Aristotle’s writings were very influential on Muslim philosophy even before Ibn Rushd. It is important to see the history of Islamic philosophy in order to understand Ibn Rushd and how Aquinas viewed Islamic philosophy. Muslim philosophers took interest in Greek philosophy soon after Muslim armies conquered Greek and Persian territory. These conquests would have occurred between AD 641-648. Aristotelian philosophy first entered the Muslim world through Syriac translations and commentaries on Aristotle’s works. Later Arab writers would form their translations off of the original Greek text, and this even occurred before Islam was founded. However, the ninth and tenth centuries were when Muslim philosophers’ efforts to translate these works were the most notable. From that time up to Ibn Rushd, there were a number of Islamic philosophers that were paving the way for him. The four Islamic philosophers that had the greatest impact on Ibn Rushd are the following: al- Kindi, al-Farbi, al-Ghazali, and Ibn Sina. …show more content…
One of his most influential works was his translation of Metaphysics where he introduced the idea of metaphysics to Muslims. Al-Kindi was able to read Greek himself, but he mainly oversaw the work of many Christian translators. Most of his work was improving their Greek translations rather than translating them himself. Al-Kindi also helped make falsafah (“the tradition of Greek philosophy in Islam”) popular. One particular area where this is seen is how al-Kindi viewed Allah. He viewed Allah as being the “true One,” which contributed to the Islamic doctrine of the Tawhid. The doctrine of the Tawid states that God is one and indivisible. Al-Kindi’s influence and works led to a growing desire to learn about philosophy and use it in the Muslim
He became known as “the Prophet,” and was meant to be God’s final prophet. The main two groups of Islam are the Shia and Sunni which were created after Muhammad’s death. The Islamic religion as well as the Judaism and Christianity are monotheistic; these three religions have small disputes but they all believe in only one god. There were two men that wanted to be the first caliph (successor) of Muhammad.
Fakhry, M. 1997. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Mysticism: A Short Introdu ction. Oxford: One World Publications.
Thomas Aquinas was born the 13th century in Italy. At fifteen, Thomas Aquinas was sent to the University of Naples. During this time, he was exposed to Aristotle. Although Aquinas did not agree with many of Aristotle’s arguments, he fell in love with his style of argument. It was also during this time he learned to use this method to preach, with other Dominicans. He went on to study with other friars in Cologne. Then, he was sent onto Paris where he settled the strike between the papal authority and the professors who taught Aristotle. In 1260, he wrote his master...
After his death, Aristotle's words were perpetuated at the Perpatetic school by his loyal followers. Unfortunatley many of his ideas disappeared in Western philosophy between 500 and 1000 A.D., but were preserved by Arabic and Syrian scholars which reintroduced Aristotle to the Western world between. Since this time, his ideas have been extremely influential in Western rhetoric analysis.
In the history of concepts, there is no concern that Al-Ghazali’s figure emerges as one of the best Western thinkers. Considered as the prominent Sunni theologian that ever lived, Al-Ghazali’s polemic againstNeoplatonic thinkers, mainly Ibn Sina, dealt a fatal rage to philosophy within Islamic world. Written following his period of private study of philosophy, and completed in 1094 CE, Tahafut al-Falasifa carried the purpose of pursuing the analysis of reason that inspired his stint of cynicism, and was attempting to illustrate that reason is not self-reliant in the sphere of metaphysics and is incapable out of itself to construct an absolute world-view. Whereas, as Goldziher (1981) explains, Al-Ghazali uniquely held certain beliefs which he refuted in Tahafut, he wanted to demonstrate that reason on its own cannot establish that the world has the creator, two gods are unfeasible, God is not an entity or a body, and that he understand both himself and others, that the spirit is a self-resilient body. This paper will analyze Al-Ghazali’s argument on the eternity of the world, as found in his first areas of debate with philosophers and evaluated against Ibn Rushd’s answers.
With the passing of the notable ancient Greek greats, a new era in philosophy emerged. The Medieval period fostered an outburst of Islamic culture and thought, with many significant philosophers leading the way. Amongst these was Averroes, who thrived during the early 12th century. His many areas of interest allowed him to be a very learned and experienced individual, enabling him to produce many publications elaborating his thoughts. One of these publications is The Decisive Treatise, in which he discusses the role that philosophy plays in religion and how that impacts society. According to Averroes, in The Decisive Treatise, philosophy is a required part of religion that provides educated individuals with a deeper understanding of sacred texts.
Dr. James seeked that the Greek Philosophy is just stolen Egyptian Philosophy. Way before it actually reached Athens, the teachings called the Egyptian Mysteries got to other lands first. The history of the Greek philosophy was a compilation and plan executed by Aristotle at his school. Greek Philosophy as it was called and it different to the Greeks as the way they live. The period between 640-322 B.C. was the time period of Greek Philosophy and its external and internal wars was just not suitable for producing philosophers.
Natural philosophy might have played a much smaller role in Islamic science but is not to be overlooked. Al ma’mun built observatories as high as three stories in order to gain a better understanding of the cosmos. With these tools, Islamic astronomers made accurate descriptions of the heavens and created their own geocentric views of the orbits of the heavenly bodies. Attached to many of these observatories were great libraries. Islamic libraries contained a wealth of knowledge which was taken from other civilizations and translated to Arabic such as the House of Wisdom. These libraries had upwards of 2 million books, a massive accomplishment considering they did not have movable type. The Islamic Empire also saw great advances in mathematical understanding with the creation of trigonometry and algebra.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), son of a physician to the Macedonian ruler, was a Greek philosopher who studied virtually everything from logic to the sciences to ethics. He spent two decades under Plato’s tutelage in the Academy in Athens, then tutored abroad for twelve years, during which he taught Alexander the Great. He settled down afterwards in Athens and established his own school, the Lyceum. He stayed there until the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. caused an increase of anti-Macedonian sentiment, at which point he left the city and died shortly afterwards due to natural causes. Considered one of the most significant and influential figures of Western philosophy, he produced many written pieces, though most have not survived to this day. Many of those that have, however, are still being studied worldwide.
...nd reason. Ibn Rushd first used this logic in order to determine the existence of God. According to Chad Hillier, “The simple fact is that reason affirms divine unity, which, by definition, is a confession of God’s existence and the denial of any other deity.” (Chad Hillier) Based on this quote, one can infer that reason plays large role in one’s faith; Ibn Rushd made this clear by proving God’s existence via rational thought and scientific explanation. He then used it to establish certain attributes and characteristics of God and also focused on the origin of the world. Later in his life, the events that Ibn Rushd was essentially involved in all led to a dramatic shift in the world of religion and theology. He had an overall positive impact on many world religions and showed how religions could eventually evolve and transform into what they are known to be today.
On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy gives us insight to the philosophical views of a certain sect of Islam, and how it influenced it 's followers to view the world around them. Although it is helpful, this is written from a very biased position and it cannot be said that the views of the author are the views of Muslim culture as a whole. There is a constant attack on another religious group throughout the article that helps us to understand what this specific sect deems right and wrong through comparison of the groups.
Al Ghazali studied Aristotelian philosophy in order to completely appreciate it and he then used the philosophers’ judgment to point out errors in the Aristotelian philosophies. Muslims in Al Ghazali’s time were concerned about the creation of the universe. He argued if we accept time as a creation of God, then God created time, has control to end time, time began when the world was created and will stop when the world ends. Al Ghazali contested Aristotelian philosophy that if God knew all the details this would imply an advantage in his spirit therefore there would be no change in everlasting knowledge. Consequently, Al Ghazali assisted adherents in the Middle Ages to understand; that God does know all the details and this does not imply an advantage in his spirit. To highlight God’s supremacy and ability to know all things Al Ghazali used what the Qur’an said about God being all
Ibn Rush was born on April 14, 1126 in Cordova, Spain to a well-known family of jurist. He was educated in the traditional way. He studied the Qur’an, hadith, fiqh, medicine, and jurisprudence. He held the family’s office as a chief judge under Almoravids’ dynasty. One day, he was asked by the Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf, who had intensively studied Greek philosophy, to write commentaries on Aristotle’s philosophy interpreting them correctly. Ibn Rush spend three decades writing his commentaries on all of Aristotle’s works, except Politics, coverings the topics of aesthetics, logic, and ethics. Many of the commentaries had a short, and a paraphrased version. He focused on the original writings and their interpretations by other scholars. His different versions were to be easily read by people with different understanding levels. His main goal was to shed light on the Neoplatonic interpretations of Aristotle’s works, and compare them to what Aristotle originally meant. In these commentaries, he inserted his thoughts on religion and philosophy, existence of God, origin of the world, an...
1-Fakhry, Majid. Al-Farabi, founder of Islamic Neoplatonism : his life, works and influence, Oxford: Oneworld,c 2002. Print.
Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher. He was a student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great. Together with other Greek philosophers like Plato and Socrates, he is considered to be one of the most important figures in Western Philosophy.