Número 29 - 2005
Articles

Did Averroes invent a theory about two subjects of thought?

Published 2013-11-28

How to Cite

Brenet, J. B. (2013). Did Averroes invent a theory about two subjects of thought?. Tópicos, Revista De Filosofía, 29(1), 53–86. https://doi.org/10.21555/top.v29i1.212

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Abstract

According to Thomas Aquinas, Averroes's philosophy of mind is characterized by the doctrine of the «double subject», which is found in his Long Commentary on the De anima. As is well-known, Averroes asserts that the intelligibles in act or theoretical intelligibles may be said to have two subjects (duo subiecta): the material intellect and the image of the cogitative power, whose connection allows individual human beings to think. We try here to know if it is properly a “theory” produced by Averroes. By analyzing all the texts dealing with it, we both intend to justify the use of the term “subiectum” applied to the image and to show that the expression “duo subiecta”, equivocal from a lexical point of view, is totally clear from a conceptual one. The doctrine of the double subject is certainly a thesis of Averroes stemming from his latter stage of his philosophy and his new teaching on the material intellect, but it is not, contrary to the interpretation of his Latin opponents, the doctrine of the two “substrates”, which would put man in the second place of the intelligible in act.

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