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Document Details : Title: Two Hebrew Passages from Averroes's Middle Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics XII, their Material Circumstances, and the Evolution of his Thought Author(s): MEYRAV, Yoav Journal: Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales Volume: 93 Issue: 1 Date: 2026 Pages: 39-72 DOI: 10.2143/RTPM.93.1.3295660 Abstract : This study investigates an anonymous Hebrew translation of two extensive passages from Averroes’s Middle Commentary on Book XII of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Preserved as appendices to a specific Hebrew version of Averroes’s Epitome of the Metaphysics, these passages were explicitly introduced to offer Averroes’s alternative and superior views to the ones found in the Epitome: one passage with regard to the cosmos’ ontological structure and another concerning God’s self-intelligizing. The article provides a philosophical and philological analysis of these passages on their own terms, in comparison with the two known Hebrew translations of the complete Middle Commentary, and in light of the recent publication and study of the surviving Arabic portions of this work. The analysis suggests that Averroes experienced a temporary ‘Themistian’ phase, in which he identified the First Principle with the existents and from which he subsequently withdrew. It also highlights contemporary awareness of the gravity of Averroes’s shift away from the Avicennan cosmology he adopted in the Epitome. |
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