Wisdom and Power in Averroes’ Commentary on Plato’s Republic

Abstract:The union of wisdom and power in Plato’s Republic admittedly puts philosophy in the service of politics. Socrates can raise the question of whether such a service would even be just. That is to say, Plato’s understanding of theoretical or philosophical knowledge creates a tension or—perhaps—a disjunction between theory and practice. In his commentary on Plato’s Republic, Averroes turns the Aristotelian dictum that nature does nothing in vain into a tool with which to probe the vanity of a theoretical knowledge which is independent of human will and choice. Averroes is in search of a new understanding of theory grounded in the thought that it is human will and choice, not nature which, at their best, do nothing in vain.