of God, and most of his arguments remain dialectical, rhetorical, or political. This volume explores the various pathways towards attaining divine knowledge that we find in Averroes' commentaries on Aristotle's De Anima, Metaphysics, and Nicomachean Ethics, and on Plato's Republic, along with Averroes' Epistle on Divine Knowledge, Decisive Treatise, and more.
By:
Yehuda Halper
Imprint: Academic Studies Press
Country of Publication: United States
ISBN: 9798887197616
Publication Date: 24 July 2025
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Undergraduate
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Averroes on Intentionality and the Human Experience of the Natural World 2. Averroes’s Epistle on Divine Knowledge as a Dialectical Work: Between Forbidden Interpretation and Philosophical Training 3. Dialecticians and Dialectics in Averroes’s Long Commentary on Gamma 2 of Aristotle’s Metaphysics 4. The Hierarchy of Terms in the Short Commentary on Metaphysics Δ 5. Averroes’s Rewrite of Aristotle’s Metaphysics Δ: Establishing the Plain Meaning of the Text in the Midde Commentary 6. Losing Focus: Notes on Averroes’s Introduction to Aristotle’s Metaphysics Δ in the Long Commentary 7. Happiness, Eros, and the Active Intellect: Understanding Erotic Desire in Averroes’s Long Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics Λ in light of the Middle Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics 8. Expelling Dialectics from the Ideal State: Making the World Safe for Philosophy in Averroes’s Commentary on Plato’s “Republic”
Yehuda Halper is Professor in the Department of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University. His first monograph,Jewish Socratic Questions in an Age without Plato(Brill, 2021) won the Goldstein-Goren Book Award for the best book in Jewish Thought in 2019-2021. He is currently directing the ISF grant (#622/22), ""Samuel Ibn Tibbon's Explanation of Foreign Terms and the Foundations of Philosophy in Hebrew.""
Reviews for Averroes on Pathways to Divine Knowledge
“In Averroes on Pathways to Divine Knowledge, Yehuda Halper guides his readers through a transformative exploration of Averroes’s metaphysical thought, uncovering the manifold ways the Commentator illuminates humanity’s longing for divine truth. Through careful analysis of Averroes’s engagement with Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Plato’s Republic, Halper reveals a thinker grappling earnestly with the deepest questions of intentionality, dialectics, and the very nature and purpose of philosophical inquiry. Moving deftly between Averroes’s Arabic texts and their broader historical-philosophical implications, this work not only elucidates the enduring tensions between dialectic and demonstration, human reason and divine intellect, but also positions Averroes as a partner in a continued philosophical journey begun in antiquity. Halper’s study is invaluable to scholars in medieval thought, but also richly rewarding for contemporary philosophers, historians, and theologians navigating epistemology, politics, metaphysics, and the timeless quest for the divine. A luminous contribution, elegantly composed and profoundly insightful, this book invites its readers into the inexhaustible dialogue of philosophy itself.” —Katja Krause, Professor for the History of Science, Technische Universität Berlin, Research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.
