Averroes and the Abandonment of Esotericism

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Abstract

In his aptly-named "Decisive Treatise," Averroes makes a statement that would have driven his literary agent to despair. In the middle of his argument, Averroes asserts that the vast majority of people should be banned from reading his books. I argue that this statement indicates a move by Averroes to abandon the esoteric approach to philosophy embraced by Alfarabi and his followers. Although he views the conflict between religious authority and philosophic inquiry in much the same way, Averroes seeks a different way of resolving it than did Alfarabi. In this paper, I explore Averroes' break with Alfarabi, both its theoretical underpinnings, and its consequences. Ultimately, Averroes' move is a failure, but an interesting and consequential one.

Author

• Michael C. Hawley, Duke University