Aquinas’ Averroism

Though, as we know, Aquinas is influenced by Ibn Sina, he has been mostly introduced as an opponent of Ibn Rushd (Averrose). In the present article, the author has shown that in many cases Aquinas is influenced by Ibn Rushd and in most cases in which he is in conflict with Ibn Sina, he relies upon Ibn Rushd’s views. Aquinas rejects Ibn Sina’s the rule of al- Wahid, doctrine of emanation, active intellect, and theory of knowledge; he has gone to reject these ideas, however, in the light of Ibn Rushd’s; and his oppositions to Ibn Sina is to some extent similar to Ibn Rushd’s opposition to Ibn Sina. It seems that Aquinas has adopted Ibn Rushd’s main views knowingly; he has introduced Ibn Rushd, however, in a way that it is as if Ibn Rushd opposes his own main views.