Averroes, Kant and the Origins of the Enlightenment: Reason and Revelation in Arab Thought (Library of Middle East History)

The twelfth-century philosopher Averroes is often identified by modern Arab thinkers as an early advocate of the Enlightenment. Saud M. S. Al-Tamamy demonstrates that an historical as well as comparative approach to Averroes’ thought refutes this widely held assumption. The philosophical doctrine of Averroes is compared with that of the key figure of the Enlightenment in Western thought, Immanuel Kant. By comparing Averroes and Kant, Al-Tamamy evaluates the ideologies of each thinker’s work and in particular focuses on their respective political implications on two social groups: the Elite, in Averroes’ case, and the Public, in the case of Kant. The book’s methodology is at once historical, analytical and communicative, and is especially relevant when so many thinkers - both Western and Middle Eastern - are anxious to find common denominators between the formations of Islamic and Western cultures. It responds to a need for comparative analysis in the field of Averroes studies, and takes on the challenge to uncover the philosopher’s influence on the Enlightenment. Chapter -- 1: Averroes' Relationship to the Debate on Enlightenment in Modern Arab Thought and an Evaluation of Methodological Approaches in the History of Political Thought -- Chapter 2: Averroes' Account of the Relationship between Revelation and Reason and its Political Implications -- Chapter 3: The Definition of Enlightenment, and Kant's Account of the Relationship between Revelation and Reason and its Political Implications -- Chapter 4: General Comparison: Outlining the Philosophical Projects of Averroes and Kant -- Chapter 5: A Comparison between the Philosophical Projects of Averroes and Kant Concerning the Question of the Relationship between Revelation and Reason, and its Political Implications -- Chapter 6: Conclusion The state of the debate : Enlightenment in contemporary Arab thought -- Revelation and reason, and politics : Averroes' account -- Revelation and reason, and politics, in the Enlightenment : Kant's account -- General comparison : outlining the philosophical projects of Averroes and Kant -- Mutual dependency or supreme rationality? : reason and revelation in Averroes and Kant -- Conclusion : searching for enlightenment. Compares the ideologies of 12th-century Arab philosopher Averroes to Immanuel Kant, focusing on their respective implications on two social groups: the elite in the case of Averroes and the public in the case of Kant.