With the advent of Christianity, Muslim philosophy was forced to seek refuge outside the Middle East. According to Zeno's decree of 489, the Aristotelian peripatetic school was closed, and later, in 529, the last philosophical school of the Gentiles in Athens, which belonged to the Neoplatonists, also fell out of favor and persecution due to the decree of Justinian. All these actions forced many philosophers to move to nearby lands.
History of Arab Philosophy
One of the centers of such a philosophy was the city of Damascus, which, incidentally, gave rise to many Neoplatonists (for example, Porfiry and Jamblichus). Syria and Iran embrace the philosophical currents of antiquity with open arms. All the literary works of ancient mathematicians, astronomers, and doctors, including the books of Aristotle and Plato, are transported here.
Muslims at that time did not pose a great threat, either politically or religiously, so philosophers were given the full right to calmly continue their activities without persecuting religious leaders. Many ancient treatises have been translated into Arabic.
Baghdad at that time was famous for the “House of Wisdom”, a school where the works of Galen, Hippocrates, Archimedes, Euclid, Ptolemy, Aristotle, Plato, Neoplatonists were translated. However, the philosophy of the Arab East was not characterized by a clear idea of the philosophy of antiquity, which led to the attribution of incorrect authorship to many treatises.
For example, Plotinus’s book Enneada was partially authored by Aristotle, which led to many years of misconception up to the Middle Ages in Western Europe. Under the name of Aristotle, the works of Proclus, entitled "Book of Reasons, " were also translated.
The Arab scientific world of the 9th century was replenished with knowledge of mathematics, in fact, from there, thanks to the works of mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, the world received a positional number system or “Arabic numbers”. It was this man who raised mathematics to the rank of science. The word "algebra" from the Arabic "al jabr" means the operation of transferring one member of the equation to the other side with a change in sign. It is noteworthy that the word "algorithm", produced on behalf of the first Arab mathematician, meant among the Arabs mathematics in general.
Al-kindi
The development of philosophy at that time was used as an application of the principles of Aristotle and Plato to the existing provisions of Muslim theology.
Al-Kindi (801-873) became one of the first representatives of Arabian philosophy. Thanks to his efforts, the Plotinus Theology of Aristotle, known to us under the authorship of Aristotle, was translated. He was familiar with the work of the astronomer Ptolemy and Euclid. Like Aristotle, Al-Kindi ranked philosophy as the crown of all scientific knowledge.
As a man of broad views, he argued that there is no single definition of truth anywhere and at the same time truth is everywhere. Al-Kindi is not just a philosopher, he was a rationalist and firmly believed that only with the help of reason can one know the truth. To do this, he often resorted to the help of the Queen of Sciences - mathematics. Even then, he talked about the relativity of knowledge in general.
However, being a pious man, he argued that Allah is the goal of all things, and only in it is the fullness of truth hidden, which is available only to the elect (prophets). The philosopher, in his opinion, is not able to achieve knowledge due to its inaccessibility to simple mind and logic.
Al-farabi
Another philosopher who laid the foundation of Arab philosophy of the Middle Ages was Al-Farabi (872-950), who was born in southern Kazakhstan, then lived in Baghdad, where he adopted the knowledge of a Christian doctor. This educated person, among other things, was also a musician, and a doctor, and a rhetorician, and a philosopher. He also relied on the writings of Aristotle and was interested in logic.
Thanks to him, Aristotelian treatises under the title Organon were streamlined. Being strong in logic, Al-Farabi received the nickname of the “second teacher” among the subsequent philosophers of Arabic philosophy. He considered logic a tool of knowledge of the truth, which is absolutely necessary for everyone.
Logic also did not come to light without a theoretical foundation, which, along with mathematics and physics, is presented in metaphysics, explaining the essence of objects of these sciences and the essence of non-material objects, to which God, who is the center of metaphysics, belongs. Therefore, Al-Farabi elevated metaphysics to the rank of divine science.
Al-Farabi divided the world into two types of being. To the first, he attributed possibly existing things, for the existence of which there is a reason outside these things. The second - things that contain the very reason for their existence, that is, their existence is determined by their inner essence, only God can be attributed here.
Like Plotinus, Al-Farabi sees in God an unknowable entity, which, however, ascribes to a personal will, which contributed to the creation of subsequent minds, which embodied the idea of the elements in reality. Thus, the philosopher combines the damn hierarchy of hypostases with Muslim creationism. So the Qur'an, as the source of medieval Arabian philosophy, formed the subsequent worldview of the followers of Al-Farabi.
This philosopher proposed a classification of human cognitive abilities, introducing the world four types of mind.
The first lower kind of mind is considered passive, since it is associated with sensuality, the second type of mind is an actual, pure form, capable of comprehending forms. The third type of mind was assigned acquired mind, which already knew some forms. The latter type is active, comprehending other spiritual forms and God on the basis of knowledge of forms. In this way, a hierarchy of minds is built - passive, relevant, acquired, and active.
Ibn Sina
When analyzing Arab medieval philosophy, it’s worth briefly to introduce the life path and teachings of another outstanding thinker after Al-Farabi named Ibn Sina, who came to us under the name Avicenna. His full name is Abu Ali Hussein ibn Sina. And according to the Jewish reading, there will be Aven Sena, which ultimately gives modern Avicenna. Arabic philosophy, thanks to his contribution, was replenished with knowledge of human physiology.
A philosopher doctor was born near Bukhara in 980 and died in 1037. He gained fame as a brilliant doctor. As the story goes, in his youth he cured the emir in Bukhara, which made him a court doctor who won the mercy and blessings of the emir’s right hand.
The book of healing, which includes 18 volumes, can be considered the work of his whole life. He was a fan of the teachings of Aristotle and also recognized the division of sciences into practical and theoretical. In theory, he put metaphysics first and foremost, and attributed mathematics to practice, honoring it as secondary science. Physics was considered the lowest science, since it studies the sensual things of the material world. Logic was perceived, as before, by the gates on the way to scientific knowledge.
Arabic philosophy during Ibn Sina considered it possible to know the world, which can only be achieved through the mind.
One could attribute Avicenna to moderate realists, because he spoke about universals like this: they exist not only in things, but also in the human mind. However, there are passages in his books where he claims that they exist “before material things”.
The works of Thomas Aquinas in Catholic philosophy are based on the terminology of Avicenna. “Before things” are universals that are forming in the divine consciousness, “before / after things” are universals born in the human mind.
In metaphysics, which Ibn Sina also paid attention to, four types of being are divided: spiritual beings (God), spiritual material objects (heavenly spheres), bodily objects.
As a rule, this includes all philosophical categories. Here property, substance, freedom, necessity, etc. It is they that form the basis of metaphysics. The fourth kind of being is the concepts associated with matter, the essence and existence of an individual concrete thing.
The following interpretation belongs to the peculiarities of Arab medieval philosophy: "God is the only being whose essence coincides with existence." God relates Avicenna to a necessary being.
Thus, the world is divided into possible-existing and necessary-existing things. The subtext hints that any chain of causality leads to the knowledge of God.
The creation of the world in Arab medieval philosophy is now viewed from a neo-Platonic point of view. As a follower of Aristotle, Ibn Sina erroneously claimed, quoting Plotinov's “Theology of Aristotle, ” that the world was created by God emanatically.
God, in his view, creates ten steps of the mind, the last of which provides the forms of our bodies and the awareness of their presence. Like Aristotle, Avicenna considers matter a necessary and co-existent element of God to any existence. He also honors God for his pure thought. So, according to Ibn Sina, God is ignorant, because he does not know every single object. That is, the world is governed not by a higher mind, but by the general laws of reason and causality.
Briefly, the Arabian medieval philosophy of Avicenna consists of a denial of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, because he believes that it is immortal and will never gain a different bodily form after liberation from the mortal body. In his understanding, only a soul freed from feelings and emotions is capable of tasting heavenly pleasure. Thus, according to the teachings of Ibn Sina, the medieval philosophy of the Arab East is based on the knowledge of God through the mind. This approach began to cause a negative reaction of Muslims.
Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)
This Persian philosopher was actually called Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali. In his youth, he became interested in the study of philosophy, sought to know the truth, but eventually came to the conclusion that true faith departs from philosophical doctrine.
Having survived a serious crisis of the soul, Al-Ghazali leaves the city and court activities. He strikes at asceticism, leads a monastic lifestyle, in other words, becomes a dervish. It lasted eleven years. However, after persuading his loyal students to return to teaching, he returns to the post of teacher, but his worldview is now being built in a different direction.
Briefly, the Arabian philosophy of the time of Al-Ghazali is presented in his works, among which are “Revitalization of religious sciences”, “Self-refutation of philosophers”.
Significant development at this time reached the natural sciences, including mathematics and medicine. He does not deny the practical benefits of these sciences for society, but calls not to be distracted by the scientific knowledge of God. After all, this leads to heresy and godlessness, according to Al-Ghazali.
Al-Ghazali: Three Groups of Philosophers
He divides all philosophers into three groups:
- Those who affirm the eternity of the world and deny the existence of the supreme Creator (Anaxagoras, Empedocles and Democritus).
- Those who transfer the natural-scientific method of cognition to philosophy and explain everything with natural causes are missing heretics who deny the afterlife and God.
- Those who adhere to metaphysical doctrine (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina). Al-Ghazali disagrees with them the most.
Al-Ghazali Arab philosophy of the Middle Ages condemns metaphysicians because of three basic errors:
- the eternity of the existence of the world outside of God's will;
- God is omniscient;
- denial of his resurrection from the dead and personal immortality of the soul.
In contrast to the metaphysicians, al-Ghazali denies matter as the beginning of the deity of the deity. Thus, it can be attributed to the nominalists: there are only specific material objects that God creates, bypassing universals.
In Arab medieval philosophy, the situation in the dispute about universals acquired a character that was opposite to the European one. In Europe, nominalists were persecuted for heresy, but things are different in the East. Al-Ghazali, being a mystic theologian, denies philosophy as such, affirms nominalism as a confirmation of the omniscience and omnipotence of God, and excludes the existence of universals.
All changes in the world, according to the Arabic philosophy of Al-Ghazali, are not accidental and relate to the new creation of God, nothing is repeated, nothing is improved, there is only the introduction of the new through God. Since philosophy has boundaries in knowledge, ordinary philosophers are not given the opportunity to contemplate God in supermind mystical ecstasy.
Ibn Rushd (1126-1198)
In the 9th century, with the expansion of the borders of the Muslim world, many educated Catholics were influenced by it. One of these people was a resident of Spain and a person close to the Cordoba caliph Ibn Rushd, known by Latin transcription - Averroes.
Thanks to his activities at court (commenting on the apocrypha of philosophical thought), he earned the nickname of the Commentator. Ibn Rushd extolled Aristotle, arguing that only it should be studied and interpreted.
His main work is considered “Refutation of the refutation”. This is a polemical work that refutes Al-Ghazali's Refutation of the Philosophers.
The characteristics of the Arabic medieval philosophy of the time of Ibn Rushd include the following classification of conclusions:
- apodictic, that is, strictly scientific;
- dialectic or more or less probable;
- rhetorical, which give only the appearance of an explanation.
Thus, the division of people into apodictics, dialectics and rhetoric looms.
To rhetoric can be attributed most of the believers, content with simple explanations that lull their vigilance and anxiety to the unknown. Dialectics include people such as Ibn Rushd and Al-Ghazali, and apodictics include Ibn Sin and Al-Farabi.
Moreover, the contradiction between Arab philosophy and religion does not really exist, it appears from the ignorance of people.
Knowing the truth
The holy books of the Qur'an are considered the receptacle of truth. However, according to Ibn Rushd, the Qur'an contains two meanings: internal and external. The external builds only rhetorical knowledge, while the internal is comprehended only by the apodictics.
According to Averroes, the assumption of the creation of the world creates a lot of contradictions, which leads to an erroneous understanding of God.
Firstly, Ibn Rushd believes, if we assume that God is the creator of the world, then, therefore, he lacks something, which belittles His own essence. Secondly, if we God is truly eternal, then where does the concept of the beginning of the world come from? And if He is constant, then where is the change in the world? True knowledge according to Ibn Rushd includes an awareness of the coexistence of the world to God.
The philosopher claims that God only knows Himself, that he is not allowed to invade material things and make changes. This is how the picture of a world independent of God is built in which matter is the source of all transformations.
Denying the opinions of many predecessors, Averroes says that only in matter can universals exist.
The verge of divine and material
According to Ibn Rushd, universals belong to the material world. He also did not agree with the interpretation of the causality of Al-Ghazali, arguing that it is not illusory, but exists objectively. Proving this statement, the philosopher proposed the idea that the world exists in God as a whole, parts of which are inextricably linked with each other. God creates harmony in the world, order, from which a causal relationship in the world grows, and she denies any chance and miracles.
Following Aristotle, Averroes said that the soul is a form of the body and therefore also dies after the death of a person. However, she does not die completely, only her animal and vegetable souls - that which made her individual.
