Sharon Hagenbeek

After al-Ghazālī and his hierarchical synthesis of mysticism, philosophy and law, ʾAbū l-Walīd Muḥammad bin ʾAḥmad bin Rušd (ca. 1126-1198) – better known as Ibn Rushd, or Averroes, inEurope– tried to reinstate Aristotelian philosophy. But, without its Neo-Platonic additions, by systematically commenting on and recapitulating Aristotle’s work. Too him, Philosophical insight in truth is strictly abstract […]

Introduction (Part 1) – Development of Islam – Translation and Assimilation Introduction (Part 2) – Influences and translated works – Plotinus and Theology of Aristotle – Proclus and the Book on the Pure Good (or Book on Causes) The start of a tradition: al-Kindī – Al-Kindī’s Metaphysics – Al-Kindī’s psychology The importance of Logic: al-Fārābī – Al-Fārābī’s […]

Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazālī (1058–1111), was a Islamic lawyer, a speculative theologian and an Islamic mystic (ṣūfī). To understand the motives of any philosopher, later interpreters often reach out to their autobiographies, as is the case with al-Ghazālī’s Deliverer from Error (al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl). However what is often taken to be his autobiography is […]

Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā (980-1037) has been christened Avicenna by Latin writers in the European Middle Ages. That fact alone should give an idea of the extent of his reach and his enormous influence world wide. His most famous work, Kitab Al-Shifaʾ (The Book of Healing), systematically discusses the healing of […]

In the work of Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Fārābī (c.872 – c.950) we can see how the Islamic tradition finds a balance between its Neo-Platonic and Neo-Aristotelian foundations. Al-Fārābī’s system, with its new found status quo between the two, would become the basis for later Islamic thinkers, such as the more broadly known Avicenna and […]

Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindī (circa 801–873) was the first systematic[1] philosopher in the Islamic tradition; Adamson even goes so far as to call him “the first self-consciously “philosophical” thinker”[2]. However, Leezenberg points out that most contemporary thinkers aren’t that imprested with al-Kindī, and Leezenberg does seem to count himself among them[3]. Among Muslims […]

Influences and Translated works During the classical period of Islamic philosophy, there were two major influences; Aristotle, and the Neo-Platonic tradition. The first was very influential with his work on logic – the Arabs were looking for a method to teach their religious ideas, and they found the tools in Aristotle’s Organon. However, what the […]

Introduction This paper intends to give an overview of the Islamic philosophy during its classical period, which stretches roughly from the 9th to the 12th century. For this aim it is necessary to first discuss the development of Islam and the translation of Greek texts into Arabic. Through the following discussion of a few of […]