Table Of ContentAverroes And Hegel on
PHilosoPHy And religion
Comparing Averroes’ and Hegel’s positions on the relation between philosophy and
religion, this book explores the theme of the authorities of faith and reason, and the
origin of truth, in a medieval islamic and a modern Christian context respectively.
Through an in-depth analysis of Averroes’ and Hegel’s parallel views on the
nature of philosophical and religious discourse, Belo presents new insights into
their perspectives on the relation between philosophical knowledge and religious
knowledge, and the differences between philosophy and religion. in addition, Belo
explores particular works which have not yet been studied by modern scholarship.
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Averroes and Hegel on
Philosophy and religion
CATArinA Belo
The American University in Cairo, Egypt
First published 2013 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © Catarina Belo 2013
Catarina Belo has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to
be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only
for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Belo, Catarina C. M. de M. (Catarina Carriço Marques de Moura), 1974–
Averroes and Hegel -on Philosophy and Religion / by Catarina Belo.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-3386-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Philosophy and religion. 2. Averroes,
1126–1198.
3. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. I. Title.
BL51.B5135 2013
201’.61–dc23
2013004620
ISBN 9781409433866 (hbk)
ISBN 9781315568515 (ebk)
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction: Philosophy and Religion in Hegel and Averroes 1
1 The Decisive Treatise: A Project for the Harmony between
Philosophy and Religion 21
2 Demonstrative Discourse in Averroes’ Commentaries on Aristotle’s
Posterior Analytics 49
3 Dialectical and Rhetorical Discourse in Averroes’ Commentaries
on Aristotle’s Topics and Rhetoric 75
4 Hegel’s Attitude to Religion in the Early Writings 109
5 Hegel: Religion, Philosophy and Consciousness in the
Phenomenology of Spirit 125
6 Representation and Christianity in the Berlin Lectures 149
Conclusion 189
Bibliography 195
Index 213
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Acknowledgements
This book could not have been completed without the generous help of many
friends and colleagues. I first came across the idea for this book while reading
an article – mentioned in the introduction – by Josep Ignasi Saranyana, who
subsequently furnished further materials and advice for this project.
Moreover, in the course of researching for and writing this book, I received
much advice and materials from Averroes experts, namely Maroun Aouad, Charles
Butterworth, Rafael Ramón Guerrero, and Richard Taylor. I also received much
support and assistance from Hegel scholars, namely William Desmond, Manuel José
do Carmo Ferreira, Stephen Houlgate, Vincenzo Lomuscio, and Walter Jaeschke.
Colleagues from the American University in Cairo and other friends also provided
advice and relevant materials: Abraham Anderson, Alexandre Caeiro, Richard
Fincham, Eric Goodfield, William Melaney, Gavin Rae, and Alessandro Topa.
My home institution, The American University in Cairo, kindly supported this
project financially with various grants.
Last but not least, I am grateful to Johanna Baboukis and Laura Macy for the
careful and attentive proof-reading of the text.
This page has been left blank intentionally
Introduction
Philosophy and Religion in
Hegel and Averroes
In an article concerning the theological position of Averroes (Arabic Ibn Rushd,
1126–1198 CE), Spanish scholar J.I. Saranyana traces the history of scholarship
on Averroes to the present with a focus on a particular issue: the Andalusian
philosopher’s true position with regard to religion.1 Much ink has been spilt on this
controversial issue since the Middle Ages, when Averroism was often perceived
as conflicting with religion in general and in particular with Christianity. To
Averroes was ascribed the theory of the ‘double truth’, according to which there
is a religious truth and a philosophical truth which are often at variance, with the
hidden assumption that philosophical truth is preferable to religious truth. Among
the first modern interpreters of Averroes, Saranyana mentions Ernest Renan. On
Saranyana’s interpretation, Renan imputes to Averroes views similar to those held
by the German idealist philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831).
According to Saranyana, Hegel defended the idea that philosophy and religion
have the same content, but express themselves in different ways: religion through
imagination and representation, and philosophy in a conceptual and intellectual,
hence more rigorous, way. Saranyana considers that this view favours philosophy
over religion, inasmuch as the philosophical message is perceived to contain and
qualitatively to supersede the religious message.
The present study aims to examine the relationship between philosophy and
religion, based on the similarities and differences between philosophical language
or discourse and religious language, first in Averroes and then in Hegel, with a
view to shedding light on the relation between philosophy and religion, a theme
that preoccupied both philosophers throughout their lifetimes.
This study offers a thematic rather than a strictly historical comparison,
given that Hegel does not seem to have been directly influenced by Averroes and
1 Josep Ignasi Saranyana, ‘Los presupuestos teológicos de Averroes’, in Averroes
y los Averroismos: Actas del III Congreso Nacional de Filosofia Medieval (Zaragoza:
Sociedad de Filosofía Medieval, 1999), pp. 129–44, especially pp. 134–5. A connection
between Islamic philosophy and Hegel on this issue, as Saranyana points out, is also
made by Rafael Ramón Guerrero, ‘La filosofia árabe medieval’, in Actas del I Congreso
Nacional de Filosofía Medieval, ed. Jorge Ayala Martínez (Zaragoza: Sociedad de Filosofía
Medieval-Ibercaja, 1992), pp. 129–57, in particular pp. 147 and 152, focusing particularly
on al-Kindi and Alfarabi.
