THOMAS D'AQUIN LECTEUR CRITIQUE DU GRAND COMMENTAIRE D'AVERROÈS À PHYS . I, 1

Abstract The present article aims to provide a reconstruction of the interpretation offered by Thomas Aquinas of the cognitive process described at the beginning of Aristotle's Physics and of his criticism of Averroes' interpretation. It expounds to this end the exegesis of ancient Greek commentators who opened the debate on this question; then, it puts forward a reconstruction of Aquinas' doctrine by means of other texts of his corpus, as well as an explanation of his criticism of Averroes' exegesis; it finally reconstructs Averroes' interpretation worked out in his Great Commentary to Phys. I, 1, in order to show that Aquinas' disapproval is partly due to an incorrect interpretation of Averroes' divisio textus of Phys . I, 1. It suggests as well that, concerning some fundamental points, Aquinas' exegesis doesn't diverge from the interpretation proposed by Averroes.