Ibn Bajja, Abu Bakr Muhammad

(Avempace, Avenpace in Latin). Born circa 1070 in Saragossa; died 1139 in Fes, Morocco. Arab philosopher, first major representative of eastern Aristotelianism in Muslim Spain.

Ibn Bajja lived in Andalusia and Morocco and held government posts. Accused of heresy, he was imprisoned and then poisoned. Besides commentaries on the works of Aristotle, he wrote treatises on philosophy, physics, mathematics, astrology, music, and medicine. Most of his treatises have not come down to us; the surviving part (sometimes in fragments) is preserved mostly in Hebrew and Latin translations. Ibn Bajja’s works contributed to the development of Hispano-Arab rationalism (Averroes, Ibn Tufayl) and the spread of Aristotelianism among medieval Western European philosophers (Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas).