Texts and Courses Primary Texts The Decisive Treatise (excerpted in D.E. Cooper and P.S. Fosl, eds., Philosophy: The Classic Readings) Secondary Texts for Instructor Taylor, Richard C. (2000) ‘“Truth Does Not Contradict Truth”: Averroes and the unity of truth’, Topoi 19: 3-16. Taylor, Richard D. (2005) ‘Averroes: Religious Dialectic… Read More »Lesson: Ibn-Rushd on the Obligation to Philosophise
A central concern of the ‘golden age’ of Islamic philosophy was the relationship between Hellenistic philosophy and the Islamic tradition. What is the proper relationship between Greek philosophy – a product of a pagan culture ignorant of the definitive revelation given to the Prophet Mohammad – and the tradition grounded in that revelation? A key question was the authoritative status of the Islamic religious and cultural tradition: is authentic participation in that tradition a necessary precondition for a relationship with Allah or are there other, alternative routes that dispense with the specific teachings and practices of Islam?