Plato's Republic in the Islamic Context: New Perspectives on Averroes's Commentary

339 Pages·2022·4.259 MB·English

by  Alexander Orwin (editor)

Plato’s in the Islamic Context
Republic
Rochester Studies in
Medieval Political Thought
Edited by
Douglas Kries, Gonzaga University
Joshua Parens, University of Dallas
Augustine’s Political Thought
Edited by Richard J. Dougherty
Leo Strauss and the Recovery of Medieval Political Philosophy
Joshua Parens
Plato’s in the
Republic
Islamic Context
New Perspectives on Averroes’s Commentary
Edited by Alexander Orwin
The University of Rochester Press gratefully acknowledges generous support from the
Eric Voegelin Institute Publications Fund.
Research for chapter 3, “Expelling Dialectics from the Ideal State,” was supported by
an Israel Science Foundation grant for the project, “Hebrew Traditions of Aristotelian
Dialectics,” no. 2181/19. An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the
conference Plato, His Dialogues and Legacy at Bar Ilan University in 2018.
Copyright © 2022 by the Editor and Contributors
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no part of this work
may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public,
adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2022
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ISBN-13: 978-1-58046-011-8 (hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-1-80010-498-3 (ePDF)
ISBN-13: 978-1-80010-515-7 (ePUB)
ISSN: 2380-565X
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Orwin, Alexander, editor.
Title: Plato’s Republic in the Islamic context : new perspectives on Averroes’s
commentary / edited by Alexander Orwin.
Description: Rochester, NY : University of Rochester Press, 2022. | Series: Rochester
Studies in Medieval Political Thought, 2380-565X ; 3 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021047017 (print) | LCCN 2021047018 (ebook) | ISBN
9781648250118 (Hardback : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781800104983 (eBook
Other)
Subjects: LCSH: Plato. Republic. | Averroës, 1126–1198. Beʼur le-sefer hanhagat
ha-medinah le-Aplaṭon.
Classification: LCC JC71.P6 A8535 2022 (print) | LCC JC71.P6 (ebook) | DDC
321/.07—dc23/eng/20220125
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021047017
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021047018
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for
external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book and does not guarantee
that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Cover image: Plato. Line engraving by L. Vorsterman after Sir P. P. Rubens. Wellcome
Collection. Public Domain Mark. Background: Tom Fakler/Shutterstock.
Cover design: riverdesignbooks.com
Dedicated to Ralph Lerner
Translator of Averroes and teacher of many generations of students,
including the editor and several of the contributors to this volume.

Contents
Introduction 1
Alexander Orwin
Part One: Averroes and His Teachers
1 Imposing Alfarabi on Plato: Averroes’s Novel Placement of
the Platonic City 19
Alexander Orwin
2 Ibn Bajja: An Independent Reader of the Republic 40
Josep Puig Montada
Part Two: Poetry, Philosophy, and Logic
3 Expelling Dialectics from the Ideal State: Making the World
Safe for Philosophy in Averroes’s Commentary on Plato’s “Republic” 69
Yehuda Halper
4 Music, Poetry, and Politics in Averroes’s Commentary on Plato’s
“Republic” 87
Douglas Kries
Part Three: Law, Religion, and Philosophy
5 Averroes on Family and Property in the Commentary on Plato’s
“Republic” 113
Catarina Belo
6 Notes on Averroes’s Political Teaching 133
Shlomo Pines, translated by Alexander Orwin
7 The Sharīʿa of the Republic: Islamic Law and Philosophy in
Averroes’s Commentary on Plato’s “Republic” 160
Rasoul Namazi
viii contents
❧
8 An Indecisive Truth: Divine Law and Philosophy in the
Decisive Treatise and Commentary on Plato’s “Republic” 182
Karen Taliaferro
Part Four: Wisdom, Government, and the Character of the
Political Community
9 Averroes between Jihad and McWorld 203
Michael S. Kochin
10 The Essential Qualities of the Ruler in Averroes’s Commentary
on Plato’s “Republic” 212
Rosalie Helena de Souza Pereira
11 Natural Perfection or Divine Fiat 233
Joshua Parens
12 Philosopher-Kings and Counselors: How Should Philosophers
Participate in Politics? 253
Alexander Orwin
Part Five: Averroes’s Reception in Europe
13 Three Readings of Averroes’s Commentary on Plato’s “Republic”
in Medieval Jewish Thought 277
Alexander Green
14 The Two Hebrew-into-Latin Translations of Averroes’s
Commentary on Plato’s “Republic”: Method, Motivation, and
Context 297
Michael Engel
Selected Bibliography 319
Notes on the Contributors 323
Index 327
Introduction
Alexander Orwin
Plato’s Republic occupies a central place in the study of political philosophy.
From antiquity down to the present day, it has remained one of the most
frequently read, taught, and interpreted books in the philosophical canon.1
It is therefore both perplexing and unfortunate that the greatest medieval
commentary on the work remains so little studied. Averroes’s Commentary on
Plato’s “Republic” provides a worthy subject for the present anthology, which,
as far as we know, represents the first scholarly collection of its kind.2
Averroes was by no means the first of the Muslims falāsifa to study the
Republic. Inspired by Alfarabi’s claim that Platonic philosophy was the true
philosophy, generations of medieval Islamic falāsifa strove to understand and
expound the Republic. But Averroes alone has bequeathed a full-blown com-
mentary on Plato’s most famous work.3 Even Alfarabi, who made such fre-
quent and profitable use of Plato, has left us a commentary only on Plato’s
Laws.4 So while Averroes’s Commentary on Plato’s “Republic” clearly shows
the influence of his predecessors, most notably Alfarabi and Ibn Bajja, it
takes the project of commenting on Plato a step further. At the same time,
1 According to one website, it is the fifth most common book on syllabi.
Among so-called “classic” texts, only Marx’s Communist Manifesto ranks
higher. See Open Syllabus, https://opensyllabus.org, list of “Most Frequently
Assigned Titles.”
2 Averroes, On Plato’s “Republic,” trans. Ralph Lerner (Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 1974). In Hebrew: Averroes, Commentary on Plato’s
“Republic,” ed. E. I. J. Rosenthal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1969). Cited as R. Lerner’s and Rosenthal’s introductions and commentaries
are cited under their own names.
3 See Alfarabi, Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, trans. Muhsin Mahdi (Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press, 1962), 49–50.
4 Alfarabi, “Sommaire du Livre des ‘Lois’ du Platon,” ed. Therese-Ann Druart,
Bulletin des Études Orientales (50): 110–55.