Averroes’ Commentary Corpus: A Venture at Prolegomena

As a member of the Peripatetic tradition within the Islamic thought, Averroes appears as a distinctive figure in many respects. When compared to al-Fārābī and Avicenna, undoubtedly two of the most prominent representatives of the tradition, Averroes evidently places greater emphasis on the Aristotelian style of “philosophizing,” in line with his view of philosophy as one of the innate human activities. Additionally, if we consider that Averroes’ philosophical writings almost completely consist of his Aristotelian commentaries, then, ipso facto, we are confronted with the dilemma of whether or not he can be labelled as a philosopher, in the true sense of the word. In the attempt to understand Averroan intellectual heritage today, most of the contemporary scholars tend to either overstress or completely ignore Averroes’ “commentatorial” character. In this study, I will try to offer a new perspective to the reader of Averroes’ commentary corpus by juxtaposing, and consequently reconciling his dual identity, that of philosopher and commentator. Furthermore, by acquainting the reader with the structure and peculiarities of Averroes’ commentary work, I will put forth a revised approach to it