Page "Averroism" Paragraph 1

Averroes at the time of Dante Alighieri was probably the most widely condemned thinker in the medieval Christian world ... Averroism became virtually synonymous with atheism in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

As an historiographical category it was first developed by Ernest Renan in Averroès et l ' averroïsme ( 1852 ).

Later historians applied the name to significant uses and expressions of elements of Averroes ' doctrines and to the exegetical tradition of Aristotle by Jewish and Christian thinkers as it had come down through the Latin and Hebrew traditions.

" Averroist " can therefore describe a range of positions, up to and including scholars interested in the historical phenomenon of Averroes ' influence.