Philosophy of Religion

The Decisive Treatise

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Averroes

c. 1179

The Decisive Treatise — Fasl al-Maqal — is Averroes's most concentrated statement on the relationship between philosophy and Islamic law. Written in the form of a legal responsum (fatwa), it argues that the study of philosophy is not merely permitted but obligatory for those who have the capacity for demonstrative reasoning. Averroes distinguishes three classes of people — those who accept rhetorical arguments (the majority), those who respond to dialectical arguments (the theologians), and those capable of demonstration (the philosophers) — and argues that the Quran addresses each class in the appropriate mode. Where apparent conflict arises between philosophical demonstration and scripture, the sacred text must be interpreted allegorically; but this interpretation belongs only to the philosophers and must not be communicated to the uninstructed. The Decisive Treatise is the foundational document of the theory of the double truth and profoundly influenced Thomas Aquinas and later Latin philosophy.