THE EVOLUTION IDEA 107 



finally followed by Aquinas, who is now one of 

 the leading authorities of the Church, and by 

 Roger Bacon. Bruno struck out into an alto- 

 gether different vein of thought. 



What is known as 'Arabian' philosophy owed 

 to Arabia little more than its name and its lan- 

 guage. The whole movement is little else than a 

 chapter in the history of Aristotelianism. It 

 opened in the ninth and closed in the twelfth cen- 

 tury. In 1209 the study of the Arabic writers 

 was interdicted in Paris. About the middle of the 

 twelfth century Latin versions of the works of 

 Avicenna and of several Aristotelian treatises 

 were produced in Spain; the movement toward 

 introducing Arabian science and philosophy into 

 Europe culminated in the first half of the thir- 

 teenth century. In 1497 Aristotle was expounded 

 in Greek in Padua. A half-century later Bruno 

 appeared as the last exponent of Greek ideas of 

 Evolution. 



The reaction against this Hellenistic reading 

 of Genesis naturally came when Christian the- 

 ology shook off Aristotelianism, and this was 

 brought about indirectly by the ecclesiastic op- 

 position to the introduction of Arabic science,^ 

 which also embodied much of Aristotle. Thus 

 among the first outspoken opponents of Augus- 



iCompare Thatcher-Wallace: Arabian Philosophy, Enc. Brit., 

 vol. I, and Case: Aristotle, Enc. Brit., vol. II. 



