History of the conflict between religion and science / by John William Draper.

  • Draper, John William, 1811-1882.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the conflict between religion and science / by John William Draper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    hammedans gave liim little credit for originality. He stood to tliem in the light of a commentator on Aris- totle, and as presenting the opinions of the Alexandrian and other philosophical schools np to his time. The following excerpts from the “ Historical Essay on Aver- roism,” by M. Renan, will show how closely the Sara- cenic ideas approached those presented above: This system supposes that, at the death of an indi- vidual, his intelligent principle or soul no longer pos- sesses a separate existence, but returns to or is absorbed in the universal mind, the active intelligence, the mun- dane soul, which is God; from whom, indeed, it had originally emanated or issued forth. The universal, or active, or objective intellect, is uncreated, impassible, incorruptible, has neither begin- ning nor end ; nor does it increase as the number of in- dividual souls increases. It is altogether separate from matter. It is, as it were, a cosmic principle. This one- ness of the active intellect, or reason, is the essential principle of the Averroistic theory, and is in harmony with the cardinal doctrine of Mohammedanism—the unity of God. The individual, or passive, or subjective intellect, is an emanation from the universal, and constitutes what is termed the soul of man. In one sense it is perishable and ends with the body, but in a higher sense it en- dures ; for, after death, it returns to or is absorbed in the universal soul, and thus of all human souls there remains at last but one—the aggregate of them all. Life is not the property of the individual, it belongs to Nature. The end of man is to enter into union more and more complete with the active intellect—reason. In that the happiness of the soul consists. Our des- tiny is quietude. It was the opinion of Averroes that