Ibn Rushd

Author's name: Juan Antonio Pacheco

This book introduces who Ibn Rushd was, what his ideas were, and the significance of his ideas for us in the modern era. The book assumes that the Muslim scholar and thinker was highly influential, yet his ideas have been little studied and placed in their rightful place as one of the greatest thinkers of the Renaissance and the most influential in European civilization. Ibn Rushd represented the rationalist movement that opened the horizon of modernity, a horizon that spawned our modern world. Therefore, he must be placed at the forefront of global thought at all times and in all places. Based on this thesis, this important book begins, reconsidering not only Ibn Rushd's thought but also the impact of Islamic culture on European civilization and the Age of Enlightenment. The book seeks to present an intellectual biography by reading Ibn Rushd's remaining works, gathering scattered fragments here and there, and references to him contained in the writings of his contemporaries and those who followed them. All this information constitutes an intellectual and philosophical biography that, of course, does not fully represent Ibn Rushd's greatness, but it does offer the closest possible picture of him and his career, for which the author and researcher have spared no effort.