Q0572
“The Law has urged us to observe beings and directed us to…” — Averroes (The Decisive Treatise, on the Law’s…)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: The Decisive Treatise, on the Law’s call to reflection (Butterworth). Theme: knowledge.
English
The Law has urged us to observe beings and directed us to seek knowledge of them by means of demonstration.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to The Decisive Treatise, on the Law’s call to reflection (Butterworth) and files it under Islamic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Averroes
Ibn Rushd (Averroes, 1126–1198) served as qāḍī and physician in al-Andalus while producing the most influential Arabic commentaries on Aristotle. In the Decisive Treatise he argues that the Law itself obliges demonstrative reflection; in The Incoherence of the Incoherence he answers al-Ghazālī’s attack on the philosophers.
How to read this passage
Epistemology asks whether knowledge is justified true belief, reliable tracking of the world, or something else; it also asks how perception, testimony, memory, and reason contribute. This passage enters that discussion through knowledge, power, inquiry.
Concepts in this quote
- Knowledge
- Knowledge is the philosophical study of what we can justifiably claim to know—and where certainty ends.
- Power
- Power is the capacity to affect others and to shape what counts as possible—central to politics and ethics.
- Inquiry
- Inquiry is the disciplined pursuit of better questions and answers—philosophy as method rather than dogma.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Averroes. (n.d.). The Law has urged us to observe beings and directed us to seek knowledge of them by means of demonstration. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0572
MLA: Averroes. “The Law has urged us to observe beings….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0572.
Chicago: Averroes. “The Law has urged us to observe beings….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0572.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “The Law has urged us to observe beings…”?
The passage is attributed to Averroes, The Decisive Treatise, on the Law’s call to reflection (Butterworth). The archive attributes this English wording to The Decisive Treatise, on the Law’s call to reflection (Butterworth) and files it under Islamic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Averroes mean by knowledge?
Epistemology asks whether knowledge is justified true belief, reliable tracking of the world, or something else; it also asks how perception, testimony, memory, and reason contribute. This passage enters that discussion through knowledge, power, inquiry.