On the Falsafa concept of God’s knowledge

Abstract

This article serves as an introduction to the translation of the book “The Incoherence of the Incoherence” (Tahafut at-Tahafut) of the peripatetic philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes, 1126–1198), written in response to the work of the theologian-asharite al-Ghazali (1058–1111) “The Incoherence of the Philosophers” (Tahafut al-Falasifa). The paper highlights the Quranic paradigm, the Kalam and Falsafa approaches to the demonstration of the “knowledge” attribute.The work presents a brief overview of the controversy of two thinkers around related issues – about God’s knowledge of the universals and about His knowledge of Himself. Moreover, the research notes the connection between the book of Ibn Rushd and his earlier theological and polemical treatises: “On God’s knowledge”, “On the correlation between philosophy and religion” and “On the methods of proof for the principles of creed”.