Averroes' Physics: A Turning Point in Medieval Natural Philosophy

240 Pages·2009·1.13 MB·English

by  Ruth Glasner

AVERROES’ PHYSICS
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Averroes’ Physics
A Turning Point in Medieval Natural
Philosophy
RUTH GLASNER
1
1
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Averroes physics:aturningpointinmedievalnaturalphilosophy/RuthGlasner.p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–19–956773–7(alk.paper)
1.Physics–Philosophy–History–To1500.2.Philosophy,Medieval.3.Science,Medieval.4.Averroe¨s,
1126–1198.5.Aristotle.Physics.I.Title.
QC7.G652009
530.01–dc22
2009001721
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PrintedinGreatBritain
onacid-freepaperby
MPGBiddlesStandardLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk
ISBN978–0–19–956773–7
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Inmemoryofmyparents
LeahandTzviAdar
Acknowledgements
F having read this book at one or another of the various stages of
itslongelaborationandforhavingmadenumerousvaluablecomments
andsuggestionsI warmly thankGad Freudenthal,Steven Harvey, and
RichardTaylor.ToHorstSchmiejaIamverygratefulforhisgenerous
help, for his answers to my many questions on the Latin manuscripts,
andforhissuggestionsandcorrectionstoPartAofthebook.Iextend
my thanks also to Orna Harari and Tanely Kikkunen for their advice
on Averroes’ logic, to Hagar Kahana-Smilansky who examined my
translations and transliterations from Arabic, and to Anat Peri for
havingcheckedmytranslationsfromtheLatin.
I am indebted to the Dibner Institute for having supported my
research during the academic year 1999–2000, when I started the
endeavourofwritingthisbook.
R.G.
Jerusalem
August2008
Contents
AbbreviationsandNotations x
Introduction:SciencethroughExegesis 1
A. THE COMPLEXITY OF AVERROES’ WRITING
1. DescriptionoftheCorpus 10
1.1. TheShortCommentary 10
1.2. TheMiddleCommentary 11
1.3. TheLongCommentary 12
1.4. TheQuestionsinPhysics 17
2. TheOrderofWriting 19
3. TheChangingCulturalContexts 22
4. VersionsandRevisions 28
4.1. TheShortCommentary 28
4.2. TheMiddleCommentary 30
Appendix1:TheAnonymousTranslationofVersionA 30
4.3. TheLongCommentary 32
Appendix2:AnAttemptatTracingBacktheHistoryof
theTwoRedactions 36
5. TheLateStratumoftheLongCommentary 41
5.1. TheFormalIntroduction 41
Appendix3:TheRevisionofBookI 42
5.2. TheUsesofSyllogism 43
ExampleA 48
ExampleB 50
5.3. TheTurningtoAlexander 52
viii Contents
B. AVERROES’ NEW PHYSICS
6. TheTurningPointofPhysicsVIII:TheBreakdownof
Determinism 62
6.1. TheChallengeofIndeterminism 62
6.2. ConflictingMessagesinAristotle 69
6.3. TheStoryoftheMiddleCommentary 73
Appendix4:Averroes’ArgumentwithPhiloponus 89
6.4. TheRiddleoftheLongCommentary 92
7. TheTurningPointofPhysicsVI:TheBreakdownofMotion 109
7.1. Introduction:TheVariousConceptsofMotionin
Aristotle’sPhysics 110
7.2. Aristotle’sDivisibilityArgument:ACrackintheInterval
ModelofMotion(PhysicsVI.4) 114
7.3. PhysicsVReinterpreted:FromHomogeneityto
Heterogeneity 117
7.4. PhysicsVIReinterpreted:FromaContinuousIntervalto
aContiguousChain 120
7.5. PhysicsIIIReintepreted:FromDimensionalEntityto
BoundaryEntity 127
7.6. WhendidtheTurningPointOccur? 133
Appendix5:TheRevisionoftheMiddleCommentary
andtheRoleofAlexander 139
8. TheTurningPointofPhysicsVII:TheBreakdownof
PhysicalBody 141
8.1. CanPhysicalBodybeaTrueHomoeomer? 142
8.2. Aristotle’sMoving-AgentArgument(PhysicsVII.1) 146
8.3. Alexandervs.GalenontheMeaningofEssentiality 147
8.4. Averroes’NotionofFirst-MovedPart 152
8.5. Averroes’‘AristotelianAtomism’ 155
8.6. The‘Divorce’betweenMathematicsandPhysics 159
Contents ix
8.7. WhendidtheTurningPointOccur? 163
Appendix6:Averroes’ConceptofaNaturalPoint 168
Appendix7:WasAverroesAcquaintedwithAlexander’s
RefutationofGalenonTimeandPlace? 169
9. SummaryandConclusion 172
Bibliography 176
ArabicVocabulary 195
HebrewVocabulary 195
GreekandLatinVocabulary 197
IndexofNamesandSubjects 199
Indexlocorum 211