History
Early medieval Christian philosophy[edit]
Fleury: the nave
The boundaries of the early medieval period are a matter of controversy. It is generally agreed that it begins with Augustine (354 – 430) who strictly belongs to the classical period, and ends with the lasting revival of learning in the late eleventh century, at the beginning of thehigh medieval period
After the collapse of the Roman empire, Western Europe lapsed into the so-called Dark Ages. Monasteries were among the limited number of focal points of formal academic learning, which might be presumed to be a result of a rule of St Benedict's in 525, which required monks to read the Bible daily, and his suggestion that at the beginning of Lent, a book be given to each monk. In later periods, monks were used for training administrators and churchmen.
Early Christian thought, in particular in the patristic period, tends to be intuitional and mystical, and is less reliant on reason and logical argument. It also places more emphasis on the sometimes-mystical doctrines of Plato, and less upon the systematic thinking of Aristotle.[11]Much of the work of Aristotle was unknown in the West in this period. Scholars relied on translations by Boethius into Latin of Aristotle's Categories, the logical work On Interpretation, and his Latin translation of Porphyry's Isagoge, a commentary on Aristotle's Categories.
Two Roman philosophers had a great influence on the development of medieval philosophy: Augustine and Boethius. Augustine is regarded as the greatest of the Church Fathers. He is primarily a theologian and a devotional writer, but much of his writing is philosophical. His themes are truth, God, the human soul, the meaning of history, the state,sin, and salvation. For over a thousand years, there was hardly a Latin work of theology or philosophy that did not quote his writing, or invoke his authority. Some of his writing had an influence on the development of early modern philosophy, such as that of Descartes. Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480– c.525) was a Christian philosopher born in Rome to an ancient and influential family. He became consul in 510 in the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. His influence on the early medieval period was also marked (so much so that it is sometimes called the Boethian period).[14] He intended to translate all the works of Aristotle and Plato from the original Greek into Latin, and translated many of Aristotle’s logical works, such as On Interpretation, and the Categories. He wrote commentaries on these works, and on the Isagoge by Porphyry (a commentary on the Categories). This introduced the problem of universals to the medieval world.
"Universal Man" illumination fromHildegard's De operatione Dei, 1165
The first significant renewal of learning in the West came when Charlemagne, advised by Peter of Pisa and Alcuin of York, attracted the scholars of England and Ireland, and by imperial decree in 787 AD established schools in every abbey in his empire. These schools, from which the name Scholasticism is derived, became centres of medieval learning.
Johannes Scotus Eriugena (c. 815 - 877), successor of Alcuin of York as head of the Palace School, was an Irish theologian andNeoplatonic philosopher. He is notable for having translated and made commentaries upon the work of Pseudo-Dionysius, initially thought to be from the apostolic age. Around this period several doctrinal controversies emerged, such as the question of whether God had predestined some for salvation and some for damnation. Eriugena was called in to settle this dispute. At the same time, Paschasius Radbertus raised an important question about the real presence of Christ at the Eucharist. Is the host the same as Christ's historical body? How can it be present at many places and many times? Radbertus argued that Christ's real body is present, veiled by the appearance of bread and wine, and is present at all places and all times, by means of God's incomprehensible power.
This period also witnessed a revival of scholarship. At Fleury, Theodulphus, bishop of Orléans, established a school for young noblemen recommended there by Charlemagne. By the mid-ninth century, its library was one of the most comprehensive ever assembled in the West, and scholars such as Lupus of Ferrières (d. 862) traveled there to consult its texts. Later, under St. Abbo of Fleury (abbot 988-1004), head of the reformed abbey school, Fleury enjoyed a second golden age.
Remigius of Auxerre, at the beginning of the tenth century, produced glosses or commentaries on the classical texts of Donatus, Priscian,Boethius, and Martianus Capella. The Carolingian period was followed by a small dark age that was followed by a lasting revival of learning in the eleventh century, which owed much to the rediscovery of Greek thought from Arabic translations and Muslim contributions such asAvicenna's On the soul.
2. Islamic philosophers envisaged their philosophical undertaking as an effort to pursue their love of wisdom, which is an exploration into the truths of nature, religion, and cultures. The Sufi mystics staunchly attested to a philosophy of love and rapture emphasizing the oneness of God. In his al-Futuhat al-makkiyya (The Meccan Revelations), Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1240) explained the process of creation as “an overflowing of love from God, the desire of the Necessary Being to know itself by seeing its Being reflected back on itself.” Al-Ghazali attempted to reconcile the God of the philosophers with the God of the Qur’an, “speaking to everyman, judging him and loving him.”
Islamic culture reached its zenith in philosophy, art, architecture, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics between the seventh and the thirteenth century of the Common Era. Great scholars such as Al-Khwarizmi, Al-Farabi, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Sina, Al-Biruni, Omar Khayyam, Ibn-Rushd, and Ibn Khaldun were some of the luminaries whose range of scholarship rivaled that of Plato and Aristotle.
Abu Ja’far Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, who was from Khwarizm, in modern day Uzbekistan, lived in the ninth century CE. Al-Khwarizmi developed algebra and the decimal system in mathematics. His topic Kitab Al-Jabr wa al-Muqabilah (The topic of Equation and Integration) was widely consulted in Europe until the sixteenth century.
Abu’l-Nasr Al-Farabi, a Persian scholar, was reverentially known as the “Second Teacher”— the first being Aristotle. Al-Farabi wrote on logic, medicine, political science, and philosophy. He was also a master of several languages and translated many ancient Greek philosophical texts into Arabic. Al-Farabi emphasized the superiority of reason over faith and argued that philosophy was superior to theology. He influenced philosophers such as Ibn Rushd and Ibn Khaldun and began the debate between philosophers and theologians in Islam. Al-Farabi argued that only a philosopher with the aid of intellect and reason could be an ideal ruler.
Al-Biruni was also a multilingual and multidisciplinary scholar who wrote a great topic on India known as Kitab al-Hind (topic of India). He was a physicist, biologist, geographer, and astronomer.
Abu Ali al-Husayn Ibn Abdullah Ibn Sina (980-1037 CE), known as Avicenna in the West, was a great physician and philosopher. Ibn Sina wrote on diverse topics such as politics, economics, ethics, medicine, and metaphysics.
Ghiyath al-Din Abul Fatah Umar Ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam (b.1044 CE) is better known for his poetry than his philosophy and science, but he was also a great mathematician, and his works on geometry and algebra were much appreciated by renowned mathematicians such as Rene Descartes.
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (b. 1058 CE) came from Khurasan in Persia. Al-Ghazali taught theology and philosophy at Nizamiyah University, Baghdad. His great philosophical treatise Tuhafat al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) was a critique of philosophy from the perspective of Islamic theology. Al-Ghazali influenced both medieval Christian and Jewish philosophy. He was a Sufi philosopher but considered Sufism too extreme in its beliefs and tried to reconcile it with traditional Islamic theology.
Abu’l Waleed Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Rushd (b. 1126 CE), known as Averroes in the West, was one of the greatest scientific and philosophical minds. Ibn Rushd was born in Cordova in Muslim Spain. His philosophical views were influenced by Greek thought. Ibn Rushd questioned the validity of Islamic theological doctrines. He was also a great physician and astronomer and wrote a medical treatise called Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb (Colliget in Latin).
Abd-al Rahman Ibn Muhammad, also known as Ibn Khaldun, wrote Muqaddimah (Introduction), the first of several intended volumes on world history. He was a pioneer in the field of sociology and philosophy of history. He also wrote detailed accounts of the histories of the Arab, Jewish, Persian, Berber, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Islamic cultures.
The philosophical variations in Islam stem from the tension between what is perceived as an innovation or a continuation of the tradition founded by Prophet Muhammad. The Prophet is considered to have improved on and completed the teachings of other prophets such as Moses, David, and Jesus. Prophet Muhammad’s teachings are considered the last and final revelations. For that reason he is called the Seal of the Prophets.
Hamid Enayat writes, “The Qur’an challenges the believers to follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad, whom it describes as the uswah hasanah (noble paradigm).” Later, the Islamic tradition came to signify the collection of the Holy Qur’ an, the corpus of Islamic theology (kalam), and the Islamic Holy Law (shari’a), which governs the lives of Muslims. Medieval Islamic philosophers negotiated the delicate task of interpreting and reconciling what was literal and what was figurative in the Qur’an. Muslims believe that the actions and utterances of the Prophet enshrined in the oral traditions (hadith) are also divine.
Two broad divisions exist in Islam, namely, the Shi’a (the followers of Ali) and the Sunni— from Sunna (tradition). The reasons for this division in the early Arab Islamic society were more political than philosophical—differences in the interpretation of the Islamic scripture and tradition began to develop later. The Islamic tradition accepts only one forum for testing a right belief, which is the consensus among the community of believers (yma’). According to the Prophet, the community of believers would have divine guidance and would not be led astray when there were differences in the interpretation of the shari’a. The process of intellectual appraisal using debate and reasoning sanctioned by the shari’a is called ytihad. By 900 CE, the Sunni scholars declared that the controversies in the tradition had been settled and the process of ijtihyd was no longer required. But the Shi’a scholars were opposed to the abandonment of the process of ytihad in the interpretation of the Islamic laws.
Medieval Islamic philosophy could be characterized as a debate between reason and faith. Philosophers such as Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Ibn Rushd argued that reason was superior to revelation. Al-Ghazali decried the efforts of philosophers such as Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina to accord higher status to philosophy and reason over theology and faith. Al-Ghazali wrote, “True, a belief which results from simple acceptance of authority may not be free of some weakness at the beginning, in that it can be shaken and impaired by its opposite whenever that is mentioned. . . . But the way to strengthen and confirm it does not lie in learning the art of argumentation and speculation. It is found in the reading and exposition of the Qur’an, in the study of traditions and their meaning, and in the performance of religious duties and acts of worship.”
Al-Ghazali also criticized dogmatic beliefs in Islamic tradition and attempted to bridge the chasm between Sufi mysticism and the Islamic tradition. Ibn Sina’s approach to metaphysics is through ontological and cosmological proofs such as, “If [its existence] is necessary then it is God (al-Haqq) in Himself, the Necessarily Existent in Itself—namely, ‘the Self-Subsis-tent’(al-Qayyum).” Al-Kindi (805-873 CE), known as the father of Islamic philosophy, in Fi al-Falasafah al-ula (On First Philosophy), hails philosophers as the seekers of truth. But he was also mindful of the need to reconcile philosophy and Islamic theology. In Philosophy of Aristotle and Plato, Al-Farabi asserts, “Philosophy is prior to religion in time” and “Religion is an imitation of philosophy” (Al-Farabi 1962, 7). Al-Farabi strove to reconcile Islamic, Platonic, and Aristotelian philosophy.
The medieval Islamic philosophers were also interested in the establishment of a just Islamic state. One can find an underlying political theme in the philosophical writings of Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Al-Kindi, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Tusi, and Ibn Idris. Concepts such as happiness, justice, and the ideal characteristics of a just ruler were elaborately discussed by scholars.
There was also a conscious attempt to separate the Islamic theological establishment and the political authority. Philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Ibn Sina, and Al-Farabi envisaged a philosopher-king model of political governance similar to that of Plato, which would ideally be ruled by a philosopher—the true seeker of justice and happiness. On the other hand, Al-Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyyah feared that a weakened Islamic state would result in chaos and insecurity and advocated a strong ruler. According to Ibn Taymiyyah, “It is obvious that the [affairs of the] people cannot be in a sound state except with rulers, and even if somebody from among unjust kings becomes ruler, this would be better than there being none.”