Averroes' Physics: A Turning Point in Medieval Natural Philosophy

Ruth Glasner presents an illuminating reappraisal of Averroes' physics. Glasner is the first scholar to base her interpretation on the full range of Averroes' writings, including texts that are extant only in Hebrew manuscripts and have not been hitherto studied. She reveals that Averroes changed his interpretation of the basic notions of physics - the structure of corporeal reality and the definition of motion - more than once. After many hesitations he offers a bold new interpretation of physics which Glasner calls 'Aristotelian atomism'. Ideas that are usually ascribed to scholastic scholars, and others that were traced back to Averroes but only in a very general form, are shown not only to have originated with him, but to have been fully developed by him into a comprehensive and systematic physical system. Unlike earlier Greek or Muslim atomistic systems, Averroes' Aristotelian atomism endeavours to be fully scientific, by Aristotelian standards, and still to provide a basis for an indeterministic natural philosophy. Commonly known as 'the commentator' and usually considered to be a faithful follower of Aristotle, Averroes is revealed in his commentaries on the Physics to be an original and sophisticated philosopher.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: The Complexity of Averroes' Writing 1. Description of the Corpus 2. The Order of Writing 3. The Changing Cultural Contexts 4. Versions and Revisions 5. The Late Stratum of the Long Commentary Part 2: Averroes' New Physics 6. The Turning Point of Physics VIII: The Breakdown of Determinism 7. The Turning-Point of Physics VI: The Breakdown of Motion 8. The Turning-Point of Physics VII: The Breakdown of Physical Body

About the Author :
Ruth Glasner studied mathematics, physics and philosophy at the Hebrew University. She is currently a professor at the program for the history and philosophy of science at the Hebrew University

Review :
Ruth Glasners Averroes Physics reads like a good reads like a goodwho-done-it for scholars... everyone with decided interests in the history of Islamic (natural) philosophy, and, more generally, the history of science (particularly the development of atomism) will benefit from a close and careful reading of this work and will undoubtedly come away with a better appreciation of Western sciences indebtedness to the medieval Islamic intellectual tradition... no serious research library should be without it. a meticulous scholarly study... It raises important questions regarding medieval physics and the role of medieval Arabic Islamic philosophy in the transmission and development of the medieval Aristotelian tradition. Glasner has written a difficult but extremely rich book, highlighting both the problems and the possible rewards facing scholars of Averroes.