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Averroist

Averroist

1 9.9
A person who follows the ideas of Averroes about using reason to read Aristotle
  • noun
  • /ˈævəˌrɔɪst/
  • Specialized
: averroísta
  • In discussions about medieval philosophy, being labeled an Averroist implies a commitment to rationalism.

Examples

  • His critics accused him of being an Averroist who questioned the validity of religious tenets in particular and had a doubting attitude in general.

    Academic text (2018)
  • Cavalcanti, who was known to be an Averroist, must have read him along with the other Italian medieval poets in Latin translation.

    Academic text (2018)
  • Aquinas's Critique of the Averroists.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Aquinas presents two attempts of the Averroists to explain how a human being thinks when the principle of thinking is a separate substance, and then shows why they are unsuccessful.

    Academic text (2017)
  • According to the Averroists' first explanation, a single intelligible species has two subjects: the separate possible intellect itself and the phantasms found in human persons.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The most remarkable thing he did, though, was to place both Aquinas and Siger of Brabant, the notorious Averroist professor at the University of Paris, in Canto X, the heaven of the sun, in Paradise.

    Academic text (2018)
  • So if this is the case of Socrates' thinking, it follows that the principle of thinking must be a form of Socrates, which is precisely the position Aquinas himself takes great pains to establish against the Averroists.

    Academic text (2017)
  • If the Averroists conceded that the union of the possible intellect and the body is merely an accidental aggregation, it would follow that Socrates as a whole will not be a primary substance in Aristotelian categories.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The summary above of Aquinas's critique of Averroists' doctrine of two subjects already indicates that, for Aquinas, thinking is ascribed to a person because he has a cognitive power that serves as the active principle of thinking.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The philosophers who support Averroes' interpretations of Aristotle are often referred to as Averroists.

Surface Forms

Averroist singular
Averroists plural

Morphology

Averroist = Averroes (transparent) = Averroes + ist

The noun is formed from the proper name Averroes plus the productive agentive suffix '-ist' meaning 'a supporter or follower', which is a transparent and expected derivation.

Etymology

Averroist comes from the name Averroes and the ending -ist meaning 'a follower', so an Averroist is a person who follows Averroes' ideas, especially his use of 'reason' to explain 'Aristotle'.