ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes a crucial passage of the Long Commentary on the De anima by Averroes (Ibn Rushd, d. 1198 CE), one of his most informative criticisms of Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037 CE), and compares it with similar passages in other Aristotelian commentaries and other works by Averroes. This passage is a precious testimonium of the ways in which Avicenna’s philosophy was transmitted in Andalusia, since here and in other passages, Averroes’ knowledge of Avicenna’s thought is probably based on a particular summa by Avicenna, the Kitāb al-Shifāʾ (Book of the Cure, or of the Healing), which he apparently knew firsthand. The hypothesis is advanced that in these comments on Avicenna, Averroes may depend on the Introduction to the Kitāb al-Shifāʾ, authored by Avicenna’s biographer and secretary al-Jūzjānī (fifth century AH/eleventh century CE).
