EBOOK 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 newinterpretation        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 acomprehensive 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.