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

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I say:they are therefore two things, whereas the existence of itsessence without the existence of its essence cannot beimagined, and if the knowledge of all things formed a unity, itwould be impossible to imagine this duality. Therefore allthose philosophers who acknowledge that the First knowssomething besides its own essence have undoubtedly at thesame time acknowledged a plurality.The summary of this objection to the proposition that the First knowsboth itself and something else is that knowing one’s self is different fromknowing something else. But Ghazali falls here into confusion. For this canbe understood in two ways: first, that Zaid’s knowledge of his ownindividuality is identical with his knowledge of other things, and this is nottrue; secondly, that man’s knowledge of other things, namely of existents,is identical with the knowledge of his own essence, and this is true. ‘ Andthe proof is that his essence is nothing but his knowledge of the existents.z For if man like all other beings knows only the quiddity whichcharacterizes him, and if his quiddity is the knowledge of things, thenman’s self-knowledge is necessarily the knowledge of all other things, forif they were different his essence would be different from his knowledge ofthings. This is clear in the case of the artisan, for his essence, throughwhich he is called an artisan, is nothing but his knowledge of the productsof art. ; And as to Ghazali’s words, that if his self-knowledge were identicalwith his knowledge of other things, then the negation of the one would bethe negation of the other and the affirmation of the one the affirmation ofthe other, he means that if the self-consciousness of man were identicalwith his knowledge of other things, he could not know his own self withoutknowing the other things; that is, if he were ignorant of other things, hewould not know his own self, and this proposition is in part true, in partfalse. For the quiddity of man is knowledge, and knowledge is the thingknown in one respect and is something different in another. And if he isignorant of a certain object of knowledge, he is ignorant of a part of hisessence, and if he is ignorant of all knowables, he is ignorant of hisessence; and to deny man this knowledge is absolutely the same as todeny man’s selfconsciousness, for if the thing known is denied to theknower in so far as the thing known and knowledge are one, man’s self-272
consciousness itself is denied. But in so far as the thing known is notknowledge, it is not man, and to deny man this knowledge does not implythe denial of man’s self-consciousness. And the same applies to individualmen. For Zaid’s knowledge of Amr is not Zaid himself, and therefore Zaidcan know his own self, while being ignorant of Amr.Ghazali says:If it is said: `The First does not know other things in firstintention. No, it knows its own essence as the principle of theuniverse, and from this its knowledge of the universe followsin second intention, since it cannot know its essence exceptas a principle, for this is the true sense of its essence, and itcannot know its essence as a principle for other things,without the other things entering into its knowledge by way ofimplication and consequence; it is not impossible that fromits essence consequences should follow, and this does notimply a plurality in its essence, and only a plurality in itsessence is impossible’-there are different ways of answeringthis. First your assertion that it knows its essence to be aprinciple is a presumption; it suffices that it knows theexistence of its essence, and the knowledge that it is aprinciple is an addition to its knowledge of its essence, sincebeing a principle is a relation to the essence and it ispossible that it should know its essence and not this relation,and if this being-a-principle were not a relation, its essencewould be manifold and it would have existence and be aprinciple, and this forms a duality. And just as a man canknow his essence without knowing that he is an effect, forhis being an effect is a relation to his cause, so the fact thatthe First is a cause is a relation between itself and its object.This consequence is implied in the mere statement of thephilosophers that it knows that it is a principle, since thiscomprises the knowledge of its essence and of its being aprinciple, and this is a relation, and the relation is not theessence, and the knowledge of the relation is not theknowledge of the essence and we have already given theproof of this, namely that we can imagine knowledge of the273
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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
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I say:for this it really is. But th
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I say:from His way and deviate from
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We say:The philosophers tried to ac
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bodies prior to them. Thus they wer
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thinks only its own essence, and th
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suppose its agent to act like an ag
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draw this conclusion. For if the pr
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And that one and the same existent
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unique mover . And just as the remo
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a plurality of existents without a
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In this discussion of the intellect
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I say:The meaning of this statement
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I say:is the principle of these dif
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the possible nature cannot become n
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I say:a cause, what makes it imposs
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qualitative, or in whichsoever of t
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But if one should say to us: ‘Cer
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receive a stronger degree of assent
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as the differences depend on differ
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moment from its action, the world w
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And as to Ghazali's words:It is eas
Page 221 and 222: However, it is not possible that th
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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: All their proofs where this problem
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
Page 281 and 282: It may be said that if it is assert
Page 283 and 284: And as to the affirmation of the ph
Page 285 and 286: two existents which differ in an ex
Page 287 and 288: Ghazali says:It may be said, `This
Page 289 and 290: I say:beings should exist by themse
Page 291 and 292: because they found that the acciden
Page 293 and 294: And as to the term `substance’ wh
Page 295 and 296: I say:black and white, fourness and
Page 297 and 298: I say:constitution of the essence o
Page 299 and 300: principle which is the cause of tha
Page 301 and 302: Gods would have to be separated by
Page 303 and 304: distinguished by the fact that one
Page 305 and 306: one of these natures is superior to
Page 307 and 308: Ghazali opposes this statement with
Page 309 and 310: against them about colouredness and
Page 311 and 312: I say:mediator, participates in thi
Page 313 and 314: application of the term ‘necessar
Page 315 and 316: meaning is to ask whether a thing p
Page 317 and 318: we have rent them . . . ‘and the
Page 319 and 320: Having assumed that they deny the q
Page 321 and 322: 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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