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

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Now we must first understand this theory, and thenoccupy ourselves with refuting it. We shall explain thisthrough an example, namely that the sun, for example,suffers an eclipse, after not having been eclipsed, andafterwards recovers its light. There are therefore in aneclipse three moments: the moment when there was not yetan eclipse but the eclipse was expected in the future, thetime when the eclipse was actually there, its being, andthirdly, the moment the eclipse had ceased but had been.Now we have in regard to these three conditions a threefoldknowledge: we know first that there is not yet an eclipse, butthat there will be one, secondly that it is now there, andthirdly, that it has been present but is no longer present. Thisthreefold knowledge is numerically distinguishable anddifferentiated and its sequence implies a change in theknowing essence, for if this knowing essence thought afterthe cessation of the eclipse that the eclipse was present asbefore, this would be ignorance, not knowledge, and if itthought during its presence that it was absent, this againwould be ignorance, and the one knowledge cannot take theplace of the other.The philosophers affirm now that the condition of God isnot differentiated by means of these three moments, for thiswould imply a change, and that He whose condition does notchange cannot be imagined to know these things, forknowledge follows the object of knowledge, and when theobject of knowledge changes, the knowledge changes, andwhen the knowledge changes, without doubt the knowerchanges too; but change in God is impossible. However,notwithstandng this, the philosophers affirm that God knowsthe eclipse and all its attributes and accidents, but through aknowledge which is attributed to Him in an eternal attributionand is unchangeable: God knows for instance that the sunexists and that the moon exists, and that they haveemanated from God Himself through the medium of angelswhom the philosophers in their technical terminology call‘separate intellects’, and God knows that the sun and moon360
move in circles and that between their orbits there is anintersection at two points, the ascending and the descendingnode, ‘ and that at certain times the sun and moon aretogether in these nodes and that then the sun is eclipsedi. e.the body of the moon comes between the sun and the eyesof the observer, and the sun is concealed from his eyes, andthat when the sun has passed a certain distance beyond thisnode, say a year, it is eclipsed again, and that this eclipse iseither total or for a third or for a half, and that it will last anhour or two hours, and God knows equally all other timedeterminations and all other accidents of the eclipse; andnothing of this escapes God’s knowledge. However, God’sknowledge before, during, and after the eclipse is all of onekind without any differentiation and without any implication ofa change in His essence. And such is His knowledge of alltemporal occurrences which take place through causeswhich have other causes terminating finally in the circularmovement of the heavens, and the cause of this movementis the soul of the heavens, and the cause of the soul’smovement is its desire to assimilate itself to God and to theangels near Him . z And the whole universe is known to Him,that is, it is manifested to Him in one single congruousmanifestation which is not influenced by time. Still, at thetime of the eclipse it cannot be said that He knows that theeclipse is taking place now, nor does He know when it haspassed that it has passed now, for He cannot be imagined toknow anything which for its definition needs a relation totime, since this implies a change. This is their solution in sofar as it concerns a division in time.And as concerns their theory about what is divided inmatter and space, like individual men and animals, they saythat God does not know the accidents of Zaid, Amr, andKhalid and that He knows only man in general, through auniversal knowledge, and that He knows the accidents andproperties of man in general, namely that he must have abody composed of limbs, some to grasp with, some to walkwith, some to perceive with, some of which form a pair while361
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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
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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
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Ghazali opposes this statement with
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Page 311 and 312: I say:mediator, participates in thi
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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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Page 325 and 326: I say:But the body is not a means f
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Page 329 and 330: 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
Page 335 and 336: together, and the difference betwee
Page 337 and 338: I say:universe is known to God, and
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Page 341 and 342: all things is attachment to matter
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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
Page 357 and 358: acts which proceed from the arts, a
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Page 363 and 364: This is what we wanted to do first,
Page 365 and 366: the person who takes up different p
Page 367 and 368: universals must, by admitting in Hi
Page 369 and 370: and if you acknowledge an eternal w
Page 371 and 372: I say:But one may say: Why is this
Page 373 and 374: 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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Page 409 and 410: 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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