TEXTUAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN AVERROES'S LONG COMMENTARY ON THE DE ANIMA OF ARISTOTLE

This article begins with the importance of the extant Arabic fragments of Averroes's Long Commentary on the De Anima insofar as they contribute to two concerns among scholars working in the thought of Averroes: (i) the resolution of the disagreement among Herbert Davidson, Alfred Ivry, and others concerning purported quotations of the Long Commentary in the Middle Commentary and the possible priority of the Long Commentary to the Middle Commentary together with related issues of Averroes's method and intention in the Middle Commentary; and (ii) the understanding of the development of the novel doctrine of separate Material Intellect in the Long Commentary. The article concludes (iii) with questions regarding a very strange and unresolved textual issue in the Long Commentary related to the late doctrine of the Material Intellect and Averroes's more expansive discussion of the cogitative power. I offer a suggestion for a possible resolution of part of the issue, although some questions important to broader considerations for the study of Averroes remain without satisfactory resolution.