Tahafut_al-Tahafut-transl-Engl-van-den-Bergh

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not have matter in the way the generable bodies need this, but they areeither, as Themistius affirms, forms,z or possess matter in an equivocalsense of the word. And I say that either the matters of the heavenly bodiesare identical with their souls, or these matters are essentially alive, notalive through a life bestowed on them.Ghazali says:I say:To this there are two answers. The first is that it can besaid: Since it follows from the tenets of your school that thebodies of the world are eternal, it must follow too that theyhave no cause, and your statement that on a secondexamination such a conclusion must be rejected will itself berejected when we discuss God's unity and afterwards thedenial of attributes to God.Ghazali means that since they cannot prove the unity of the FirstPrinciple, and since they cannot prove either that the One cannot be bodyforsince they cannot deny the attributes, the First Principle must,according to them, be an essence endowed with attributes, and such anessence must be a body or a potency in a body4-it follows that the FirstPrinciple which has no cause is the celestial bodies. And this conclusion isvalid against those who might argue in the way he says the philosophersargue. The philosophers, however, do not argue thus, and do not say thatthey are unable to prove the unity and incorporeality of the First Principle.But this question will be discussed later.Ghazali says:The second answer, and it is the answer proper to thisquestion, is to say: it is established as a possibility that theseexistents can have a cause, but perhaps for this cause thereis another cause, and so on ad infinitum. And you have noright to assert that to admit an infinite series of causes isimpossible, for we ask you, `Do you know this by immediatenecessary intuition or through a middle term?' Any claim tointuition is excluded, and any method of deductive proof isforbidden to you, since you admit celestial revolutions222
without an initial term; and if you permit a coming intoexistence for what is without ends it is not impossible thatthe series should consist of causal relations and have as afinal term an effect which has no further effect, although inthe other direction the series does not end in a cause whichhas no anterior cause,' just as the past has a final term,namely the everchanging present, but no first term. If youprotest that the past occurrences do not exist together at onemoment or at certain moments, and that what does not existcannot be described as finite or infinite, you are forced toadmit this simultaneous existence for human souls inabstraction from their bodies; for they do not perish,according to you, and the number of souls in abstractionfrom their bodies is infinite, since the series of becomingfrom sperm a to man and from man to sperm a is infinite,and every man dies, but his soul remains and is numericallydifferent from the soul of any man who dies before,simultaneously, or afterwards, although all these souls areone in species. Therefore at any moment there is an infinitenumber of souls in existence.If you object that souls are not joined to each other, andthat they have no order, either by nature or by position, andthat you regard only those infinite existents as impossiblewhich have order in space, like bodies which have a spatialorder of higher and lower, or have a natural order like causeand effect, and that this is not the case with souls; weanswer: 'This theory about position does not follow any morethan its contrary;' you cannot regard one of the two cases asimpossible without involving the other, for where is yourproof for the distinction? And you cannot deny that thisinfinite number of souls must have an order, as some areprior to others and the past days and nights are infinite. If wesuppose the birth of only one soul every day and night, thesum of souls, born in sequence one after the other, amountsat the present moment to infinity.223
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TAHAFUT AL-TAHAFUT(The Incoherence
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THE FOURTEENTH DISCUSSION: To refut
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occupies the central place in the u
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commentator of Plato and Aristotle,
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and Physics, have left the religion
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gives the philosophical arguments a
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eternity of the world. Plato himsel
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it is God who is passive; the impel
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of events out of time is like the u
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God everything is possible, a theor
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by the philosophers, of the emanati
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God possesses self-consciousness).
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and is found in Thomas Aquinas and
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He himself does not affirm that the
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is immortal when he will see in him
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For the unphilosophical, however, t
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Concerning the Eternity of the Worl
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for both agents, i.e. so far as the
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an agent endowed with a power which
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I say:analogous to our decision, it
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I sayinadmissible and that to admit
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I say:sun performs in twenty-four h
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possible, not necessary, and he wou
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valid so far as it concerns externa
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do not know of any one who makes a
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sophistical arguments is dishonest,
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say that the age of the world is a
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I say:that two blacks in two substr
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I say:inside the world, neither con
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similar things, a will which distin
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whereas the globe of heaven is homo
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constitute the poles. But the diffe
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move itself in space, in a definite
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deeds?’ May God make us perspicac
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seeing are equivalent in the eye. T
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would be no possibility of their av
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through the medium of a being etern
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This argument is sophistical. The t
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and with Him there was the world an
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I say:If we should say, for instanc
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The primitive meaning of the two wo
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of the fact that motion inheres nec
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and then assumes a time which has n
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I say:and places of the world. The
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I say:eternal. So much as far as bo
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I say:which doubles the whole of th
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I say:world smaller than He has cre
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I say:possible that the world might
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I say:and possible at another?’ I
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pronounce for one of these opposite
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I say:existence whether earlier or
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I say:and needs something to which
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I sayThe second proof is that the i
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I say:essence nor matter’ and the
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I sayalthough it is not impressed o
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Ghazali says:I say:As regards their
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I say:He wants to force those who a
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all his books this is most clearly
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extension is nothing but time, and
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concedes the existence of an entity
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I say:connected with another condit
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so only through the corruption and
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that it passes into a relative non-
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I say:the remainder; indeed He can
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This theory of the flux of all exis
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moments is constant, and how can wh
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I say:which has a reasonable sense,
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things are two: matter and form, an
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I say:an imposture where their prin
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I say:says that the lamp makes the
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anterior to it. If God therefore is
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it tends and has an inclination to
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and to exclude the metaphorical sen
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Ghazali says, answering in defence
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I say:connected with Him, since the
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from it, it exists, not when the th
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All this is true. The act of the ag
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of the water, for this happens afte
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existence of the celestial bodies o
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I say:We answer: The consequence of
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one occurred, they gave three answe
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is partly the cause of unity, partl
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I say:is therefore nineteen; and th
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each other is a theory not known am
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defined acts can only arise from be
Page 171 and 172: and earth that he should be of thos
Page 173 and 174: I say:another be identical?’ we a
Page 175 and 176: the universal, the other specific d
Page 177 and 178: similar follows concerning the nece
Page 179 and 180: I say:for this it really is. But th
Page 181 and 182: I say:from His way and deviate from
Page 183 and 184: We say:The philosophers tried to ac
Page 185 and 186: bodies prior to them. Thus they wer
Page 187 and 188: thinks only its own essence, and th
Page 189 and 190: suppose its agent to act like an ag
Page 191 and 192: draw this conclusion. For if the pr
Page 193 and 194: And that one and the same existent
Page 195 and 196: unique mover . And just as the remo
Page 197 and 198: a plurality of existents without a
Page 199 and 200: In this discussion of the intellect
Page 201 and 202: I say:The meaning of this statement
Page 203 and 204: I say:is the principle of these dif
Page 205 and 206: the possible nature cannot become n
Page 207 and 208: I say:a cause, what makes it imposs
Page 209 and 210: qualitative, or in whichsoever of t
Page 211 and 212: But if one should say to us: ‘Cer
Page 213 and 214: receive a stronger degree of assent
Page 215 and 216: as the differences depend on differ
Page 217 and 218: moment from its action, the world w
Page 219 and 220: And as to Ghazali's words:It is eas
Page 221: However, it is not possible that th
Page 225 and 226: I say:The difference between these
Page 227 and 228: I say:cause, but not of the series
Page 229 and 230: I say:If it is objected that this m
Page 231 and 232: or non-eternity of the world, and w
Page 233 and 234: THE FIFTH DISCUSSIONTO SHOW THEIR I
Page 235 and 236: I say:colour because of a cause whi
Page 237 and 238: black must be a colour either by bl
Page 239 and 240: I say:The answer is that we concede
Page 241 and 242: I say:composed of genus and species
Page 243 and 244: necessary existent, and this is imp
Page 245 and 246: For man before his existence has a
Page 247 and 248: and it is thus their task to refer
Page 249 and 250: identical with the knower of the sh
Page 251 and 252: And when it is said that He is gene
Page 253 and 254: I say:separate from matter is possi
Page 255 and 256: exist both an essence and attribute
Page 257 and 258: by themselves, just as, if their ex
Page 259 and 260: If it is answered that the absolute
Page 261 and 262: I say:need a subject, as is the cas
Page 263 and 264: I say:If it is said: In the same wa
Page 265 and 266: would have to exist by itself, and
Page 267 and 268: essence is not true, for every esse
Page 269 and 270: Composition is not like existence,
Page 271 and 272: All their proofs where this problem
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consciousness itself is denied. But
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things, and our intellect, therefor
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I say:both, for the plurality and t
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be a knowledge in act and that ther
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It may be said that if it is assert
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And as to the affirmation of the ph
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two existents which differ in an ex
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Ghazali says:It may be said, `This
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I say:beings should exist by themse
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because they found that the acciden
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And as to the term `substance’ wh
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I say:black and white, fourness and
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I say:constitution of the essence o
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principle which is the cause of tha
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Gods would have to be separated by
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distinguished by the fact that one
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one of these natures is superior to
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Ghazali opposes this statement with
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against them about colouredness and
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I say:mediator, participates in thi
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application of the term ‘necessar
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meaning is to ask whether a thing p
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we have rent them . . . ‘and the
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Having assumed that they deny the q
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I say:plurality and duality on the
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assume one thing eternal by itself
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I say:But the body is not a means f
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views, or regarded this as permissi
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wisdom in the product itself, namel
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his attacks on the philosophers in
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I say:not possible, and your statem
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together, and the difference betwee
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I say:universe is known to God, and
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acknowledged in the case of this pr
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all things is attachment to matter
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simply the hot body that accepts co
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this conjunction and disjunction mu
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not imply (as he falsely affirms of
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I say:philosophers do, or abandon t
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consequences which follow from his
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But the knowledge of the Creator op
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I say:‘Well, let the seeing then
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acts which proceed from the arts, a
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the utmost excellence, which is kno
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move in circles and that between th
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This is what we wanted to do first,
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the person who takes up different p
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universals must, by admitting in Hi
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and if you acknowledge an eternal w
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I say:But one may say: Why is this
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existents would be the cause of His
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I say:will, because His will has th
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they exclude heaven from this kind
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And as to his affirmation ‘that t
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also have to ask about these bodies
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THE FIFTEENTH DISCUSSIONTO REFUTE T
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Everything he says here about the p
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himself through trying to be in an
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For instance, when a man sees that
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on sublunary existence, so that, if
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I say:any case, has to be proved, s
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causes. Sometimes we know part of t
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particular perceptions; that is, th
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shows it to him by way of revelatio
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if, however, reason does riot perce
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And if they reverse this against us
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the irascible and the concupiscible
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study a problem common to theoretic
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terms of the conclusion are present
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The ancient philosophers did not di
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fire; for we regard it as possible
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To deny the existence of efficient
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is not necessary, the philosophers
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I say:notwithstanding the fact that
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fire-not, however, absolutely, but
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When the theologians admit that the
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the angels there should arise a qua
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serpent, and the scorpion, for thei
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identification of black and white i
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objectionable, and contrary to comm
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that the judgement of our intellect
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from the wolf while it walks behind
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I say:it receives from the angels k
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about its premisses, for the major
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I say:in the doctrine of the philos
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a faculty in a body; and it follows
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indivisible; if the relation, howev
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fainting, drunkenness, and the illn
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saying that knowing is the opposite
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Such arguments are all arguments of
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claimed to be its organ, so that it
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I say:his head than to his heels, a
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I say:others-yes, it may be that th
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I say:anger and the observation of
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that Plato was forced to introduce
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I say:thing occurs, does not produc
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separate substance has no opposite.
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The Fourth DiscussionHaving finishe
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which are attributed to Solomon. An
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And all this, as you see, is confus
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