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

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arguments in the following form: How can man’s identity be attributed tobody with all its accidents? For bodies are continually in dissolution andnutrition replaces what is dissolved, so that when we see a child, afterseparation from its mother’s womb, fall ill a few times, become thin andthen fat again, and grow up, we may safely say that after forty years noparticle remains of what there was when its mother was delivered of it.Indeed, the child began its existence out of parts of the sperm alone, butnothing of the particles of the sperm remains in it; no, all this is dissolvedand has changed into something else and then this body has becomeanother. Still we say that the identical man remains and his notions remainwith him from the beginning of his youth although all bodily parts havechanged, and this shows that the soul has an existence outside the bodyand that the body is its organ. Now the first part of this argument, that allthings are in a state of flux and that of the bodily life of man no partremains identical, is textually found in Montaigne’s Apologv of Raymondde Sebond. Montaigne has taken it from Plutarch, and the Arabicphilosophers may have borrowed it from the same source from whichPlutarch has taken it. The argument of the philosophers that matter isevanescent, but the soul a stable identity, which is also given by theChristian philosopher Nemesius in his De natura hominis (a booktranslated into Arabic), who ascribes it to Ammonius Saccas andNumenius, is basically Platonic and Neoplatonic, and strangely enough,although he refutes it here, it is adduced by Ghazali himself in hisVivification of Theology. Socrates says in the Platonic dialogue Cratylus:‘Can we truly say that there is knowledge, Cratylus, if all things arecontinually changing and nothing remains? For knowledge cannotcontinue unless it remains and keeps its identity. But if knowledgechanges its very essence, it will lose at once its identity and there will beno knowledge.’ Plotinus (Enn. iv. 7. 3) argues that matter, in its continualchanging, cannot explain the identity of the soul. And he says in abeautiful passage (Enn. iv. 7. 10) the idea of which Avicenna has copied:‘One should contemplate the nature of everything in its purity, sincewhat is added is ever an obstacle to its knowledge. Contemplatetherefore the soul in its abstraction or rather let him who makes thisabstraction contemplate himself in this state and he will know that he28
is immortal when he will see in himself the purity of the intellect, for hewill see his intellect contemplate nothing sensible, nothing mortal, butapprehending the eternal through the eternal.’This passage bears some relation to Descartes’s dictum cogito ergosum, but whereas Plotinus affirms the self-consciousness of a stableidentity, Descartes states only that every thought has a subject, an ego.Neither the one, nor the other shows that this subject is my ego in thesense of my undefinable unique personality, my awareness who I am: thatI am, for instance, John and not Peter, my consciousness of the continuityof my identity from birth to death, my knowledge that at the same time Iam master and slave of an identical body, whatever the changes may bein that body, and that as long as I live I am a unique and an identicalwhole of body and soul. Plautus’ Sosia, who was not a philosopher,expresses himself (Amphitruo, line 447) in almost the same way asDescartes-‘sed quom cogito, equidem certo idem sum qui fui semper’-butthe introduction of the words semper and idem renders the statementfallacious; from mere consciousness the lasting identity of my personalitycannot be inferred.Ghazali answers this point by saying that animals and plants also,notwithstanding that their matter is continually changing, preserve theiridentity, although nobody believes that this identity is based on a spiritualprinciple. Averroës regards this objection as justified.The second argument is based on the theory of universals. Sincethought apprehends universals which are not in a particular place andhave no individuality, they cannot be material, since everything material isindividual and is in space. Against this theory of universals Ghazalidevelops, under Stoic influence, his nominalistic theory which is probablythe theory held by the Ash‘arites in general. This theory is quasi-identicalwith Berkeley’s nominalistic conception and springs from the sameassumption that thinking is nothing but the having of images. By a strangecoincidence both Ghazali and Berkeley give the example of a hand: whenwe have an idea of a hand as a universal, what really happens is that wehave a representation of a particular hand, since there are no universals.But this particular hand is capable of representing for us any possible29
Page 1 and 2: TAHAFUT AL-TAHAFUT(The Incoherence
Page 3 and 4: THE FOURTEENTH DISCUSSION: To refut
Page 5 and 6: occupies the central place in the u
Page 7 and 8: commentator of Plato and Aristotle,
Page 9 and 10: and Physics, have left the religion
Page 11 and 12: gives the philosophical arguments a
Page 13 and 14: eternity of the world. Plato himsel
Page 15 and 16: it is God who is passive; the impel
Page 17 and 18: of events out of time is like the u
Page 19 and 20: God everything is possible, a theor
Page 21 and 22: by the philosophers, of the emanati
Page 23 and 24: God possesses self-consciousness).
Page 25 and 26: and is found in Thomas Aquinas and
Page 27: He himself does not affirm that the
Page 31 and 32: For the unphilosophical, however, t
Page 33 and 34: Concerning the Eternity of the Worl
Page 35 and 36: for both agents, i.e. so far as the
Page 37 and 38: an agent endowed with a power which
Page 39 and 40: I say:analogous to our decision, it
Page 41 and 42: I sayinadmissible and that to admit
Page 43 and 44: I say:sun performs in twenty-four h
Page 45 and 46: possible, not necessary, and he wou
Page 47 and 48: valid so far as it concerns externa
Page 49 and 50: do not know of any one who makes a
Page 51 and 52: sophistical arguments is dishonest,
Page 53 and 54: say that the age of the world is a
Page 55 and 56: I say:that two blacks in two substr
Page 57 and 58: I say:inside the world, neither con
Page 59 and 60: similar things, a will which distin
Page 61 and 62: whereas the globe of heaven is homo
Page 63 and 64: constitute the poles. But the diffe
Page 65 and 66: move itself in space, in a definite
Page 67 and 68: deeds?’ May God make us perspicac
Page 69 and 70: seeing are equivalent in the eye. T
Page 71 and 72: would be no possibility of their av
Page 73 and 74: through the medium of a being etern
Page 75 and 76: This argument is sophistical. The t
Page 77 and 78: and with Him there was the world an
Page 79 and 80:
I say:If we should say, for instanc
Page 81 and 82:
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
Page 91 and 92:
I say:which doubles the whole of th
Page 93 and 94:
I say:world smaller than He has cre
Page 95 and 96:
I say:possible that the world might
Page 97 and 98:
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
Page 103 and 104:
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
Page 113 and 114:
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
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However, it is not possible that th
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without an initial term; and if you
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I say:The difference between these
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I say:cause, but not of the series
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I say:If it is objected that this m
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or non-eternity of the world, and w
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THE FIFTH DISCUSSIONTO SHOW THEIR I
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I say:colour because of a cause whi
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black must be a colour either by bl
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I say:The answer is that we concede
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I say:composed of genus and species
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necessary existent, and this is imp
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For man before his existence has a
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and it is thus their task to refer
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identical with the knower of the sh
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And when it is said that He is gene
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I say:separate from matter is possi
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exist both an essence and attribute
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by themselves, just as, if their ex
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If it is answered that the absolute
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I say:need a subject, as is the cas
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I say:If it is said: In the same wa
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would have to exist by itself, and
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essence is not true, for every esse
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Composition is not like existence,
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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
Page 307 and 308:
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
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
Page 325 and 326:
I say:But the body is not a means f
Page 327 and 328:
views, or regarded this as permissi
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wisdom in the product itself, namel
Page 331 and 332:
his attacks on the philosophers in
Page 333 and 334:
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
Page 341 and 342:
all things is attachment to matter
Page 343 and 344:
simply the hot body that accepts co
Page 345 and 346:
this conjunction and disjunction mu
Page 347 and 348:
not imply (as he falsely affirms of
Page 349 and 350:
I say:philosophers do, or abandon t
Page 351 and 352:
consequences which follow from his
Page 353 and 354:
But the knowledge of the Creator op
Page 355 and 356:
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
Page 361 and 362:
move in circles and that between th
Page 363 and 364:
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
Page 369 and 370:
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
Page 375 and 376:
I say:will, because His will has th
Page 377 and 378:
they exclude heaven from this kind
Page 379 and 380:
And as to his affirmation ‘that t
Page 381 and 382:
also have to ask about these bodies
Page 383 and 384:
THE FIFTEENTH DISCUSSIONTO REFUTE T
Page 385 and 386:
Everything he says here about the p
Page 387 and 388:
himself through trying to be in an
Page 389 and 390:
For instance, when a man sees that
Page 391 and 392:
on sublunary existence, so that, if
Page 393 and 394:
I say:any case, has to be proved, s
Page 395 and 396:
causes. Sometimes we know part of t
Page 397 and 398:
particular perceptions; that is, th
Page 399 and 400:
shows it to him by way of revelatio
Page 401 and 402:
if, however, reason does riot perce
Page 403 and 404:
And if they reverse this against us
Page 405 and 406:
the irascible and the concupiscible
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study a problem common to theoretic
Page 409 and 410:
terms of the conclusion are present
Page 411 and 412:
The ancient philosophers did not di
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fire; for we regard it as possible
Page 415 and 416:
To deny the existence of efficient
Page 417 and 418:
is not necessary, the philosophers
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I say:notwithstanding the fact that
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fire-not, however, absolutely, but
Page 423 and 424:
When the theologians admit that the
Page 425 and 426:
the angels there should arise a qua
Page 427 and 428:
serpent, and the scorpion, for thei
Page 429 and 430:
identification of black and white i
Page 431 and 432:
objectionable, and contrary to comm
Page 433 and 434:
that the judgement of our intellect
Page 435 and 436:
from the wolf while it walks behind
Page 437 and 438:
I say:it receives from the angels k
Page 439 and 440:
about its premisses, for the major
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I say:in the doctrine of the philos
Page 443 and 444:
a faculty in a body; and it follows
Page 445 and 446:
indivisible; if the relation, howev
Page 447 and 448:
fainting, drunkenness, and the illn
Page 449 and 450:
saying that knowing is the opposite
Page 451 and 452:
Such arguments are all arguments of
Page 453 and 454:
claimed to be its organ, so that it
Page 455 and 456:
I say:his head than to his heels, a
Page 457 and 458:
I say:others-yes, it may be that th
Page 459 and 460:
I say:anger and the observation of
Page 461 and 462:
that Plato was forced to introduce
Page 463 and 464:
I say:thing occurs, does not produc
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separate substance has no opposite.
Page 467 and 468:
The Fourth DiscussionHaving finishe
Page 469 and 470:
which are attributed to Solomon. An
Page 471 and 472:
And all this, as you see, is confus
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