Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph
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Abstract:
In his commentary on Aristotle’s De Anima, Zabarella uses in a significant way Averroes’ Great Commentary on the very same Aristotelian work. It is commonly believed that Zaberalla’s commentary was unfinished when he died, given that it was published after his death. Hence, we would be dealing with an incomplete work. However, there are serious indications that Zabarella consciously omitted to comment on certain fragments, given that he was above all, and even almost exclusively, interested in the topic of the human soul. As to Averroes’ influence on Zabarella’s own doctrine of the soul, it has received different evaluations in contemporary scholarship. Nevertheless, the prevailing common opinion is to detect in Zabarella an outspoken critical attitude toward his Arabic predecessor. But such a judgment is clearly in need of qualification. Based on three fragments (one for each of the three books), this study shows that Zabarella considers Averroes as an authority, an “auctoritas”. On several occasions, he fully subscribes to the interpretation provided by Averroes. Finally, he ‘excuses’ Averroes for some of his mistaken interpretations by pointing out that the Arab thinker was misled by errors in the translation of Aristotle’ text that he had at his disposal. Hence Zabarella’s attitude towards Averroes is undoubtedly complex, as it is best shown by the fact that he clearly avoids both extremes, that is, complete rejection or blind acceptance.