The Natural Philosophers of the XIII Century: An Attempt to Reconcile Faith and Reason

Abstract

This article intends to prove how thirteenth century Spanish Aristotelism can not be seen as anattempt to show religion inferior in regard to philosophy, but as an attempt to conciliate reason and faith. Itwill be argued that for Averroes, whose philosophical program seems to be a precedent of thirteenth centurySpanish Aristotelism, and for the so called “natural philosophers”, finding an agreement between Religionand Philosophy was not just a profitable exercise, but rather a philosopher’s duty. According to them, discrepanciesmust be solved by an allegorical reading of Holy Scriptures. Such a method allows correctinginconsistencies and makes religious speech a solid and sound discourse in accordance with reason. Iberianmedieval thinkers will be showed not just as passive readers, but as scholars who proposed original solutionsto problems posed by contemporary thought.