How did Aquinas view Averroes?

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theidler

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Simply out of curiousity, I was wondering what Aquinas’ general consensus was on Averroes…
I know he refers to him as the “Commentator”, and allegedly held him in high regard, but then in his “De unitate intellectus contra Averroistas” he refers to him as “the perverter of Peripatetic philosophy”.
Do you know of any writings by Aquinas where he speaks at length on his opinion of Averroes?
 
In G.K. Chesterton’s biography of Aquinas, Chesterton notes that Averroes drew a distinction between things that we can believe by faith and things that we can believe by reason. Aquinas had dedicated his life to showing that faith and reason are always in harmony. When Averroism reared its head towards the end of Aquinas’ life Chesterton notes that Aquinas saw a threat to everything had he worked for. Aquinas attacked Averroes in a book called De unitate intellectus contra Averroistas. Not sure where you could find this particular work.
 
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