Jandun’s Question-Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics

Abstract

Given the main tenets that characterize the trend of thought commonly designed as averroism, it is not surprising that Jandun's Commentary on De anima attracted most of the attention of the scholars. Brenet's references to the Commentary on De anima outnumber by far those to the Commentary on the Metaphysics . From the beginning, the interest of Jandun's readers was focused mainly on his theory of knowledge and his doctrines concerning the nature of the intellect. This chapter provides information on Jandun's Commentary, from different approaches and different trends of contemporary scholarship. It highlights some of the most important aspects investigated, and aims to show that it would be worthwhile to continue study of this text, and provides scholars with a critical text. It seems that John's contribution to the commentary tradition concerning Aristotle's Metaphysics received more attention in 16th century than in the century at whose beginning he was active. Keywords: averroism; Aristotle's Metaphysics ; De anima ; Jandun's Commentary; John's contribution