in his philosophic capacity, interprets in an Aristotelian fashion. Averroes is more important in
Christian than in Mohammedan philosophy. In the latter he was a dead end; in the former, a
beginning. He was translated into Latin early in the thirteenth century by Michael Scott; as his
works belong to the latter half of the twelfth century, this is surprising. His influence in Europe
was very great, not only on the scholastics, but also on a large body of unprofessional free-
thinkers, who denied immortality and were called Averroists. Among professional philosophers,
his admirers were at first especially among the Franciscans and at the University of Paris. But this
is a topic which will be dealt with in a later chapter.
Arabic philosophy is not important as original thought. Men like Avicenna and Averroes are
essentially commentators. Speaking generally, the views of the more scientific philosophers come
from Aristotle and the Neoplatonists in logic and metaphysics, from Galen in medicine, from
Greek and Indian sources in mathematics and astronomy, and among mystics religious philosophy
has also an admixture of old Persian beliefs. Writers in Arabic showed some originality in
mathematics and in chemistry--in the latter case, as an incidental result of alchemical researches.
Mohammedan civilization in its great days was admirable in the arts and in many technical ways,
but it showed no capacity for independent speculation in theoretical matters. Its importance, which
must not be underrated, is as a transmitter. Between ancient and modern European civilization, the
dark ages intervened. The Mohammedans and the Byzantines, while lacking the intellectual
energy required for innovation, preserved the apparatus of civilization--education, books, and
learned leisure. Both stimulated the West when it emerged from barbarism--the Mohammedans
chiefly in the thirteenth century, the Byzantines chiefly in the fifteenth. In each case the stimulus
produced new thought better than any produced by the transmitters--in the one case scholasticism,
in the other the Renaissance (which however had other causes also).
Between the Spanish Moors and the Christians, the Jews formed a useful link. There were many
Jews in Spain, who remained when the country was reconquered by the Christians. Since they
knew Arabic, and perforce acquired the language of the Christians, they were able to supply
translations. Another means of transfusion arose through Mohammedan persecution of
Aristotelians in the thirteenth
-427-century, which led Moorish philosophers to take refuge with Jews, especially in Provence.The
Spanish Jews produced one philosopher of importance, Maimonides. He was born in Cordova
in 1135, but went to Cairo.at the age of thirty, and stayed there for the rest of his life. He wrote
in Arabic, but was immediately translated into Hebrew. A few decades after his death, he was
translated into Latin, probably at the request of the Emperor Frederick II. He wrote a book
called Guide to Wanderers, addressed to philosophers who have lost their faith. Its purpose is to
reconcile Aristotle with Jewish theology. Aristotle is the authority on the sublunary world,
revelation on the heavenly. But philosophy and revelation come together in the knowledge of
God. The pursuit of truth is a religious duty. Astrology is rejected. The Pentateuch is not always
to be taken literally; when the literal sense conflicts with reason, we must seek an allegorical
interpretation. As against Aristotle, he maintains that God created not only form, but matter, out
of nothing. He gives a summary of the Timaeus (which he knew in Arabic), preferring it on
some points to Aristotle. The essence of God is unknowable, being above all predicated
perfections. The Jews considered him heretical, and went so far as to invoke the Christian
ecclesiastical authorities against him. Some think that he influenced Spinoza, but this is very
questionable.
CHAPTER XI The Twelfth CenturyFOUR aspects of the twelfth century are specially interesting to us: