Streszczenie
The discussion with Islamic philosophy is one of the most important topics in
the history of medieval philosophy. Furthermore, the criticism of the unity of intellect
formulated by Christian medieval thinkers against Islamic interpreters of Aristotle,
mostly against Averroes, is one of its most interesting elements. This element is
well known and abundantly analyzed by medievalists. But a particular version of the
theory of unity of intellect was formulated also by Avicenna who claimed that agent
intellect, being the mover of the last celestial sphere, is one for all men. His conception,
although not so popular in the Middle Ages as that of Averroes, was criticized by
Giles of Rome, an eminent 13th century thinker, in his Commentary to Aristotle’s
On the Soul. The reconstruction of Giles’s polemic against Av i cenna shows that
Islamic thinkers, although criticized by Christian thinkers, were read carefully by them
and treated seriously as interpreters of Aristotle’s thought.