Muslim philosophers

Philosophy · Medieval and Muslim philosophy. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

From the ninth century, Greek philosophy was translated into Arabic and developed by thinkers known as the falasifa. Al-Kindi began the work in Baghdad. Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina built large systems joining Aristotle and Neoplatonism with their own ideas.

Al-Ghazali criticised the philosophers in Tahafut al-Falasifa, and Ibn Rushd replied in Tahafut al-Tahafut, arguing that philosophy and religion do not conflict.

Ibn Tufayl's tale Hayy ibn Yaqzan shows a man alone on an island reaching knowledge of nature and of God by reflection, in agreement with revealed religion. Ibn Khaldun (1332 to 1406) studied history as a science of society in the Muqaddimah.

Rules to remember

Common mistake

Mixing up the two Tahafut books. Tahafut al-Falasifa (Incoherence of the Philosophers) is Al-Ghazali's; Tahafut al-Tahafut (Incoherence of the Incoherence) is Ibn Rushd's reply.

Worked example

A hardy desert tribe conquers a rich city. Three generations later its rulers live in comfort, hire soldiers instead of fighting, and are overthrown by a new tribe. Whose theory does this illustrate, and through which concept?

  1. The tribe wins because hard desert life gives it strong group solidarity.
  2. Settled city life and luxury weaken that solidarity over the generations.
  3. A fresh group with stronger solidarity then replaces the dynasty, and the cycle begins again.

Answer: Ibn Khaldun's theory of the rise and fall of dynasties, explained by asabiyyah, in the Muqaddimah.

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