Book contents
- Frontmatter
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Continuity and Revival
- 2 The philosopher and Renaissance culture
- 3 Humanism, scholasticism, and Renaissance philosophy
- 4 Continuity and change in the Aristotelian tradition
- 5 The revival of Platonic philosophy
- 6 The revival of Hellenistic philosophies
- 7 Arabic philosophy and Averroism
- 8 How to do magic, and why philosophical prescriptions
- Part II Toward Modern Philosophy
- Appendix: Brief biographies of Renaissance philosophers
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Arabic philosophy and Averroism
from Part I - Continuity and Revival
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2007
- Frontmatter
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Continuity and Revival
- 2 The philosopher and Renaissance culture
- 3 Humanism, scholasticism, and Renaissance philosophy
- 4 Continuity and change in the Aristotelian tradition
- 5 The revival of Platonic philosophy
- 6 The revival of Hellenistic philosophies
- 7 Arabic philosophy and Averroism
- 8 How to do magic, and why philosophical prescriptions
- Part II Toward Modern Philosophy
- Appendix: Brief biographies of Renaissance philosophers
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The names of the famous Arabic philosophers Averroes and Avicenna, alongside those of Alkindi, Alfarabi, and Algazel, appear in countless philosophical writings of the Renaissance. These authors are well-known figures of the classical period of Arabic philosophy, which stretches from the ninth to the twelfth century ad. The history of Arabic philosophy began in the middle of the ninth century, when a substantial part of ancient Greek philosophy had become available in Arabic translations: almost the complete Aristotle, numerous Greek commentaries on Aristotle, and many Platonic and Neoplatonic sources. A major centre of intellectual activity was Baghdad, the new capital of the Abbasid caliphs. It was here that Alkindi (al-Kindī, d. after ad 870), the first important philosopher of Arabic culture, and the Aristotelian philosopher Alfarabi (al-Fārābī, d. 950/1) spent the greater part of their life. A major turning point in the history of Arabic philosophy was the activity of Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037), the court philosopher of various local rulers in Persia, who recast Aristotelian philosophy in a way that made it highly influential among Islamic theologians. The famous Baghdad theologian Algazel (al-Ghazālī, d. 1111) accepted much of Avicenna’s philosophy, but criticized it on central issues such as the eternity of the world. Averroes (Ibn Rushd, d. 1198), the Andalusian commentator on Aristotle, reacted to both Avicenna and Algazel: he censured Avicenna for deviating from Aristotle and criticized Algazel for misunderstanding the philosophical tradition.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy , pp. 113 - 136Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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