Averroes, (Arabic Ibn Rushd)
1126-1198.n philosopher who argued for the
eternity of matter and against the
immortality of the individual soul.  His
philosophical writings, including
commentaries on Aristotle and on Plato's
Republic, became known to the West through
Latin translations.  He influenced Christian
and Jewish writers into the Renaissance, and
reconciled Islamic and Greek thought in that
philosophic truth comes through reason.  St
Thomas Aquinas opposed this position.
Averroes was born in Cordoba, Spain, trained
in medicine, and became physician to the
caliph as well as judge of Seville and
Cordoba.  He was accused of heresy by the
Islamic authorities and banished 1195.  Later
he was recalled, and died in Marrakesh. 
`Averroism' was taught at Paris and elsewhere
in the 13th century by the `Averroists', who
defended a distinction between philosophical
truth and revealed religion.

Subject by: Russell Webb