Avis de soutenance - doctorat - Maryam ALSAYYED

This conceptual and philosophical investigation articulates Averroes' ethical writings and concepts in his major work on the art of rhetoric, his Middle Commentary on Aristotle's Rhetoric (MCAR). The primary purpose of this study is to explain Averroes' ethical concepts and terms, particularly, the notion of ḫulq ‘character' (pl. aḫlāq), with understanding their conceptual relationship to faḍīla ‘virtue'. These concepts represent the main keys to understanding Averroes' ethical conceptions as they are presented within the art of rhetoric and the art of ethics. In order to elucidate the meaning of these concepts, it is necessary to utilize several related conceptions of Averroes, such as: al-ṣināʿa al-ḫuluqīya ‘the art of ethics', al-faḍīla al-ḫuluqīya ‘the virtue of character', and al-aqāwīl al-ḫuluqīya ‘the ethical speeches', taḫallaqa and taḫalluq ‘to be shaped by a moral character' within the framework of rhetoric. While the concept ḫulq signifies Averroes' perception on the acquired moral character in the self, his presentation of the other related concepts such as: al-ṣināʿa al-ḫuluqīya, al-faḍīla al-ḫuluqīya, al-aqāwīl al-ḫuluqīya, and taḫallaqa show the application of Averroes' moral philosophy within the framework of rhetoric. Averroes' MCAR establishes two teachings regarding the education of moral character. Firstly, the rhetorical art is a rational art and therefore this art is necessary for the understanding and practice of moral character. Secondly, Averroes presents ethics in the MCAR within the context of public and public morality and actions within MCAR, and therefore the community or political context of ethics is a necessary part of the art. There are three related subjects within the framework of rhetoric: the treatment of the definition of virtue in MCAR; the using of passions for public moral purposes; and the connection between political regimes, laws and public characters. These three subjects, virtue, laws and politics, and passions, are the three main pillars of Averroes' practical and moral teachings on rhetoric. The explanation of Averroes' link between ethics and the art of rhetoric is conducted in two ways in this study. Part I is a substantial introduction to Averroes' ethical writings in MCAR. Part II is an English language translation of Book I, and the first part of Book II, that is, the part that includes the subject of passions and moral characters, in addition to all the paragraphs from Book II and Book III that deal with the subject of aḫlāq. Since there are competing Arabic editions of this commentary of Averroes, I will provide an adequate evaluation of the alternate editions in order to explain why Aouad's Arabic edition is the only edition that can adequately form the basis for a translation. A recent English translation of this text, published by Lahcen Ezzaher in 2023, unfortunately, often adopts readings other than Aouad's text, even though Aouad's was available, and this decision made by Ezzaher diminishes the usefulness of this recent English translation. Moreover, proper translation, in this case into English, elucidates why the art of rhetoric is essential to the understanding and practice of ethics as well as the content of this rational and ethical art.