<P> Prior to Averroes, many Arab philosophers had confused Aristotle with Plotinus, a Hellenized Egyptian who founded Neoplatonism and had mixed Aristotle's ideas with Plato's . Averroes rediscovered the "true" Aristotle by translating key texts reintroducing him to Arab Spain . He also challenged Al - Ghazali's largely anti-Greek philosophies and offered some of the best reconciliation of Islam and philosophy of the time . Key to his arguments was the idea that although there was only one truth, that truth could be expressed in many ways, including both philosophy and religion . He even used the Qur'an to back up his arguments in favor of Greek philosophy and logic, especially the passage: "It is He, (O Muhammad) who has revealed the Book to you...some of its verses are unambiguous...and the others are ambiguous...only God and those confirmed in knowledge know its interpretation ." Averroes argued that "those confirmed in knowledge" were philosophers . </P> <P> The Scholastic philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages such as Aquinas later called Averroes "The Commentator," and Michael the Scot translated several of Averroes' works within fifty years of the Arab's death . However, Averroes' reception in Western Europe contrasted with his ultimate rejection by Arabs in Spain . Soon after Averroes, Greek ideas in the Arab world were largely opposed by those who disliked anything not "truly Arab ." </P> <P> While Muslims were busy translating and adding their own ideas to Greek philosophies, the Latin West was still suspicious of pagan ideas . Leaders of the Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire also frowned upon philosophy, and the Empire had just gone through a period of plague, famine, and war . Further west, several key figures in European history who came after Boethius had strengthened the overwhelming shift away from Greek ideas . For centuries, Greek ideas in Europe were all but non-existent, until the Eastern part of the Roman Empire--Byzantine--was sacked during the crusades unlocking numerous Greek texts . Within Western Europe, only a few monasteries had Greek works, and even fewer of them copied these works . </P> <P> There was a brief period of revival, when the Anglo - Saxon monk Alcuin and others reintroduced some Greek ideas during the Carolingian Renaissance of the 8th century . After Charlemagne's death, however, intellectual life again fell into decline . By the 12th century, however, scholastic thought was beginning to develop, leading to the rise of universities throughout Europe . These universities gathered what little Greek thought had been preserved over the centuries, including Boethius' commentaries on Aristotle . They also served as places of discussion for new ideas coming from new translations from Arabic throughout Europe . </P>

Why was it important to be able to read write and speak latin during the renaissance