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

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temporal parts, in so far as they are infinite in number, is not aphilosophical principle; on the contrary they deny it most strongly, and onlythe materialists affirm it. For the sum must consist either of a finite numberof transitory members or of an infinite number. If the former is the case, itis generally admitted that the members must also be generically transitory.For the latter case there are two theories. The materialists believe that thetotality is of a possible nature and that the collectivity must be eternal andwithout a cause . The philosophers admit this infinity and believe that suchgenera, because they consist of possible transitory constituents, mustnecessarily have an external cause, lasting and eternal, from which theyacquire their eternity . It is not true either, as Ghazali seems to imply, thatthe philosophers believe that the impossibility of an infinite series ofcauses depends on the impossibility that the eternal should consist of aninfinity of constituents. They affirm that the eternity of these genericallydifferent movements must lead to one single movement, and that thereason why there exist genera which are transitory in their individuals, buteternal as a whole, is that there is an existent, eternal partly and totally,and this is the body of the heavens. The infinite movements aregenerically infinite only because of the one single continuous eternalmovement of the body of the heavens. And only for the mind does themovement of heaven seem composed of many circular movements. Andthe movement of the body of the heavens acquires its eternity-even if itsparticular movements are transitory-through a mover which must alwaysmove and through a body which also must always be moved and cannotstop in its motion, as happens with things which are moved in thesublunary world.About genera there are three theories, that of those who say that allgenera are transitory, because the individuals in them are finite, and thatof those who say that there are genera which are eternal and have no firstor last term, because they appear by their nature to have infiniteindividuals; the latter are divided into two groups: those, namely thephilosophers, who say that such genera can only be truly said to beeverlasting, because of one and the same necessary cause, without whichthey would perish on innumerable occasions in infinite time; and those,namely the materialists, who believe that the existence of the individualsof these genera is sufficient to make them eternal. It is important to takenote of these three theories, for the whole controversy about the eternity230
or non-eternity of the world, and whether the world has an agent or not, isbased on these fundamental propositions. The theologians and those whobelieve in a temporal creation of the world are at one extreme, thematerialists at the other, while the philosophers hold an intermediateposition.If all this is once established, you will see that the proposition that theman who allows the existence of an infinite series of causes cannot admita first cause is false, and that on the contrary the opposite is evident,namely, that the man who does not acknowledge infinite causes cannotprove the existence of an eternal first cause, since it is the existence ofinfinite effects which demands the necessity of an eternal cause fromwhich the infinite causes acquire their existence; for if not, the genera, allof whose individuals are temporal, would be necessarily finite. And in thisand no other way can the eternal become the cause of temporal existents,and the existence of infinite temporal existents renders the existence of asingle eternal first principle necessary, and there is no God but He.Ghazali, answering this objection in the name of the philosophers, says:The philosophers might say: The circular movements andthe forms of the elements do not exist at the presentmoment; there actually exists only one single form of them,and what does not exist can be called neither finite norinfinite, unless one supposes them to exist in theimagination, and things which are only suppositions in themind cannot be regarded as impossible, even if certain ofthese suppositions are supposed to be causes of othersuppositions;' for man assumes this only in his imagination,and the discussion refers only to things in reality, not tothings in the mind. The only difficulty concerns the souls ofthe dead and, indeed, some philosophers have arrived at thetheory that there is only one eternal soul before it is unitedwith bodies, and that after its separation from the bodies itbecomes one again, so that it has no numerical quantity andcan certainly not be called infinite. Other philosophers havethought that the soul follows from the constitution of thebody, that death is nothing but the annihilation of the soul,and that the soul cannot subsist by itself without the body. In231
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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
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and earth that he should be of thos
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I say:another be identical?’ we a
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the universal, the other specific d
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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 and 222: However, it is not possible that th
Page 223 and 224: without an initial term; and if you
Page 225 and 226: I say:The difference between these
Page 227 and 228: I say:cause, but not of the series
Page 229: I say:If it is objected that this m
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
Page 273 and 274: consciousness itself is denied. But
Page 275 and 276: things, and our intellect, therefor
Page 277 and 278: I say:both, for the plurality and t
Page 279 and 280: 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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