Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources

This volume pairs a short biography of each philosopher (usually one page) with a generous sampling of his work. Covered are- Al-Kindi- Ar-Razi- Al-Farabi- Baghdad Peripatetics- Ibn Sina (Avicenna)- Al-Ghaxali- Ibn Bajja (Avempace)- Ibn Tufayl- Ibn Tushd (Averroes)- As- SuhrawardiIn addition there is a good introduction, notes, bibliography and English and Arabic glossaries.It is the nature of an anthology that it can only give you an appetizer, never the whole course but this one is most generous indeed and provides a solid foundation for further study.

I have reviewed two other resource books on Arabic Philosophy, or Islamic Philosophy.These people were the ones who brought Aristotle's works to Europe.Aristotle was the crack in the barrier protecting the ignorance of the intelligencia when there wasn't much intellectual speculation going on by Europeans.You have to figure that what they saved, and how it was interpreted were affected by the fact that they were Muslim.Are we more affected by this than we imagine? Read, a little.

As is to be expected it is not an indepth study of each individual philospher of course. However, for the beginner it is a quick introductory dose of philosophy. The reader should also be familiar with Greek Philosophy and Kalam in order to discern the trends in ideas.

I find Islamic Philosophy to be complex and shrouded in western critical garb in general.On the other hand it is a marriage of Greek Philosophy and Introspection of Arab culture and Quranic edicts.This book puts these areas in a lucid,readable and interesting framework with good references.

Excellent, challenging and enjoyable read. Know your history.

Great book

Seminal. Well selected.

I bought this book as a resource. My latest novel has, as its principle character, a professor of philosophy at a prestigious Egyptian university. I wanted to be able to refer to actual teachings of classical Arabic philosophy in his interactions with students and to use some of the philosophical discussions to help make some of the conclusions in the novel. In these two respects, the book was an excellent resource. I could have the professor discuss the teachings of a particular ancient philosopher with a student, quoting the philosopher by name, dates of birth and death, place of origin, philosophical interests, and exactly what he had written. I could also use what a philosopher had written to establish a point I wanted to make in the novel.The book has a useful index of key words, both in English and Arabic. The text, however is largely in English. It also has, for the serious reader, clarifying footnotes, and an extensive bibliography. The preface will acquaint the reader with the methodology used by the authors in the selection and translation of the material. The introduction gives the background of the classical Arabic philosophy, which is – to a large extent – derived from Greek, particularly Aristolean, philosophy. What I found of particular interest was that the first prominent Arabic philosophers appeared barely two hundred years after the founding of Islam in 622 AD – well before their Western counterparts. While Greek philosophy provided a foundation, there were philosophical debates within Islam which also provided grist for the mill. The book includes translations of selected, verbatum writings of a dozen philosophers who lived between the 9th and 13th centuries AD. Subjects of discussion for the Arabic philosophers included physics (motion, force, change, etc.); metaphysics (being, knowing, identity, time and space); theology (God, the soul, eternity). The language used by the Arabic philosophers can be quite turgid and difficult to follow. I suspect this was more the convention of the era than a fault in the translation. Also, the use of logical conventions, which appeared in the West later, were not available at the time to structure a clear proof of a theory.This is not a book that one would want to read for pleasure unless one were a practicing philosopher. It could serve as a text book in the teaching of philosophy. And it is an excellent reference work.

Exellent book