Ibn Rushd (Averroes) · Philosophy

The Unity of the Intellect: One Mind for All Humanity

Averroes&rsquo;s most notorious and daring doctrine: that the <em>material intellect</em> - the mind by which any of us thinks universal truths - is a single, separate, eternal substance shared by the whole human race. This lesson follows the argument that thrilled radical Europe, threatened personal immortality, and drew Thomas Aquinas into open war.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Averroes argued the material (receptive) intellect must be one for all humans - separate, immaterial, eternal - because a universal truth cannot be received by a particular, bodily organ without being particularized; and that this seemed to deny personal immortality, thrilling the Latin Averroists and…

Leads to Thomas Aquinas.

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