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

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our earthly. He need not deny this who believes that we see one singlething developing itself from one phase to another, for instance thetransformation of the inorganic into beings conscious of their ownessences, i. e. the intellectual forms. Those who are in doubt about thisand object to it and try to explain it are those who seek to destroy thereligious prescriptions and to undo the virtues. They are, as everyoneknows, the heretics and those who believe that the end of man consistsonly in sensual enjoyment. When such people have really the power todestroy religious belief both theologians and philosophers will no doubt killthem, but when they have no actual power the best arguments that can bebrought against them are those that are contained in the Holy Book. WhatGhazali says against them is right, and in refuting them it must beadmitted that the soul is immortal, as is proved by rational and religiousproofs, and it must be assumed that what arises from the dead issimulacra’ of these earthly bodies, not these bodies themselves, for thatwhich has perished does not return individually and a thing can only returnas an image of that which has perished, not -as a being identical with whathas perished, as Ghazali declares. Therefore the doctrine of resurrectionof those theologians who believe that the soul is an accident and that thebodies which arise are identical with those that perished cannot be true.For what perished and became anew can only be specifically, notnumerically, one, and this argument is especially valid against thosetheologians who hold that an accident does not last two moments.Ghazali accused the philosophers of heresy on three points. Oneconcerns this question, and we have already shown what opinion thephilosophers hold about this, and that according to them it is a speculativeproblem. The second point is the theory attributed to the philosophers thatGod does not know individuals, but here again we have shown that theydo not say this. The third point is their theory of the eternity of the world,but again we have shown that what they understand by this term has notthe meaning for which they are accused of heresy by the theologians.Ghazali asserts in this book that no Muslim believes in a purely spiritualresurrection, and in another book he says that the Sufis hold it. Accordingto this latter assertion those who believe in a spiritual but not in aperceptible resurrection are not declared heretics by universal consent,and this permits belief in a spiritual resurrection. But again in another bookhe repeats his accusation of heresy as if it rested on universal consent .470
And all this, as you see, is confusing. And no doubt this man erred inreligious questions as he erred in rational problems. God is the succourerfor the finding of what is true, and He invests with the truth whomever Hechooses.I have decided to break off my inquiry about these things here, and I askpardon for their discussion, and if it were not an obligation to seek thetruth for those who are entitled to it-and those are, as Galen says, one in athousand’-and to prevent from discussion those who have no claim to it, Iwould not have treated all this. And God knows every single letter, andperhaps God will accept my excuse and forgive my stumbling in Hisbounty, generosity, munificence and excellence-there is no God but He!The End471
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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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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
Page 419 and 420: I say:notwithstanding the fact that
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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
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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
Page 441 and 442: 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
Page 465 and 466: separate substance has no opposite.
Page 467 and 468: The Fourth DiscussionHaving finishe
Page 469: which are attributed to Solomon. An
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