Publish or withhold for Ibn Rushd?
Ibn Rushd, judge and commentator on Aristotle, faces a bitter choice: publish commentaries reading philosophy as it is, angering the hard-liners and costing him his post and perhaps his life, or keep the texts for himself and his students and stay safe? The decision: truth or safety?
The positions
the publishers
suppressed learning dies; the commentaries belong to the reader
The evidence
he kept commenting on the texts until the West named him the Commentator
Sources: person/ibn-rushdplace/cordoba
the withholders
life and office serve more than a book that may burn
The evidence
they saw the penalty fall on whoever had opened the door before
Sources: person/ibn-rushd
You decide
If you were him, would you have published? Write your reason.
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