The prize citation for Dr. Butterworth’s Barry Prize reads:
Through his pathbreaking work interpreting the Arabic and Islamic philosophical heritage, Charles Butterworth has broadened the world of scholarship for generations of students in politics, philosophy, and religion. In studying the timeless question of how human reason relates to texts that present themselves as divine revelation, he has provided scholars around the world with intellectual resources for inquiry into the good life. The Academy honors Dr. Butterworth’s distinguished contributions to humanity’s knowledge of Arabic and Islamic philosophy, and its contribution to the shared heritage of human thought on moral and political questions.
Charles E. Butterworth is professor of government and politics, emeritus, at the University of Maryland. He is known for his translations, commentaries and interpretations of medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy. Among other honors, he served as principal investigator of a National Endowment for Humanities project on Averroes’ commentaries on Aristotle’s Organon, and was field investigator for the Smithsonian Institution’s Project in Medieval Islamic Logic. Butterworth holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago as well as a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Nancy, France. He has served as president of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies as well as of the Société Internationale d’Histoire des Sciences et de la Philosophie Arabes et Islamiques.
November 2025
The prize citation for Dr. Butterworth’s Barry Prize reads:
Through his pathbreaking work interpreting the Arabic and Islamic philosophical heritage, Charles Butterworth has broadened the world of scholarship for generations of students in politics, philosophy, and religion. In studying the timeless question of how human reason relates to texts that present themselves as divine revelation, he has provided scholars around the world with intellectual resources for inquiry into the good life. The Academy honors Dr. Butterworth’s distinguished contributions to humanity’s knowledge of Arabic and Islamic philosophy, and its contribution to the shared heritage of human thought on moral and political questions.
Charles E. Butterworth is professor of government and politics, emeritus, at the University of Maryland. He is known for his translations, commentaries and interpretations of medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy. Among other honors, he served as principal investigator of a National Endowment for Humanities project on Averroes’ commentaries on Aristotle’s Organon, and was field investigator for the Smithsonian Institution’s Project in Medieval Islamic Logic. Butterworth holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago as well as a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Nancy, France. He has served as president of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies as well as of the Société Internationale d’Histoire des Sciences et de la Philosophie Arabes et Islamiques.
November 2025