ABSTRACT
There are numerous indications that Averroes played important roles in sixteenth-century philosophy: a surge in translations of his work into Latin; intense discussion of his views among academic philosophers, especially within Italian universities; increased use of the term ‘Averroist’; and religious controversy surrounding some of his interpretations of Aristotle. At the center of the storm was Averroes’ account of the nature of intellect and its role in human thinking. According to Averroes, Aristotle held that there is numerically one material or possible intellect; this view, customarily called “the unicity doctrine,” denies that the individual human soul has an incorporeal part or power. Church authorities censured the unicity doctrine in 1489 and in 1513. Their main objection was that discussion of it undermined faith, especially belief in personal immortality.
