Averroes

Among the distinguished contributors to medicine at this time, though
more a philosopher than a physician, is the famous Averroes, whose full
Arabic name among his contemporaries was Abul-Welid Mohammed Ben Ahmed
Ibn Roschd el-Maliki. Like Avenzoar, of whom he was the intimate
personal friend, and Abulcasis and Maimonides, he was born in the south
of Spain. He was in high favor with the King of Morocco and of Spain,
El-Mansur Jacub, often known as Almansor, who made him one of his
counsellors. His works are much more important for philosophy than for
medicine, and his philosophical writings gave him a place only second to
that of Aristotle in the Western world during the Middle Ages. Averroism
is still a subject of at least academic interest, and Renan's monograph
on it and its author was one of the popular books of the latter half of
the nineteenth century in philosophic circles. In spite of his
friendship with the Moorish King and with Avenzoar, he fell under the
suspicion of free thinking and was brought to trial with a number of
personal friends, who occupied high positions in the Moorish
government. He escaped with his life, but only after great risks, and he
was banished to a suburb of Cordova, in which only Jews were allowed to
live. By personal influence he succeeded in securing the pardon of
himself and friends, and then was summoned to the court of the son and
successor of El-Mansur in Morocco. He died, not long after, in 1198.

Altogether there are some thirty-three works of Averroes on philosophy
and science. Only three of these are concerned with medicine. One is the
Colliget, so-called, containing seven books, on anatomy, physiology,
pathology, diagnostics, materia medica, hygiene, and therapy. Then there
is a commentary on the Cantica of Avicenna, and a tractate on the
Theriac. Averroes' idea in writing about medicine was to apply his
particular system of philosophy to medical science. His intimate
relations with other great physicians of the time, and in particular his
close friendship with Avenzoar, enabled him to get abundant medical
information in faultless order so far as knowledge then went, but his
theoretic speculations, instead of helping medicine, as he thought they
would, and as philosophers have always been inclined to think as regards
their theoretic contributions, were not only not of value, but to some
extent at least hindered human progress by diverting men from the field
of observation to that of speculation. It is interesting to realize that
Averroes did in his time what Descartes did many centuries later, and
many another brilliant thinker has done before and since.

Next: Arabian Influence
Previous: Avenzoar

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