Catarina Belo
Research Group: HPhil
Catarina Belo is an associate professor of philosophy at The American University in Cairo (AUC). After working as a research fellow on Islamic philosophy in medieval Hebrew manuscripts at the Martin-Buber-Institut für Judaistik, University of Cologne, Germany, Belo joined the Department of Philosophy at AUC in February 2006.
She is a specialist in classical Islamic philosophy. Other interests include classical Islamic theology (kalām) and medieval Christian philosophy, focusing on the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. She has also conducted research on German Idealism, in particular, Hegel’s philosophy. In addition, she has studied the intersection between philosophy and religion in the Middle Ages and Hegel’s works. She has recently written on the concept of ‘spirit’ in philosophy and virtue ethics.
Belo authored several books and articles on Islamic philosophy and Hegel. She has recently completed a translation of al-Ghazālī’s The Incoherence of the Philosophers into Portuguese and several articles on medieval philosophy for international journals and anthologies. Her translations from Arabic into Portuguese have received an Achievement Award at the 2019 Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation. Furthermore, Belo was interviewed by Richard Marshall to discuss Can Philosophy and Religion be Harmonised?
Selected Publications
Books
Belo, Catarina, Chance and Determinism in Avicenna and Averroes, Leiden, Brill, 2007.
(Turkish translation at https://www.ayrintiyayinlari.com.tr/kitap/ibni-sina-ve-ibni-rusd/1638
; Catarina Belo, İbni Sina ve İbni Rüşd: Belirlenimcilik ve Rastlantı, translated by Öndercan Muti, Ayrıntı Yayınları, 2021)
Belo, Catarina, O essencial sobre Averróis, Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 2007.
Belo, Catarina and Pérennès, Jean-Jacques (eds.) Mission in Dialogue, Essays in Honour of Michael L. Fitzgerald, edited by Catarina Belo and Jean-Jacques Pérennès, Les Cahiers du MIDEO 5, Editions Peeters, Louvain-Paris, 2012.
Belo, Catarina, Existence, Cause, Essence. Essays in Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Lisbon, Centre for Philosophy of the University of Lisbon, 2012.
Belo, Catarina, Averroes and Hegel on Philosophy and Religion, Farnham, Ashgate, 2013.
(Paperback edition published by Routledge in 2016)
Belo, Catarina, Spirit in Philosophy: A Metaphysical Inquiry, Stuttgart, WiSa, 2019.
Belo, Catarina, Ethics and Virtue, Stuttgart, WiSa, 2023.
Translated Books
Averróis, Discurso decisivo sobre a harmonia entre a religião e a filosofia, translation from the Arabic into Portuguese with introduction and notes by Catarina Belo, Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 2006. [Portuguese translation with introduction and notes of Averroes’ Faṣl al-maqāl (The Decisive Treatise on the Harmony between Religion and Philosophy)]
A Teologia de Aristóteles [Portuguese Translation of The Theology of Aristotle] by the Pseudo-Aristotle, translated from the Arabic with introduction and notes by Catarina Belo, Volume XIII, Tome II of The Complete Works of Aristotle series in Portuguese, edited by António Pedro Mesquita, Lisbon, Centre for Philosophy of the University of Lisbon & Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 2010.
Alfarabi, A cidade virtuosa, translation from Arabic into Portuguese with an introduction, notes and a glossary by Catarina Belo [Portuguese translation al-Fārābī’s Mabādī’ ārā’ ahl al-madīna al-fāḍila, The Principles of the Opinions of the Inhabitants of the Virtuous City] Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2018.
Al-Ghazali, A Incoerência dos Filósofos, translation from Arabic into Portuguese with an introduction, notes and a glossary by Catarina Belo [Portuguese translation al-Ghāzālī’s Tahāfut al-falāsifa, The Incoherence of the Philosophers] Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2023.
Book Chapters
Belo, Catarina, ‘Ibn Sīnā on Chance in the Physics of al-Shifā’’, in Interpreting Avicenna: Science and Philosophy in Medieval Islam, Proceedings of the Second Conference of the Avicenna Study Group, ed. by J. McGinnis with the assistance of D. Reisman, Leiden/Boston, Brill, 2004, pp. 25-41.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Deus na filosofia e na teologia islâmicas: a resposta de Averróis a al-Ghazzali’, in Maria Leonor L. O. Xavier (ed.), A Questão de Deus na História da Filosofia, vol. I, Sintra, Zéfiro/Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa, 2008, pp. 229-237.
Belo, Catarina, ‘A ética islâmica clássica: entre a revelação e a filosofia’, in Ética: teoria e prática, Lisboa, Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa, 2012, pp. 161-172.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Some Notes on Averroes’ Appraisal of non-Islamic Religions, with a Focus on Christianity and Judaism’, in Universality of Reason, Plurality of Philosophies in the Middles Ages (Proceedings of the 12thSIEPM Congress, Palermo, 17-22 September 2007), edited by Alessandro Musco, Rosanna Gambino – Luciana Pepi – Patrizia Spallino – Maria Vassallo, indices by Patrizia Spallino, vol. III, Palermo, Officina di Studi Medievali, 2012, pp. 1-9.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Models of Causality in Islamic Philosophy’, in La périodisation en histoire des sciences et de la philosophie, la fin d’un mythe, edited by Hassan Tahiri, College Publications, 2013, pp. 15-24.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Representation and Conceptual Thought in Hegel’s Philosophy of Religion’, in Poética da razão. Homenagem a Leonel Ribeiro dos Santos, Lisbon, Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa, 2013, pp. 321-329.
Belo, Catarina, ‘A redenção escatológica na filosofia islâmica do Gharb al-Andalus’, in Redenção e Escatologia no Pensamento Português, Estudos de Filosofia, Religião, Literatura e Arte na Cultura Portuguesa, Vol. I – Tomo 1, edited by Samuel Dimas, Renato Epifânio and Luís Lóia, Paris, Nota de Rodapé Edições, 2015, pp. 187-194.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Averroes and Aquinas: some Reflections on the Study and Role of Philosophy and Religion in the Middles Ages’, in D’Aquém, d’Além e d’Ultramar. Homenagem a António Dias Farinha, edited by Francisco Contente Domingues, José da Silva Horta and Paulo David Vicente, 2 vols., Lisbon, Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa, 2015, vol. I, pp. 109-122.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Freedom and Determinism’, in The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, edited by Richard C. Taylor and Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, London and New York, Routledge, 2016, pp. 325-336.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Averroes (d. 1198), The Decisive Treatise’, in The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy, edited by Khaled El-Rouayheb and Sabine Schmitdke, Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 278-295.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Theories of Prophecy and the Faculties of the Soul in Medieval Islamic Philosophy’ in José Meirinhos – Celia López Alcalde – João Rebalde (eds.), Secrets and Discovery in the Middle Ages. Proceedings of the 5th European Congress of the Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales (Porto, 25th to 29th June 2013), (col. Textes et études du Moyen Âge, 90) Barcelona – Roma: Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales, 2017, pp. 3-13.
Belo, Catarina, ‘O que é «Metafísica»? A perspetiva de Avicena’, in A CIÊNCIA METAFÍSICA. Itinerários de um conceito, edited by Paula Oliveira e Silva, João Rebalde, Ángel Poncela, Porto, Edições Afrontamento, 2021, pp. 97-112.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Alfarabi’s Political Theology in The Virtuous City’ in Islamic Political Theology (Faith and Politics: Political Theology in a New Key, Series Editor: Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame), edited by Massimo Campanini, Marco Di Donato, Lanham, Lexington Books, 2021, pp. 11-25.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Al-tarjamatu min al-‘arabiyyati ilā al-burthughāliyyati: ḥālatu al-falsafati al- islāmiyyati fi-l-‘uṣūr al-wusṭā’ [Translating from Arabic into Portuguese: the Case of Medieval Islamic Philosophy], in Al-tarjamatu wa-l-ishkālātu al-muthāqafati [Translation and Cultural Issues] edited and introduced by, Kayan Ahmad Hazim, Doha, The Forum for Arab and International Relations, 2021, pp. 87-93.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Averroes on Family and Property in the Commentary on Plato’s “Republic”’ in Plato’s Republicin the Islamic Context: New Perspectives on Averroes’s Commentary, edited by Alexander Orwin, Rochester Studies in Medieval Political Thought, Rochester, University of Rochester Press, 2022, pp. 113-132.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Remarks on St . Thomas Aquinas’s References to Averroes in the Quaestiones disputatæ de Veritate’, in De intellectu. Greek, Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew Texts and Their Influence on Medieval Philosophy. A Tribute to Rafael Ramón Guerrero, Córdoba, UCOPress, Córdoba University Press, 2023, p. 369-386.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Alfarabi on Divine Attributes’, in A Key to Locked Doors, Festschrift for Gerrit Bos on the Occasion of His 75th Birthday, edited by Fabian Käs, Jessica Kley, Feliz Hedderich, Leiden/Boston, Brill, 2024, pp. 20-36.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Alfarabi on Form, Matter and Essence’, in Philosophy, History and Political Thought in Islam: Essays in Memory of Massimo Campanini, edited by Carlo de Angelo, Marco Di Donato, Roberto Tottoli, Piscataway, NJ, Gorgias Press, 2024, pp. 1-22.
Articles
Belo, Catarina, ‘Excerpts from “Documentos Elucidativos 1515”’ [Description of a Portuguese Embassy to Shah Isma’il], translated from the Portuguese by C. Belo, edited by J. Thompson, in Hunt for Paradise: Court Arts of Safavid Iran, ed. by J. Thompson and S. Canby, The Asia Society, Skira, 2004, pp. 333-337.
Belo, Catarina, ‘O Aristotelismo de Averróis e o problema da emanação’, Philosophica, 26, Lisbon, 2005, pp. 215-228.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Averroes on God’s Knowledge of Particulars’, Journal of Islamic Studies, 17:2, Oxford, 2006, pp. 177-199.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Ibn Rushd on God’s Decree and Determination (al-qaḍā’ wa-l-qadar)’, Al-Qantara, volume XXVII, fasc.2, (July-December), Madrid, 2006, pp. 245-264.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Mu‘tazilites, Al-Ash‘arī, and Maimonides on Divine Attributes’, Veritas, Porto Alegre (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), vol. 52, no. 3, September 2007, pp. 117-131.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Predestination and human Responsibility in medieval Islam: some aspects of a classical Problem’, in Didaskalia, Theology Journal of the Catholic University of Lisbon, XXXVIII, I, 2008, pp. 139-151.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Some Considerations on Averroes’ Views regarding Women and their Role in Society’, Journal of Islamic Studies, 20:1, Oxford, 2009, pp. 1-20.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Essence and Existence in Avicenna and Averroes’, al-Qantara, XXX, 2 (June-December), Madrid, 2009, pp. 403-426.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Translating from Arabic into Portuguese’, In the framework of the mapping of translation in the Mediterranean, co-produced by the Anna Lindh Foundation and Transeuropéennes in 2010, data collection, analysis and write-up by Catarina Belo, available online: http://www.transeuropeennes.eu/ressources/pdfs/TIM_2011_Arabic_Portuguese_Catarina_BELO_114.pdf
Belo, Catarina, ‘The concept of ‘nature’ in Aristotle, Avicenna and Averroes’, Kriterion (Department of Philosophy of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil), vol. LVI, no. 131, January to June 2015, pp. 45-56.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Averroes’ Rationalism and the European Enlightenment’, Falsafa – Islamic Philosophy of Religion Yearbook – Volume 3 – Religion and Enlightenment (2020), Münster, pp. 13-31.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Free Will and Determinism in Classical Islamic Philosophy: Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd’, Policy Paper 6, for ‘A Common Horizon for Humanity and the Planet’, hosted by the University of Cappadocia, 15 February 2022, (https://commonhorizon.kapadokya.edu.tr/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Catarina-Belo_Policy-Paper_EN.pdf)
Belo, Catarina, ‘Translating al-Ghazālī into Portuguese’, in MERIDIAN: The Newsletter of the Global Studies Center No. 3, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait, (September 2022),(https://gsc.gust.edu.kw/catarina-belo)
Belo, Catarina, ‘Averroes and the Legacy of Dialogue’, in Culture and Dialogue 10 (2022), pp. 195-201.
Encyclopaedia Articles
Belo, Catarina, ‘Theology (Kalām)’, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam, edited by Salim Ayduz, Caner Dagli and Ibrahim Kalin, 2 vols, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014, volume II, pp. 331-338.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Elements’, in the Encyclopaedia of Islam Three (third edition), edited by Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson, Leiden/Boston, Brill, 2014, vol. 2, pp. 93-95.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Imām’ in Online Dictionary of Intercultural Philosophy, edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein (Editor-in Chief), https://www.odiphilosophy.com/imam (available from 9 July 2020)
<Belo, Catarina, “Imam,” ODIP: The Online Dictionary of Intercultural Philosophy (2020), Thorsten Botz-Bornstein (ed.), URL = <www.Odiphilosophy.com/Imam>.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Madīna’ in Online Dictionary of Intercultural Philosophy, edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein (Editor-in Chief), https://www.odiphilosophy.com/madina (available from 31 August 2020) <Belo, Catarina, “Madīna,” ODIP: The Online Dictionary of Intercultural Philosophy (2020), Thorsten Botz-Bornstein (ed.), URL = <www.Odiphilosophy.com/madina >.
Belo, Catarina, ‘Qiyās’ in Online Dictionary of Intercultural Philosophy, edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein (Editor-in Chief), https://www.odiphilosophy.com/qiyas (available from 22 January 2021) <Belo, Catarina, “Qiyās,” ODIP: The Online Dictionary of Intercultural Philosophy (2021), Thorsten Botz-Bornstein (ed.), URL = <www.Odiphilosophy.com/qiyas >.
Academic Interviews
Interview with 3:AM Magazine, by Richard Marshall – 19 May 2018
Interview for the journal of the University of Lisbon, ULisboa (no. 17) – December 2020
https://www.ulisboa.pt/edicao/ulisboa-no-17
Interview for The Gulbenkian Foundation, by Leonor Vaz – 23 December 2023
https://gulbenkian.pt/en/read-watch-listen/the-incoherence-of-philosophers/