,,the ,,history ,,of ,,philosophy ,,in ,,islam ,,by ,dr4 ,t4 ,j4 ,,de ,,boer1 ,,university ,,of ,,groningen4 ,,translated 7with the sanction of the ,author7 ,,by ,,edward ,r4 ,,jones ,b4,d4 ,,london ,,luzac ,,co41 #df1 ,,great ,,russell ,,street1 #aijc4 ,,translator',s ,,prefatory ,,note4 ,this edition of ,dr4 de ,boer's recent work is produced in the hope that it may prove interesting to not a few ,english readers1 and especially that it may be of service to younger students commencing to study the subject which is dealt with in the following pages4 ,the translator has aimed at nothing more than a faithful reproduction of the original4 ,his best thanks are due to the accomplished author1 for his kindness in revising the proof-sheets of the version1 as it passed through the ,press4 ,e4 ,r4 ,j4 ,,preface4 ,the following is the first attempt which has been made1 since the appearance of ,munk's excellent sketch #a1 to present in connected form a ,history of ,philosophy in ,islam4 ,this work of mine may therefore be regarded as a fresh initiation1--not a completion of such a task4 ,i could not know of all that had been done by others1 in the way of preliminary study in this field2 and when ,i did know of the existence of such material1 it was not always accessible to me4 ,as for manuscript assistance1 it was only in exceptional cases that this was at my disposal4 ,conforming to the conditions which ,i had to meet1 ,i have in the following account refrained from stating my authorities4 ,but anything which ,i may have taken over1 nearly word for word or without testing it1 ,i have marked in foot-references4 ,for the rest1 ,i deeply regret that ,i cannot duly indicate at present how much ,i owe1 as regards appreciation of the sources1 to men like ,dieterici1 de ,goeje1 ,goldziher1 ,houtsma1 ,aug4 ,mller1 ,munk1 ,nldeke1 ,renan1 ,snouck ,hurgronje1 van ,vloten1 and many1 many others4 ,since the completion of this volume an interesting monograph on ,ibn ,sina #b has appeared1 which farther extends its survey over the earlier history of ,philosophy in ,islam4 ,it gives rise to no occasion1 however1 to alter substantially my conception of the subject4 ,for all bibliographical details ,i refer the reader to 8die ,orientalische ,bibliographie01 ,brockelmann's 8,geschichte der ,arabischen ,litteratur01 and ,ueberweg--,heinze's 8,grundriss der ,geschichte der ,philosophie0 ,,ii#c1 p4 #bac sqq4 ,in the transcription of ,arabic names ,i have been more heedful of tradition and ,german pronunciation1 than of consistency4 ,be it noted only that z is to be pronounced as a soft s1 and th like the corresponding ,english sound #c4 ,in the ,index of ,personal ,names1 accents signify length4 ,as far as possible ,i have confined myself to ,islam4 ,on that ground ,ibn ,gebirol and ,maimonides have received only a passing notice1 while other ,jewish thinkers have been entirely omitted1 although1 philosophically considered1 they belong to the ,muslim school4 ,this1 however1 entails no great loss1 for much has been written already about the ,jewish philosophers1 whereas ,muslim thinkers have hitherto been sadly neglected4 ,groningen 7,netherlands74 ,t4 ,j4 de ,boer4 ,,contents4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,introduction4 ,,page #a4 ,the ,theatre #a-f #a4 ,ancient ,arabia #a #b4 ,the first ,caliphs4 ,medina4 ,the ,shiites #b #c4 ,the ,omayyads4 ,damascus1 ,basra and ,kufa #c #d4 ,the ,abbasids4 ,bagdad #c #e4 ,minor ,states4 ,fall of the ,caliphate #e #b4 ,oriental ,wisdom #f-aa #a4 ,semitic ,speculation #f #b4 ,persian ,religion4 ,zrwanism #h #c4 ,indian ,wisdom #h #c4 ,greek ,science #aa-cj #a4 ,the ,syrians #aa #b4 ,the ,christian ,churches #aa #c4 ,edessa and ,nisibis #ab #d4 ,harran #ac #e4 ,gondeshapur #ad #f4 ,syriac ,translations #ad #g4 ,philosophy among the ,syrians #af #h4 ,arabic ,translations #ag #i4 ,the ,philosophy of the ,translators #ai #aj4 ,range of ,tradition #ba #aa4 ,continuation of ,neo-,platonism #bb #ab4 ,the 8,book of the ,apple0 #bd #ac4 ,the 8,theology of ,aristotle0 #be #ad4 ,conception of ,aristotle #bg #ae4 ,philosophy in ,islam #bh ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,philosophy and ,arab ,knowledge4 #a4 ,grammatical ,science #ca-ce #a4 ,the several ,sciences #ca #b4 ,the ,arabic ,language4 ,the ,koran #ca #c4 ,the ,grammarians of ,basra and ,kufa #cb #d4 ,grammar influenced by ,logic4 ,metrical ,studies #cc #e4 ,grammatical ,science and ,philosophy #ce #b4 ,ethical ,teaching #cf-da #a4 ,tradition and ,individual ,opinion 7,sunna1 ,hadith1 ,ray7 #cf #b4 ,analogy 7,qiyas74 ,consensus of the ,congregation 7,idjma7 #cg #c4 ,position and ,contents of the ,muslim ,ethical ,system 7al-,fiqh7 #ch #d4 ,ethics and ,politics #dj #c4 ,doctrinal ,systems #da-fd #a4 ,christian ,dogmatic #da #b4 ,the ,kalam #db #c4 ,the ,mutazilites and their ,opponents #dc #d4 ,human and ,divine ,action #dd #e4 ,the ,being of ,god #df #f4 ,revelation and ,reason #dh #g4 ,abu-l-,hudhail #di #h4 ,nazzam #ea #i4 ,djahiz #ec #aj4 ,muammar and ,abu ,hashim #ed #aa4 ,ashari #ee #ab4 ,the ,atomistic ,kalam #eg #ac4 ,mysticism or ,sufism #fb #d4 ,literature and ,history #fe-ga #a4 ,literature #fe #b4 ,abu-l-,atahia4 ,mutanabbi4 ,abu-l-,ala4 ,hariri #fe #c4 ,annalistic4 ,historical ,tradition #fg #d4 ,masudi and ,muqaddasi #fi ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,the ,pythagorean ,philosophy4 #a4 ,natural ,philosophy #gb-hj #a4 ,the ,sources #gb #b4 ,mathematical ,studies #gc #c4 ,natural ,science #ge #d4 ,medicine #gf #e4 ,razi #gg #f4 ,the ,dahrites #hj #b4 ,the ,faithful ,brethren of ,basra #ha-if #a4 ,the ,karmatites #ha #b4 ,the ,brethren and their ,encyclopaedia #hb #c4 ,eclecticism #hd #d4 ,knowledge #he #e4 ,mathematics #hg #f4 ,logic #hi #g4 ,god and the ,world #ij #h4 ,the ,human ,soul #ib #i4 ,philosophy of ,religion #ic #aj4 ,ethics #id #aa4 ,influence of the ,encyclopaedia #ie ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,the ,neo-,platonic ,aristotelians of ,the ,east4 #a4 ,kindi #ig-ajf #a4 ,his ,life #ig #b4 ,relation to ,theology #ii #c4 ,mathematics #ajj #d4 ,god2 ,world2 ,soul #aja #e4 ,doctrine of the ,spirit 7aql7 #ajb #f4 ,kindi as an ,aristotelian #ajd #g4 ,the ,school of ,kindi #aje #b4 ,farabi #ajf-abh #a4 ,the ,logicians #ajf #b4 ,farabi's ,life #ajg #c4 ,relation to ,plato and ,aristotle #ajh #d4 ,farabi's ,conception of ,philosophy #aaj #e4 ,his ,logic #aaa #f4 ,his ,metaphysics4 ,being4 ,god #aad #g4 ,the ,celestial ,world #aae #h4 ,the ,terrestrial ,world #aag #i4 ,the ,human ,soul #aah #aj4 ,the ,spirit in ,man #aai #aa4 ,farabi's ,ethics #aba #ab4 ,his ,politics #abb #ac4 ,the ,future ,life #abc #ad4 ,general ,survey of ,farabi's ,system #abd #ae4 ,effects of his ,philosophy4 ,sidjistani #abf #c4 ,ibn ,maskawaih #abh-aca #a4 ,his ,position #abh #b4 ,the ,nature of the ,soul #abh #c4 ,the ,principles of his ,ethics #abi #d4 ,ibn ,sina 7,avicenna7 #aca-adh #a4 ,his ,life #aca #b4 ,his ,work #acb #c4 ,branches of ,philosophy4 ,logic #acd #d4 ,metaphysics and ,physics #ace #e4 ,anthropology and ,psychology #aci #f4 ,the ,reason #ada #g4 ,allegorical ,representation of the ,doctrine of the ,reason #adc #h4 ,esoteric ,teaching #add #i4 ,ibn ,sina's ,time4 ,beruni #ade #aj4 ,behmenyar #adf #aa4 ,survival of ,ibn ,sina's ,influence #adg #e4 ,ibn al-,haitham 7,alhazen7 #adh-aec #a4 ,scientific ,movement turning ,westward #adh #b4 ,ibn al-,haitham's ,life and ,works #adi #c4 ,perception and ,judgment #aej #d4 ,slender effect left by his ,teaching #aeb ,,chapter ,v4 ,the ,outcome of ,philosophy in ,the ,east4 #a4 ,gazali #aed-afh #a4 ,dialectic and ,mysticism #aed #b4 ,gazali's ,life #aee #c4 ,attitude towards his ,time3 ,hostility to ,aristotelianism #aeh #d4 ,the ,world as the ,production of ,god's ,free ,creative ,might #aei #e4 ,god and ,divine ,providence #afb #f4 ,doctrine of the ,resurrection #afc #g4 ,gazali's ,theology #afd #h4 ,experience and ,revelation #aff #i4 ,estimate of ,gazali's ,position and ,teaching #afh #b4 ,the ,epitomists #afi-aga #a4 ,position of ,philosophy in the ,east1 after ,gazali's ,time #afi #b4 ,philosophical ,culture #agj ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,philosophy in ,the ,west4 #a4 ,beginnings #agb-age #a4 ,the ,age of the ,omayyads #agb #b4 ,the ,eleventh ,century #agd #b4 ,ibn ,baddja 7,avempace7 #age-aha #a4 ,the ,almoravids #age #b4 ,ibn ,baddja's ,life #agf #c4 ,the ,character of his ,works #agg #d4 ,his ,logic and ,metaphysics #agg #e4 ,his ,opinions regarding ,soul and ,spirit #agh #f4 ,the ,individual ,man #agi #c4 ,ibn ,tofail 7,abubacer7 #aha-ahg #a4 ,the ,almohads #aha #b4 ,ibn ,tofail's ,life #ahb #c4 8,hai ibn ,yaqzan0 #ahb #d4 8,hai0 and the ,development of ,humanity #ahd #e4 8,hai's0 ,ethics #ahe #d4 ,ibn ,roshd 7,averroes7 #ahg-aii #a4 ,his ,life #ahg #b4 ,ibn ,roshd and ,aristotle #ahh #c4 ,logic4 ,attainability of ,truth #ahi #d4 ,the ,world and ,god #aia #e4 ,body and ,spirit #aic #f4 ,spirit and ,spirits #aid #g4 ,estimate of ,ibn ,roshd as a ,thinker #aif #h4 ,summary of his ,views on the ,relations of ,theology1 ,religion and ,philosophy to one another4 ,practical ,philosophy #aig ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,conclusion4 #a4 ,ibn ,khaldun #bjj-bjh #a4 ,the ,conditions of his ,time #bjj #b4 ,ibn ,khaldun's ,life #bja #c4 ,philosophy and ,worldly ,experience #bjb #d4 ,philosophy of ,history4 ,historical ,method #bjd #e4 ,the ,subject of ,history #bje #f4 ,characterization #bjf #b4 ,the ,arabs and ,scholasticism #bjh-bac #a4 ,political ,situation4 ,the ,jews #bjh #b4 ,palermo and ,toledo #bji #c4 ,parisian ,averroism in the ,thirteenth ,century #baa ,i4 ,,introduction4 #a4 ,the ,theatre4 #a4 ,in olden time the ,arabian desert was1 as it is at this day1 the roaming-ground of independent ,bedouin tribes4 ,with free and healthy minds they contemplated their monotonous world1 whose highest charm was the raid1 and whose intellectual treasure was the tribal tradition4 ,neither the achievements of social labour1 nor the accomplishments of elegant leisure were known to them4 ,only on the borders of the desert1 in regularly constituted communities1 which often had to suffer from the incursions of those ,bedouins1 a higher degree of civilization had been attained4 ,this was the case in the ,south1 where the ancient kingdom of the ,queen of ,sheba continued its existence in ,christian times under ,abyssinian or ,persian overlordship4 ,on the ,west lay ,mecca and ,medina 7,yathrib71 by an old caravan route2 and ,mecca in particular1 with its market safe-guarded by a temple1 was the centre of a brisk traffic4 ,lastly on the ,north1 two semi-sovereign ,states had been formed under ,arab princes3 towards ,persia1 the kingdom of the ,lakhmids in ,hira2 and towards ,byzantium the dominion of the ,gassanids in ,syria4 ,in speech and poetry1 however1 the unity of the ,arab nation was set forth to some extent even before ,mohammed's time4 ,the poets were the #8men of knowledge' for their people4 ,their incantations held good as oracles1 first of all for their several tribes1 but no doubt extending their influence often beyond their own particular septs4 #b4 ,mohammed and his immediate successors1 ,abu ,bekr1 ,omar1 ,othman and ,ali 7#fbb-ffa7 succeeded in inspiring the free sons of the desert1 together with the more civilized inhabitants of the coast-lands1 with enthusiasm for a joint enterprise4 ,to this circumstance ,islam owes its world-position3 for ,allah showed himself great1 and the world was quite small for those who surrendered themselves to him 7,muslims74 ,in a short time the whole of ,persia was conquered1 and the ,east-,roman empire lost its fairest provinces1--,syria and ,egypt4 ,medina was the seat of the first ,caliphs or representatives of the prophet4 ,then ,mohammed's brave son-in-law ,ali1 and ,ali's sons1 fell before ,moawiya1 the able governor of ,syria4 ,from that time dates the existence of the party of ,ali 7,shiites71 which in the course of diverse vicissitudes1--now reduced to subjection1 now in detached places attaining power1--lives on in history1 until it finally incorporates itself with the ,persian kingdom in definite opposition to ,sunnite ,islam4 ,in their struggle against the secular power the ,shiites availed themselves of every possible weapon1--even of science4 ,very early there appears among them the sect of the ,kaisanites1 which ascribes to ,ali and his heirs a superhuman secret lore1 by the help of which the inner meaning of the ,divine revelation first becomes clear1 but which demands from its devotees not less faith in1 and absolute obedience to1 the possessor of such knowledge1 than does the letter of the ,koran4 7,cf4 ,,iii1 #b #a74 #c4 ,after the victory of ,moawiya1 who made ,damascus the capital of the ,muslim empire1 the importance of ,medina lay mainly in the spiritual province4 ,it had to content itself with fostering1 partly under ,jewish and ,christian influences1 a knowledge of the ,law and ,tradition4 ,in ,damascus1 on the other hand1 the ,omayyads 7#ffa-gej7 conducted the secular government4 ,under their rule the empire spread from the ,atlantic to districts beyond the frontiers of ,india and ,turkestan1 and from the ,indian ,ocean to the ,caucasus and the very walls of ,constantinople4 ,with this development1 however1 it had reached its farthest extension4 ,arabs now assumed everywhere the leading position4 ,they formed a military aristocracy2 and the most striking proof of their influence is the fact1 that conquered nations with an old and superior civilization accepted the language of their conquerors4 ,arabic became the language of ,church and ,state1 of ,poetry and ,science4 ,but while the higher offices in the ,state and the ,army were administered by ,arabs in preference1 the care of the ,arts and ,sciences fell1 first of all1 to ,non-,arabs and men of mixed blood4 ,in ,syria school-instruction was received from ,christians4 ,the chief seats of intellectual culture1 however1 were ,basra and ,kufa1 in which ,arabs and ,persians1 ,muslims1 ,christians1 ,jews and ,magians rubbed shoulders together4 ,there1 where trade and industry were thriving1 the beginnings of secular science in ,islam must be sought for1--beginnings themselves due to ,hellenistic-,christian and ,persian influences4 #d4 ,the ,omayyads were succeeded by the ,abbasids 7#gej-abeh74 ,to obtain the sovereignty1 the latter had granted concessions to the ,persians1 and had utilized religio-political movements4 ,during the first century of their rule 7i4e4 up to about #hfj71 though only during that period1 the greatness of the empire continued to increase1 or at least it held its own4 ,in the year #gfb1 ,mansur1 the second ruler of this house1 founded ,bagdad as the new capital1--a city which soon outshone ,damascus in worldly splendour1 and ,basra and ,kufa in intellectual illumination4 ,constantinople alone could be compared to it4 ,poets and scholars1 particularly from the ,north-,eastern provinces1 met together in ,bagdad at the court of ,mansur 7#ged-gge71 of ,harun 7#ghf-hji71 of ,mamun 7#hac-hcc71 and others4 ,several of the ,abbasids had a liking for secular culture1 whether for its own sake or to adorn their court1 and although they may often have failed to recognize the value of artists and learned men1 these at any rate could appreciate the material benefits conferred upon them by their patrons4 ,from the time of ,harun at least1 there existed in ,bagdad a library and a learned institute4 ,even under ,mansur1 but especially under ,mamun and his successors1 translation of the scientific literature of the ,greeks into the ,arabic tongue went forward1 largely through the agency of ,syrians2 and ,abstracts and ,commentaries bearing upon these works were also composed4 ,just when this learned activity was at its highest1 the glory of the empire began to decline4 ,the old tribal feuds1 which had never been at rest under the ,omayyads1 had seemingly given place to a firmly-knit political unity2 but other controversies1--theological and metaphysical wranglings1 such as in like manner accompanied the decay of the ,east-,roman empire1--were prosecuted with ever-increasing bitterness4 ,the service of the ,state1 under an ,eastern despotism1 did not require men of brilliant parts4 ,promising abilities accordingly were often ruined in luxurious indulgence1 or flung away upon sophistry and the show of learning4 ,on the other hand1 for the defence of the empire the ,caliphs enlisted the sound and healthy vigour of nations who had not been so much softened by over-civilization1--first the ,iranian or ,iranianized people of ,khorasan1 and then the ,turks4 #e4 ,the decline of the empire became more and more evident4 ,the power of the ,turkish soldiery1 uprisings of city mobs and of peasant labourers1 ,shiite and ,ismaelite intrigues on all sides1 and in addition the desire for independence shown by the distant provinces1--were either the causes or the symptoms of the downfall4 ,alongside of the ,caliphs1 who were reduced to the position of spiritual dignitaries1 the ,turks ruled as ,mayors of the ,palace2 and all round1 in the outlying regions of the empire1 independent ,states were gradually formed1 until an utterly astounding body of minor ,states appeared4 ,the most influential ruling houses1 more or less independent1 were the following3 in the ,west1 to say nothing of the ,spanish ,omayyads 7cf4 ,,vi1 #a71 the ,aglabids of ,north-,africa1 the ,tulunids and ,fatimids of ,egypt1 and the ,hamdanids of ,syria and ,mesopotamia2 in the ,east1 the ,tahirids and ,samanids1 who were by slow degrees supplanted by the ,turks4 ,it is at the courts of these petty dynasties that the poets and scholars of the next period 7the #ajth and #aath centuries7 are to be found4 ,for a short time ,haleb 7,aleppo71 the seat of the ,hamdanids1 and for a longer time ,cairo1 built by the ,fatimids in the year #ifi1--;have a better claim to be regarded as the home of intellectual endeavour than ,bagdad itself4 ,for another brief space lustre is shed on the ,east by the court of the ,turk1 ,mahmud of ,ghazna1 who had become master of ,khorasan in the year #iii4 ,the founding of the ,muslim ,universities also falls within this period of petty ,states and ,turkish administration4 ,the first one was erected in ,bagdad in the year #ajfe2 and from that date the ,east has been in possession of ,science1 but only in the form of stereotyped republications4 ,the teacher conveys the teaching which has been handed down to him by his teachers2 and in any new book hardly a sentence will be found which does not appear in older books4 ,science was rescued from danger2 but the learned men of ,transoxiana1 who1 upon hearing of the establishment of the first ,madrasah1 appointed a solemn memorial service1 as tradition tells1 to be held in honour of departed science1 have been shewn to be correct in their estimate4 #d ,then1--in the #acth century1--there came storming over the ,eastern regions of ,islam the resounding invasion of the ,mongols1 who swept away whatever the ,turks had spared4 ,no culture ever flourished there again1 to develope from its own resources a new ,art or to stimulate a revival of ,science4 #b4 ,oriental ,wisdom4 #a4 ,prior to its contact with ,hellenism1 the ,semitic mind had proceeded no farther in the path of ,philosophy than the propounding of enigmas1 and the utterance of aphoristic wisdom4 ,detached observations of ,nature1 but especially of the life and fate of ,man1 form the basis of such thinking2 and where comprehension ceases1 resignation to the almighty and inscrutable will of ,god comes in without difficulty4 ,we have become familiar with this kind of wisdom from the ,old ,testament2 and that it was developed in like manner among the ,arabs1 is shewn to us by the ,bible story of the ,queen of ,sheba1 and by the figure of the wise ,loqman in the ,arab tradition4 ,by the side of this wisdom there was found everywhere the ,magic of the sorcerer1--a knowledge which was authenticated by command over outward things4 ,but it was only in the priestly circles of ancient ,babylonia1--under what influences and to what extent we do not precisely know1--that men rose to a more scientific consideration of the world4 ,their eyes were turned from the confusion of earthly existence to the order of the heavens4 ,they were not like the ,hebrews1 who never got beyond the wondering stage #e1 or who saw merely an emblem of their own posterity in the countless stars #f2 they resembled rather the ,greeks who came to understand the ,many and the ,manifold in their sublunary forms1 only after they had discovered the harmony of the ,all in the unity and steadiness of the movement of the heavens4 ,the only drawback was that much mythological by-play and astrological pretence was interwoven with what was good1 as in fact was the case also in ,hellenism4 ,this ,chaldaean wisdom1 from the time of ,alexander the ,great1 became pervaded1 in ,babylonia and ,syria1 with ,hellenistic and later with ,hellenistic-,christian ideas1 or else was supplanted by them4 ,in the ,syrian city of ,harran only1 up to the time of ,islam1 the old heathenism held its ground1 little affected by ,christian influences4 7,cf4 ,i1 #c1 #d74 #b4 ,of more importance than any ,semitic tradition1 was the contribution made to ,islam by ,persian and ,indian wisdom4 ,we do not need to enter here upon the question as to whether ,oriental wisdom was originally influenced by ,greek philosophy1 or ,greek philosophy by ,oriental wisdom4 ,what ,islam carried away directly from ,persians and ,indians may be learned with tolerable certainty from ,arabic sources1 and to this we may confine ourselves4 ,persia is the land of ,dualism1 and it is not improbable that its dualistic religious teaching exercised an influence upon theological controversy in ,islam1 either directly or through the ,manichaeans and other ,gnostic sects4 ,but much greater1 in worldly circles1 was the influence wielded by that system which1 according to tradition1 came to be even publicly recognized1 under the ,sasanid ,yezdegerd ,,ii 7#dch_/i-deg71 viz4 ,zrwanism 7,cf4 ,,iii1 #a1 #f74 ,in this system the dualistic view of the world was superseded by setting up endless ,time1 7zrwan1 ,arab4 dahr7 as the paramount principle1 and identifying it with ,fate1 the outermost heavenly sphere or the movement of the heavens4 ,this doctrine1 pleasing to philosophic intellects1 has secured1 with or without the guise of ,islam1 a prominent place for itself in ,persian literature and in the views of the people1 up to our own day4 ,by theologians1 however1 and no less by philosophers of the ,idealistic schools1 it was disavowed as ,materialism1 ,atheism and so forth4 #c4 ,india was regarded as the true land of wisdom4 ,in ,arab writers we often come upon the view that there the birthplace of philosophy is to be found4 ,by peaceful trading1 in which the agents between ,india and the ,west were principally ,persians1 and next as a result of the ,muslim conquest1 acquaintance with ,indian wisdom spread far and wide4 ,much of it was translated under ,mansur 7#ged-gge7 and ,harun 7#ghf-hji71 partly by means of the intervening step of ,persian 7,pahlawi7 versions1 and partly from the ,sanskrit direct4 ,many a deliverance of ethical and political wisdom1 in the dress of proverbs1 was taken over from the fables and tales of ,india1 such as the ,tales of the ,panchatantra1 translated from the ,pahlawi by ,ibn al-,moqaffa in ,mansur's time1 and others4 ,it was1 however1 ,indian ,mathematics and ,astrology1--the latter in combination with practical ,medicine and ,magic1--that mainly influenced the beginnings of secular wisdom in ,islam4 ,the ,astrology of the ,siddhanta of ,brahmagupta1 which was translated from the ,sanskrit1 under ,mansur1 by ,fazari assisted by ,indian scholars1 was known even before ,ptolemy's ,almagest4 ,a wide world1 past and future1 was thereby opened up4 ,the high figures with which the ,indians worked produced a powerful1 perplexing impression upon the sober ,muslim annalists1 just as1 on the other hand1 ,arab merchants1 who in ,india and ,china put the age of our created world at a few thousand years1 exposed themselves to the utmost ridicule4 ,nor did the logical and metaphysical speculations of the ,indians remain unknown to the ,muslims4 ,these produced1 however1 much less effect on scientific development than did their ,mathematics and ,astrology4 ,the investigations of the ,indians1 associated with their sacred books and wholly determined by a religious purpose1 have certainly had a lasting influence upon ,persian ,sufism and ,islamic ,mysticism4 ,but1--once for all1--,philosophy is a ,greek conception1 and we have no right1 in deference to the taste of the day1 to allot an undue amount of space in our description to the childish thoughts of pious ,hindoos4 ,what has been advanced by these meditative penitents about the deceptive show of everything sensuous1 may often possess a poetic charm1 just as it agrees perhaps with those observations on the evanescence of all that is earthly1 which the ,east had access to in ,neo-,pythagorean and ,neo-,platonic sources2 but it has contributed just as little of importance as these did1 towards the explanation of phenomena or the awakening of the scientific spirit4 ,not the ,indian imagination1 but the ,greek mind was needed to direct the reflective process to the knowledge of the ,real4 ,the best example of this is furnished by ,arabic ,mathematics4 ,in the opinion of those who know the subject best1 almost the only thing ,indian in it is the ,arithmetic1 while the ,algebra and the ,geometry are ,greek1 preponderatingly1 if not exclusively4 ,hardly a single ,indian penetrated to the notion of pure mathematics4 ,number1 even in its highest form1 remained always something concrete2 and in ,indian ,philosophy knowledge in the main continued to be only a means4 ,deliverance from the evil of existence was the aim1 and ,philosophy a pathway to the life of blessedness4 ,hence the monotony of this wisdom1--concentrated1 as it was1 upon the essence of all things in its ,one-ness1--as contrasted with the many-branched science of the ,hellenes1 which strove to comprehend the operations of ,nature and ,mind on all sides4 ,oriental wisdom1 ,astrology and ,cosmology delivered over to ,muslim thinkers material of many kinds1 but the ,form1--the formative principle1--came to them from the ,greeks4 ,in every case where it is not mere enumeration or chance concatenation that is taken in hand1 but where an attempt is made to arrange the ,manifold according to positive or logical points of view1 we may conclude with all probability that ,greek influences have been at work4 #c4 ,greek ,science4 #a4 ,just as the commercial intercourse between ,india and ,china and ,byzantium was conducted principally by the ,persians1 so in the remote ,west1 as far even as ,france1 the ,syrians came forward as the agents of civilization4 ,it was ,syrians who brought wine1 silk c4 to the ,west4 ,but it was ,syrians also who took ,greek culture from ,alexandria and ,antioch1 spreading it eastward and propagating it in the schools of ,edessa and ,nisibis1 ,harran and ,gondeshapur4 ,syria was the true neutral ground1 where for centuries the two world-powers1 the ,roman and the ,persian1 came in contact with one another1 either as friends or as foes4 ,in such circumstances1 the ,christian ,syrians played a part similar to the one which in later days fell to the share of the ,jews4 #b4 ,the ,muslim conquerors found the ,christian church split up into three main divisions1--to say nothing of many sects4 ,the ,monophysite church1 alongside of the ,orthodox ,state-church1 preponderated in ,syria proper1 and the ,nestorian church in ,persia4 ,the difference between the doctrinal systems of these churches was perhaps not without importance for the development of ,muslim ,dogmatics4 ,according to the teaching of the ,monophysites1 ,god and ,man were united in one nature in ,christ1 whereas the ,orthodox1 and in a still more pronounced manner the ,nestorians1 discriminated between a ,divine nature and a human nature in him4 ,now nature means1 above everything1 energy or operative principle4 ,the question1 accordingly1 which is at issue1 is whether the ,divine1 and the human ,willing and ,acting are one and the same in ,christ or different4 ,the ,monophysites1 from speculative and religious motives1 gave prominence to the ,unity in ,christ their ,god1 at the expense of the human element3 ,the ,nestorians1 on the other hand1 emphasized1 in contrast with the ,divine element1 all that is specially characteristic of human ,being1 ,willing and ,acting4 ,the latter view1 however1 favoured by political circumstances and conditions of culture1 offers freer play to philosophical speculations on the world and on life4 ,in point of fact the ,nestorians did most for the cultivation of ,greek ,science4 #c4 ,syriac was the language both of the ,western and of the ,eastern or ,persian ,church2 but ,greek was also taught along with it in the ,cloister schools4 ,rasain and ,kinnesrin must be mentioned as being centres of culture in the ,western or ,monophysite ,church4 ,of more importance1 at the outset at least1 was the school of ,edessa1 inasmuch as the dialect of ,edessa had risen to the position of the literary language2 but in the year #dhi the school there was closed because of the ,nestorian views held by its teachers4 ,it was then re-opened in ,nisibis1 and1 being patronized by the ,sasanids on political grounds1 it disseminated ,nestorian belief and ,greek knowledge throughout ,persia4 ,instruction in these schools had a pre-eminently ,biblical and ecclesiastical character1 and was arranged to meet the needs of the ,church4 ,however1 physicians or coming students of medicine also took part in it4 ,the circumstance that they frequently belonged to the ecclesiastical order does not do away with the distinction between theological study and the pursuit of secular knowledge4 ,it is true that according to the ,syro-,roman code1 ,teachers 7learned ,priests7 and ,physicians were entitled in common to exemption from taxation and to other privileges2 but the very fact that priests were regarded as healers of the soul1 while physicians had merely to patch up the body1 seemed to justify the precedence accorded to the former4 ,medicine always remained a secular matter2 and1 by the regulations of the ,school of ,nisibis 7from the year #eij71 the ,holy ,scriptures were not to be read in the same room with books that dealt with worldly callings4 ,in medical circles the works of ,hippocrates1 ,galen and ,aristotle were highly prized2 but in the cloisters ,philosophy was understood to be first of all the contemplative life of the ascetic1 and 8the one thing needful0 was the only thing cared for4 #d4 ,the ,mesopotamian city of ,harran1 in the neighbourhood of ,edessa1 takes a place of its own4 ,in this city1 especially when it began to flourish again after the ,arab conquest1 ancient ,semitic paganism comes into association with mathematical and astronomical studies and ,neo-,pythagorean and ,neo-,platonic speculation4 ,the ,harranaeans or ,sabaeans1 as they were called in the #ith and #ajth centuries1 traced their mystic lore back to ,hermes ,trismegistus1 ,agathodaemon1 ,uranius and others4 ,numerous pseudepigraphs of the later ,hellenism were adopted by them in good faith1 and some perhaps were forged in their own circle4 ,a few of them became active as translators and learned authors1 and many kept up a brisk scientific intercourse with ,persian and ,arab scholars from the #hth to the #ajth century4 #e4 ,in ,persia1 at ,gondeshapur1 we find an ,institution for philosophical and medical studies established by ,khosrau ,anosharwan 7#eba-egi74 ,its teachers were principally ,nestorian ,christians2 but ,khosrau1 who had an inclination for secular culture1 extended his toleration to ,monophysites as well as to ,nestorians4 ,at that time1 just as was the case later at the court of the ,caliphs1 ,christian ,syrians were held in special honour as medical men4 ,farther1 in the year #ebi1 seven philosophers of the ,neo-,platonic school1 who had been driven away from ,athens1 found a place of refuge at the court of ,khosrau4 ,their experiences there1 however1 may have resembled those of the ,french free-thinkers of the #ahth century at the ,russian court4 ,at all events they longed to get home again2 and the king was sufficiently liberal-minded and magnanimous to allow them to go1 and in his treaty of peace with ,byzantium of the year #edi to stipulate in their case for freedom of religious opinion4 ,their stay in the ,persian kingdom was doubtless not wholly devoid of influence4 #f4 ,the period of ,syriac translations of profane literature from the ,greek extends perhaps from the #dth to the #hth century4 ,in the #dth century collections of aphorisms were translated4 ,the first translator1 however1 who makes his appearance avowing his name1 is ,probus1 8,priest and physician in ,antioch0 7#ast half of the #eth century874 ,possibly he was merely an expounder of the logical writings of ,aristotle1 and of the ,isagoge of ,porphyry4 ,better known is ,sergius of ,rasain1--who died at the age of #gj or so1 probably in ,constantinople1 about #ecf1--;a ,mesopotamian monk and physician1 whose studies1 which were probably pursued in ,alexandria itself1 took in the whole range of ,alexandrian science1 and whose translations not only embraced ,theology1 ,morals and ,mysticism1 but even ,physics1 ,medicine and ,philosophy4 ,even after the ,muslim conquest the learned activity of the ,syrians continued4 ,jacob of ,edessa 7circa #fdj-gjh7 translated ,greek theological writings2 but he occupied himself besides with ,philosophy1 and in answer to a question relative thereto he pronounced that it was lawful for ,christian ecclesiastics to impart the higher instruction to children of ,muslim parents4 ,there was thus a felt need of culture among the latter4 ,the translations of the ,syrians1 particularly of ,sergius of ,rasain1 are generally faithful2 but a more exact correspondence with the original is shewn in the case of ,logic and ,natural ,science than in ,ethical and ,metaphysical works4 ,much that is obscure in these last has been misunderstood or simply omitted1 and much that is pagan has been replaced by ,christian material4 ,for instance1 ,peter1 ,paul and ,john would come upon the scene in room of ,socrates1 ,plato and ,aristotle4 ,destiny and the ,gods were obliged to give place to the one ,god2 and ideas like ,world1 ,eternity1 ,sin and the like were recast in a ,christian mould4 ,the ,arabs1 however1 in subsequent times went to a much greater length with the process of adaptation to their language1 culture and religion than the ,syrians4 ,this may perhaps be partly explained by the ,muslim horror of everything heathen1 but partly too by their greater faculty of adaptation4 #g4 ,apart from a few mathematical1 physical and medical writings1 the ,syrians interested themselves in two subjects1--the first consisting of moralizing collections of aphorisms1 put together into a kind of history of ,philosophy1 and1 generally1 of mystical ,pythagorean-,platonic wisdom4 ,this is found principally in pseudepigraphs1 which bear the names of ,pythagoras1 ,socrates1 ,plutarch1 ,dionysius and others4 ,the centre of interest is a ,platonic doctrine of the ,soul1 subjected to a later ,pythagorean1 ,neo-,platonic1 or ,christian form of treatment4 ,in the ,syrian cloisters ,plato is even turned into an oriental monk1 who built a cell for himself in the heart of the wilderness1 far away from the dwellings of men1 and after three years' silent brooding over a verse of the ,bible was led to a recognition of the ,tri-,unity of ,god4 ,a second subject of interest was added1 in ,aristotle's ,logic4 ,among the ,syrians1 and for a longer period among the ,arabs also1 ,aristotle was commonly known almost solely as a logician4 ,this knowledge1 just as in the early scholasticism of the ,west1 extended to the ,categories1 the ,hermeneutics1 and the first ,analytics as far as the ,categorical ,figures4 ,they stood in need of the ,logic in order to comprehend the writings of ,greek ecclesiastical teachers1 since these1 at least in form1 were influenced thereby4 ,but as they did not possess it complete1 as little did they possess it pure4 ,they had it before them only in a ,neo-,platonic redaction1 as may be seen1 for example1 from the work of ,paulus ,persa1 which was written in ,syriac for ,khosrau ,anosharwan4 ,in that work knowledge is placed above faith1 and philosophy is defined as the process by which the soul becomes conscious of its own inner essence1 in which1 like a ,god as it were1 it sees all things4 #h4 ,what the ,arabs owe to the ,syrians is expressed by this circumstance amongst others1--that ,arab scholars held ,syriac to be the oldest1 or the real 7natural7 language4 ,the ,syrians1 it is true1 produced nothing original2 but their activity as translators was of advantage to ,arab-,persian science4 ,it was ,syrians almost without exception1 who1 from the #hth century to the #ajth1 rendered ,greek works into ,arabic1 either from the older ,syriac versions or from those which had been in part improved by them1 and in part re-arranged4 ,even the ,omayyad prince1 ,khalid ibn ,yezid 7died #gjd71 who occupied himself with ,alchemy under the guidance of a ,christian monk1 is said to have provided for translations of works on ,alchemy from ,greek into ,arabic4 ,proverbs1 maxims1 letters1 wills1 and in short whatever bore on the history of philosophy1 were at a very early time collected and translated4 ,but it was not till the reign of ,mansur that a commencement was made with the translation into ,arabic--partly from ,pahlawi versions--of those writings of the ,greeks which deal with ,natural ,science1 ,medicine and ,logic4 ,ibn al-,moqaffa1 an adherent of ,persian ,dualism1 took a leading part in this task1 from whom later workers must have marked themselves off by their terminology4 ,none of his philosophical translations have come down to us4 ,other material too1 belonging to the #hth century has gone amissing4 ,the earliest specimen of this work of translation which we possess dates from the #ith century1 the time of ,mamun and his successors4 ,the translators of the #ith century were1 for the most part1 medical men2 and ,hippocrates and ,galen were among the first to be translated after ,ptolemy and ,euclid4 ,but let us confine ourselves to ,philosophy1 in the narrower sense4 ,a translation of the ,timus of ,plato is said to have come from ,yuhanna or ,yakhya ibn ,bitriq 7in the beginning of the #ith century71 as well as ,aristotle's #8,meteorology'1 the #8,book of ,animals'1 an epitome of the #8,psychology'1 and the tract #8,on the ,world'4 ,to ,abdalmasikh ibn ,abdallah ,naima al-,himsi 7circa #hce7 is to be ascribed a rendering of the #8,sophistics' of ,aristotle1 in addition to the ,commentary of ,john ,philoponus upon the #8,physics'1 as well as the so-called #8,theology of ,aristotle'1--a paraphrased epitome of the ,enneads of ,plotinus4 ,qosta ibn ,luqa al-,balabakki 7circa #hce7 is said to have translated the ,commentaries of ,alexander of ,aphrodisias and ,john ,philoponus upon the #8,physics' of ,aristotle1 and in part1 ,alexander's ,commentary on the #8,de generatione et corruptione'1 as well as the #8,placita ,philosophorum' of the ,pseudo-,plutarch1 and other works4 ,the most productive translators were ,abu ,zaid ,honain ibn ,ishaq 7#hji8-hgc71 his son1 ,ishaq ibn ,honain 7 #iaj or #iaa71 and nephew ,hobaish ibn al-,hasan4 ,seeing that they worked together1 there is a good deal which is ascribed1 now to the one and now to the other4 ,not a little material must have been prepared1 under their oversight1 by disciples and subordinates4 ,their activity extended over the whole range of the science of that day4 ,existing translations were improved1 and new ones added4 ,the father preferred to work at versions of medical authors1 but the son turned more to the rendering of philosophical material4 ,the work of the translators was still proceeding in the #ajth century4 ,among those who especially distinguished themselves were ,abu ,bishr ,matta ibn ,yunus al-,qannai 7 #idj71 ,abu ,zakarya ,yakhya ibn ,adi al-,mantiqi 7 #igd71 ,abu ,ali ,isa ibn ,ishaq ibn ,zura 7 #ajjh71 and finally1 ,abu-l-,khair al-,hasan ibn al-,khammar 7born #idb71 a pupil of ,yakhya ibn ,adi's1 of whose writings1 besides translations1 commentaries1 and so forth1 a tract is mentioned1 on the ,harmony between ,philosophy and ,christianity4 ,from the time of ,honain ibn ,ishaq the activity of the translators was almost wholly confined to ,aristotelian and ,pseudo-,aristotelian writings1 and to epitomes of them1 to paraphrases of their contents and to commentaries upon them4 #i4 ,these translators are not to be regarded as specially great philosophers4 ,their work was seldom entered upon spontaneously1 but almost always at the command of some ,caliph or ,vizir or other person of note4 ,outside of their own department of study1 usually ,medicine1 they were chiefly interested in ,wisdom1--that is1 in pretty stories with a moral1 in anecdotes1 and in oracular sayings4 ,the expressions which we merely bear with in intercourse1 in narrative or on the stage1 as being characteristic utterances with certain persons1 were admired and collected by these worthy people for the sake of the wisdom contained in them1 or perhaps even for no more than the rhetorical elegance of their form4 ,as a rule1 those men continued true to the ,christian faith of their fathers4 ,the traditional story of ,ibn ,djebril gives a good idea both of their way of thinking and of the liberal-mindedness of the ,caliphs4 ,when ,mansur wanted to convert him to ,islam1 he is said to have replied3 8,in the faith of my fathers ,i will die3 where they are1 ,i wish also to be1 whether in heaven or in hell04 ,whereupon the ,caliph laughed1 and dismissed him with a rich present4 ,only a small portion has been saved of the original writings of these men4 ,a short dissertation by ,qosta ibn ,luqa on the distinction between ,soul and ,spirit 71 ruh71 preserved in a ,latin translation1 has been frequently mentioned and made use of4 ,according to it1 the ,spirit is a subtle material1 which from its seat in the left ventricle of the heart animates the human frame and brings about its movements and perceptions4 ,the finer and clearer this ,spirit is1 the more rationally the man thinks and acts3 there is but one opinion upon this point4 ,it is more difficult1 however1 to predicate anything sure1 and universally valid1 of the ,soul4 ,the deliverances of the greatest philosophers occasionally differ1 and occasionally contradict each other4 ,in any case the ,soul is incorporeal1 for it adopts qualities1 and1 in fact1 qualities of the most opposite nature at one and the same time4 ,it is uncompounded and unchangeable1 and it does not1 like the ,spirit1 perish with the body4 ,the ,spirit only acts as an intermediary between the ,soul and the ,body1 and it is in this way that it becomes a secondary cause of movement and perception4 ,the statement which has just been given regarding the ,soul is found in many of the later writers4 ,but by slow degrees1 as the ,aristotelian philosophy thrusts ,platonic opinions more and more into the background1 another pair of opposites come into full view4 ,physicians alone continue to speak of the importance of the #8ruh' or ,spirit of ,life4 ,philosophers institute a comparison between ,soul and ,spirit or ,reason 71 aql74 ,the ,soul is now reduced to the domain of the perishable1 and sometimes1 in ,gnostic fashion1 even to the lower and evil realm of the desires4 ,the rational ,spirit1--as that which is highest1 that which is imperishable in man--is exalted above the ,soul4 ,in this notice1 however1 we are anticipating history3 let us return to our translators4 #aj4 ,the most valuable portion of the legacy which the ,greek mind bequeathed to us in art1 poetry1 and historical composition1 was never accessible to the ,orientals4 ,it would even have been difficult for them to understand it1 seeing that they lacked the due acquaintance with ,greek life1 and the relish for it4 ,for them the history of ,greece began with ,alexander the ,great1 surrounded with the halo of legend2 and the position which ,aristotle held beside the greatest prince of ancient times must have assuredly conduced to the acceptance of the ,aristotelian philosophy at the ,muslim court4 ,arab historians counted up the ,greek princes1 on to ,cleopatra1 and then the ,roman ,emperors2 but a ,thucydides1 for example1 was not known to them1 even by name4 ,of ,homer they had not picked up much more than the sentence1 that 8one only should be the ruler04 ,they had not the least idea of the great ,greek dramatists and lyric poets4 ,it was only through its ,mathematics1 ,natural ,science and ,philosophy1 that ,greek antiquity could bring its influence to bear upon them4 ,they had come to know something of the development of ,greek ,philosophy1 from ,plutarch1 ,porphyry and others1 as well as from the writings of ,aristotle and ,galen4 ,a good deal of legendary matter1 however1 was mingled with their information2 and the account which passed in the ,east1 of the doctrines of the ,pre-,socratic philosophers can only be referred by us to the pseudepigraphs which they consulted1 or perhaps even to the opinions which had been developed in the ,east itself1 and which they endeavoured to support with the authority of old ,greek sages4 ,but still1 in every case1 our thoughts must turn first of all to some ,greek original4 #aa4 ,it may be affirmed generally that the ,syro-,arabs took up the thread of philosophy1 precisely where the last of the ,greeks had let it fall1 that is1 with the ,neo-,platonic explanation of ,aristotle1 along with whose philosophy the works of ,plato were also read and expounded4 ,among the ,harranaeans1 and for a long time in several ,muslim sects1 it was ,platonic or ,pythagorean-,platonic studies which were prosecuted with most ardour1--with which much that was ,stoic or ,neo-,platonic was associated4 ,extraordinary interest was taken in the fate of ,socrates1 who had suffered a martyr's death in heathen ,athens for his rational belief4 ,the ,platonic teaching regarding the ,soul and ,nature exercised great influence4 ,the ,pythian utterance3 8,know thyself01--handed down as the motto of the ,socratic wisdom1 and interpreted in a ,neo-,platonic sense1--was ascribed by the ,muslims to ,ali1 ,mohammed's son-in-law1 or even put into the mouth of the ,prophet himself4 8,he who knows himself1 knows ,god his ,lord thereby03 this was the text for ,mystic speculations of all kinds4 ,in medical circles and at the worldly court1 the works of ,aristotle came more and more into favour1 first of all of course the ,logic and a few things from the ,physical writings4 ,the ,logic--so they thought--was the only new thing the ,stagyrite had discovered3 in all the other sciences he agreed throughout with ,pythagoras1 ,empedocles1 ,anaxagoras1 ,socrates and ,plato4 ,accordingly ,christian and ,sabaean translators1 and the circle influenced by them1 drew their psychologico-ethical1 political and metaphysical instruction without hesitation from the ,pre-,aristotelian sages4 ,what bore the names of ,empedocles1 ,pythagoras c41 was1 naturally1 spurious4 ,their wisdom is traced either to ,hermes or to other wise men of the ,east4 ,thus ,empedocles must have been a disciple of ,king ,david's1 and afterwards of ,loqman the ,wise3 ,pythagoras must have sprung from the school of ,solomon1--and so on4 ,writings which are cited in ,arabic works as ,socratic are1 in so far as they are genuine1 ,platonic dialogues in which ,socrates appears4 ,their quotations from ,plato--not to speak of spurious writings--have a more or less comprehensive range3 they are taken from the ,apology1 ,krito1 the ,sophistes1 ,phaedrus1 the ,republic1 ,phaedo1 ,timus and the ,laws4 ,that does not mean1 however1 that they possessed complete translations of all these works4 ,this much is certain1--that ,aristotle did not reign as sole lord from the very outset4 ,plato1 as they understood him1 taught the ,creation of the world1 the ,substantiality of the ,spiritual1 and the ,immortality of the ,soul4 ,that teaching did no harm to the ,faith4 ,but ,aristotle1 with his doctrine of the ,eternity of the ,world1 and his less spiritualistic ,psychology and ,ethics1 was regarded as dangerous4 ,muslim theologians of the #ith and #ajth centuries1 from various camps1 wrote therefore against ,aristotle4 ,but circumstances altered4 ,philosophers arose by-and-by who rejected the ,platonic doctrine of the ,one ,world-,soul1 of which the souls of men are only transient parts1 and sought grounds for their hope of immortality from ,aristotle who attributed so great a significance to the ,individual ,substance4 #ab4 ,the conception which was entertained of ,aristotle in the period most remote1 is best shown by the writings which were foisted upon him4 ,not only did they get his genuine works with ,neo-,platonic interpretations attached to them1--not only was the treatise3 8,on the world0 unhesitatingly acknowledged as ,aristotelian1 but he was also regarded as the author of many late-,greek productions1 in which a ,pythagorising ,platonism or ,neo-,platonism1 or even a barren ,syncretism was quite frankly taught4 ,let us take here as our first example 8the ,book of the ,apple0 #g1 wherein ,aristotle plays the same part as ,socrates in the ,phaedo of ,plato4 ,as his end draws near1 the ,philosopher is visited by some of his disciples who find him in a cheerful frame of mind4 ,this leads them to request their departing ,master to give them some instruction about the ,essence and ,immortality of the ,soul4 ,thereupon he discourses somewhat as follows3--8,the ,essence of the ,soul consists in knowing1--in fact1 in ,philosophy1 which is the highest form of knowing4 ,a perfect knowledge of the truth constitutes therefore the blessedness which after death awaits the soul which is devoted to knowing4 ,and just as knowing is rewarded with a higher knowledge1--so the punishment for not-knowing consists in a deeper ignorance4 ,and really1 there is nothing in ,heaven or ,earth1 after all1 except knowing and not-knowing1 and the recompence which these two severally bring with them4 ,farther1--virtue is not essentially different from knowing2 nor does vice differ essentially from not-knowing4 ,the relation of virtue to knowing1 or of vice to not-knowing1 is like that of water to ice3 i4e4 it is the same thing in a different form4 ,in knowing1--which is the divine essence of the ,soul1--the ,soul finds naturally its only true joy1 and not in eating and drinking and sensual pleasure4 ,for1 sensual pleasure is a flame which merely warms for a short time2 but the thinking ,soul1--which longs for its deliverance from the murky world of the senses1--is a pure light that sheds a radiance far and wide4 ,the ,philosopher therefore is not afraid of death1 but meets it gladly1 when the ,deity summons him4 ,the enjoyment1 which his limited knowledge affords him here is a guarantee to him of the rapture which the unveiling of the great world of the ,unknown will procure him4 ,even already he knows something of this1 for it is only through knowledge of the invisible1 that the proper estimate of the sensible1 on which he prides himself1 is at all possible4 ,he who comes to know his own self in this life1 possesses in that very knowledge of himself the assurance of comprehending all things with an eternal knowledge1--i4 e4 of being immortal40 #ac4 ,in the second place the so-called 8,theology of ,aristotle0 may be referred to4 ,in it ,plato is represented as the ,ideal-,man1 who gains a knowledge of all things by means of an intuitive thinking1 and thus has no need of the logical resources of ,aristotle4 ,indeed1 the highest reality--,absolute ,being--is not apprehended by thinking1 but only in an ecstatic ,vision4 8,often was ,i alone with my soul01 says ,aristotle-,plotinus1 on this point4 8,divested of the body1 ,i entered as pure substance into my proper self1 turning back from all that is external to what is within4 ,i was pure knowing there1 at once the knowing and the known4 ,how astonished ,i was to behold beauty and splendour in my proper self1 and to recognize that ,i was a part of the sublime ,divine world1 endowed even with creative life6 ,in this assurance of self1 ,i was lifted above the world of the senses1 ay1 even above the world of spirits1 up to the ,divine state1 where ,i beheld a light so fair that no tongue can tell it1 nor ear understand04 ,the soul forms the centre of the discussions in the #8,theology' also4 ,all true human science is science of the soul or knowledge of self1--knowledge of its essence1 it is true1 coming first1 and next in order1 though less complete1 knowledge of the operations of that essence4 ,in such knowledge1 to which exceedingly few attain1 the highest wisdom consists1 which does not admit of being fully understood in the form of ideas1 and which therefore the philosopher like a skilful artist and wise lawgiver represents1 for us men1 in ever beautiful figures in religious service4 ,in this function precisely1 the wise man comes forward as the potent1 self-sufficing magician1 whose knowledge lords it over the multitude1 seeing that they remain always bound in the fetters of outward things1 of presentations and desires4 ,the soul stands in the centre of the ,all4 ,above it are ,god and ,intelligence1 beneath it--,matter and ,nature4 ,its coming from ,god through ,intelligence into ,matter1 its presence in the body1 its return on high--these are the three stadia in which its life and that of the world run their course4 ,matter and ,nature1 ,sense-perception and ,presentation here lose their significance almost entirely4 ,all things exist by ,intelligence 71 aql74 ,intelligence constitutes all things1 and in ,intelligence all things are ,one4 ,the ,soul too is ,intelligence1 but1 so long as it stays in the body1 it is ,intelligence in hope1 ,intelligence in the form of longing4 ,it longs for what is above1 for the good and blessed stars1 which spend their contemplative existence as sources of light1 exalted above presentation and effort4 ,that then is the oriental ,aristotle1 as he was acknowledged by the earliest ,peripatetics in ,islam #h4 #ad4 ,we need not wonder that the ,easterns did not succeed in reaching an unadulterated conception of the ,aristotelian philosophy4 ,our critical apparatus for discriminating between the genuine and the spurious was not in their possession4 ,it must have proved even more difficult for them1 to familiarize themselves with the world of ,greek civilization1 than for the ,christian scholars of the ,middle ,ages1 which had never entirely lost living touch with antiquity4 ,in the ,east men remained dependent on ,neo-,platonic redactions and interpretations4 ,a part of the scientific system1 to wit1 the ,politics of ,aristotle1 was a-wanting2 and so1 as a matter of course1 the ,laws or the ,republic of ,plato took its place4 ,only a few were aware of the difference between the two4 ,another determining motive deserves notice4 ,in their ,neo-,platonic sources even1 the ,muslims came upon a harmonizing exposition of the ,greek philosophers1 and they felt constrained to adopt it4 ,the first adherents of ,aristotle were bound to assume a polemical and apologetic attitude4 ,in opposition to1 or in conformity with1 the voice of the ,muslim community1 they required a coherent philosophy1 in which the ,one ,truth must be found4 ,the same reverence1 which ,mohammed in his day had paid to the sacred writings of the ,jews and of the ,christians1 was shewn afterwards by ,muslim scholars towards the works of ,greek philosophers2 but these learned men exhibited greater familiarity with their models1 and less originality4 ,in their eyes the old philosophers were invested with an authority1 to which it was their duty to submit4 ,the earliest ,muslim thinkers were so fully convinced of the superiority of ,greek knowledge that they did not doubt that it had attained to the highest degree of certainty4 ,the thought of making farther and independent investigations did not readily occur to an ,oriental1 who cannot imagine a man without a teacher as being anything else than a disciple of ,satan4 ,in accordance1 therefore1 with the precedent set by ,hellenistic philosophers1 an attempt had to be made to demonstrate the existence of the harmony between ,plato and ,aristotle1--and1 in particular1 to shelve tacitly those doctrines which gave offence1 or to exhibit them in a sense which was not too decidedly contrary to ,muslim ,dogmatics4 ,in order to humour the opponents of ,aristotle or of ,philosophy in general1 prominence was given to wise and edifying sayings out of the philosopher's works1--both the genuine and the spurious1--that so the way might be prepared for the reception of his scientific thoughts4 ,to the initiated1 however1 the teaching of ,aristotle1 like that of other schools and sects1 was set forth as a higher truth1 to which the positive faith of the multitude and the more or less firmly established system of the theologians were merely preliminary steps4 #ae4 ,muslim ,philosophy has always continued to be an ,eclecticism which depended on their stock of works translated from the ,greek4 ,the course of its history has been a process of assimilation rather than of generation4 ,it has not distinguished itself1 either by propounding new problems or by any peculiarity in its endeavours to solve the old ones4 ,it has therefore no important advances in thought to register4 ,and yet1 from a historical point of view1 its significance is far greater than that of a mere intermediary between classical antiquity and ,christian ,scholasticism4 ,to follow up the reception of ,greek ideas into the mixed civilization of the ,east is a subject of historical interest possessing a charm entirely its own1 especially if one can forget at the same time that once there were ,greeks4 ,but the consideration of this occurrence becomes important also by its presenting an opportunity for comparison with other civilizations4 ,philosophy is a phenomenon so unique--so thoroughly indigenous and independent a growth of ,grecian soil--that one might regard it as being exempt from the conditions of general civilized life1 and as being explicable only per se4 ,now the ,history of ,philosophy in ,islam is valuable1 just because it sets forth the first attempt to appropriate the results of ,greek thinking1 with greater comprehensiveness and freedom than in the early ,christian dogmatics4 ,acquaintance with the conditions which made such an attempt possible1 will permit us to reach conclusions1 by way of analogical reasonings--though with precaution1 and for the present at least1 to a very limited extent--as to the reception of ,graeco-,arab science in the ,christian ,middle ,ages1 and will perhaps teach us a little about the conditions under which ,philosophy arises in general4 ,we can hardly speak of a ,muslim philosophy in the proper sense of the term4 ,but there were many men in ,islam who could not keep from philosophizing2 and even through the folds of the ,greek drapery1 the form of their own limbs is indicated4 ,it is easy to look down on these men1 from the high watch-tower of some ,school-,philosophy1 but it will be better for us to get to know them and to comprehend them in their historical environment4 ,we must leave to special research the tracing of each thought up to its origin4 ,our aim in what follows can be nothing more than to point out what the ,muslims constructed out of the materials which were before them4 ,,ii4 ,,philosophy ,,and ,,arab ,,knowledge4 #a4 ,grammatical ,science4 #a4 ,by ,muslim scholars of the #ajth century the sciences were divided into #8,arab ,sciences' and #8,old'- or #8,non-,arab ,sciences'4 ,to the former belonged ,grammar1 ,ethics and ,dogmatics1 ,history and ,knowledge of ,literature2 to the latter ,philosophy1 ,natural ,science and ,medicine4 ,in the main the division is a proper one4 ,the last-named branches are not only those which were determined the most by foreign influences1 but those too which never became really popular4 ,and yet the so called #8,arab ,sciences' are not altogether pure native products4 ,they too arose or were developed in places in the ,muslim empire where ,arabs and ,non-,arabs met together1 and where the need was awakened of reflecting on those subjects which concern mankind the most1--,speech and ,poetry1 ,law and ,religion1--in so far as differences or inadequacies appeared therein4 ,in the mode in which this came about1 it is easy to trace the influence of ,non-,arabs1 particularly of ,persians2 and the part taken by ,greek ,philosophy in the process asserts itself in ever-growing importance4 #b4 ,the ,arabic language1--in which the ,arabs themselves took particular delight1 for its copious vocabulary1 its wealth of forms and its inherent capability of cultivation1--was peculiarly fitted to take a leading position in the world4 ,if it is compared1 for example1 with the unwieldy ,latin1 or even with the turgid ,persian1 it is found to be specially distinguished by the possession of short ,abstract-forms1--a property of great service in scientific expression4 ,it is capable of indicating the finest shades of meaning2 but just because of its richly developed stock of synonyms1 it offers temptations to deviate from the ,aristotelian rule1--that the use of synonyms is not permissible in exact science4 ,a language so elegant1 expressive1 and difficult withal1 as ,arabic was1 necessarily invited much examination1 when it had become the polite language of the ,syrians and the ,persians4 ,above all1 the study of the ,koran1 and the recital and interpretation of it demanded profound attention to be devoted to the language4 ,unbelievers1 also1 may have thought that they could point out grammatical errors in the sacred ,book2 and therefore examples were gathered out of ancient poems and out of the living speech of the ,bedouins1 to support the expressions of the ,koran4 ,to these examples remarks were1 no doubt1 added upon grammatical accuracy in general4 ,on the whole1 the living usage formed the standard1 but in order to save the authority of the ,koran1 it was certainly not applied without artifice4 ,this proceeding was regarded1 all the same1 by simple believers1 with a measure of suspicion4 ,masudi tells us even of some grammarians from ,basra1 who1 when on a pleasure trip1 took to going through a ,koran ,imperative1 and for that reason787 were soundly cudgelled by country folk engaged in date-gathering4 #c4 ,the ,arabs trace their grammatical science1 like so many other things1 to ,ali1 to whom is ascribed even ,aristotle's tripartite division of speech4 ,in reality the study began to be cultivated in ,basra and ,kufa4 ,its earliest development is involved in obscurity1 for in the ,grammar of ,sibawaih 7 #ghf7 we have a finished system1--a colossal work--1 which1 like ,ibn ,sina's ,canon of ,medicine in after times1 could only be explained by later generations as the production of many scholars working in collaboration4 ,we are but ill-informed even on the points of difference between the schools of ,basra and ,kufa4 ,the ,basra grammarians1 like the school of ,bagdad in subsequent times1 must have conceded a great influence to ,qiyas 7,analogy7 in the determination of grammatical phenomena1 while those of ,kufa allowed many idiomatic forms which diverged from ,qiyas4 ,on this ground1 to mark the contrast between the ,basra grammarians and those of ,kufa1 the former were called #8the ,logic people'4 ,their terminology differed in detail from that of the ,kufa school4 ,many1 whose heads had been turned by logic1 in the opinion of the genuine ,arabs1 must have gone decidedly too far in their captious criticism of the language2 but on the other side caprice was raised to the position of rule4 ,it was from no mere accident that the school of ,basra was the first to avail itself of logical resources4 ,generally speaking1 it was at ,basra that the influence of philosophic doctrines first appeared1 and among its grammarians were to be found many ,shiites and ,mutazilites1 who readily permitted foreign wisdom to influence their doctrinal teaching4 #d4 ,grammatical science1 in so far as it was not confined1 to the collecting of ,examples1 ,synonyms c41 when so determined by the subjects specially treated1 was affected by the ,aristotelian ,logic4 ,even before the ,muslim era1 ,syrians and ,persians had studied the treatise 1 with ,stoic and ,neo-,platonic additions4 ,ibn al-,moqaffa1 who at first was intimate with the grammarian ,khalil 7v4 infra71 then made accessible to the ,arabs all that existed in ,pahlawi of a grammatical or logical nature4 ,in conformity therewith the various kinds of ,sentences were enumerated1--at one time five1 at another eight or nine1 as well as the three parts of speech1--,noun1 ,verb and ,particle4 ,afterwards some scholars1 like ,djahiz1 included syllogistic figures among the ,rhetorical figures2 and in later representations there was much disputation about ,sound and ,idea4 ,the question was discussed whether language is the result of ordinance or a product of nature2 but gradually the philosophic view preponderated1 that it came by ordinance4 ,next to ,logic the influence of the preparatory or mathematical sciences falls to be noticed here4 ,like the prose of ordinary intercourse and the rhymes of the ,koran1 the verses of the poets were not only collected but also arranged according to special principles of classification1--for example1 according to metre4 ,after ,grammar ,prosody arose4 ,khalil 7 #gia71 the teacher of ,sibawaih1 to whom the first application of ,qiyas to grammatical science was attributed1 is said even to have created metrical science4 ,while language came to be regarded as the national1 conventional element in poetry1 the notion was entertained that what was natural1 and common to all populations1 would be found in their metre4 ,thabit ibn ,qorra 7#hcf-ija7 therefore maintained1 in his classification of the sciences1 that metre was something essential1 and the study of metre a natural science1 and therefore a branch of philosophy4 #e4 ,grammatical science1 nevertheless1 limited as it was to the ,arabic language1 retained its peculiarities1 upon which this is not the place to enter4 ,at all events1 it is an imposing production of the keenly-observing and diligently-collecting ,arab intelligence1--a production of which the ,arabs might well be proud4 ,an apologist of the #ajth century1 who was engaged in combating ,greek philosophy1 said3 8,he who is acquainted with the subtleties and profundities of ,arab poetry and versification1 knows well that they surpass all such things as numbers1 lines and points1 which are wont to be advanced in proof of their opinions1 by people who idly dream that they are capable of understanding the essence of things4 ,i cannot see the substantial advantage of things like numbers1 lines and points1 if1 in spite of the trifling profit which may attend them1 they do harm to the ,faith and are followed by consequences1 against which we have to invoke the help of ,god40 ,men would not have their delight in the minutiae of their language disturbed by general philosophic speculations4 ,many a word-form1 originating with the translators of foreign works1 was held in detestation by purist ,grammarians4 ,the beautiful art of calligraphy1 more decorative in its nature than constructive1 like ,arabic art in general1 became developed in noble1 delicate forms1 and met with a wider expansion than scientific research into the language4 ,in the very characters of the ,arabic speech1 we may still see the subtlety of the intelligence which formed them1 although at the same time we may see a lack of energy1 which is observable in the entire development of ,arab culture4 #b4 ,ethical ,teaching4 #a4 ,the believing ,muslim1 in so far as custom did not maintain its dominion over him1 had at first the ,word of ,god and the example of ,his ,prophet as his rule of conduct and opinion4 ,after the ,prophet's death1 the ,sunna of ,mohammed was followed1 in cases where the ,koran gave no information1--that is to say1 men acted and decided1 as ,mohammed had decided or acted1 according to the ,tradition of his ,companions4 ,but from the time of the conquest of countries in possession of an old civilization1 demands which were altogether new were made of ,islam4 ,instead of the simple conditions of ,arab life1 usages and institutions were met with there1 in regard to which the ,sacred ,law gave no precise direction1 and to meet which no tradition or interpretation of tradition presented itself4 ,every day added thus to the number of individual cases which had not been provided for1 and yet about which one had to come to a decision1 whether according to custom1 or his own sense of right4 ,in the old-,roman provinces1 ,syria and ,mesopotamia1 ,roman law must have long continued to exercise an important influence4 ,those jurists who attributed to their own opinion 7,ray1 opinio7 alongside of the ,koran and ,sunna1 a subsidiary authority to determine the law1 were called #8,adherents of the ,ray'4 ,one of them1 ,abu ,hanifa of ,kufa 7 #gfg71 the founder of the ,hanifite ,school1 became specially famous4 ,but even in ,medina1 before the appearance of the school of ,malik 7#gae-gie71 as well as in that school1 a harmless though restricted deference was at first paid to the ,ray4 ,by slow degrees1 however1 and in the course of opposing a ,ray which was becoming a pretext for much arbitrariness1 the view gained ground1 that in everything the ,tradition 7hadith7 respecting the ,sunna of the ,prophet was to be followed4 ,thereupon traditions were collected from all quarters1 and explained--and in large numbers even forged--2 and a system of criteria to determine their genuineness was formed1 which1 however1 laid more stress upon the external evidence and the appropriateness of the traditionary material than upon consistency and historic truth4 ,as a consequence of this development1 the #8people of the ,ray'1 who were chiefly located in ,iraq 7,babylonia71 were now confronted by the #8,adherents of the ,tradition'1 or the ,medina school4 ,even ,shafii 7#gfg-hbj71 the founder of the third school of ,law1 who in general held to the ,sunna1 was numbered with the partisans of ,tradition1 in contradistinction no doubt to ,abu ,hanifa4 #b4 ,logic introduced a new element into this controversy1--viz4 ,qiyas or ,analogy4 ,there had been1 of course1 stray applications of ,qiyas1 even in earlier times2 but1 to lay down ,qiyas as a principle1 a foundation or a source of law1--presupposed the influence of scientific reflection4 ,although the terms ,ray and ,qiyas may be used as synonyms1 yet there is in the latter term1 less suggestion of the presence and operation of individual predilection than there is in ,ray4 ,the more one grew accustomed to employ ,qiyas in grammatical and logical researches1 the more readily could he include this principle in the institutes of jurisprudence1 whether by way of reasoning from one instance to another1 or from the majority of instances to the remainder 7i4e4 analogically71 or by way of seeking rather for some common ground governing various cases1 from which the conduct proper in a particular case might be deduced 7i4e4 syllogistically7 #i4 ,the application of ,qiyas appears to have come into use1 first and most extensively1 in the ,hanifite school1 but afterwards also in the school of ,shafii1--though with a more limited range4 ,in connection therewith1 the question--whether language was capable of expressing the ,universal1 or could merely denote the ,particular--became important for ethical doctrine4 ,the logical principle of ,qiyas never attained to great repute4 ,much more emphasis was laid1--next to the ,koran and the ,sunna1 the historic foundations of the ,law--1 upon the ,idjma1 that is1 the ,consensus of the ,congregation of the faithful4 ,the ,consensus of the ,congregation or1 practically1 of the most influential learned men in it1--who may be compared to the fathers and teachers of the ,catholic ,church1--is the ,dogmatical principle1 which1 contested only by a few1 has proved the most important instrument in establishing the ,muslim ,ethical ,system4 ,theory1 however1 continues to assign a certain subordinate place to ,qiyas1 as a fourth source of moral guidance1 after ,koran1 ,sunna and ,idjma4 #c4 ,the ,muslim ,ethical ,system 7al-fiqh #8the knowledge'7 take into account the entire life of the believer1 for whom the ,faith itself is the first of all duties4 ,like every innovation the system at first encountered violent opposition3--commandment was now turned into doctrinal theory1 and believing obedience into abstruse pursuit of knowledge3 that called for protestation alike from plain pious people and from wise statesmen4 ,but gradually the #8knowing' men or men learned in the ,law 7ulam1 or in the ,west1 faqihs7 were recognized as the true heirs of the prophets4 ,the ,ethical system was developed before the ,doctrinal1 and it has been able to hold the leading position up to the present day4 ,nearly every ,muslim knows something of it1 seeing it is part of a good religious upbringing4 ,according to the great ,church-father ,gazali1 #8the ,fiqh' is the daily bread of believing souls1 while the ,doctrine is only valuable as a ,medicine for the sick4 ,we are not called upon here to enter into the minutiae of the fine-spun casuistic of the ,fiqh4 ,the main subject handled in it is an ideal righteousness1 which can never be illustrated in all its purity in our imperfect world4 ,we are acquainted now with its principles1 and with the position which it holds in ,islam4 ,let us merely add a brief notice of the division of moral acts which was formulated by ethical teachers4 ,according to this classification there are3 #a4 ,acts1 the practice of which is an absolute duty and is therefore rewarded1 and the omission of which is punished3 #b4 ,acts which are recommended by the ,law1 and are the subject of reward1 but the neglect of which does not call for punishment3 #c4 ,acts which are permitted1 but which in the eyes of the ,law are a matter of indifference3 #d4 ,acts which the ,law disapproves of1 but does not hold as punishable3 #e4 ,acts which are forbidden by the ,law and which demand unconditional punishment #aj4 #d4 ,greek philosophic enquiries have had a two-fold influence upon the ,ethics of ,islam4 ,with many of the sectaries and mystics1 both orthodox and heretic1 an ascetic system of ,ethics is found1 coloured by ,pythagorean-,platonic views4 ,the same thing appears with philosophers1 whom we shall afterwards meet again4 ,but in orthodox circles the ,aristotelian deliverance1--that virtue consists in the just mean--1 found much acceptance1 because something similar stood in the ,koran1 and because1 generally1 the tendency of ,islam was a catholic one1--one conciliatory of opposites4 ,more attention indeed was given to ,politics than to ,ethics1 in the ,muslim empire1 and the struggles of political parties were the first thing to occasion difference of opinion4 ,disputes about the ,immat1 i4e4 the headship in the ,muslim ,church1 pervade the entire history of ,islam2 but the questions discussed have commonly more of a personal and practical than a theoretical importance1 and therefore a history of philosophy does not need to consider them very fully4 ,hardly anything of philosophic value emerges in them4 ,even in the course of the first centuries there was developed a firm body of constitutional law canonically expressed2 but this1 like the ideal system of duty1 was not particularly heeded by strong rulers1--who viewed it as mere theological brooding1--while1 on the other hand1 by weak princes it could not be applied at all4 ,just as little is it worth our while to examine minutely the numerous #8mirrors of ,princes'1 which were such favourites1 in ,persia especially1 and in whose wise moral saws1 and maxims of political sagacity1 the courtly circles found edification4 ,the weight of philosophic endeavour in ,islam lies on the theoretical and intellectual side4 ,with the actual proceedings of social and political life they are able to make but a scanty compromise4 ,even the ,art of the ,muslims1 although it exhibits more originality than their ,science1 does not know how to animate the crude material1 but merely sports with ornamental forms4 ,their ,poetry creates no ,drama1 and their ,philosophy is unpractical4 #c4 ,doctrinal ,systems4 #a4 ,in the ,koran there had been given to ,muslims a religion1 but no system1--precepts but no doctrines4 ,what is contrary to logic therein1--what we account for by the shifting circumstances of the ,prophet's life1 and his varying moods1--was simply accepted by the first believers1 without asking questions about the ,how and ,why4 ,but in the conquered countries they were faced by a fully-formed ,christian ,dogmatic as well as by ,zoroastrian and ,brahmanic theories4 ,we have laid frequent stress already upon the great debt which the ,muslims owe to the ,christians2 and the doctrinal system has certainly been determined the most by ,christian influences4 ,in ,damascus the formation of ,muslim ,dogmas was affected by ,orthodox and ,monophysite teaching1 and in ,basra and ,bagdad rather perhaps by ,nestorian and ,gnostic theories4 ,little of the literature belonging to the earliest period of this movement has come down to us1 but we cannot be wrong in assigning a considerable influence to personal intercourse and regular school-instruction4 ,not much was learned in the ,east at that time out of books1 any more than it is to-day3 more was learned from the lips of the teacher4 ,the similarity between the oldest doctrinal teachings in ,islam and the dogmas of ,christianity is too great to permit any one to deny that they are directly connected4 ,in particular1 the first question about which there was much dispute1 among ,muslim ,scholars1 was that of the ,freedom of the ,will4 ,now the freedom of the will was almost universally accepted by ,oriental ,christians4 ,at no time and in no place perhaps was the ,will-problem--first in the ,christology1 but afterward in the ,anthropology--so much discussed from every point as in the ,christian circles of the ,east at the time of the ,muslim conquest4 ,besides these considerations which are partly of an a priori character1 there are also detached notices which indicate that some of the earliest ,muslims1 who taught the ,freedom of the ,will1 had ,christian teachers4 ,a number of purely philosophic elements from the ,gnostic systems1 and afterwards from the translation-literature1 associated themselves with the ,hellenistic-,christian influences4 #b4 ,an assertion1 expressed in logical or dialectic fashion1 whether verbal or written1 was called by the ,arabs1--generally1 but more particularly in religious teaching--a ,kalam 771 and those who advanced such assertions were called ,mutakallimun4 ,the name was transferred from the individual assertion to the entire system1 and it covered also the introductory1 elementary observations on ,method1--and so on4 ,our best designation for the science of the ,kalam is #8,theological ,dialectics' or simply #8,dialectics'2 and in what follows we may translate ,mutakallimun by #8,dialecticians'4 ,the name ,mutakallimun1 which was at first common to all the ,dialecticians1 was in later times applied specially to the ,antimutazilite and ,orthodox theologians4 ,in the latter case it might be well1 following the sense1 to render the term by ,dogmatists or ,schoolmen4 ,in fact while the first dialecticians had the ,dogma still to form1 those who came later had only to expound and establish it4 ,the introduction of ,dialectics into ,islam was a violent innovation1 and it was vehemently denounced by the party of the ,tradition4 ,whatever went beyond the regular ethical teaching was heresy to them1 for faith should be obedience1 and not1--as was maintained by the ,murdjites and ,mutazilites--1 knowledge4 ,by the latter it was laid down without reserve that speculation was one of the duties of believers4 ,even to this demand the times became reconciled1 for according to tradition the ,prophet had said already3 #8,the first thing which ,god created was ,knowledge or ,reason'4 #c4 ,very numerous are the various opinions which found utterance in the days even of the ,omayyads1 but especially in those of the early ,abbasids4 ,the farther they diverged from one another1 the more difficult it was for the men of the ,tradition to come to an understanding with them2 but gradually certain compact doctrinal collections stood out distinctly1 of which the rationalist system of the ,mutazilites1 the successors of the ,qadarites1 was most widely extended1 particularly among ,shiites4 ,from ,caliph ,mamun's time down to ,mutawakkil's1 it even received ,state recognition2 and the ,mutazilites1 who had been in earlier days oppressed and persecuted by the temporal power1 now became ,inquisitors of the ,faith themselves1 with whom the sword supplied the place of argument4 ,about the same time1 however1 their opponents the ,traditionalists commenced to build up a system of belief4 ,upon the whole there was no lack of intermediary forms between the naive ,faith of the multitude and the ,gnosis of the dialecticians4 ,in contrast to the spiritualistic stamp of ,mutazilitism these intermediary forms took an anthropomorphic character with regard to the doctrine of the ,deity1 and a materialistic character with regard to the theory of man and the universe 7,anthropology and ,cosmology74 ,the soul1 for example1 was conceived of by them as corporeal1 or as an accident of the body1 and the ,divine ,essence was imagined as a human body4 ,the religious teaching and art of the ,muslims were greatly averse to the symbolical ,god-,father of the ,christians1 but there was an abundance of absurd speculations about the form of ,allah4 ,some went so far as to ascribe to him all the bodily members together1 with the exception of the beard and other privileges of oriental manhood4 ,it is impossible to discuss in detail all the ,dialectic sects1 which often made their first appearance in the form of political parties4 ,from the standpoint of the history of ,philosophy it is enough to give here the chief doctrines of the ,mutazilites1 in so far as they can lay claim to general interest4 #d4 ,the first question1 then1 concerned man's conduct and destiny4 ,the forerunners of the ,mutazilites1 who were called ,qadarites1 taught the ,freedom of the human ,will2 and the ,mutazilites1 even in later times1 when their speculations were directed more to theologico-metaphysical problems1 were first and foremost pointed to as the supporters of the doctrine of ,divine ,righteousness1--which gives rise to no evil1 and rewards or punishes man according to his deserts--1 and1 in the second place1 as the confessors1 or avowed supporters of the ,unity of ,god1 i4e4 the absence of properties from his ,essence considered per se or the predicateless character of the essential nature of ,god4 ,the systematic statement of their doctrines must have been influenced by the ,logicians 7v4 ,,iv1 #b #a72 for even in the first half of the #ajth century1 the ,mutazilite system began with the confession of the ,unity of ,god1 while the doctrine of ,god's ,righteousness1 announced as it is in all his works1 is relegated to the second place4 ,the responsibility of man1 as well as the holiness of ,god1 who is incapable of directly causing man's sinful actions1 had to be saved by asserting the freedom of the ,will4 ,man must therefore be lord of his actions2 but he is lord of these only1 for few entertained any doubt that the energy which confers ability to act at all1 and the power of doing either a good or a bad action come to man from ,god4 ,hence the numerous subtle discussions1--amalgamated with a criticism of the philosophic conception of ,time--on the question whether the power1 which ,god creates in man1 is bestowed previous to the action1 or coincidentally and simultaneously therewith3 ,for1 did the power precede the act1 then it would either have to last up to the time of the act1 which would belie its accidental character 7cf4 ,,ii1 #c #ab71 or have ceased to exist before the act1--in which case it might have been dispensed with altogether4 ,from human conduct speculation passed on to consider the operations of nature4 ,instead of ,god and man1 the antithesis in this case is ,god and nature4 ,the productive and generative powers of nature were recognized as means or proximate causes2 and some endeavoured to investigate them4 ,in their opinion1 however1 nature herself1 like all the world1 was a work of ,god1 a creature of his wisdom3 ,and just as the omnipotence of ,god was limited in the moral kingdom by his holiness or righteousness1--so in the natural world it was limited by his wisdom4 ,even the presence of evil and mischief in the world was accounted for by the wisdom of ,god1 who sends everything for the best4 ,a production or object of ,divine activity1 evil is not4 8,god may be able1 indeed10--so an earlier generation had maintained--8to act wickedly and unreasonably1 but he would not do it40 ,the later ,mutazilites taught1 on the other hand1 that ,god has no power at all to do anything which is in this way repugnant to his nature4 ,their opponents1 who regarded ,god's unlimited might and unfathomable will as directly operative in all doing and effecting were indignant at this teaching1 and compared its propounders to the dualistic ,magians4 ,consistent ,monism was on the side of these opponents1 who did not care to turn man and nature into creators--next to and under ,god--of their acts or operations4 #e4 ,the ,mutazilites1 it is clear from the foregoing1 had a different idea of ,god from that which was entertained by the multitude and by the ,traditionalists4 ,this became specially evident1 as speculation advanced1 in the doctrine of the ,divine attributes4 ,from the very beginning the ,unity of ,god was strongly emphasized in ,islam2 but that did not prevent men from bestowing upon him many beautiful names following human analogy1 and ascribing to him several attributes4 ,of these the following came gradually into greatest prominence1 under the influence assuredly of ,christian dogmatics3--viz43 ,wisdom1 ,power1 ,life1 ,will1 ,speech or ,word1 ,sight and ,hearing4 ,the last two of these--,sight and ,hearing--were the first to be explained in a spiritual sense1 or entirely set aside4 ,but the absolute ,unity of the ,godhead did not appear to be compatible with any plurality of co-eternal attributes4 ,would not that be the ,trinity of the ,christians1 who before now had explained the three ,persons of the ,one ,divine ,being as attributes8 ,in order to avoid this inconvenience they sought sometimes to derive several attributes out of others by a process of abstraction1 and to refer them to a single one--for instance to ,knowledge or ,power--and sometimes to apprehend them each and all as being states of the ,divine essence1 or to identify them with the essence itself1 in which case of course their significance nearly disappeared4 ,occasionally an attempt was made through refinements of phraseology to save something of that significance4 ,while1 for example1 a philosopher1 denying the attributes1 maintained that ,god is by his essence a ,being who knows1 a ,mutazilite dialectian expressed it thus3 ,god is a ,being who knows1 but by means of a knowledge1 which ,he himself is4 ,in the opinion of the ,traditionalists the conception of ,god was in this way being robbed of all its contents4 ,the ,mutazilites hardly got beyond negative determinations1--that ,god is not like the things of this world1--that he is exalted above ,space1 ,time1 ,movement1 and so on2 but they held fast to the doctrine that he is the ,creator of the world4 ,although little could be asserted regarding the ,being of ,god1 it was thought he could be known from his works4 ,for the ,mutazilites as well as for their opponents1 the ,creation was an absolute act of ,god1 and the existence of the world an existence in time4 ,they energetically combated the doctrine of the eternity of the world1--a doctrine supported by the ,aristotelian philosophy1 and which had been widely spread throughout the ,east4 #f4 ,we have already found #8,speech' or #8the ,word'1 given as one of the eternal attributes of ,god2 and1 probably by way of conformity with the ,christian doctrine of the ,logos1 there was taught in particular the eternity of the ,koran which had been revealed to the ,prophet4 ,this belief in an eternal ,koran by the side of ,allah1 was downright idolatry1 according to the ,mutazilites2 and in opposition thereto the ,mutazilite ,caliphs proclaimed it as a doctrine accepted by the ,state1--that the ,koran had been created3 ,whoever denied this doctrine was publicly punished4 ,now although the ,mutazilites in maintaining this dogma were more in harmony with the original ,islam than their opponents1 yet history has justified the latter1 for pious needs proved stronger than logical conclusions4 ,many of the ,mutazilites1 in the opinion of their brethren in the faith1 were far too ready to make light of the ,koran1 the ,word of ,god4 ,if it did not agree with their theories1 it received ever new interpretations4 ,in actual fact reason had more weight with many than the revealed ,book4 ,by comparing not only the three revealed religions together1 but these also with ,persian and ,indian religious teaching and with philosophic speculation1 they reached a natural religion1 which reconciled opposites4 ,this was built up on the basis of an inborn knowledge1 universally necessary1--that there is one ,god1 who1 as a wise ,creator1 has produced the world1 and also endowed ,man with reason that he may know his ,creator and distinguish between ,good and ,evil4 ,contrasted with this ,natural or ,rational ,religion1 acquaintance with the teaching of revelation is then something adventitious1--an acquired knowledge4 ,by this contention the most consistent of the ,mutazilites had broken away from the consensus of the ,muslim religious community1 and had thus actually put themselves outside the general faith4 ,at first they still appealed to that consensus1--which they were able to do as long as the secular power was favourably disposed to them4 ,that condition1 however1 did not last long1 and they soon learned by experience what has often been taught since1--that the communities of men are more ready to accept a religion sent down to them from on high1 than an enlightened explanation of it4 #g4 ,following up this survey let us take a closer view of one or two of the most considerable of the ,mutazilites1 that the general picture may not be wanting in individual features4 ,let us first glance at ,abu-l-,hudhail al-,allaf1 who died about the middle of the #ith century4 ,he was a famous dialectician1 and one of the first who allowed philosophy to exercise an influence on their theological doctrines4 ,that an attribute should be capable of inhering in a ,being in any way is not conceivable1 in the opinion of ,abu-l-,hudhail3 ,it must either be identical with the ,being or different from it4 ,but yet he looks about for some way of adjustment4 ,god is1 according to him1 knowing1 mighty1 living1 through knowledge1 might and life1 which are his very essence2 and just as men had done even before this1 on the ,christian side1 he terms these three predicates the ,modi 7wudjuh7 of the ,divine ,being4 ,he agrees also that hearing1 seeing and other attributes are eternal in ,god1 but only with regard to the world which was afterwards to be created4 ,besides1 it would be easy enough for him and for others1 who were affected by the philosophy of the day1 to interpret these and similar expressions--such as ,god's #8beholding' on the last day1 #aa--;in a spiritual sense1 since generally they regarded seeing and hearing as spiritual acts4 ,for example1 ,abu-l-,hudhail maintained that motion was visible1 but not palpable1 because it was not a body4 ,the ,will of ,god1 however1 is not to be regarded as eternal4 ,on the contrary1 ,abu-l-,hudhail assumes absolute declarations of ,will as being different both from the ,being who wills and the object which is willed4 ,thus the absolute ,word of ,creation takes an intermediate position between the eternal ,creator and the transient created world4 ,these declarations of ,god's ,will form a kind of intermediate essence1 to be compared with the ,platonic ,ideas or the ,sphere-spirits1 but perhaps regarded rather as immaterial powers than as personal spirits4 ,abu-l-,hudhail distinguishes between the absolute ,word of ,creation and the accidental ,word of ,revelation1 which is announced to men in the form of command and prohibition1 appearing as matter and in space1 and which is thus significant only for this transient world4 ,the possibility of living in accordance with the ,divine word of revelation1 or of resisting it1 exists therefore in this life alone4 ,binding injunction and prohibition presuppose ,freedom of ,will and capability of acting in accordance therewith4 ,on the other hand in the future life there are no obligations in the form of laws1 and1 accordingly1 no longer any freedom3 everything there depends on the absolute determination of ,god4 ,nor will there be any motion in the world beyond1 for as motion has once had a beginning1 it must1 at the end of the world1 come to a close in everlasting rest4 ,abu-l-,hudhail1 therefore1 could not have believed in a resurrection of the body4 ,human actions he divides into ,natural and ,moral1 or ,actions of the members1 and ,actions of the heart4 ,an action is moral1 only when we perform it without constraint4 ,the moral act is ,man's own property1 acquired by his own exertions1 but his knowledge comes to him from ,god1 partly through ,revelation1 and partly through the light of ,nature4 ,anterior even to any revelation man is instructed in duty by ,nature1 and thus is fully enabled to know ,god1 to discern ,good from ,evil1 and to live a virtuous1 honest and upright life4 #h4 ,noteworthy as a man and a thinker is a younger contemporary of ,abu-l-,hudhail's1 and apparently a disciple of his1 commonly called ,al-,nazzam1 who died in the year #hde4 ,a fanciful1 restless1 ambitious man1 not a consistent thinker1 but yet a bold and honest one1--such is the representation of him given us by ,djahiz1 one of his pupils4 ,the people considered him a madman or a heretic4 ,a good deal in his teaching is in touch with what passed among the ,orientals as the ,philosophy of ,empedocles and ,anaxagoras 7,cf4 also ,abu-l-,hudhail74 ,in the opinion of ,nazzam ,god can do absolutely no evil thing2 in fact he can only do that which he knows to be the best thing for his servants4 ,his omnipotence reaches no farther than what he actually does4 ,who could hinder him from giving effect to the splendid exuberance of his ,being8 ,a ,will1 in the proper sense of the term1--which invariably implies a need1--is by no means to be attributed to ,god4 ,the ,will of ,god1 on the contrary1 is only a designation of the ,divine agency itself1 or of the commands which have been conveyed to men4 ,creation is an act performed once for all1 in which all things were made at one and the same time1 so that one thing is contained in another1 and so that in process of time the various specimens of minerals1 plants and animals1 as well as the numerous children of ,adam1 gradually emerge from their latent condition and come to the light4 ,nazzam1 like the philosophers1 rejects the theory of atoms 7v4 ,,ii1 #c #ab71 but then he can only account for the traversing of a definite distance1 by reason of the infinite divisibility of space1 by postulating leaps4 ,he holds bodily substances to be composed of #8accidents' instead of atoms4 ,and just as ,abu-l-,hudhail could not conceive of the inherence of attributes in an essence1 so ,nazzam can only imagine the accident as the substance itself or as a part of the substance4 ,thus #8,fire' or #8the ,warm'1 for instance1 exists in a latent condition in wood1 but it becomes free when1 by means of friction1 its antagonist #8the ,cold' disappears4 ,in the process there occurs a motion or transposition1 but no qualitative change4 ,sensible qualities1 such as colours1 savours and odours1 are1 in ,nazzam's view1 bodies4 ,even the soul or the intellect of ,man he conceives to be a finer kind of body4 ,the soul1 of course1 is the most excellent part of man3 it completely pervades the body1 which is its organ1 and it must be termed the real and true ,man4 ,thoughts and aspirations are defined as ,movements of the ,soul4 ,in matters of ,faith and in questions of ,law ,nazzam rejects both the consensus of the congregation and the analogical interpretation of the ,law1 and appeals in ,shiite fashion to the infallible ,imam4 ,he thinks it possible for the whole body of ,muslims to concur in admitting an erroneous doctrine1 as1 for instance1 the doctrine that ,mohammed has a mission for all mankind in contradistinction to other prophets4 ,whereas ,god sends every prophet to all mankind4 ,nazzam1 besides1 shares the view of ,abu-l-,hudhail as to the knowledge of ,god and of moral duties by means of the reason4 ,he is not particularly convinced of the inimitable excellence of the ,koran4 ,the abiding marvel of the ,koran is made to consist only in the fact that ,mohammed's contemporaries were kept from producing something like to the ,koran4 ,he has certainly not retained much of the ,muslim ,eschatology4 ,at least the torments of hell are in his view resolved into a process of consuming by fire4 #i4 ,many syncretistic doctrines1 but all devoid of originality1 have come down to us from the school of ,nazzam4 ,the most famous man1 whom it produced was the elegant writer and ,natural-,philosopher ,djahiz 7 #hfi71 who demanded of the genuine scholar that he should combine the study of ,theology with that of ,natural ,science4 ,he traces in all things the operations of ,nature1 but also a reference in these operations to the ,creator of the world4 ,man's reason is capable of knowing the ,creator1 and in like manner of comprehending the need of a prophetic revelation4 ,man's only merit is in his will1 for on the one hand all his actions are interwoven with the events of ,nature1 and on the other his entire knowledge is necessarily determined from above4 ,and yet no great significance appears to accrue to the ,will1 which is derived from #8knowing'4 ,at least ,will in the ,divine ,being is quite negatively conceived of1 that is1 ,god never operates unconsciously1 or with dislike to his work4 ,in all this there is little that is original4 ,his ethical ideal is #8the mean'1 and the style of his genius is also mediocre4 ,it is only in compiling his numerous writings that ,djahiz has shown any excess4 #aj4 ,with the earlier ,mutazilites reflections on ,ethics and ,natural ,philosophy predominate2 with those who come later ,logico-metaphysical meditations prevail4 ,in particular ,neo-,platonic influences are to be traced here4 ,muammar1 whose date cannot be accurately determined1 although it may be set down as about the year #ijj1 has much in common with those who have just been named4 ,but he is far more emphatic in his denial of the existence of ,divine attributes1 which he regards as being contradictory of the absolute unity of the ,divine essence4 ,god is high above every form of plurality4 ,he knows neither himself nor any other being1 for #8knowing' would presuppose a plurality in him4 ,he is even to be called ,hyper-eternal4 ,nevertheless he is to be recognized as ,creator of the world4 ,he has only created bodies1 it is true2 and these of themselves create their ,accidents1 whether through operation of ,nature or by ,will4 ,the number of these accidents is infinite1 for in their essence they are nothing more than the intellectual relations of thought4 ,muammar is a ,conceptualist4 ,motion and ,rest1 ,likeness and ,unlikeness1 and so on1 are nothing in themselves1 and have merely an intellectual or ideal existence4 ,the soul1 which is held to be the true essence of ,man1 is conceived of as an ,idea or an immaterial substance1 though it is not clearly stated how it is related to the body or to the ,divine essence4 ,the account handed down is confused4 ,man's will is free1 and1--properly speaking1--,willing is his only act1 for the outward action belongs to the body 7,cf4 ,djahiz74 ,the school of ,bagdad1 to which ,muammar seems to belong1 was conceptualist4 ,with the exception of the most general predicates1--those of ,being and ,becoming1 it made ,universals subsist only as notions or concepts4 ,abu ,hashim of ,basra 7 #icc7 stood nearer to ,realism4 ,the attributes of ,god1 as well as ,accidents and ,genus-notions in general1 were regarded by him as something in a middle position between ,being and ,not-,being3 he called them ,conditions or ,modes4 ,he designated ,doubt as a requisite in all knowing4 ,a simple ,realist he was not4 ,mutazilite thinkers indulged in dialectic quibbling even about #8,not-,being'4 ,they argued that ,not-,being1 as well as ,being1 must come to possess a kind of reality1 seeing that it may become the subject of thought3 at least man tries to think of #8,nothing' rather than not think at all4 #aa4 ,in the #ith century several dialectic systems had been formed in the contest against the ,mutazilites1 one of which1 viz4 the ,karramite system1 held its ground till long after the #ajth century4 ,there arose1 however1 from the ranks of the ,mutazilites a man whose mission it was to reconcile antagonistic views1 and who set up that doctrinal system which was acknowledged as orthodox first in the ,east1 and1 later1 throughout the whole of ,islam4 ,this was ,al-,ashari 7#hgc-ice71 who understood how to render to ,god the things that are ,god's1 and to man the things that are man's4 ,he rejected the rude anthropomorphism of the ,antimutazilite dialecticians1 and set ,god high above all that is bodily and human1 while he left to the ,deity his omnipotence1 and his universal agency4 ,with him ,nature lost all her efficaciousness2 but for man a certain distinction was reserved1 consisting in his being able to give assent to the works which were accomplished in him by ,god1 and to claim these as his own4 ,nor was ,man's sensuous-spiritual being interfered with3 ,he was permitted to hope for the resurrection of the body and the beholding of ,god4 ,as regards the ,koranic revelation1 ,ashari distinguished between an eternal ,word in ,god1 and the ,book as we possess it1 which latter was revealed in ,time4 ,in the detailed statement of his doctrines ,ashari showed no originality in any way1 but merely arranged and condensed the material given him1--a proceeding which could not be carried out without discrepancies4 ,the main thing1 however1 was that his ,cosmology1 ,anthropology and ,eschatology did not depart too far from the text of the ,tradition for the edification of pious souls1 and that his theology1 in consequence of a somewhat spiritualized conception of ,god was not altogether unsatisfactory even to men of higher culture4 ,ashari relies upon the revelation contained in the ,koran4 ,he does not recognize any rational knowledge with regard to ,divine things that is independent of the ,koran4 ,the senses are not in general likely to deceive us1 but on the other hand our judgment may easily do so4 ,we know ,god1 it is true1 by our reason1 but only from ,revelation1 which is the one source of such knowledge4 ,according to ,ashari1 then1 ,god is first of all the omnipotent ,creator4 ,farther he is omniscient3 he knows what men do and what they wish to do3 he knows also what happens1 and how that which does not happen would have happened1 if it had happened4 ,moreover all predicates which express any perfection are applicable to ,god1 with the proviso that they apply to him in another and higher sense than to his creatures4 ,in creating and sustaining the world ,god is the sole cause3 all worldly events proceed continually and directly from him4 ,man1 however1 is quite conscious of the difference between his involuntary movements1 such as shivering and shaking1 and those which are carried out in the exercise of his will and choice4 #ab4 ,the most characteristic theory which the dialectic of the ,muslims has fashioned1 is their doctrine of ,atoms4 ,the development of this doctrine is still wrapped in great obscurity4 ,it was advocated by the ,mutazilites but particularly by their opponents before the time of ,ashari4 ,our sketch shows how it was held in the ,asharite school1 where partly perhaps it was first developed4 ,the ,atomic doctrine of the ,muslim dialecticians had its source1 of course1 in ,greek ,natural ,philosophy2 but its reception and farther development were determined by the requirements of theological ,polemic and ,apologetic4 ,the like phenomenon may be observed in the case of individual ,jews and among believing ,catholics4 ,it is impossible to suppose that ,atomism was taken up in ,islam1 merely because ,aristotle had fought against it4 ,here we have to register a desperate struggle for a religious advantage1 and one in which weapons are not chosen at will3 ,it is the end that decides4 ,nature has to be explained1 not from herself but from some divine creative act2 and this world must be regarded not as an eternal and divine order of things1 but as a creature of transient existence4 ,god must be thought of and spoken of as a freely-working and almighty ,creator1 not as an impersonal cause or inactive primeval source4 ,accordingly1 from the earliest times the doctrine of the creation is placed at the apex of ,muslim dogmatics1 as a testimony against the pagan-philosophical view of the eternity of the world and the efficient operations of ,nature4 ,what we perceive of the sensible world1--say these ,atomists1--is made up of passing #8accidents' which every moment come and go4 ,the substratum of this #8change' is constituted by the 7bodily7 substances2 and because of changes occurring in or on these substances1 they cannot be thought of as themselves unchangeable4 ,if then they are changeable1 they cannot be permanent1 for that which is eternal does not change4 ,consequently everything in the world1 since everything changes1 has come into being1 or has been created by ,god4 ,that is the starting-point4 ,the changeableness of all that exists argues an eternal1 unchangeable ,creator4 ,but later writers1 under the influence of ,muslim philosophers1 infer from the possible or contingent character of everything finite1 the necessary existence of ,god4 ,but let us come back to the world4 ,it consists of ,accidents and their substrata1--,substances4 ,substance and ,accident or ,quality are the two categories by means of which reality is conceived4 ,the remaining categories either come under the category of ,quality1 or else are resolved into relations1 and modifications of thought1 to which1 objectively1 nothing corresponds4 ,matter1 as possibility1 exists only in thought3 ,time is nothing other than the coexistence of different objects1 or simultaneity in presentation2 and ,space and ,size may be attributed to bodies indeed1 but not to the individual parts 7,atoms71 of which bodies are composed4 ,but1 generally speaking1 it is ,accidents which form the proper predicates of substances4 ,their number in every individual substance is very great1 or even infinite as some maintain1 since of any pair whatever of opposite determinations1--and these include negatives also1--the one or the other is attributable to every substance4 ,the negative #8accident' is just as real as the positive4 ,god creates also ,privation and ,annihilation1 though certainly it is not easy to discover a substratum for these4 ,and seeing that no ,accident can ever have its place elsewhere than in some substance1 and cannot have it in another ,accident1 there is really nothing general or common in any number of substances4 ,universals in no wise exist in individual things3 ,they are ,concepts4 ,thus there is no connection between substances3 they stand apart1 in their capacity of atoms equal to one another4 ,in fact they have a greater resemblance to the ,homoeomeries of ,anaxagoras than to the extremely small particles of matter of the ,atomists4 ,in themselves they are non-spatial 7without makan71 but they have their position 7hayyiz71 and by means of this position of theirs they fill space4 ,it is thus unities not possessing extension1 but conceived of as points1--out of which the spatial world of body is constructed4 ,between these unities there must be a void1 for were it otherwise any motion would be impossible1 since the atoms do not press upon one another4 ,all change1 however1 is referred to ,union and ,separation1 ,movement and ,rest4 ,farther operative relations between the ,atom-substances1 there are none4 ,the ,atoms exist then1 and enjoy their existence1 but have nothing at all to do with one another4 ,the world is a discontinuous mass1 without any living reciprocal action between its parts4 ,the ancients had prepared the way for this conception by their theory1 amongst other things1 of the discontinuous character of ,number4 ,was not ,time defined as the tale or numbering of ,motion8 ,why should we not apply that doctrine to ,space1 ,time and ,motion8 ,the ,dialecticians did this2 and the #8skepsis' of the older philosophy may have contributed its influence in the process4 ,like the substantial1 corporeal world1--,space1 ,time and ,motion were decomposed into atoms devoid of extension1 and into moments without duration4 ,time becomes a succession of many individual #8,nows'1 and between every two moments of time there is a void4 ,the same is the case with ,motion3 between every two movements there is a ,rest4 ,a quick motion and a slow motion possess the same speed1 but the latter has more points of ,rest4 ,then1 in order to get over the difficulty of the empty space1 the unoccupied moment of time1 and the pause for rest between two movements1 the theory of a ,leap is made use of4 ,motion is to be regarded as a leaping onward from one point in space to another1 and ,time as an advance effected in the same manner from one moment to another4 ,in reality they had no use at all for this fantastic theory of a ,leap3 it was a mere reply to unsophisticated questioning4 ,with perfect consistency they had cut up the entire material world1 as it moves in space and time1 into ,atoms with their ,accidents4 ,some no doubt maintained1 that although accidents every moment disappear1 yet substances endure1 but others made no difference in this respect4 ,they taught that substances1 which are in fact points in space1 exist only for a point of time1 just like ,accidents4 ,every moment ,god creates the world anew1 so that its condition at the present moment has no essential connection with that which has immediately preceded it or that which follows next4 ,in this way there is a series of worlds following one another1 which merely present the appearance of one world4 ,that for us there is anything like connection or ,causality in phenomena proceeds from the fact that ,allah in his inscrutable will does not choose either to-day or to-morrow to interrupt the usual course of events by a miracle1--which however he is able at any moment to do4 ,the disappearance of all causal connection according to the ,atomistic ,kalam is vividly illustrated by the classical instance of #8the writing man4' ,god creates in him1--and that too by an act of creation which is every moment renewed--first the will1 then the faculty of writing1 next the movement of the hand1 and lastly the motion of the pen4 ,here one thing is completely independent of the other4 ,now if against this view the objection is urged1 that along with ,causality or the regular succession of worldly events1 the possibility of any knowledge is taken away1 the believing thinker replies1 that ,allah verily foreknows everything1 and creates not only the things of the world and what they appear to effect1 but also the knowledge about them in the human soul1 and we do not need to be wiser than ,he4 ,he knows best4 ,allah and the ,world1 ,god and ,man1--beyond these antitheses ,muslim dialectic could not reach4 ,besides ,god1 there is room only for corporeal substances and their accidents4 ,the existence of human souls as incorporeal substances1 as well as generally the existence of pure ,spirits1--both of which doctrines were maintained by philosophers1 and1 though less definitely1 by several ,mutazilites1--would not harmonize properly with the ,muslim doctrine of the transcendent nature of ,god1 who has no associate4 ,the soul belongs to the world of body4 ,life1 ,sensation1 ,rational endowment1 are accidents1 just as much as ,colour1 ,taste1 ,smell1 ,motion and ,rest4 ,some assume only one soul-atom3 ,according to others several finer soul-atoms are mingled with the bodily atoms4 ,at all events thinking is attached to one single ,atom4 #ac4 ,it was not every good ,muslim that could find mental repose in dialectic4 ,the pious servant of ,god might yet1 in another way1 draw somewhat nearer to his ,lord4 ,this need1--existing in ,islam at the very outset1 strengthened too by ,christian and ,indo-,persian influences1 and intensified under more highly developed conditions of civilization1--evoked in ,islam a series of phenomena1 which are usually designated as ,mysticism or ,sufism4 #ab ,in this development of a ,muslim order of ,holy men1 or of a ,muslim ,monkish system1 the history of ,christian monks and cloisters in ,syria and ,egypt1 as well as that of ,indian devotees1 is repeated4 ,in this matter then we have at bottom to deal with religious or spiritual practice2 but practice always mirrors itself in thought1 and receives its theory4 ,in order to bring about a more intimate relationship with the ,godhead1 many symbolical acts and mediating persons were required4 ,such persons then endeavoured to discover the mysteries of the symbols for themselves and to disclose them to the initiated1 and to establish1 besides1 their own mediatory position in the scale of universal being4 ,in particular1 ,neo-,platonic doctrines1--partly drawn from the turbid source of the ,pseudo-,dionysius the ,areopagite and the holy ,hierotheos 7,stephen bar ,sudaili87--had to lend their aid in this work4 ,the ,indian ,yoga too1 at least in ,persia1 seems to have exercised considerable influence4 ,for the most part ,mysticism kept within the pale of ,orthodoxy1 which was always sensible enough to allow a certain latitude to poets and enthusiasts4 ,as regards the doctrine that ,god works all in all1 ,dialecticians and ,mystics were agreed2 but extreme ,mysticism propounded the farther doctrine that ,god is all in all4 ,from this a heterodox ,pantheism was developed1 which made the world an empty show1 and deified the human ,ego4 ,thus the ,unity of ,god becomes ,universal ,unity2 his universal activity ,universal ,existence4 ,besides ,god1 there exist at the most only the attributes and conditions of the ,sufi souls that are tending towards him4 ,a psychology of feeling is developed by the ,sufi teachers4 ,in their view1 while our conceptions come to the soul from without1 and our exertions amount to the externalizing of what is within1 the true essence of our soul consists in certain states or feelings of inclination and disinclination4 ,the most essential of all these is ,love4 ,it is neither fear nor hope1 but ,love that lifts us up to ,god4 ,blessedness is not a matter of #8knowing' or of #8willing'3 it is ,union with the loved one4 ,these ,mystics did away with the world 7as ultimately they did with the human soul7 in a far more thorough-going fashion than the ,dialecticians had done4 ,by the latter the world was sacrificed to the arbitrary character of ,god in ,creation2 by the former to the illuminating1 loving nature of the ,divine ,being4 ,the confusing multiplicity of things1 as that appears to sense and conception1 is removed in a yearning after the ,one and ,beloved being4 ,everything1 both in ,being and ,thinking1 is brought to one central point4 ,contrast with this the genuine ,greek spirit4 ,in it a wish was cherished for a still greater number of senses1 to enable men to get a somewhat better acquaintance with this fair world4 ,but these ,mystics blame the senses for being too many1 because their number brings disorder into their felicity4 ,human nature1 however1 always asserts herself4 ,those men who renounce the world and the senses1 frequently run riot in the most sensual fantasies1 till far advanced in life4 ,we need not wonder after all1 that many troubled themselves very little indeed about religious doctrine1 or that the ascetic morality of the ,sufis often went to the other extreme4 ,the task of following out in detail the development of ,sufism1 however1 belongs to the history of ,religion rather than to the history of ,philosophy4 ,besides1 we find the philosophical elements which it took up1 in the ,muslim philosophers whom we shall meet with farther on4 #d4 ,literature and ,history4 #a4 ,arabic ,poetry and ,annalistic were developed independently of the learning of the schools4 ,but as time went on1 ,literature and ,historical ,composition could not remain untouched by foreign influences4 ,a few notices1 confirmatory of this statement1 must suffice us here4 ,the introduction of ,islam involved no break with the poetical tradition of the ,arab race1 such as had been occasioned by ,christianity in the ,teutonic world4 ,the secular literature of the times even of the ,omayyads handed down many wise sayings1 partly taken from ancient ,arabic poetry1 which rivalled the preachings of the ,koran4 ,abbasid ,caliphs1 like ,mansur1 ,harun and ,mamun1 had more literary culture than ,charlemagne4 ,the education of their sons was not confined to the reading of the ,koran3 it embraced acquaintance also with the ancient poets and with the history of the nation4 ,poets and literary men were drawn to the courts and rewarded in princely fashion4 ,in these circumstances1 ,literature underwent the influence of scholarly culture and philosophical speculation1 although1 in most cases1 in a very superficial manner4 ,the result is specially exhibited in sceptical utterances1 frivolous mockery of what is most sacred1 and glorification of sensual pleasure4 ,at the same time1 however1 wise sayings1 serious reflections and mystic speculations made their way into the originally sober and realistic poetry of the ,arabs4 ,the place of the first natural freshness of representation was now taken by a wearisome play on thoughts and sentiments1 and even on mere words1 metres and rhymes4 #b4 ,the unpleasant ,abu-l-,atahia 7#gdh-hbh71 in his effeminate poetry1 is nearly always talking about unhappy love and a longing for death4 ,he gives expression to his wisdom in the following couplet3 8,the mind guide thou with cautious hesitation3 ',gainst sin use the best shield1 ,renunciation04 ,whoever possesses any faculty for appreciating life and the poetry of ,nature will find little to enjoy in his world-renouncing songs2 and just as little satisfaction will be afforded him in the verses of ,mutanabbi 7#ije-ife71 frightfully tedious in their contents1 although epigrammatic in their form4 ,and yet ,mutanabbi has been praised as the greatest ,arabic poet4 ,in like manner people have unduly extolled ,abu-l-,ala al-,maarri 7#igc-ajeh7 as a philosophic poet4 ,his occasionally quite respectable sentiments and sensible views are not philosophy1 nor does the affected though often hackneyed expression of these amount to poetry4 ,under more favourable conditions1--for he was blind and not surpassingly rich1--this man might perhaps have rendered some service in the subordinate walks of criticism as a philologist or a historical writer4 ,but1 in place of an enthusiastic acceptance of life's duties1 he is led to preach the joyless abandonment of them1 and to grumble generally at political conditions1 the opinions of the orthodox multitude1 and the scientific assertions of the learned1 without being able himself to advance anything positive4 ,he is almost entirely wanting in the gift of combination4 ,he can analyse1 but he does not hit upon any synthesis1 and his learning bears no fruit4 ,the tree of his knowledge has its roots in the air1 as he himself confesses in one of his letters1 though in a different sense4 ,he leads a life of strict celibacy and vegetarianism1 as becomes a pessimist4 ,as he puts it in his poems 8all is but an idle toy3 ,fate is blind2 and ,time spares neither the king who partakes of the joys of life1 nor the devout man who spends his nights in watching and prayer4 ,nor does irrational belief solve for us the enigma of existence4 ,whatever is behind those moving heavens remains hidden from us for ever3 ,religions1 which open up a prospect there1 have been fabricated from motives of self-interest4 ,sects and factions of all kinds are utilized by the powerful to make their dominion secure1 though the truth about these matters can only be whispered4 ,the wisest thing then is to keep aloof from the world1 and to do good disinterestedly1 and because it is virtuous and noble to do so1 without any outlook for reward04 ,other literary men had a more practical philosophy1 and could make their weight more felt in the world4 ,they subscribed to the wise doctrine of the ,theatre-,manager in ,goethe's ,faust3 8,he who brings much1 will something bring to many04 ,the most perfect type of this species is ,hariri 7#ajed-aabb71 whose hero1 the beggar and stroller1 ,abu ,zaid of ,serug1 teaches as the highest wisdom3 8,hunt1 instead of being hunted2 ,all the world's a wood for hunting4 ,if the falcon should escape you1 ,take1 content1 the humble bunting3 ,if you finger not the dinars1 ,coppers still are worth the counting0 #ac4 #c4 ,the ,annalistic of the ancient ,arabs1 like their ,poetry1 was distinguished by a clear perception of particulars1 but was incapable of taking a general grasp of events4 ,with the vast extension of the empire their view was necessarily widened4 ,first a great mass of material was gathered together4 ,their historical and geographical knowledge was advanced by means of journeys undertaken to collect traditions1 or for purposes of administration and trade1 or simply to satisfy curiosity1 more than it could have been by mere religious pilgrimages4 ,characteristic methods of research1 brought to bear upon the value of tradition as a source of our knowledge1 were elaborated4 ,with the same subtlety which they displayed in ,grammar1 they portioned out1 in endless division and subdivision1 the extended field of their observation1 in a fashion more truly #8arabesque' than lucid2 and in this way they formed a logic of history which must have appeared to an oriental eye much finer than the ,aristotelian ,organon with its austere structure4 ,their tradition1--in authenticating which they were1 as a rule1 less particular in practice than in theory1--was by many made equal in value to the evidence of the senses1 and preferred to the judgment of the reason1 which so easily admitted fallacious inferences4 ,there were always people1 however1 who impartially handed down contradictory reports1 alongside of one another4 ,others1 although exhibiting consideration for the feelings and requirements of the present1 did not withhold their more or less well-founded judgment on the past1 for it is often easier to be discerning in matters of history than in the affairs of the living world4 ,new subjects of enquiry came up1 together with new modes of treatment4 ,geography included somewhat of ,natural ,philosophy1 for example in the geography of climate2 while historical composition brought within the range of its description intellectual life1 belief1 morals1 literature and science4 ,acquaintance also with other lands and nations invited comparison on many points2 and thus an international1 humanistic or cosmopolitan element was introduced4 #d4 ,a representative of the humanistic attitude of mind is met with in ,masudi1 who died about the year #ief4 ,he appreciates1 and is interested in1 everything that concerns humanity4 ,everywhere he is learning something from the men he meets with3 and in consequence the reading of books1 which occupies his privacy1 is not without fruit4 ,but it is neither the narrow1 everyday practices of life and religion1 nor the airy speculations of ,philosophy1 that specially appeal to him4 ,he knows where his strength lies2 and up to the last1 when he is spending his old age in ,egypt1 far from his native home1 he finds his consolation1--the medicine of his soul1--in the study of ,history4 ,history for him is the all-embracing science3 it is his philosophy2 and its task is to set forth the truth of that which was and is4 ,even the wisdom of the world1 together with its development1 becomes the subject of ,history2 and without it all knowledge would long since have disappeared4 ,for learned men come and go2 but ,history records their intellectual achievements1 and thereby restores the connection between the past and the present4 ,it gives us unprejudiced information about events and about the views of men4 ,of course ,masudi leaves it often to the intelligent reader to find out for himself the due synthesis of the facts and the individual opinion of the author4 ,a successor of his1 the geographer ,maqdasi1 or ,muqaddasi1 who wrote in the year #ihe1 deserves to be mentioned with high commendation4 ,he journeyed through many countries1 and exercised the most varied callings1 in order to acquaint himself with the life of his time4 ,he is a true ,abu ,zaid of ,serug 7cf4 ,,ii1 #d #b71 but one with an object before him4 ,he sets to work in critical fashion1 and holds to the knowledge which is gained by research and enquiry1 not by faith in tradition or by mere deductions of the reason4 ,the geographical statements in the ,koran he explains by the limited intellectual horizon of the ancient ,arabs1 to which ,allah must have seen fit to adapt himself4 ,he describes then1 sine ira et studio1 the countries and races he has seen with own eyes4 ,his plan is to set down1 in the first place1 results gathered from his own experience and observation2 next1 what he has heard from trustworthy people2 and last of all what he has met with in books4 ,the following sentences are extracted from his characterization of himself4 8,i have given instruction in the common subjects of education and morals3 ,i have come forward as a preacher1 and ,i have made the minaret of the mosque resound with the call to prayer4 ,i have been present at the meetings of the learned and the devotions of the pious4 ,i have partaken of broth with ,sufis1 gruel with monks1 and ship's-fare with sailors4 ,many a time ,i have been seclusion itself1 and then again ,i have eaten forbidden fruit against my better judgment4 ,i associated with the hermits of ,lebanon1 and in turn ,i lived at the court of the ,prince4 ,in wars ,i have participated3 ,i have been detained as a captive and thrown into prison as a spy4 ,powerful princes and ministers have lent me their ear1 and anon ,i have joined a band of robbers1 or sat as a retail-dealer in the bazaar4 ,i have enjoyed much honour and consideration1 but ,i have likewise been fated to listen to many curses and to be reduced to the ordeal of the oath1 when ,i was suspected of heresy or evil deeds04 ,we are accustomed at the present day to picture to ourselves the ,oriental as a being who1 in contemplative repose1 is completely bound to his ancestral faith and usages4 ,this representation is not quite correct1 but still it agrees better with the situation which now exists than it does with the disposition of ,islam in the first four centuries1 for during that period it was inclined to take into its possession not only the outward advantages of the world1 but also the intellectual acquisitions of ,mankind4 ,,iii4 ,,the ,,pythagorean ,,philosophy4 #a4 ,natural ,philosophy4 #a4 ,euclid and ,ptolemy1 ,hippocrates and ,galen1 some portion of ,aristotle1 and1 in addition1 an abundant ,neo-,platonic ,literature1--indicate the elements of ,arabic ,natural ,philosophy4 ,it is a popular philosophy1 which1 chiefly through the instrumentality of the ,sabaeans of ,harran1 found acceptance with the ,shiites and other sects1 and which in due course impressed not only court circles1 but also a large body of educated and half-educated people4 ,stray portions of it were taken from the writings of the 8,logician01--,aristotle1--e4g4 from the 8,meteorology01 from the work 8,on the ,universe01 which has been attributed to him1 from the 8,book of ,animals01 from the 8,psychology01 and so on2 but its general character was determined by ,pythagorean-,platonic teaching1 by the ,stoics1 and by subsequent astrologers and alchemists4 ,human curiosity and piety were fain to read the secrets of the ,deity in the book of his ,creation1 and they proceeded in this search far beyond practical requirements1 which merely called for a little arithmetic to serve in the division of inheritances and in trade1 and a little astronomy besides1 to determine the proper times for celebrating the functions of religion4 ,men hastened to gather wisdom from every quarter1 and in so doing they manifested a conviction1 which ,masudi accurately expressed1 when he said3 8,whatever is good should be recognized1 whether it is found in friend or foe04 ,indeed ,ali1 the prince of believers1 is reported to have said3 8,the wisdom of the world is the believer's strayed sheep3 take it back1 even though it come from the unbelieving04 #b4 ,pythagoras is the presiding genius of ,mathematical study in ,islam4 ,greek and ,indian elements are mingled in it1 it is true1 but everything is regarded from a ,neo-,pythagorean point of view4 ,without studying such branches of ,mathematics1 as ,arithmetic and ,geometry1 ,astronomy and ,music1 no one1 they said1 becomes a philosopher or an educated physician4 ,the ,theory of ,numbers1--prized more highly than ,mensuration1 because it appeals less to the outward vision1 and should bring the mind nearer the essence of things1--gave occasion to the most extravagant puerilities4 ,god is1 of course1 the great ,unity1 from whom everything proceeds1 who himself is no number1 but who is the ,first ,cause of ,number4 ,but above all1 the number ,four1--the number of the elements and so on1--was held in high favour by the philosophers2 and by-and-by nothing in heaven or earth was spoken of or written about1 except in sentences of four clauses and in discourses under four heads4 ,the transition from ,mathematics to ,astronomy and ,astrology was rapid and easy4 ,the old ,eastern methods1 which came into their hands1 continued to be applied even by the court-astrologers of the ,omayyads1 but with still greater thoroughness at the ,abbasid court4 ,in this way they arrived at speculations which ran counter to the revealed ,faith1 and which therefore could never be approved of by the guardians of religion4 ,the only antithesis which existed for the ,believer was--,god and the ,world1 or this life and the next2 but for the ,astrologer there were two worlds1 one of the ,heavens and another of the ,earth1 while ,god and the life beyond were in the far distance4 ,according to the different conceptions entertained of the relation which subsisted between the heavenly bodies and sublunary things1 either a rational ,astronomy was developed1 or a fantastic ,astrology4 ,only a few kept entirely free from ,astrological delusions4 ,as long1 in fact1 as the science was dominated by the ,ptolemaic system1 it was easier for the completely uneducated man to jeer at what was absurd in it than it was for the learned investigator to disprove the same4 ,for the latter indeed this earth with its forms of life was a product of the forces of the heavens1 a reflection of celestial light1 an echo of the eternal harmony of the ,spheres4 ,those then who ascribed conception and will to the ,spirits of the stars and spheres1 held them as the representatives of ,divine providence1 and thus traced to their agency both what is good and what is evil1 seeking also to foretell future events from the situation of their orbs1 by means of which they bring their influence to bear upon earthly things in accordance with steadfast laws4 ,others1 it is true1 had their doubts about this secondary providence1 on grounds of experience and reason1 or from the ,peripatetic belief that the blessed existences of the heavens are ,spirits of pure intellect1 exalted above conception and will1 and in consequence above all particularity that appeals to the senses1 so that their providential influence is directed only to the good of the whole1 but never can have reference to any individual occurrence4 #c4 ,in the domain of ,natural ,science ,muslim learned men collected a rich body of material2 but hardly in any case did they succeed in really treating it scientifically4 ,in the separate ,natural sciences1 the development of which we cannot follow up in this place1 they clung to traditional systems4 ,to establish the wisdom of ,god and the operations of ,nature1--which was regarded as a power or emanation of the ,world-,soul1--alchemistic experiments were instituted1 the magical virtues of talismans tested1 the effects of ,music upon the emotions of men and animals investigated1 and observations made on physiognomy1 while attempts were also set on foot to explain the wonders of the life of sleep and of dreams1 as well as those of soothsaying and prophecy1 c4 ,as might be expected1 the centre of interest was ,man1 as the ,microcosm which must combine in itself all the elements and powers of the world together4 ,the essential part of ,man's being was held to be the ,soul2 and its relation to the ,world-,soul1 and its future lot were made subjects of enquiry4 ,there was also a good deal of speculation about the faculties of the soul and their localization in the heart and the brain4 ,one or two adhered to ,galen1 but others went farther than he did1 and made out five inner senses corresponding to the five outer ones1--a theory which1 along with similar natural mysteries1 was traced to ,apollonius of ,tyana4 ,obviously the most diverse attitudes towards religious doctrine were possible in the study of ,mathematical and ,physical ,science4 ,but the propaedeutic sciences1 as soon as they came forward on their own account1 were always dangerous to the ,faith4 ,the assumption of the eternity of the world1 and of an uncreated matter in motion from all eternity1--was readily combined with ,astronomy4 ,and if the movement of the ,heavens is eternal1 so too are1 no doubt1 the changes which take place on earth4 ,all the kingdoms of ,nature then1 according to many teachers1 being eternal1 the race of man is eternal also1 wheeling round and round in an orbit of its own4 ,there is therefore nothing new in the world3 the views and ideas of men repeat themselves like everything else4 ,all that can possibly be done1 maintained or known1 has already been and will again be4 ,admirable discourse and lamentation were expended upon this theme1 without much advancing thereby the interests of ,science4 #d4 ,the science of ,medicine1 which on obvious grounds was favoured by the ruling powers1 appears to have proved somewhat more useful4 ,its interests furnished one of the reasons1 and not the least considerable1 which induced the ,caliphs to commission so many men to translate ,greek authors4 ,it is therefore not to be wondered at that the teachings of ,mathematics and ,natural ,science1 together with ,logic1 also affected ,medicine intimately4 ,the old-fashioned doctor was disposed to be satisfied with time-honoured magical formulae1 and other empirical expedients2 but modern society in the ninth century required philosophical knowledge in the physician4 ,he had to know the 8natures0 of foods1 stimulants or luxuries1 and medicaments1 the humours of the body1 and in every case the influence of the stars4 ,the physician was brother to the astrologer1 whose knowledge commanded his respect1 because it had a more exalted object than medical practice4 ,he had to attend the lectures of the alchemist1 and to practise his art in accordance with the methods of ,mathematics and ,logic4 ,it was not enough for the fanatics of education in the ninth century that a man had to speak1 believe and behave in accordance with ,qiyas1--that is to say1 with logical correctness3 he must1 over and above1 submit to be treated medically in accordance with ,qiyas4 ,the principles of ,medicine were discussed in learned assemblies at the court of ,wathik 7#hdb-hdg7 like the foundations of ,doctrine and ,morals4 ,the question1 in fact1 was asked1 prompted by a work of ,galen's1 whether ,medicine relies upon tradition1 experience or rational knowledge1 or whether on the other hand it derives its support from the principles of ,mathematics and ,natural ,science by means of logical deduction 7,qiyas74 #e4 ,the ,natural ,philosophy1 which has just been rapidly sketched1 actually stood for ,philosophy with the most of the scholars of the ninth century1 as contrasted with theological dialectic1 and was styled ,pythagorean4 ,it lasted even into the tenth century1 when its most important representative was the famous physician ,razi 7 #ibc or #icb74 ,born in ,rai he received a mathematical education and studied ,medicine and ,natural ,philosophy with great diligence4 ,he was averse to dialectic and was only acquainted with ,logic as far as the categorical figures of the ,first ,analytics4 ,after having practised as director of the hospital in his native city and in ,bagdad1 he entered upon his travels and resided at various princely courts1 amongst others at the court of the ,samanid ,mansur ibn ,ishaq1 to whom he dedicated a work on ,medicine4 ,razi has a high opinion of the medical profession and of the study which it demands4 ,the wisdom of a thousand years1 contained in books1 he prizes more than the experiences of the individual man gained in one short life1 but he prefers even these to deductions of the 8,logicians0 which have not been tested by experience4 ,he thinks that the relation between the body and the soul is determined by the soul4 ,and seeing that in this way the circumstances and sufferings of the soul admit of being discerned by means of the physiognomy1 the medical man has to be at the same time a physician of the soul4 ,therefore he drew up a system of spiritual medicine1--a kind of ,dietetic of the ,soul4 ,the precepts of ,muslim law1 like the prohibition of wine1 and so on1 gave him no concern1 but his freethinking seems to have led him into pessimism4 ,in fact he found more evil than good in the world1 and described inclination as the absence of disinclination4 ,high though the value was which ,razi put upon ,aristotle and ,galen1 he did not give himself any special trouble to gain a more profound comprehension of their works4 ,he was a devoted student of ,alchemy1 which in his view was a true art1 based on the existence of a primeval matter1--an art indispensable to philosophers1 and which1 he believed1 had been practised by ,pythagoras1 ,democritus1 ,plato1 ,aristotle and ,galen4 ,in opposition to ,peripatetic teaching he assumed that the body contained in itself the principle of movement1 a thought which might certainly have proved a fruitful one in ,natural ,science1 if it had been recognized and farther developed4 ,razi's ,metaphysic starts from old doctrines1 which his contemporaries ascribed to ,anaxagoras1 ,empedocles1 ,mani and others4 ,at the apex of his system stand five co-eternal principles1--the ,creator1 the ,universal ,soul1 the ,first or ,primeval matter1 ,absolute ,space1 and ,absolute ,time or ,eternal ,duration4 ,in these the necessary conditions of the actually existing world are given4 ,the individual sense-perceptions1 generally1 presuppose an existing ,matter1 just as the grouping of different perceived objects postulates ,space4 ,perceptions of change farther constrain us to assume the condition of ,time4 ,the existence of living beings leads us to recognize a ,soul2 and the fact that some of these living beings are endowed with ,reason1 i4e4--have the faculty of bringing the ,arts to the highest perfection1--necessitates our belief in a wise ,creator1 whose ,reason has ordered everything for the best4 ,notwithstanding the eternity of his five principles1 ,razi thus speaks of a ,creator and even gives a story of ,creation4 ,first then a simple1 pure1 spiritual ,light was created1 the material of ,souls1 which are simple1 spiritual substances1 of the nature of ,light4 ,that ,light-material or ,upper-world1 from which souls descended1 is also called ,reason1 or ,light of the ,light of ,god4 ,the ,light is followed by the ,shadow1 from which the ,animal ,soul is created1 for the service of the ,rational ,soul4 ,but simultaneously with the simple1 spiritual light1 there existed from the first a composite form1 which is ,body1 from the shadow of which now issue the four 8natures01 ,warmth and ,cold1 ,dryness and ,moistness4 ,from these four natures at last are formed all heavenly and earthly bodies4 ,the whole process1 however1 is in operation from all eternity1 without beginning in time1 for ,god was never inactive4 ,that ,razi was an astrologer is plain from his own utterances4 ,the heavenly bodies consist indeed1 according to him1 of the same elements as earthly things1 and the latter are continually exposed to the influences of the former4 #f4 ,razi had to maintain a polemical attitude in two directions4 ,on the one side he impugned the ,muslim ,unity of ,god1 which could not bear to be associated with any eternal soul1 matter1 space or time2 and on the other side he attacked the ,dahrite system1 which does not acknowledge any ,creator of the world4 ,this system1 which is frequently mentioned by ,muslim authors1 with due aversion of course1 appears to have found numerous representatives1 though none of any importance4 ,the adherents of the #8,dahr' 7v4 ,i1 #b1 #b7 are represented to us as ,materialists1 ,sensualists1 ,atheists1 ,believers in the transmigration of souls1 and so on2 but we learn nothing more definite about their doctrines4 ,in any case the ,dahrites had no need to trace all that exists to a principle which was of spiritual essence and creative efficiency4 ,muslim ,philosophy1 on the other hand1 did stand in need of such a principle1 if it should only conform in some degree to the teaching of the faith4 ,natural ,philosophy was not suited for the furtherance of this object1 as it showed more interest in the manifold and often contrary operations of ,nature than in the ,one ,cause of all4 ,such aim was better attained by ,neo-,platonic ,aristotelianism1 whose logico-metaphysical speculations endeavoured to trace all existence to one highest existence1 or to derive all things from one supreme operative principle4 ,but before we attend to this direction of thought1 which commenced to appear even in the ninth century1 we have still to give some account of an attempt to blend ,natural ,philosophy and the teachings of the ,faith into a ,philosophy of ,religion4 #b4 ,the ,faithful ,brethren of ,basra4 #a4 ,in the ,east1 where every religion formed a ,state within the ,state1 a political party invariably made its appearance in the additional character of a religious sect1 just to gain adherents in some way or other4 ,as a matter of principle indeed1 ,islam knew no distinction between men1--no caste or social standing4 ,but property and education have the same influence everywhere2 and in their train degrees of piety and stages of knowledge began to be set up1 according as a community or party permitted of adjustment4 ,thus there arose secret societies having different grades1 of which the highest and perhaps the next highest possessed an esoteric doctrine1 which borrowed a good deal from the ,natural ,philosophy of the ,neo-,pythagoreans4 ,in furtherance of their object1 which was to conquer political power1 every expedient was regarded as lawful4 ,for the initiated the ,koran was explained allegorically4 ,they traced their mystic lore1 it is true1 back to prophets with ,biblical and ,koranic names1 but heathen philosophers were at the bottom of it all4 ,philosophy was completely transformed into a mythology of politics4 ,the high intelligences and souls1 which theoretic thinkers had recognized in the stars and planets1 embodied themselves in human beings for the work of actual ,politics2 and it was declared to be a religious duty to assist these embodied intelligences in the establishment of an earthly kingdom of righteousness4 ,the associations which acted in this way may best be compared to societies1 which up to the days of ,saint-,simonism and kindred phenomena in last century were wont to appear in countries where freedom of thought was restricted4 ,in the second half of the ninth century ,abdallah ibn ,maimun1 head of the ,karmatite party1 was the originator of a movement of this kind4 ,he was a ,persian oculist1 trained in the school of the ,natural ,philosophers4 ,he proved able to associate both believers and freethinkers in a confederacy to endeavour to compass the overthrow of the ,abbasid government4 ,to the one set he was a conjurer1 to the other a pious ascetic or learned philosopher4 ,his colours were white1 because his religion was that of the pure light1 to which the soul was to ascend after its earthly wanderings4 ,the duties inculcated were contempt for the body1 disregard of the ,material1 community of goods for all the confederate brethren1 as well as self-surrender to the confederacy1 and fidelity and obedience to their chiefs1 even to death1--for the society had its grades4 ,in accordance with the sequence of existence1 viz41 ,god1 ,reason1 ,soul1 ,space and ,time1 they conceived the revelation of ,god to be made in history and in the constitution of their own brotherhood4 #b4 ,the chief homes of ,karmatite activity were ,basra and ,kufa4 ,now we find in ,basra in the second half of the tenth century a small association of men1 whose confederacy aims at having four grades4 ,we do not know1 to be sure1 how far the brethren succeeded in realizing the ideal organization of their confederacy4 ,to the first grade belong young men of from #ae to #cj years of age1 whose souls are being formed in the natural way3 these must be completely submissive to their teachers4 ,the second grade1--from #cj to #dj years of age--are introduced to secular wisdom1 and receive an analogical knowledge of things4 ,in the third grade1--from #dj to #ej years of age--the ,divine law of the world becomes known in more adequate form3 that constitutes the stage of the prophets4 ,finally1 in the highest grade1 when one is over #ej years old1 he comes to see the true reality of things1 just like the blessed angels3 he is exalted then above ,nature1 ,doctrine and ,law4 ,from this brotherhood there has come down to us a progressively-advancing ,encyclopaedia of the ,sciences of that day4 ,it consists of #ea 7originally perhaps #ej7 treatises1 the contents of which are of such varied nature and origin that the redactors or compilers have not succeeded in establishing a complete harmony among them4 ,in general1 however1 there is found in this ,encyclopaedia an eclectic ,gnosticism built on a foundation of ,natural ,science1 and provided with a political background4 ,the scheme sets out with mathematical considerations1 continually playing with numbers and letters1 and proceeds through ,logic and ,physics1--referring everything1 however1 to the ,soul and its powers1--in order to approach at last1 in a mystical and magical fashion1 the knowledge of the ,godhead4 ,the whole representation is that of the doctrine of a persecuted sect1 with the political features peeping out here and there4 ,we see also something of suffering and struggle1--something of the oppressions to which the men of this ,encyclopaedia or their predecessors were exposed1 and something of the hope they cherished and the patience they preached4 ,they seek in this spiritualistic philosophy1 consolation or redemption3 ,it is their religion4 #8,faithful to death1'--so runs the expression--shall the brethren be1 for to meet death for a friend's welfare1 is the true ,holy war4 ,in life's pilgrimage through this world1--thus the obligatory journey to ,mecca is allegorized--1 one must aid the other by all the means in his power4 ,the rich must communicate to others a share of their material goods1 and the wise a share of their intellectual possessions4 ,but yet knowledge1 as we have it in the ,encyclopaedia1 was probably reserved for initiated members of the highest grade4 ,it must be allowed1 however1 that this confraternity of the ,faithful ,brethren of ,basra seems to have led a quiet existence1 as perhaps was the case also with a branch-settlement of theirs in ,bagdad4 ,the relation of the ,brethren to the ,karmatites may have resembled that of the more peaceful ,baptists to the revolutionary ,anabaptists of the #8,king of ,sion'4 #ad ,the names of the following have been given to us by later writers1 as having been members of the ,brotherhood and collaborators of the ,encyclopaedia1 viz43 ,abu ,sulaiman ,mohammed ibn ,mushir al-,busti1 called al-,muqaddasi2 ,abu-l-,hasan ,ali ibn ,harun al-,zandjani2 ,mohammed ibn ,akhmed al-,nahradjuri2 ,al-,aufi and ,zaid ibn ,rifaa4 ,in the time of their activity the ,caliphate had already been forced to make an entire surrender of its secular power into the hands of the ,shiite dynasty of the ,buyids4 ,probably this circumstance was favourable to the appearance of an ,encyclopaedia1 in which ,shiite and ,mutazilite doctrines together with the results of ,philosophy were comprehended in one popular system4 #c4 ,the ,brethren themselves avow their eclecticism4 ,they wish to collect the wisdom of all nations and religions4 ,noah and ,abraham1 ,socrates and ,plato1 ,zoroaster and ,jesus1 ,mohammed and ,ali are all prophets of theirs4 ,socrates1 and ,jesus and his apostles1 no less than the children of ,ali1 are honoured as holy martyrs of their rational faith4 ,the religious law in its literal sense is pronounced good for the ordinary man1--a medicine for weak and ailing souls3 the deeper philosophic insight is for strong intelligences4 ,though the body is devoted to death1 dying means rising again to the pure life of the ,spirit1 for those who during their earthly existence have been awakened by means of philosophic considerations out of careless slumber and foolish sleep4 ,this is impressed with endless repetition1 by means of legends and myths of later-,greek1 ,judaeo-,christian1 ,persian or ,indian origin4 ,every transitory thing is here turned into an emblem4 ,on the ruins of positive religion and unsophisticated opinion a spiritualistic philosophy is built up1 embracing all the knowledge and endeavour of human kind1 so far as these came within the ,brethren's field of view4 ,the aim of their philosophizing is given as #8the assimilation of the soul to ,god1 in the degree possible for man'4 ,in this scheme1 the negative tendencies of the ,brethren1 are kept somewhat in the background1 for reasons which are quite intelligible4 ,but their criticism of human society and of positive religions is exhibited with least reserve in the #8,book of the ,animal and the ,man'1 in which the figurative dress makes it possible for them to represent animals as saying what might he questionable if heard from a human mouth4 #d4 ,the eclectic character of the scheme1 and the far from systematic method adopted in its subdivisions render it difficult to give a coherent exposition of the philosophy of the ,brethren4 ,but still the most important tenets1 though sometimes loosely connected1 must here be set forth with a measure of order4 ,the mental activity of ,man falls to be divided1 according to the ,encyclopaedia1 into ,art and ,science4 ,now ,science or ,knowledge is the form assumed within the knowing soul by that which is known1 or a higher1 finer1 more intellectual mode of existence of whatever is realized in outward substance4 ,art on the other hand consists in projecting the form from the artist-soul into matter4 ,knowledge is potentially present in the soul of the disciple1 but it becomes actual only through the teaching activity of a master1 who carries knowledge as a reality within his own mind4 ,but whence did it come to the first master8 ,the ,brethren answer1 that according to the philosophers he gained it by his own reflection1 while1 according to the theologians1 he received it through prophetic illumination2 8but in our view there are various ways or instrumentalities by which knowledge may be attained4 ,from the intermediate position of the soul1 between the worlds of body and of mind it results that there are open to it three ways or sources of knowledge4 ,thus by means of the senses the soul is made acquainted with what is beneath it1 and through logical inference with what is above it1 and finally with itself by rational consideration or direct intuition4 ,of these kinds of knowledge the surest and the most deserving of preference is knowledge of one's self4 ,when human knowledge attempts to go farther than this1 it proves itself to be limited in many ways4 ,therefore one must not philosophize straight away about questions like the origin or the eternity of the world1 but make his first essays with what is simpler4 ,and only through renunciation of the world1 and righteous conduct1 does the soul lift itself gradually up to the pure knowledge of the ,highest40 #e4 ,after secular instruction in ,grammar1 ,poetry and ,history1 and after religious education and doctrine1 philosophic study should begin with the mathematical branches4 ,here everything is set forth in ,neo-,pythagorean and ,indian fashion4 ,not only numbers but even the letters of the alphabet are employed in childish trifling4 ,it was particularly convenient for the ,brethren that the number of letters in the ,arabic alphabet is #bh1 or #d multiplied by #g4 ,instead of proceeding according to practical and real points of view1 they give the rein to fancy in all the sciences1 in accordance with grammatical analogies and relations of numbers4 ,their ,arithmetic does not investigate ,number as such1 but rather its significance4 ,no search is made for any more suitable mode of expressing number in the case of phenomena2 but things are themselves explained in accordance with the system of numbers4 ,the ,theory of number is ,divine wisdom1 and is above ,things1 for things are only formed after the pattern of numbers4 ,the absolute principle of all existence and thought is the number ,one4 ,the science of number1 therefore1 is found at the beginning1 middle1 and end of all philosophy4 ,geometry1 with its figures addressing the eye1 serves merely to make it more easily understood by beginners1 but ,arithmetic alone is true and pure science4 ,and yet ,geometry too is divided into a sensible form of it which deals with lines1 surfaces and solids1 and a pure or spiritual form which treats of the dimensions or properties of things1 such as length1 breadth and depth4 ,the object both of ,arithmetic and ,geometry is to conduct the soul from the sensible to the spiritual4 ,first of all then they lead us to consider the stars4 ,now the ,encyclopaedia offers us1 in its ,astrology1--and nothing else could be expected--teaching which is exceedingly fantastic and sometimes self-contradictory4 ,the whole of it is pervaded by the conviction that the stars not merely foretell the future1 but directly influence or bring about every thing that happens beneath the moon4 ,fortune and misfortune come equally from them4 ,jupiter1 ,venus and the ,sun bring fortune2 misfortune is brought1 on the other hand1 by ,saturn1 ,mars and the ,moon2 while the effects produced by the planet ,mercury have in them both bad and good4 ,mercury is the lord of education and science3 we owe to him our knowledge1 which comprises bad and good4 ,in the same way too the other planets have all their several spheres of influence2 and man in the course of life1 if he is not prematurely snatched away1 experiences successively the influences of the whole of the heavenly bodies4 ,the ,moon causes his body to grow and ,mercury forms his mind4 ,then he comes under the sway of ,venus4 ,the ,sun gives him family1 riches or dominion2 ,mars1 bravery and noble-mindedness4 ,thereupon1 under the guidance of ,jupiter1 he prepares1 by means of religious exercises1 for the journey to the world beyond1 and he attains rest under the influence of ,saturn4 ,many men1 however1 do not live long enough1 or are not enabled by circumstances1 to develope their natural capacities in unbroken sequence4 ,god therefore graciously sends them his prophets1 by whose teaching they may1 even in a short time and under unfavourable circumstances1 form their natures completely4 #f4 ,according to the ,encyclopaedia1 ,logic is related to ,mathematics4 ,in fact just as ,mathematics conducts from the sensible to the intellectual1 so ,logic takes an intermediate position between ,physics and ,metaphysics4 ,in ,physics we have to do with bodies2 in ,metaphysics1 with pure ,spirits2 but ,logic treats of the ideas of the latter as well as of the representations of the former in our soul4 ,yet in range and importance ,logic is inferior to ,mathematics4 ,for the subject of ,mathematics is regarded not merely as an intermediary1 but also as the essence of the ,all1 while on the other hand ,logic remains completely restricted to psychic forms as an intermediary between body and mind4 ,things are regulated by numbers1 but our presentations and ideas by things4 ,the logical observations of the ,brethren start from ,porphyry's ,introduction1 and the ,categories1 the ,hermeneutics and the ,analytics of ,aristotle4 ,they present nothing original1 or very little4 ,to the five terms of ,porphyry1 a sixth1--the #8,individual'--is added1 no doubt for the sake of symmetry4 ,three of these1--,genus1 ,species1 ,individual1--are then called ,objective ,qualifications and three1--,difference1 ,property1 ,accident--,abstract or ,conceptional ,qualifications4 ,the ,categories are ,genus-conceptions1 of which the first is ,substance1 the other nine denoting its ,accidents4 ,the whole system of ,concepts is farther developed by a division into species4 ,but besides ,division1 there are three additional logical methods in use3 ,analysis1 ,definition and ,deduction4 ,analysis is the method for beginners1 because it permits a knowledge of what is individual4 ,more subtle1 however1 as disclosing to us what is spiritual1--are ,definition and ,deduction1 the former investigating the essential nature of ,species1 and the latter that of ,genera4 ,the ,senses apprise us of the existence of things2 but acquaintance with the essence of things is gained by reflection4 ,the information which is conveyed to us by the senses is small1 as it were the letters of the alphabet4 ,of greater importance considerably are the principles of rational knowledge1 just as words have more significance than letters2 but the most important knowledge of all1 lies in the propositions which have been derived from those principles1 and which the human mind gains for itself or appropriates1 in contradistinction to that knowledge which ,nature or the ,divine revelation has imparted to it4 #g4 ,from ,god1 the highest ,being1 who is exalted above all distinctions and oppositions both of the ,material and the ,spiritual1 the whole world is derived by the path of ,emanation4 ,if now and again a ,creation is spoken of1 that is only to be understood as a form of adaptation to theological language4 ,the gradation then of the ,emanations is exhibited as follows3 #a4 ,the ,creative ,spirit 71 aql72 #b4 ,the ,passive ,spirit1 or the ,all-,soul or ,world-,soul2 #c4 ,the ,first ,material2 #d4 ,the ,operative ,nature1 a power of the ,world-,soul2 #e4 ,the ,absolute ,body1 called also1 the ,second ,material2 #f4 ,the ,world of the ,spheres2 #g4 ,the ,elements of the ,sublunary ,world2 #h4 ,the ,minerals1 ,plants and ,animals composed of these elements4 ,these then are the eight ,essences which1--together with ,god1 the ,absolute ,one1 who is in everything and with everything--complete the series of ,original ,essences corresponding to the nine ,cardinal ,numbers4 ,spirit1 ,soul1 ,original ,matter1 and ,nature are simple2 but with ,body we enter the realm of the ,composite4 ,here all is composed of ,matter and ,form1 or1--to adopt another principle of division1--of ,substance and ,accident4 ,the first ,substances are ,matter and ,form2 the first ,accidents or ,properties1 ,space1 ,motion and ,time1 to which in the opinion of the ,brethren may perhaps be added ,tone and ,light4 ,matter is one2 all plurality and diversity come from the ,forms4 ,substance is designated also as the constitutive1 material ,form1 while ,accident is the completing1 spiritual ,form4 ,the ,encyclopaedia does not express itself clearly on these points4 ,but in any case ,substantiality is looked for rather in the ,universal than in the ,particular1 and ,form is put before ,matter4 ,the ,substantial ,form1 like a spectre1 frightens off every attempt of the philosopher to investigate thoroughly the domain of the ,material4 ,the ,forms wander at their own sweet will like lords through the lower world of ,matter4 ,no trace is discoverable of any inner relation between ,matter and ,form4 ,not only in thought1 but also in reality they keep themselves separate4 ,from the account which has been given an idea may now be formed of the story of ,nature as the ,brethren viewed it4 ,they have been represented as the ,darwinists of the tenth century1 but nothing could more inappropriate4 ,the various realms of ,nature1 it is true1 yield according to the ,encyclopaedia an ascending and connected series2 but the relation is determined not by bodily structure1 but by the inner ,form or ,soul-,substance4 ,the ,form wanders in mystic fashion from the lower to the higher and vice versa1 not in accordance with inner laws of formation1 or modified to suit external conditions1 but in accordance with the influences of the stars1 and1 in the case of ,man at least1 in accordance with practical and theoretical behaviour4 ,to give a history of ,evolution in the modern sense of the term was very far from the thought of the ,brethren4 ,for example they expressly insist that the horse and the elephant resemble ,man more than the ape does1 although the bodily likeness is greater in the last-named4 ,in fact in their system the body is a matter of quite secondary consideration3 the death of the body is called the birth of the soul4 ,the soul alone is an efficient existence1 which procures the body for itself4 #h4 ,the teaching of the ,brethren concerning ,nature is therefore merged almost completely in ,psychology4 ,let us confine ourselves here to the human soul4 ,it stands in the centre of the ,all2 and just as the ,world is a huge man1 ,man is a little world4 ,the human soul has emanated from the ,world-soul2 and the souls of all individuals taken together constitute a substance which might be denominated the ,absolute ,man or the ,spirit of ,humanity4 ,every individual soul1 however1 is involved in ,matter1 and must gradually be formed into spirit4 ,to that end it possesses many faculties or powers1 and of these the speculative faculties are the choicest1 for knowledge is the very life of the soul4 ,the soul of the child is at first like a white sheet of paper4 ,what the five senses convey to it is first presented1 then judged1 and lastly stored up1 in the front1 middle1 and hinder parts of the brain respectively4 ,through the faculty of speech and the art of writing1 which make up the number of the internal senses to five1 corresponding to the number of the ,external1 the contents of ,presentation are then realized4 ,among the external senses1 ,hearing takes precedence of ,sight2 for ,sight1 a mere slave of the moment1 is occupied with what is actually present to the sense1 whereas ,hearing apprehends also what is past1 and is conscious of the harmony of the tuneful spheres4 ,hearing and ,sight constitute the group of the intellectual senses1 whose effect must continue time without end4 ,while ,man then possesses the external senses in common with the lower animals1 the specific nature of human reason is notified in ,judgment1 ,speech and ,action4 ,reason judges of good and bad1 and in conformity with that judgment the will is determined4 ,but in particular the significance which ,language has for the soul's life of cognition is to be emphasised4 ,a concept which cannot be denoted by some expression in some language is not thinkable at all4 ,the word is the body of the thought1 which cannot exist absolutely per se4 ,but it is difficult to see how this understanding of the relation between concept and expression is to square with other opinions of the ,brethren4 #i4 ,at its highest stage the teaching of the ,brethren becomes a ,philosophy of ,religion4 ,its purpose is a reconciliation between ,science and ,life1 ,philosophy and ,faith4 ,now in these matters men differ greatly4 ,the ordinary man requires a sensuous worship of ,god2 but just as the souls of animals and plants are beneath the soul of the ordinary man1 so above it are the souls of the philosopher and the prophet with whom the pure angel is associated4 ,in the higher stages the soul is raised also above the lower popular religion with its sensuous conceptions and usages4 ,no doubt ,christianity and the ,zoroastrian faith appeared to the ,brethren to be more perfect religious revelations4 #8,our ,prophet1 ,mohammed'1 they said1 #8was sent to an uncivilized people1 composed of dwellers in the desert1 who neither possessed a proper conception of the beauty of this world1 nor of the spiritual character of the world beyond4 ,the crude expressions of the ,koran1 which are adapted to the understanding of that people1 must be understood in a spiritual sense by those who are more cultured'4 ,but the truth is not presented in its purity even in the other national religions4 ,there is a rational faith above them all for which the ,brethren moreover tried to find a metaphysical derivation4 ,between ,god and his first creature1 the ,creative ,spirit1 there is interposed by way of hypostasis the ,divine ,world-,law 7nms74 ,that ,world-,law extends over everything1 and is the wise arrangement of a merciful ,creator1 who intends evil to no one4 ,belief in a ,god of ,anger1 in the punishment of ,hell and the like1 the ,brethren declare to be irrational4 ,such a faith does harm to the soul4 ,the ignorant sinful soul finds its hell even in this life and in its own body4 ,on the other hand1 ,resurrection is the separation of the soul from its body1 and the great ,resurrection at the last day is the separation of the ,universal soul from the world1 and its return to ,god4 ,this turning to ,god indeed is the aim in all religions4 #aj4 ,the ethical system of the ,brethren has an ascetic1 spiritualistic character1 although here too their eclecticism is shewn4 ,according to it man is acting rightly1 when he follows his proper nature2 #8praiseworthy is the free act of the soul2 admirable are the actions which have proceeded from rational consideration2 and lastly1 obedience to the ,divine ,world-,law is worthy of the reward of being raised to the celestial world of spheres4 ,but this requires longing for what is above2 and therefore the highest virtue is ,love1 which strives after union with ,god1 the first loved one1 and which is evinced even in this life in the form of religious patience and forbearance with all created beings4 ,such love gains in this life serenity of soul1 freedom of heart and peace with the whole world1 and in the life to come ascension to ,eternal ,light4' ,after all this we need not wonder that the body was depreciated a good deal4 #8,our true essence is the soul1 and the highest aim of our existence should be to live1 with ,socrates1 devoted to the ,intellect1 and with ,christ1 to the ,law of ,love4 ,nevertheless the body must be properly treated and looked after in order that the soul may have time to attain its full development4' ,in this view the ,brethren set up an ideal type of human culture1 whereof the features were borrowed from the characteristics of various nations4 #8,the ideal1 and morally perfect man1 should be of ,east-,persian derivation1 ,arabic in faith1 of ,irak1 i4e4 ,babylonian1 education1 a ,hebrew in astuteness1 a disciple of ,christ in conduct1 as pious as a ,syrian ,monk1 a ,greek in the individual sciences1 an ,indian in the interpretation of all mysteries1 but lastly and especially1 a ,sufi in his whole spiritual life4' #aa4 ,the attempt to establish in this way a reconciliation between knowledge and faith satisfied neither side4 ,theological dialecticians looked down upon the interpretation of the ,koran given by the ,brethren1 just as the divines of our day look down upon the ,n4 ,t4 exegesis of ,count ,tolstoi4 ,and the more rigid ,aristotelians regarded the ,pythagorean-,platonic tendency of the ,encyclopaedia much as a modern professor of philosophy is wont to look upon ,spiritism1 ,occultism1 and phenomena of that nature4 ,but the writings1 or at any rate the opinions1 of the ,faithful ,brethren of ,basra have exercised an important influence on the great body of the educated or half-educated world1--an influence to which eloquent attestation is borne by the very fact that so many manuscripts1 mostly of recent date1 are to be met with1 of this extensive ,encyclopaedia4 ,among many sects within the world of ,islam1 such as the ,batinites1 the ,ismaelites1 the ,assassins1 the ,druses1 or whatever may be their names1 we find again the same doctrines in the main4 ,in this form ,greek wisdom has best succeeded in making itself at home in the ,east1 while the ,aristotelian ,school-,philosophy would only thrive1 with few exceptions1 in the hothouse-cultivation bestowed upon it at the courts of princely patrons4 ,the great religious father1 ,gazali1 is ready enough to toss aside the wisdom of the ,brethren as mere popular philosophy1 but he does not hesitate to take over what was good in them4 ,he owes more to their body of ideas than he would perhaps have cared to avow4 ,and their treatises have been turned to profit by others besides1 particularly in ,encyclopaediac works4 ,the influence of the ,encyclopaedia continues even yet in the ,muslim ,east4 ,in vain was it burned in ,bagdad in the year #aaej1 along with the writings of ,ibn ,sina4 ,,iv4 ,,the ,,neo-,,platonic ,,aristotelians ,,of ,,the ,,east4 #a4 ,kindi4 #ae #a4 ,kindi is related in various ways to the ,mutazilite ,dialecticians and the ,neo-,pythagorean ,natural-,philosophers of his time1 and we might therefore have dealt with him among the latter1 even before ,razi 7v4 ,,iii1 #a1 #e74 ,but yet tradition with one accord represents him as the first ,peripatetic in ,islam4 ,what justification exists for this traditionary view will be seen in what follows1 so far as an inference can be drawn from the few and imperfectly-preserved writings of this philosopher which have come down to us4 ,abu ,yaqub ibn ,ishaq al-,kindi 7i4e4 of the tribe of ,kinda7 was of ,arabian origin1 and therefore was called the 8,arabian0 philosopher1 to distinguish him from the numerous non-,arab associates of his1 who had taken to the study of secular wisdom4 ,he traced his genealogy to the old ,kinda princes1 although whether he was entitled to do so we need not seek to decide4 ,the ,south-,arabian tribe of ,kinda was in any case farther advanced in outward civilization than other tribes4 ,many ,kindite families too had for long been settlers in ,iraq 7,babylonia72 and there1 in the town of ,kufa1 of which his father was governor1 our philosopher was born1 probably in the beginning of the ninth century4 ,he received his education1 it would appear1 partly in ,basra1 and thereafter in ,bagdad1 and therefore in the headquarters of the culture of his time4 ,here he came to put a higher value upon ,persian civilization and ,greek wisdom than upon old ,arab virtue and the ,muslim faith4 ,he maintained even1--no doubt1 following others--1 that ,kakhtan1 the ancestor of the ,south-,arabians was a brother of ,yaunan's1 from whom the ,greeks were descended4 ,it was possible to make an observation of that kind in ,bagdad at the ,abbasid court1 for there they knew of no nationality1 and regarded the ancient ,greeks with admiration4 ,it is not known how long ,kindi remained at court1 or what position he held there4 ,he is mentioned as a translator of ,greek works into ,arabic1 and is said to have revised and improved translations made by others1 for example1 in the case of the so-called 8,theology of ,aristotle04 ,numerous servants and disciples1 whose names have been handed down to us1 were probably set to this work under his supervision4 ,farther1 he may have rendered services to the court in the capacity of astrologer or physician1 and perhaps even in the administration of the revenues4 ,but in later years he was dismissed1 when he with others was made to suffer from the restoration of orthodoxy under ,mutawakkil 7#hdg-hfa72 and his library was for a long time confiscated4 ,as regards personal character1 tradition reproaches him with having been niggardly1--a stigma1 however1 which appears to have rested upon many other literary men and lovers of books4 ,the year of ,kindi's death is as little known as that of his birth4 ,he appears thus to have been out of court-favour when he died1 or at least to have been in a subordinate position4 ,it is strange that ,masudi 7v4 ,,ii1 #d #d71 who had a great regard for him1 is utterly silent on this point2 but it seems in the highest degree probable from one of his astrological treatises that he was still alive subsequent to the year #hgj4 ,the expiry of some petty astronomical cycle was imminent at that date1 and this was being utilized by the ,karmatites for the overthrow of the reigning family4 ,in this matter1 however1 ,kindi was loyal enough to make out the prolongation1 for about #dej years1 of the ,state's existence1 menaced though it was by a planetary conjunction4 ,his princely patron might well be satisfied2 and history conformed to the time predicted1 to within half-a-century4 #af #b4 ,kindi was a man of extraordinary erudition1 a ,polyhistor3 he had absorbed the whole learning and culture of his time4 ,but although he may have set down and communicated observations of his own as a geographer1 a historian of civilization and a physician1 he was in no respect a creative genius4 ,his theological views bear a ,mutazilite stamp4 ,he wrote specially on ,man's power of action1 and the time of its appearance1 i4e4 whether it was before the act or whether it was synchronous with the act4 ,the righteousness and the unity of ,god he expressly emphasized4 ,in opposition to the theory1--known at that time as ,indian or ,brahmanic1--that ,reason is the sole and sufficient source of knowledge1 he defended prophecy1 while yet he sought to bring it into harmony with reason4 ,his acquaintance with various systems of religion impelled him to compare them together1 and he found as a common element in them all the belief that the world was the work of a ,first ,cause1 ,one and ,eternal1 for whom our knowledge furnishes us with no more precise designation4 ,it is however the duty of the discerning to recognize this ,first ,cause as divine2 and ,god himself has shewn them the way thereto1 and has sent them ambassadors to bear witness for him1 who are instructed to promise everlasting bliss to the obedient1 and to threaten corresponding punishment to those who do not obey4 #c4 ,kindi's actual philosophy1 like that of his contemporaries1 consists1 first and especially1 of ,mathematics and ,natural ,philosophy1 in which ,neo-,platonism and ,neo-,pythagoreanism merge into one another4 ,according to him no one can be a philosopher without studying ,mathematics4 ,fanciful play upon letters and numbers is frequently met with in his writings4 ,mathematics he also applied to ,medicine in his theory of the compound remedies4 ,in fact he based the efficacy of these remedies1 like the effect of music1 upon geometrical proportion4 ,it is here a matter of the proportionality of the sensible qualities1 warm1 cold1 dry and moist4 ,if a remedy has to be warm in the first degree1 it must possess double the warmth of the equable mixture1--in the second degree1 four times as much1 and so on4 ,kindi seems to have entrusted the decision of this point to ,sense1 particularly to the sense of ,taste1 so that in him we might have a hint of the proportional relation existing between stimulus and sensation4 ,yet that view1 though quite original1 was with him a mere piece of mathematical play4 ,however1 ,cardan1 a philosopher of the ,renaissance1 on the ground of this doctrine1 reckoned him among the twelve most subtle-minded thinkers4 #d4 ,in ,kindi's opinion1 as has already been said1 the world is a work of ,god1 but ,his influence in its descent is transmitted through many intermediate agencies4 ,all higher existence affects the lower1 but that which is caused has no influence upon its cause1 standing as this does above it in the scale of ,being4 ,in all the events of the world there is a pervading causality1 which makes it possible for us1 from our knowledge of the cause1 to foretell the future1--for example1 of the positions of the heavenly bodies4 ,farther1 in any single existing thing1 if it is thoroughly known1 we possess a mirror1 in which we may behold the entire scheme of things4 ,it is to the ,spirit or ,mind that the higher reality and all activity belong1 and matter has to dispose itself in conformity with the desire of the ,spirit4 ,midway between the ,spirit of ,god and the material and bodily world stands the ,soul1 and it is the ,soul which first called into being the world of the ,spheres4 ,from this ,soul of the world the ,human ,soul is an emanation4 ,in its nature1 that is1 in its operations1 it is bound to the body with which it is united1 but in its spiritual essence it is independent of the body2 and thus the influences of the stars1 which are limited to physical occurrences1 do not affect it4 ,kindi goes on to say that our ,soul is an uncompounded1 imperishable substance1 descended from the world of reason into that of the senses1 but endowed with a recollection of its earlier condition4 ,it does not feel at home here1 for it has many needs1 the satisfaction of which is denied to it1 and which consequently are attended with painful emotions4 ,verily there is nothing constant in this world of coming and going1 in which we may be deprived at any moment of what we love4 ,only in the world of reason is stability to be found4 ,if then we desire to see our wishes fulfilled1 and would not be deprived of what is dear to us1 we must turn to the eternal blessings of reason1 to the fear of ,god1 to science1 and to good works4 ,but if we follow merely after material possessions in the belief that we can retain them1 we are pursuing an object which does not really exist4 #e4 ,kindi's theory of knowing corresponds to the ethical and metaphysical duality of the sensible and the spiritual4 ,according to it our knowledge is either knowledge conveyed by the senses1 or knowledge acquired by the reason3 that which lies between1--the ,fancy or ,imagination1--is called a mediating faculty4 ,the senses1 then1 apprehend the ,particular1 or the material ,form1 but the reason conceives the ,universal1--species and genera1 or the spiritual ,form4 ,and just as that which is perceived is one with ,sense-,perception1 so too that which is conceived by the reason is one with ,reason itself4 ,here then emerges for the first time the doctrine of the ,reason or of the ,spirit or ,mind1 71 aql7 in a form in which1 merely modified somewhat1 it occupies a large space with the later ,muslim philosophers4 ,it continued to be a characteristic feature of philosophy in ,islam throughout its whole course4 ,and just as in the controversy regarding ,universals in the ,christian ,middle ,ages an objective and scientific interest is made evident also1 so in the philosophical discussions of the ,muslims concerning the thinking ,spirit1 the subjective requirement of intellectual culture is brought conspicuously to the front4 ,kindi has a fourfold division of the ,spirit #ag3 first the ,spirit which is ever real1--the ,cause and the ,essence of all that is spiritual in the world1--thus without doubt ,god or the ,first ,spirit produced2 second1 ,spirit as the ,reasoning capacity or ,potentiality of the human soul2 third1 as the ,habit or actual possession of the soul1 which it can make use of at any moment1 just as1 for example1 the writer can make use of his art2 fourth and last1 as ,activity1 by which a reality within the soul may be carried over to the reality that is without4 ,the ,activity last named appears1 according to ,kindi1 to be the act of man himself1 while to the ,first ,cause1--to the ever-existing ,spirit1--he ascribes the carrying of ,potentiality into ,habit1 or the realisation of the ,possible4 ,the real ,spirit or ,mind we have thus received from above1 and the third aql is therefore called aql mustafad1 7,lat4 intellectus adeptus sive adquisitus74 ,the fundamental view of antiquity--that all our knowledge about things must come from a source outside of us--1 runs1 in the form of this doctrine of the aql mustafad or ,spirit which we receive from above1 through the whole of ,arabian ,philosophy1 and thence passes into ,christian ,philosophy4 ,unfortunately the theory is nearly correct1 as far as this philosophy is itself concerned1 for the #8,active ,spirit'1 which has created it1 is in reality the ,neo-,platonic ,aristotle4 ,man has always attributed to his ,god or ,gods the highest of his own possessions4 ,muslim theologians directly attribute to the divine agency the moral actions of men4 ,but in the opinion of the philosophers1 ,knowing is of more importance than ,doing4 ,the latter1 having more to do with the lower world of the senses1 may possibly be ,man's own2 but his highest knowledge1 the pure ,reason1 comes from above1--from the ,divine ,essence4 ,it is clear that the doctrine of the ,spirit1 as it stands in ,kindi1 goes back to the #8,nous'-doctrine of ,alexander of ,aphrodisias in his second book 8,on the ,soul04 ,but ,alexander expressly maintained that according to ,aristotle there is a threefold #8,nous'4 ,kindi says on the contrary that he is representing the opinion of ,plato and ,aristotle4 ,in this the ,neo-,pythagorean and the ,neo-,platonic views unite3 for in everything the number #8,four' must be pointed out1 and ,plato and ,aristotle brought into agreement4 #f4 ,let us now sum up3 ,kindi is a ,mutazilite theologian and ,neo-,platonic philosopher with ,neo-,pythagorean additions4 ,socrates1 the martyr of ,athenian heathenism1 is his ideal3 on him1 his fate and his teaching he has composed several works2 and he seeks to combine ,plato and ,aristotle in ,neo-,platonic fashion4 ,tradition nevertheless calls him the first who followed ,aristotle in his writings2 and assuredly this representation is not altogether unfounded4 ,in the long list of his works ,aristotle takes a prominent place4 ,he was not satisfied with merely translating him1 but he studied his translated works and endeavoured to improve and explain them4 ,at all events the ,aristotelian ,physics1 with the commentary of ,alexander of ,aphrodisias1 had an important influence upon him4 ,such assertions as that the world is only potentially unending and not actually so1 and that motion is continuous1 and the like1 point rather in that direction4 ,the ,natural-,philosophers of that day1 as well as the ,faithful ,brethren1 said for instance1 that motion had as little continuity as number4 ,but farther1 ,kindi resolutely turned away from the marvel-mongering philosophy of the time1 by declaring ,alchemy an imposture4 ,that which nature alone could produce1 he held to be beyond the power of man4 ,whoever then gives himself up to alchemistic experiments1 is in his opinion deceiving either himself or others4 ,the famous physician1 ,razi1 attempted to controvert this view of ,kindi's4 #g4 ,the influence of ,kindi as a teacher and an author has operated mainly through his ,mathematics1 ,astrology1 ,geography and ,medicine4 ,his most faithful and certainly his most notable disciple was ,akhmed ibn ,mohammed al-,tayyib al-,sarakhsi 7 #hii71 a government-official and friend of the ,caliph ,mutadid1 to whose negligence or caprice he fell a victim4 ,he worked at ,alchemy and ,astrology1 strove to gain a knowledge of the wisdom and might of the ,creator from the wonders of creation1 and prosecuted the study of ,geography and ,history4 ,another disciple of ,kindi's has become better known1--,abu ,mashar 7 #hhe71 who1 however1 owes all his reputation to ,astrology4 ,he is said to have become1 when #dg years of age1 an admirer of ,kindi's1--though up till then he had been a fanatical opponent of philosophy1--having been attracted to the pursuit of ,astrology1 by a superficial study of ,mathematics4 ,whether this be truth or fiction1 such a course of education is at all events characteristic of that inquisitive grasping at half-understood knowledge1 which peculiarly belongs to the first centuries of ,arab ,science4 ,the school of ,kindi went in no way beyond the master4 ,of its literary activity hardly any sample has been preserved to us beyond a stray quotation or two4 ,it is of course possible that in the treatises of the ,faithful ,brethren1 something of it may have been saved1 but this cannot be determined1 in the present state of our knowledge4 #b4 ,farabi4 #a4 ,in the tenth century the ,logicians or ,metaphysicians are distinguished from the ,natural-,philosophers4 ,the former follow a more rigorous method than the ,dialecticians1 and treat of other subjects than those which are dealt with by the ,physical school4 ,they have repudiated ,pythagoras1 to entrust themselves to the guidance of ,aristotle1 of course in ,neo-,platonic guise4 ,we have here to do with two directions of scientific interest4 ,the ,natural-,philosophers are more or less concerned with the plenitude of the concrete phenomena of ,nature1 as in ,geography and ,ethnology4 ,they investigate in all directions the effects of things1 and think the essential nature of these is only to be discerned in such effect or working4 ,when they do ascend beyond ,nature1 ,soul and ,spirit1 to the ,divine ,essence1 then the definition of it to which they confine themselves1 or which they adopt by preference1 is--#8the ,first ,cause'1 or1--#8the wise ,creator'1 whose goodness and wisdom appear from his works4 ,the ,logicians proceed in a very different way4 ,the occurrence of the ,particular has only a subordinate value in their eyes1--the value1 merely1 of an illustration of its deducibility from the ,universal4 ,while the ,physicists start from effects or operations1 the ,logicians seek to comprehend things from principles4 ,everywhere they enquire after the ,idea or ,essence of things1 up to the highest4 ,for them1--to make the contrast more intelligible by an example--1 ,god is not1 first of all1 #8the wise ,creator'1 but first of all #8the necessarily existing ,being'4 ,in the order of time the ,logicians come after the ,physical school1 just as the ,mutazilite ,dialectic on its part 7v4 ,,ii1 #c #d and #e7 brought within the scope of its consideration first ,god's ,working1 and then his ,being4 ,we have already come to recognize ,razi as the most important representative of the philosophical direction taken by the ,physicists2 and as for the ,logical and ,metaphysical efforts1--for which ,kindi and others had prepared the way1--they culminate with ,razi's younger contemporary ,abu ,nasr ibn ,mohammed ibn ,tarkhan ibn ,uzlag al-,farabi4 #b4 ,we cannot say much with certainty about the course of ,farabi's outward life and training4 ,he was a quiet man1 devoted to a life of philosophy and contemplation1 sheltered by the powerful1 and assuming at last the dress of a ,sufi4 ,his father is said to have been a ,persian general1 and he himself was born at ,wasidj1 a small fortified place in the district of ,farab in ,turkish ,transoxiana4 ,it was in ,bagdad1 and partly at the hands of a ,christian preceptor ,yohanna ibn ,hailan1 that he received his education4 ,this embraced both literary and mathematical subjects1 forming the equivalent of the #8,trivium' and #8,quadrivium' of medival ,christendom4 ,one or two of his writings1 particularly on ,music1 give evidence still of his mathematical training4 ,legend credits him with ability to speak in all the languages of the world1 seventy in number4 ,that he understood ,turkish and ,persian1--an a priori probability1--is manifest from his works4 ,arabic he writes clearly1 and with a certain grace1 although now and then his fondness for synonyms and parallel clauses interferes with the precision of philosophical expression4 ,the philosophy in which ,farabi was initiated sprung from the school of ,merv2 and perhaps its members had given greater attention to metaphysical questions than the men of ,harran and ,basra with their marked leaning to ,natural ,philosophy4 ,from ,bagdad1 where he had long lived and worked1 he went to ,haleb 7,aleppo71 in consequence doubtless of political disturbances1 and there he settled at the brilliant court of ,saif-addaula2 but he must have spent his closing years not at court but in retirement4 ,he died at ,damascus1 while on a journey1 in ,december1 #iej2 and it is reported that his prince1 attired as a ,sufi1 pronounced over him his funeral oration4 ,we are told that he was eighty years of age1 and it is otherwise probable that he was a very old man4 ,his contemporary1 and partner in study1 ,abu ,bishr ,matta died ten years before him1 and his pupil ,abu ,zakariya ,yakhya ibn ,adi in the year #iga1 at the age of eighty-one4 #c4 ,the chronological order of the works of ,farabi has not been determined4 ,shorter treatises in which he comes into touch with the ,dialecticians and ,natural-,philosophers1 if these are at all genuine in the form handed down to us1 may have been popular or juvenile productions of his2 but his mature powers were applied to the study of ,aristotle's writings1 for which reason the name given him by the ,east was #8the ,second ,teacher'1 that is1 #8the ,second ,aristotle'4 ,since his day the number and order of the works composed by ,aristotle or at least attributed to him1 which have been paraphrased and commented on after ,farabi's example1 remain upon the whole fixed4 ,first come the eight ,logical treatises1 viz41 the ,categories2 the ,hermeneutics2 the ,first ,analytics2 the ,second ,analytics2 the ,topics2 the ,sophistics2 ,rhetoric2 and the ,poetics3 ,it is to these that the ,isagoge of ,porphyry is the introduction4 ,then follow the eight treatises which deal with ,physical subjects1 viz41 ,auscultatio ,physica2 ,de ,coelo et ,mundo2 ,de ,generatione et ,corruptione2 the ,meteorology2 the ,psychology2 ,de ,sensu et ,sensato2 the ,book of ,plants2 and the ,book of ,animals4 ,lastly come the ,metaphysics1 the ,ethics1 the ,politics and so on4 ,the so-called 8,theology of ,aristotle0 was still considered by ,farabi to be a genuine work4 ,in ,neo-,platonic fashion1 and with some attempt at adaptation to the ,muslim faith1 he seeks to demonstrate that ,plato and ,aristotle harmonize with one another4 ,the need which he experiences is not for a discriminating criticism1 but for a conclusive and comprehensive view of the world2 and the satisfaction of this need1--which is rather a religious than a scientific one1--induces him to overlook philosophic differences4 ,plato and ,aristotle must differ from each other only in method1 in phraseology1 and in relation to practical life3 their doctrine of wisdom is the same4 ,they are the #8,imms' or #8highest authorities' in philosophy2 and seeing that they were two1 independent1 original minds1 the authority which is constituted by their agreement has more validity in the eyes of ,farabi than the faith of the whole ,muslim community1 who with blind confidence follow the guidance of one4 #d4 ,farabi is counted among the physicians1 but he seems not to have been in actual practice4 ,he was entirely devoted to the spiritual healing art4 ,purity of ,soul he denominated the condition and fruit of all philosophizing1 and he demanded love of truth even though it should oppose ,aristotle4 ,then the judgment has to be trained by means of ,geometry and ,logic for the study of physical and mental science4 ,farabi1 however1 pays but little heed to the separate branches of study3 his powers are concentrated on ,logic1 ,metaphysics1 and the principles of ,physics4 ,philosophy for him is the science of all ,being as such1 in the acquisition of which science we come to resemble the ,godhead4 ,it is the one1 all-embracing science1 which pictures the world to us as a ,universe4 ,farabi's charge against the ,dialecticians is1 that they employ as a basis for their demonstrations the deliverances of ordinary consciousness without testing them2 and the ,natural-,philosophers he blames for continually occupying themselves merely with the effect of things1 and thus never getting beyond the contrasts of worldly phenomena by attaining to a unified conception of the ,all4 ,he would confront the former by setting ,thought on a proper foundation2 and in opposition to the latter he would thoroughly investigate the subject of the ,one ,first ,cause of all that exists4 ,consequently we shall be taking the best way to do justice to his historical and dogmatic position1 if we endeavour to give some account1 first of his ,logic1 next of his ,metaphysics1 and finally of his ,physics and ,practical ,philosophy4 #e4 ,the ,logic of ,farabi is not a mere analysis of scientific thinking3 it contains in addition many remarks on grammar1 and discussions on the theory of knowledge4 ,while grammar is limited to the language of one people1 ,logic1 on the other hand1 has to regulate the expression in language of the aggregate intelligence of mankind4 ,from the simplest elements of speech it must advance to the most complex forms1--from the word to the sentence1 and on to discourse4 ,logic falls into two divisions1 according as its subjects stand related to actuality2 the first of these comprising the doctrine of ,ideas and ,definitions 7tasawwur71 and the second1 the doctrine of ,judgments1 ,inferences1 and ,proofs 7tasdiq74 ,ideas1--with which are classed ,definitions1 though in a mere loose1 outward juxtaposition1--have in themselves no relation to actuality1 that is to say1 they are neither true nor false4 ,among #8,ideas' ,farabi recognizes here the simplest psychological forms1 that is1 both the representations of individual objects arising from ,sense-,perception1 and those ideas which have been stamped upon the mind from the first1 such as the ,necessary1 the ,actual1 the ,possible4 ,such representations and ideas are immediately certain4 ,a man's mind may be directed to these1 and his soul made observant of them1 but they cannot be demonstrated to him1 nor can they be explained by deriving them from what is known1 seeing that they are already clear in themselves1 and that too with the highest degree of certitude4 ,by combining representations or ideas1 judgments result1 and these may be either true or false4 ,to obtain a foundation for these judgments we have to go back through the processes of ,inference and of ,proof to certain propositions originally conveyed to the understanding1 immediately obvious1 and admitting of no farther confirmation4 ,such propositions1--the fundamental propositions or ,axioms of all ,science1--there must be for ,mathematics1 ,metaphysics1 and ,ethics4 ,the doctrine of ,proof1 by which1 starting from what is known and well-established1 we arrive at a knowledge of something formerly unknown1 is1 according to ,farabi1 ,logic properly so called4 ,acquaintance with the leading ,concepts 7the ,categories71 and with their synthesis in ,judgment 7,hermeneutics7 and in ,inference 7,first ,analytics7 furnishes only the introduction thereto4 ,and in the ,proof-doctrine the chief point is to ascertain the ,norms or principles of a universally valid and necessary ,science1 which ,philosophy has to be4 ,here the ,law of ,contradiction is looked upon as the highest of these principles1 by which law the truth or necessity of a proposition1 and at the same time the untruth or impossibility of the contrary1 become known in one single cognitive act4 ,from this point of view the ,platonic ,dichotomy is to be preferred1 as a scientific method1 to the ,aristotelian ,polytomy4 ,and ,farabi is not content with the formal side of the doctrine of proof4 ,that doctrine has to be more than a methodology which points out the right way to the truth3 it must itself point out the truth2 it must generate science4 ,it not only deals with judgments as material for the syllogism1 but it enquires also into the truth which they contain1 with reference to the particular sciences concerned4 ,it is not a mere implement2 it is rather a constituent part of philosophy4 ,as we have seen1 the theory of proof terminates in necessary knowledge1 corresponding to necessary existence4 ,but besides this there is the great province of the ,possible1 from which we can gain only a probable knowledge4 ,the different degrees then of probability1 or the modes in which we attain to a knowledge of the ,possible1 are discussed in the ,topics1 and with them are associated ,sophistic1 ,rhetoric and ,poetics4 ,in other connections these last three subjects are mainly concerned with practical aims1 but in ,farabi's hands they are combined with the ,topics into a ,dialectic of the ,seeming4 ,he proceeds to say that true science can be built up only on the necessary propositions of the ,second ,analytics1 but that ,probability shades off into the mere phantom of truth1 from the topical or dialectic judgments down to the poetical4 ,thus ,poetry stands at the very bottom of the scale1 being in ,farabi's opinion a lying and immoral absurdity4 ,in the addendum to the ,isagoge of ,porphyry1 our philosopher has also given expression to his views on the question of #8,universals'4 ,he finds the ,particular not only in things and in sense-perception but also in thought4 ,in like manner the ,universal exists not merely as an #8accident' in individual things1 but also as a #8substance' in mind4 ,the mind of man abstracts the ,universal from things1 but it had an existence of its own before these4 ,virtually therefore the triple distinction of the #8ante rem'1 #8in re' and #8post rem' already occurs in ,farabi4 ,does mere #8being' also belong to the ,universals8 ,is existence1 in effect1 a predicate8 ,this question which caused so much mischief in philosophy was fully and correctly answered by ,farabi4 ,according to him1 existence is a grammatical or logical relation1 but not a category of actuality which makes any assertion about things4 ,the existence of a thing is nothing but the thing itself4 #f4 ,the trend of thought found in the ,logic asserts itself also in the ,metaphysics4 ,instead of the ,changeable and the ,everlasting1 there emerge the ideas of the ,possible and the ,necessary4 ,everything in fact that exists1 is1 in ,farabi's view1 either a necessary or a possible thing2 there is no third kind of ,being4 ,now since all which is possible presupposes for its realisation a ,cause1 while yet the chain of causes cannot be traced back without end1 we see ourselves compelled to assume that there is a ,being1 existing of necessity1 uncaused1 possessing the highest degree of perfection and an eternal plenitude of reality1 self-sufficing1 without any change1 who as absolute ,mind and pure goodness and thinking1--being the thinking and the thought in one nature1--loves the all-transcending goodness and beauty of that nature1 which is his own4 ,this ,being cannot be proved to exist1 because he himself is the proof and first cause of all things1 in whom truth and reality coincide4 ,and it is involved in the very idea of such a ,being1 that he should be one1 and one only1 for if there were two first and absolute ,beings1 they would have to be partly alike and partly different1--in which case1 however1 the simplicity of each would be destroyed4 ,a ,being who is the most perfect of all1 must be one alone4 ,this first ,existence1 one alone1 and of a verity real1 we call ,god2 and since in him all things are one1 without even difference in kind1 no definition of his ,being can be supplied4 ,yet man bestows upon him the noblest names1 expressive of all that is most honoured and esteemed in life1 because in the mystic impulse thereto1 words lose their usual significance1 transcending all discrepancy4 ,some names refer to his essential nature1 others to his relation to the world1 without prejudicing1 however1 the unity of his essence2 but they are all to be understood metaphorically1 and we can interpret them only according to feeble analogy4 ,of ,god1 as the most perfect ,being1 we ought properly to have also the most complete idea4 ,at least our mathematical notions are more perfect than our notions of physics1 because the former refer to the more perfect objects4 ,but with the most perfect object of all we fare as with the most brilliant light3 by reason of the weakness of our eyes we cannot bear it4 ,thus the imperfections inherent in ,matter cling to our understanding4 #g4 ,we are able to see ,god better in the regular gradation of ,beings which proceed from him than in himself4 ,from him1 the ,one alone1 comes the ,all1 for his knowledge is the highest power3 ,in his cognizance of himself the world comes into being3 ,the cause of all things is not the will of an almighty ,creator1 but the knowledge of the ,necessary4 ,from eternity the ,forms or ,types of things are in ,god1 and from him eternally proceeds also his own image1 termed #8the ,second ,all' or #8the first created ,spirit'1 which moves the outermost celestial ,sphere4 ,in succession to this ,spirit1 come1 one out of the other1 the eight ,spirits of the ,spheres1 all of which are unique in their several kinds and perfect1 and these are the creators of the celestial bodies4 ,these nine ,spirits1 called #8,celestial ,angels'1 together form the second grade of ,being4 ,in the third grade stands the ,reason1 active in ,humanity1 which is also termed the ,holy ,spirit and which unites heaven and earth4 ,the ,soul is in the fourth grade4 ,these two1 the ,reason and the ,soul1 do not remain by themselves in their strict original ,one-ness1 but multiply in accordance with the great number of human beings4 ,lastly appear ,form and ,matter1 as ,beings of the fifth and sixth orders2 and with them the series of ,spiritual existences is closed4 ,the first three grades1 ,god1 the ,spirits of the ,spheres1 and the ,active ,reason1 remain ,spirit per se2 but the three which follow1--,soul1 ,form and ,matter1 although incorporeal1 yet enter into relation with ,body4 ,the ,corporeal1 which is held to originate in the imagination of the ,spirit1 has also its six grades3 ,celestial ,bodies1 ,human ,bodies1 ,bodies of ,lower ,animals1 ,bodies of ,plants1 ,minerals1 and ,elementary ,bodies4 ,the influence of ,farabi's ,christian preceptor is probably still to be seen in these speculations1 following as they do the number ,three4 ,that number had the same significance in them that the number ,four had with the ,natural-,philosophers4 ,the terminology also bears out this idea4 ,that1 however1 is merely external3 ,it is ,neo-,platonism that contributes the contents4 ,here the ,creation1 or ,emanation of the world1 appears as an eternal1 intellectual process4 ,by the first created ,spirit thinking of its ,author1 the second ,sphere-spirit comes into being2 while1 by the same ,spirit thinking of itself and thus realizing itself1 there proceeds from it the first ,body1 or the uppermost celestial ,sphere4 ,and so the process goes on in necessary succession1 down to the lowest ,sphere1 that of the ,moon1 in entire accordance with the ,ptolemaic ,sphere-system1--as it is known to every well-educated person at least from ,dante's 8,commedia01--and in the ,neo-,platonic manner of derivation4 ,the ,spheres together form an unbroken order1 for all that exists is a ,unity4 ,the creation and preservation of the world are one and the same4 ,and not only is the unity of the ,divine ,being portrayed in the world1 but the ,divine righteousness is also expressed in the beautiful order which there prevails4 ,the logical order of the world is at the same time a moral order4 #h4 ,the sublunary world of this earth is1 of course1 wholly dependent on the world of the celestial spheres4 ,yet the influence from above bears in the first place1 as we know a priori1 upon the necessary order of the whole1 although in the second place the individual thing also is made to happen1 but only according to natural reciprocal action1 and therefore by rules which experience teaches us4 ,astrology1 which attributes everything that is contingent or extraordinary to the stars and their conjunctions1 is combated by ,farabi4 ,there is no certain knowledge of the ,contingent2 and1--as ,aristotle also has taught1--much of what happens on this earth possesses in a high degree the character of the ,contingent or the ,possible4 ,the celestial world1 on the other hand1 has another and a more perfect nature1 which operates according to necessary laws4 ,it can bestow upon this earthly world only that which is good2 and therefore it is a complete mistake to maintain that some stars bring good luck1 and others ill luck4 ,the nature of the heavens is one1 and it is uniformly good4 ,the conclusion then at which ,farabi arrives1 by these reflections is this3 ,knowledge1 capable of demonstration1 and perfectly certain1 is afforded by ,mathematical ,astronomy alone2 the physical study of the heavens yields a probable knowledge2 but the tenets and vaticinations of ,astrology merit an exceedingly hesitating belief4 ,overagainst the simplicity of the celestial world we have the sublunary kingdom of the four natures1--the kingdom of contrasts and of change4 ,even in this realm1 in the midst of its plurality1 we meet with the unity of an ascending series1 from the ,elements up to ,man4 ,farabi is unable to advance much that is original on this subject4 ,true to his logical standpoint1 he gives himself very little concern about the ,natural ,sciences1 among which1 in reliance upon the original unity of matter1 he seems without any hesitation to have counted ,alchemy4 ,we turn at once to his ,doctrine of ,man or of the ,human ,soul1 which presents a measure of interest4 #i4 ,the powers or divisions of the ,human ,soul are1 in ,farabi's opinion1 not of co-ordinate rank1 but constitute an ascending series4 ,the lower faculty is ,material for the higher2 and this again is the ,form for the first1 while the highest power of all1 viz4 ,thinking1 is non-material1 and is ,form for all the ,forms which precede4 ,the life of the ,soul is raised from things of sense to thought1 by means of the power of ,representation2 but in all the faculties there is involved ,effort or ,will4 ,every theory has its obverse side in practice2 and ,inclination and ,disinclination are inseparable from the perceptions furnished by the senses4 ,to the representations of these the soul takes up an attitude of assent or dissent1 by affirming or denying4 ,finally1 ,thought passes judgment on ,good and ,bad1 gives to the ,will its motives1 and constructs ,art and ,science4 ,all ,perception1 ,representation or ,thought is attended with a certain effort to reach the necessary consequence1 just as warmth radiates from the substance of fire4 ,the ,soul is that which gives completeness 7,entelechia7 to the existence of the body2 but that which gives completeness to the existence of the ,soul is the ,mind1 or the ,spirit 7aql74 ,the ,spirit only is the real ,man4 #aj4 ,accordingly the discussion turns mainly on the ,mind or ,spirit4 ,in the human ,spirit everything earthly is raised to a higher mode of existence1 which is lifted out of the categories of the ,corporeal4 ,now as a capability or potentiality1 ,mind or ,spirit is present in the ,soul of the ,child2 and it becomes actual ,spirit in the course of its apprehension of bodily forms in experience by means of the ,senses and the representative faculty4 ,but this transition from possibility to actuality1--the realisation thus of experience1--is not ,man's own act1 but is brought about by the ,superhuman ,spirit1 which has sprung from the last ,sphere-,spirit1 that of the ,moon4 ,in this way ,man's knowledge is represented as being a contribution from above1 and not a knowledge which has been acquired in mental struggle4 ,in the light of the ,spirit which stands above us1 our understanding descries the ,forms of the ,corporeal2 and thereby experience is amplified into rational knowledge4 ,experience1 in fact1 takes in only the ,forms which have been abstracted from the world of ,matter4 ,but there are in existence also1--before and above material things1--,forms and general entities1 in the pure ,spirits of the ,spheres4 ,man now receives information from these #8detached ,forms'3 it is only by means of their influence that his actual experience becomes explicable to him4 ,from ,god down to the ,spirit of ,mankind1 the higher ,form affects only that which immediately succeeds it4 ,every intermediate ,form stands in a relation of #8receptive' activity to what is above it1 and of #8conferring' activity to what is below it4 ,in its relation to the ,human ,spirit1 which is influenced from above 7aql mustafad71 the ,superhuman ,spirit1 produced from the last ,sphere-,spirit1 is to be called #8active' or #8creative' 7aql fal74 ,yet it is not continually active1 because its effectiveness is restrained by its material4 ,but ,god is the completely-real1 eternally-active ,spirit4 ,the ,spirit in ,man is threefold3 according as it is 7#a7 ,possible1 7#b7 ,actual1 and 7#c7 ,influenced from above4 ,now in the sense of ,farabi1 this means--that 7#a7 the spiritual potentiality in ,man is1 by means of 7#b7 realizing the knowledge which is gained by experience1 7#c7 led to the knowledge of the ,supersensible1 which precedes all experience1 and itself induces the experience4 ,the grades of ,spirit and its knowledge correspond to the grades of existence4 ,the lower strives wistfully to reach the higher1 and the higher lifts the lower up to its own level4 ,the ,spirit which stands above us1 and which has lent to all earthly things their ,forms1 seeks to bring these scattered ,forms together that they may become one in love4 ,first of all he collects them in ,man4 ,and indeed the possibility and truth of human knowledge depend on the fact that the same ,spirit who bestowed upon the ,corporeal its figure1 also gives ,idea to ,man4 ,the scattered ,forms of the earthly are found again in the ,human ,spirit1 and thereby it comes to resemble the last of the ,celestial ,spirits4 ,unity with that ,celestial ,spirit1--and in this an approach to ,god1--is the aim and the blessedness of the ,spirit of ,man4 ,now the question whether such a union is possible before ,man's death is1 in ,farabi's opinion1 either a doubtful one1 or one which should be answered in the direct negative4 ,the highest thing that can be attained in this life1 is rational knowledge4 ,but separation from the body gives to the rational soul the complete freedom which belongs to spirit4 ,but does it then continue to exist as an individual soul8 ,or is it merely a ,moment of the higher ,world-,intelligence8 ,on this point ,farabi expresses himself ambiguously1 and with a lack of consistency1 in his various writings4 ,men1--so the expression runs1--disappear in death2 one generation follows another2 and like is joined to like1 each in its own class4 ,and forasmuch as rational souls are not bound to space1 they multiply without end1 just as thought is added to thought1 and power to power4 ,every soul reflects on itself and all others that are like to it2 and the more it so reflects1 the more intense is its joy 7,cf4 infra1 #ac74 #aa4 ,we come now to ,farabi's practical philosophy4 ,in his ,ethics and ,politics we are brought into a somewhat closer relation to the life and belief of the ,muslims4 ,one or two general points of view may be brought forward4 ,just as ,logic has to give an account of the principles of knowledge1 so ,ethics have to deal with the fundamental rules of conduct1 although1 in the latter1 somewhat more value is attached to practice and experience than in the theory of knowledge4 ,in the treatment of this subject ,farabi agrees sometimes with ,plato1 and sometimes with ,aristotle2 but occasionally1 in a mystic and ascetic fashion1 he goes farther than either of them4 ,in opposition to the ,theologians1 who recognize1 no doubt1 a knowledge gained by ,reason1 but not rules of conduct taught by ,reason1 ,farabi frequently affirms with emphasis that ,reason decides whether a thing is good or evil4 ,why should not that ,reason1 which has been imparted to us from above1 decide upon conduct1 seeing that the highest virtue certainly consists in knowing8 ,in vigorously accentuated terms ,farabi declares that if one man knew everything that stands in the writings of ,aristotle1 but did not act in accordance with his knowledge1 while another man shaped his conduct in accordance with ,aristotle's teaching1 without being acquainted with it1 the preference would have to be assigned to the former4 ,knowledge takes a higher position than the moral act2 otherwise it could not decide upon the act4 ,by its very nature the ,soul desires4 ,in so far as it perceives and represents1 it has a will1 just like the lower animals4 ,but man alone possesses freedom of choice1 seeing that this rests upon rational consideration4 ,pure thought is the sphere of freedom4 ,thus it is a freedom which depends upon motives furnished by thinking1--a freedom which is at the same time necessity1 inasmuch as in the last resort it is determined by the rational nature of ,god4 ,in this sense ,farabi is a ,determinist4 ,on account of the opposition offered by matter1 the freedom of man1 as thus conceived1 can only imperfectly vindicate its lordship over the ,sensible4 ,it does not become perfect till the rational soul has been enfranchised from the bonds of matter and the wrappings of error1--in the life of the ,spirit4 ,but that is the highest blessedness which is striven after for its own sake1 and consequently it is plainly the ,good4 ,such good the ,human ,soul is seeking1 when it turns to the ,spirit above it1 just as the ,spirits of the heavens do1 when they draw near to the ,highest4 #ab4 ,even in the ,ethics little regard is had to actual moral conditions2 but in his ,politics ,farabi withdraws still farther from real life4 ,in his oriental way of looking at things1 the ideal ,republic of ,plato merges into #8the ,philosopher as ,ruler'4 ,men1 having been brought together by a natural want1 submit themselves to the will of a single person1 in whom the ,state1 be it good or bad1 is1 so to speak1 embodied4 ,a ,state therefore is bad1 if the head of it is1 as regards the principles of the ,good1 either ignorant or in error1 or quite depraved4 ,on the other hand the good or excellent ,state has only one type1 that namely in which the philosopher is ruler4 ,and ,farabi endows his #8,prince' with all the virtues of humanity and philosophy3 he is ,plato in the mantle of the ,prophet ,mohammed4 ,in the description of rulers representative of the ideal ,prince1--for there may be more than one existing together1 and ,prince and minister may divide governing-virtue and wisdom between them1--we come nearer the ,muslim political theory of that day4 ,but the expressions are wrapped in obscurity3 the lineage1 for example1 which is proper for a ,prince1 and his duty of taking the lead in the holy war1--are not clearly signified4 ,all indeed is left floating in philosophic mist4 #ac4 ,morality reaches perfection only in a ,state which at the same time forms a religious community4 ,not only does the condition of the ,state determine the temporal lot of its citizens1 but also their future destiny4 ,the souls of citizens in an 8ignorant0 ,state are devoid of reason1 and return to the elements as sensible ,forms1 in order to be united anew with other beings1--men or lower animals4 ,in ,states which are 8in error01 and in those which are 8depraved01 the leader alone is responsible1 and punishment awaits him in the world beyond2 but the souls which have been led into error share the fate of the ignorant4 ,on the other hand1 if the good and #8knowing' souls only maintain their ground1 they enter the world of pure ,spirit2 and the higher the stage of knowledge to which they have attained in this life1 the higher will their position be after death1 in the order of the ,all1 and the more intense their blessed delight4 ,in all likelihood expressions of this kind are only the outer wrapping of a mystico-philosophical belief in the absorption of the ,human ,spirit into the ,world-,spirit and finally into ,god4 ,for1--as ,farabi teaches1--although the world1 deductively considered 7i4e4 logically and metaphysically71 is something different from ,god1 yet inductively the present world is regarded by the soul as being identical with the next1 because in everything1 even in his ,unity1 ,god is himself the ,all4 #ad4 ,if we now take a general survey of ,farabi's system1 it exhibits itself as a fairly consistent ,spiritualism1--or1--to be more precise1--,intellectualism4 ,the ,corporeal1--that which appeals to the ,senses1--as it originates in the imagination of the ,spirit1 might be designated 8a confused presentation04 ,the only true existence is ,spirit1 although it assumes various degrees4 ,god alone is entirely unmixed and pure ,spirit1 while those ,spirits1 which eternally proceed from him1 already have in them the element of plurality4 ,the number of primary ,spirits has been determined by the ,ptolemaic cosmology1 and corresponds to the celestial hierarchy4 ,the farther any one of them is removed from the first1 so much the less part has it in the ,being of the pure ,spirit4 ,from the last ,world-,spirit ,man receives his essential nature1 that is--,reason4 ,there is no gap in all the system2 the ,universe is a beautiful and well-ordered whole4 ,the ,evil and the ,bad are the necessary consequence of finiteness in individual things2 but the ,good which characterizes the ,universe is set thereby in bolder relief4 ,can this fair order of the ,universe1 from all eternity emanating from ,god1 ever be destroyed1 or can it even flow back to ,god8 ,a sustained streaming-back to the ,godhead1 there doubtless is4 ,the longing of the ,soul is directed to what is above and advancing knowledge purifies it and leads it upwards4 ,but how far8 ,neither philosophers nor prophets have been able to return a clear answer to this question4 ,and the wisdom of both of these1--both philosophy and prophecy1--,farabi derives from the creative ,world-,spirit above us4 ,now and again he speaks of prophecy as if it represented the highest stage of human knowledge and action4 ,but that cannot be his real view2--at least it is not the logical consequence of his theoretical philosophy4 ,according to it everything prophetic1--in dream1 vision1 revelation and so on1--belongs to the sphere of the ,imagination or ,representation1 and thus takes an intermediate position between ,sense-,perception and pure ,rational ,knowledge4 ,although1 in his ,ethics and ,politics1 he attaches a high educational importance to religion1 it is always regarded as inferior in absolute worth to knowledge acquired through pure reason4 ,farabi lived perpetually in the world of the ,intellect4 ,a king in the mental realm1 a beggar in worldly possessions1 he felt happy with his books1 and with the birds and flowers of his garden4 ,to his people1--the ,muslim community1--he could be only very little4 ,in his political and ethical teaching there was no proper place for worldly matters or for the #8holy war'4 ,his philosophy did not satisfy any need appertaining to the senses1 while it spoke against the life of imagination belonging both to the senses and the intellect1 as that life gives special expression to itself in the creations of ,art and in religious fancies4 ,he was lost in the abstractions of pure ,spirit4 ,as a pious1 holy man1 he was an object of wonder to his contemporaries1 and by a few disciples he was honoured as the personification of wisdom2 but by the genuine scholars of ,islam he was always decried as a heretic4 ,there was1 of course1 ground enough for this3 just as ,natural ,philosophy easily led to ,naturalism and ,atheism1 the ,monotheism of the ,logicians imperceptibly conducted to ,pantheism4 #ae4 ,farabi had no great following of disciples3 ,abu ,zakariya ,yakhya ibn ,adi1 a ,jacobite ,christian1 became known as a translator of ,aristotelian works2 but a pupil of ,zakariya's came to be more spoken of1 called ,abu ,sulaiman ,mohammed ibn ,tahir ibn ,bahram al-,sidjistani1 who gathered about him in ,bagdad1 in the second half of the tenth century1 the learned men of his time4 ,the conversational discussions which they conducted1 and the philosophical instructions which were imparted by the master1 have been to some extent preserved1 and we can clearly see the outcome of the school4 ,just as ,natural ,philosophy drifted into a secret lore1 and the school of ,kindi abandoned ,philosophy for the separate branches of ,mathematical and ,physical ,science1 so the logical tendency of ,farabi passed into a philosophy of words4 ,distinctions and definitions form the subject of these conferences4 ,individual points in the history of philosophy and in the several sciences are discussed also1 without any systematic connection2 but almost never does any positive interest in these subjects appear4 ,the ,human ,soul occupies the foreground entirely1 just as in the case of the ,faithful ,brethren1 except that these last dealt rather with the marvellous operations of the ,soul1 while the ,logicians pondered over its rational essence and its elevation to the ,supra-rational4 ,the ,sidjistani ,society trifled with words and concepts1 instead of with numbers and letters after the fashion of the ,brethren2 but the end in both cases was--a mystical ,sufism4 ,it is therefore no matter of astonishment that in the learned meetings of ,abu ,sulaiman1 as reported by his pupil ,tauhidi 7 #ajji71 ,empedocles1 ,socrates1 ,plato and others are oftener mentioned than ,aristotle4 ,a very miscellaneous society came together in those meetings4 ,no question was asked as to the country from which any one came1 or the religion to which he adhered4 ,they lived in the conviction1--derived from ,plato1 that every opinion contained a measure of truth1 just as all things shared in a common existence1 and all sciences in an actual knowledge which was one and the same4 ,on that assumption alone could they have conceived that every one might start with maintaining that his own opinion was the true one1 and that the science which he cultivated was the science most to be preferred4 ,and for that very reason there is no conflict between ,religion and ,philosophy1 however vehement the assertions may be on these two sides4 ,on the contrary ,philosophy confirms the doctrines of ,religion1 just as the latter brings the results of ,philosophy to perfection4 ,if ,philosophical ,knowledge is the essence and end of the ,soul of man1 ,religious ,belief is its life1 or the way to that end2 and as ,reason is ,god's vicegerent on earth1 it is impossible for ,reason and ,revelation to contradict each other4 ,it is not worth while to accentuate particular points in these conversational discussions1 the tenor of which we have given4 ,the appearance of ,sidjistani and his circle is important in the history of culture2 but it has no significance as regards the development of ,philosophy in ,islam4 ,what was to ,farabi the very life of his ,spirit1 becomes in this ,society a subject merely of clever conversation4 #c4 ,ibn ,maskawaih4 #a4 ,we have arrived at the point of time when the tenth century is passing into the eleventh4 ,farabi's school has apparently died out2 and ,ibn ,sina1--destined to awaken into fresh life the philosophy of his predecessor1--is still a youth4 ,here however we have to make mention of a man1 more allied1 it is true1 to ,kindi than to ,farabi1 but who yet agrees with the latter in essential points1 by reason of employing the same sources with him4 ,he affords an instance also of the fact that the most sagacious minds of his time were not disposed to follow ,farabi into the region of ,logico-,metaphysical speculation4 ,this man is ,abu ,ali ibn ,maskawaih1 physician1 philologist and historian1 who was the treasurer and friend of the ,sultan ,adudaddaula1 and who died full of years in #ajcj4 ,amongst other things he has left us a philosophical system of ,ethics which up to this day is valued in the ,east4 ,it is a combination of material taken from ,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,galen and the ,muslim ,religious ,law1 although ,aristotle predominates in it4 ,it commences with a treatise on the ,essential ,nature of the ,soul4 #b4 ,the ,soul of ,man1 as ,ibn ,maskawaih explains1 is a simple1 incorporeal substance1 conscious of its own existence1 knowledge and working4 ,that it must be of a spiritual nature--follows from the very fact that it appropriates at one and the same time ,forms the most opposed to each other1 for example1 the notions of white and black1 while a body can only take up one of the two forms at a time4 ,farther1 it apprehends both the forms of the ,sensible and those of the ,spiritual in the same spiritual manner1 for ,length is not #8long' in the soul1 nor does it become #8longer' in the memory4 ,accordingly the knowledge and endeavour of the soul extend far beyond its own body3 even the entire world of sense cannot satisfy it4 ,moreover it possesses an inborn rational knowledge1 which cannot have been bestowed by the ,senses1 for it is by means of this knowledge that it determines the ,true and the ,false1 in the course of comparing and distinguishing between the objects presented to it in ,sense-,perception1--thus supervising and regulating the ,senses4 ,finally1 it is in ,self-,consciousness1 or knowing of its own knowing1 that the spiritual unity of the soul is most clearly shewn1--a unity1 in which thinking1 that which thinks1 and that which is thought--all coincide4 ,the human soul is distinguished from the souls of the lower animals particularly by rational reflection as the principle of its conduct1 directed towards the ,good4 #c4 ,that by which a ,being1 possessed of will1 attains the end or the perfection of his nature is1 in general terms1 #8good'4 ,a certain capability1 therefore1 or disposition1 directed to an end is requisite1 in order to be good4 ,but as regards their capability men differ very essentially4 ,only a few1--,maskawaih thinks1--are by nature good1 and never become bad1 since what is by nature1 does not change2 while on the other hand1 many are by nature bad1 and never become good4 ,others1 however1 who at first are neither good nor bad1 are definitely turned either in the one direction or the other1 through upbringing and social intercourse4 ,now the ,good is either a general good or a particular good4 ,there is an absolute ,good1 which is identical with the highest ,being and the highest knowledge2 and all the good together strive to attain to it4 ,but for every individual person a particular ,good presents itself subjectively under the aspect of ,happiness or ,pleasure2 and this consists in the full and active manifestation of his own essential nature1--in the complete realisation of his inmost being4 ,speaking generally1--,man is good and happy1 if he acts as ,man3 ,virtue is human excellence4 ,but since humanity is presented as occupying different levels in different individuals1 ,happiness or the ,good is not the same for all4 ,and because an individual man1 if he were left to his own resources could not realize all the good things that might otherwise be obtained1 it is necessary that many should live together4 ,as a consequence of this condition1 the first of duties1 or the foundation of all the virtues1 is a general love for humankind1 without which no society is possible4 ,it is only along with1 and among other human beings that the individual man attains perfection2--so that ,ethics must be ,social ,ethics4 ,friendship therefore is not1 as ,aristotle would have it1 an expansion of ,self-love1 but a limitation of it1 or a kind of love of one's neighbour4 ,and this1 like virtue in general1 can find a field of exercise only in society1 or in citizenship1 and not in the pious monk's renunciation of the world4 ,the hermit1 who thinks he is living temperately and righteously1 is deceived as to the character of his actions3 they may be religious1 but moral they certainly are not2 and therefore the consideration of them does not belong to ,ethics4 ,besides1 in ,ibn ,maskawaih's opinion1 the ,religious ,law when rightly apprehended1 pre-eminently accords with an ,ethics of ,benevolence4 ,religion is a moral training for the people4 ,its prescriptions1 with regard to the worship of ,god in common and the pilgrimage to ,mecca for instance1 have plainly in view the cultivation of the love of one's neighbour in the widest acceptation4 ,in certain special points ,ibn ,maskawaih has not been successful in combining harmoniously the ethical doctrines of the ,greeks1--which he incorporates in his ,scheme1--either with one another or with the ,law of ,islam4 ,that however we pass over2 and in any case we ought not only to praise in general terms his attempt to give a system of ,ethics which should be free from the casuistry of the ,moralists and the asceticism of the ,sufis1 but also to recognize in the execution of his design the good sense of a man of wide culture4 #d4 ,ibn ,sina4 #a4 ,abu ,ali al-,hosain ibn ,abdallah ibn ,sina 7,avicenna7 was born at ,efshene in the neighbourhood of ,bokhara1 in the year #ihj1 of a family connected with the public service4 ,he received his secular and religious education at home1 where ,persian and anti-,muslim traditions were still full of life and vigour4 ,then the youth1 precocious alike in body and in mind1 studied philosophy and medicine in ,bokhara4 ,he was seventeen years old when he had the good fortune to cure the prince1 ,nukh ibn ,mansur1 and to obtain the privilege of access to his library4 ,from that time forward he was his own teacher1 in scientific research and in practice1 and proved able to turn to account the life and culture of his time4 ,he kept continually venturing his fortunes in the political working of the smaller ,states3 ,probably he could never have submitted to a great prince1 any more than to a teacher in ,science4 ,he wandered on from court to court1 at one time employed in ,state-,administration1 at another as a teacher and author1 until he became vizir of ,shems ,addaula in ,hamadan4 ,after the death of this prince he was consigned to prison by his son1 for some months4 ,he then proceeded farther afield1 to the court of ,ala ,addaula in ,ispahan4 ,and at last1 having returned to ,hamadan1 which ,ala ,addaula had conquered1 he died there in #ajcg1 at the age of #eg2 and there his grave is pointed out to this day4 #b4 ,the notion that ,ibn ,sina pushed on beyond ,farabi and reached a purer ,aristotelianism1 is perhaps the greatest error which has found a footing in the history of ,muslim ,philosophy4 ,what did this our man of the world in reality care for ,aristotle8 ,it was not his concern to commit himself wholly to the spirit of any system4 ,he took what was to his liking1 wherever he found it1 but he had a preference for the shallow paraphrases of ,themistius4 ,thus he became the great philosopher of accommodation in the ,east1 and the true forerunner of compendium-writers for the whole world4 ,he knew how to group with skill his material1 collected as it was from every quarter1 and to present it in an intelligible form1 although not without sophistry4 ,every moment of his life was fully employed4 ,in the daytime he attended to ,state affairs or gave instruction to his pupils3 the evening was devoted to the social enjoyments of friendship and love2 and many a night found him engaged in composition1 pen in hand1 and goblet within reach lest he should fall asleep4 ,time and circumstances determined the direction of this activity4 ,if at the prince's court he had the requisite leisure1 and a library at hand1 he wrote his ,canon of ,medicine or the great ,encyclopaedia of ,philosophy4 ,while travelling1 he composed epitomes and smaller works4 ,in prison he wrote poems and pious meditations1 but always in a pleasing form2 in fact his smaller mystical writings have a poetic charm about them4 ,when commissioned to do so1 he put even ,science1 ,logic and ,medicine into verse1--a practice which came more and more into vogue from the tenth century onwards4 ,add to this that he wrote ,persian and ,arabic at will1 and you get the picture of a most accomplished man4 ,his life was superabundantly rich both in work and in enjoyment4 ,in geniality1 of course he was inferior to his older compatriot1 the poet ,firdausi 7#idj-ajbj71 and in scientific talent to his contemporary ,beruni 7v4 infra #i71 men still of importance in our eyes4 ,ibn ,sina1 however1 was the true expression of his time2 and upon this fact have been founded his great influence and historic position4 ,he did not1 like ,farabi1 withdraw from common life to become immersed in the commentators of ,aristotle1 but he blended in himself ,greek science and ,oriental wisdom4 ,enough commentaries1 he thought1 had already been written on the ancient authors3 it was now time for men to construct a philosophy of their own1--in other words1 to give a modern form to the ancient doctrines4 #c4 ,in ,medicine ,ibn ,sina gives diligent endeavour to produce a systematic account of that science1 but here he proves by no means an exact logician4 ,he assigns a large place1 at least theoretically1 to ,experience1 and describes in detail the conditions under which alone1 for example1 the efficacy of remedies can be ascertained4 ,but the philosophical principles which are involved in ,medicine1 must be taken over in the form of lemmas from ,philosophy itself4 ,philosophy proper is divided into ,logic1 ,physics and ,metaphysics4 ,in its entirety it embraces the science of all ,existence as such1 and of the principles of all the separate sciences1 whereby1 as far as is humanly possible1 the ,soul which is devoted to philosophy1 attains the highest perfection4 ,now ,existence is either spiritual1 when it is the subject of ,metaphysics1 or corporeal1 when it is discussed in ,physics1 or intellectual1 when it forms the theme of ,logic4 ,the subjects of ,physics can neither exist1 nor be thought of as existing1 without ,matter4 ,the ,metaphysical1 however is quite devoid of ,matter2 while the ,logical is an abstraction from the ,material4 ,the ,logical has a certain likeness to the ,mathematical1 in so far as the subjects of ,mathematics may also be abstractions from matter4 ,but yet the ,mathematical always remains capable of being represented and constructed1 while on the other hand the ,logical1 as such1 has its existence only in the intellect1 as1 for instance1 ,identity1 ,unity and ,plurality1 ,universality and ,particularity1 ,essentiality and ,contingency1 and so on4 ,consequently ,logic is the ,science of the ,determinate ,forms of ,thought4 ,in the more detailed treatment of his subject ,ibn ,sina conforms entirely to ,farabi's ,logic4 ,this agreement would perhaps be more apparent to us1 if the logical works of his predecessor were extant in a more complete form4 ,he frequently lays stress on the defectiveness of the intellectual constitution in man1 which is urgently in need of a logical rule4 ,just as the physiognomist infers from the external features the character of the nature within1 so the logician is called upon to derive from known premises that which is unknown4 ,how easy it is for the errors of appearance and desire to insinuate themselves into a process of that kind6 ,a struggle with ,sense is required in order that the life of representation may be elevated to the pure truth of the ,reason1 through which any knowledge of a necessary kind is gained4 ,the divinely-inspired man1 but he alone1 can dispense with ,logic1 precisely as the ,bedouin is independent of an ,arabic ,grammar4 ,the question of ,universals is also treated in a manner similar to that which is adopted by ,farabi4 ,prior to any plurality1 every thing has an existence in the ,mind of ,god and of the ,angels 7the ,sphere-,spirits72 then as material form it enters upon plurality1 to be raised finally in the intellect of man to the universality of the ,idea4 ,now just as ,aristotle has distinguished between ,first ,substance 7,individual7 and ,second ,substance 7cogitable as a ,universal71 so ,ibn ,sina similarly makes a distinction between ,first and ,second ,notion or ,intention 7,man1 intentio74 ,the ,first is referred to the things themselves1 the ,second to the disposition of our own thought4 #d4 ,in ,metaphysics and ,physics ,ibn ,sina is differentiated from ,farabi chiefly through the fact that1 by not deriving ,matter from ,god1 he places the ,spiritual at a higher elevation above all that is ,material1 and in consequence heightens the importance of the ,soul as an intermediary between the ,spiritual and the ,corporeal4 ,from the conception of the ,possible and the ,necessary1 the existence of a ,necessary ,being plainly follows4 ,according to ,ibn ,sina we should not seek to demonstrate the existence of a ,creator from his works1 but rather should deduce1 from the possible character of all that is1 and all that is thinkable in the world1 the existence of a ,first and ,necessary ,being1 whose essence and existence are one4 ,not only is every sublunary thing of a #8possible' nature1 but even the heavens are1 in themselves1 merely #8possible'4 ,their existence becomes #8necessary' through another existence which transcends all #8possibility' and therefore all plurality and mutability4 ,the #8absolutely ,necessary' is an unbending ,unity1 from which nothing multiplex can proceed4 ,this first ,one is the ,god of ,ibn ,sina1 of whom many attributes may of course be predicated1 such as thought c41 but only in the sense of negation or relation1 and in such a way that they do not affect the ,unity of his essence4 ,out of the first ,one accordingly1--,one only can proceed1 viz41--the first ,world-,spirit4 ,it is in this latter ,spirit that ,plurality has its origin4 ,in fact by thinking of its own ,cause1 it generates a third ,spirit1 the governor of the outermost ,sphere2 when again1 it thinks of itself1 a ,soul is produced1 by means of which the ,sphere-,spirit exercises its influence2 and1 in the third place1 inasmuch as it is in itself a #8possible' existence1 there emerges from it a ,body1 viz41 the outermost ,sphere4 ,and so the process goes on3 ,every ,spirit1 thus generated1 except of course the last of the series1 liberates from itself a trinity1--,spirit1 ,soul and ,body2 for1 since the ,spirit cannot move the ,body directly1 it needs the ,soul to bring its effectiveness into operation4 ,finally comes the ,active ,spirit 7aql fal71 closing the series1 and generating no farther pure 7separate7 ,spirit1 but producing and directing the material of what is earthly1 as well as corporeal forms and human souls4 ,the whole of this process1--which is not to be represented as occurring in time1 takes place in a substratum1--that of ,matter4 ,matter is the eternal and pure possibility of all that exists1 and at the same time the limitation of the operation of the ,spirit4 ,it is the principle of all individuality4 ,now this teaching must certainly have presented a dreadful appearance to believing ,muslims4 ,mutazilite dialecticians had doubtless asserted that ,god can do nothing evil1 and nothing irrational2 but now ,philosophy was maintaining that1 ,god instead of being able to do all that is possible is only in a position to effect that which is in its own nature possible1 and that only the first ,world-,spirit proceeds from him directly4 ,as for the rest ,ibn ,sina makes every endeavour to conform to the popular belief4 ,everything exists1 he says1 through ,god's appointment1 both the ,good and the ,evil1 but it is only the former that meets with his glad approval4 ,evil is either a non-existent thing1 or1--in so far as it proceeds from ,god1--an accidental thing4 ,suppose that ,he1 to avoid the evils which of necessity cling to the world1 had kept it from coming into being1--that would have been the greatest evil of all4 ,the world could not be better or more beautiful than it actually is4 ,the ,divine ,providence1 administered as it is by the ,souls of the ,heavens1 is found in the world's fair order4 ,god and the pure ,spirits know the ,universal only1 and therefore are unable to attend to the ,particular2 but the ,souls of the celestial ,spheres1 to whose charge falls the representation of what is individual1 and through whom ,spirit acts upon ,body1 render it possible to admit a providential care for the individual thing and the individual person1 and to account for revelation1 and so on4 ,farther1 the sudden rise and disappearance of substances 7,creation and ,annihilation71 in contrast to the constant movement1--that is1 the gradual passing of the ,possible into the ,actual1--seem to ,ibn ,sina to indicate nothing impossible4 ,in general1 there is a predominant want of clearness in his views regarding the relation of the forms of ,existence1--,spirit and ,body1 ,form and ,matter1 ,substance and ,accident4 ,a place at all events is left for ,miracle4 ,in passionate forms of excitement in the ,soul1 which often generate in ourselves great heat or cold1 we have1 according to ,ibn ,sina1 phenomena analogous to miraculous effects produced by the ,world-,soul1 although it usually follows the course of ,nature4 ,our philosopher himself1 however1 makes a very moderate use of any of these possibilities4 ,astrology and ,alchemy he combated on quite rational grounds2 and yet soon after his death astrological poems were attributed to him2 and in ,turkish ,romance-,literature he appears as a magician1 of course to represent an ancient ,mystic4 ,ibn ,sina's theory of ,physics rests entirely on the assumption that a body can cause nothing4 ,that which causes1--is in every case a ,power1 a ,form1 or a ,soul1 the ,spirit operating through such instrumentality4 ,in the realm of the ,physical there are accordingly countless ,powers1 the chief grades of which1 from the lower to the higher1 are--the ,forces of ,nature1 the ,energies of ,plants and ,animals1 ,human ,souls and ,world-,souls4 #e4 ,farabi was above all things interested in pure ,reason3 he loved ,thinking for its own sake1 ,ibn ,sina1 on the other hand1 is concerned throughout with the ,soul4 ,in his ,medicine it is man's ,body which he looks to2 and similarly1 in his ,philosophy his eyes are fixed on man's ,soul4 ,the very name of his great ,philosophical ,encyclopaedia is--#8,the ,healing' 7that is--of the ,soul74 ,his system centres in ,psychology4 ,his theory of human nature is dualistic4 ,body and ,soul have no essential connection with one another4 ,all bodies are produced1 under the influence of the stars1 from the mingling of the ,elements2 and in this way the human body also is produced1 but from a combination in which the finest proportion is observed4 ,a spontaneous generation of the body1 just like the extinction and restoration of the human race1 is therefore possible4 ,the ,soul1 however1 is not to be explained from such mixture of the ,elements4 ,it is not the inseparable ,form of the body1 but is accidental to it4 ,from the ,giver of ,forms1 that is--from the ,active ,spirit over us1 every ,body receives its own ,soul1 which is adapted to it and to it alone4 ,from its very beginning each ,soul is an individual substance1 and it developes increasing individuality throughout its life in the body4 ,it must be admitted that this does not agree with the contention that ,matter is the principle of individuality4 ,but the ,soul is the 8infant prodigy0 of our philosopher4 ,he is not a credulous man1 and he often cautions us against too ready an acceptance of mysteries in the life of the ,soul2 but still he has the art himself of relating many things about the numerous wonderful powers and possible influences of the ,soul1 as it wanders along the highly intricate pathways of life1 and crosses the abysses of ,being and ,not-,being4 ,the speculative faculties are the choicest of all the powers of the ,soul4 ,acquaintance with the world is conveyed to the rational soul by the ,external and ,internal ,senses4 ,in particular a full account is given by ,ibn ,sina of his theory of the ,internal ,senses1 or the sensuous-spiritual faculties of representation1 which have their seat in the brain4 ,medical ,philosophers commonly assumed three ,internal ,senses or stages of the representative process3 #a4 ,gathering the several sense-perceptions into one collective image in the fore part of the brain2 #b4 ,transforming or remodelling this representation of the general ,sense1 with the help of representations already existing1 thus constituting apperception proper1 in the middle region2 #c4 ,storing up the #8apperceived' representation in the ,memory1 which was held to reside in the hinder part of the brain4 ,ibn ,sina1 however1 carries the analysis somewhat farther4 ,he distinguishes in the anterior portion of the brain the ,memory of the ,sensible1--or the treasure-house of the collective images1--from the ,general or ,co-ordinating ,sense4 ,farther1 he makes out ,apperception1--the function of the middle region of the brain1--to be in part brought about unconsciously1 under the influence of the sensible and appetent life1 as is the case also with the lower animals1 and1 on the other hand1 to take place in part consciously1 with the co-operation of the ,reason4 ,in the first case the representation preserves its reference to the individual thing1--thus the sheep knows the hostility of the wolf1--but in the second case1 the representation is extended to the ,universal4 ,then1 in the hinder part of the brain1 the ,representative ,memory1 or store-house of the representations formed by combined ,sensuous ,impression and ,rational ,reflection1 follows as a fifth power4 ,in this way five ,internal ,senses #ah correspond to the five ,external ,senses1 although with quite another reference than the five ,internal ,senses of the ,faithful ,brethren4 ,the question which is raised--as to whether one should farther separate ,recollection1 as a special faculty1 from ,memory1--remains unanswered4 #f4 ,at the apex of the intellectual powers of the ,soul stands the ,reason4 ,there is indeed a ,practical ,reason also1 but in its action we have been only multiplying ourselves mediately3 ,on the other hand1 in ,self-,consciousness1 or the pure recognition of our essential nature1 the unity of our ,reason is directly exhibited4 ,but instead of keeping down the lower powers of the ,soul1 the ,reason lifts them up1 refining ,sense-,perception1 and generalizing ,presentation4 ,reason1 which at first is a mere capacity for ,thought1 becomes elaborated gradually1--in that ,material which is conveyed to it by the external and internal senses1--into a finished readiness in ,thought4 ,through exercise the capability becomes reality4 ,this comes about through the instrumentality of experience1 but under guidance and enlightenment from above1--from the #8,giver of the ,forms'1 who as ,active ,spirit imparts the ,ideas to the ,reason4 ,the ,soul of man1 however1 does not possess any memory for the pure ideas of ,reason1 for memory always presupposes a corporeal substratum4 ,as often then as the ,rational ,soul comes to know anything1 that knowledge flows to it on each occasion from above2 and thinking ,souls do not differ in the range and contents of their knowledge1 but in the readiness with which they put themselves in communication with the ,spirit over us1 in order to receive their knowledge4 ,the ,rational ,soul1 which rules over that which is under it1 and comes to know the higher by means of the enlightenment given by the ,world-,spirit1 is then the real ,man1--brought into existence1 but as unmixed essence1 as individual substance1 indestructible1 immortal4 ,on this point the clearness of ,ibn ,sina's teaching marks it off from that of ,farabi2 and1 since his time1 the assumption of the individual immortality of the human ,souls1 which have come into being1 is regarded in the ,east as ,aristotelian1 and the opposite doctrine as ,platonic4 ,thus a better understanding prevails between his philosophy and the accepted religion4 ,the human body and the whole world of sense furnish the ,soul with a school for its training4 ,but after the death of the body1 which puts an end to this body for ever1 the ,soul continues to exist in a more or less close connection with the ,world-,spirit4 ,in this union with the ,spirit over us1--which is not to be conceived as a complete unification1--the blessedness of the good1 #8knowing' souls consists4 ,the lot of the others is eternal misery2 for just as bodily defects lead to disease1 so punishment is the necessary consequence of an evil condition of ,soul4 ,in the same way too1 the rewards of ,heaven are apportioned according to the degree of soundness or rationality which the ,soul has attained in its life on earth4 ,the pure ,soul is comforted amidst the sufferings of ,time by its prospect of ,eternity4 ,the highest is of course1 reached only by a few2 for on the pinnacle of ,truth there is no room for the many2 but one presses forward after another1 to reach the source of the knowledge of ,god1 welling forth on its lonely height4 #g4 ,to express his view of the ,human ,reason1 ,ibn ,sina employs and explains poetical traditions1--a favourite proceeding in the ,persian literature4 ,first and foremost our interest is awakened by the allegorical figure of ,hai ibn ,yaqzan4 ,it represents the ascent of the ,spirit out of the ,elements1 and through the realms of ,nature1 of the ,souls1 and of the ,spirits1 up to the throne of the ,eternal ,one4 ,hai presents himself to the philosopher in the form of an old man with an air of youth about him1 and offers his services as guide4 ,the wanderer has been striving to reach a knowledge of ,earth and ,heaven1 by means of his outer and inner senses4 ,two ways open out before him1 one to the ,west1 the way of the ,material and the ,evil1 the other to the ,rising ,sun1 the way of ,spiritual and ever-pure ,forms2 and along that way ,hai now conducts him4 ,together they reach the well of ,divine wisdom1 the fountain of everlasting youth1 where beauty is the curtain of beauty1 and light the veil of light1--the ,eternal ,mystery4 ,hai ibn ,yaqzan is thus the guide of individual1 thinking ,souls3 he is the ,eternal ,spirit who is over mankind1 and operates in them4 ,a similar meaning is found by our philosopher in the frequently remodelled late-,greek legend of the brothers ,salaman and ,absal4 ,salaman is the ,world-,man1 whose wife 7i4e41 the ,world of the ,senses7 falls in love with ,absal1 and contrives by a stratagem to wile him into her arms4 ,but before the decisive moment1 a flash of lightning comes down from heaven1 and reveals to ,absal the wantonness of the action which he had nearly committed1 and raises him from the world of sensual enjoyment to that of pure spiritual contemplation4 ,in another passage the soul of the philosopher is compared to a bird1 which with great trouble escapes from the snares of the earth1 traversing space in its flight1 until the ,angel of ,death delivers it from the last of its fetters4 ,that is ,ibn ,sina's ,mysticism4 ,his soul has needs1 for which his medicine-chest provides no resource1 and which the life of a court cannot satisfy4 #h4 ,the theoretical development of ,ethics and ,politics may be left to the teachers of the #8fiqh'4 ,our philosopher feels himself on the level of a inspired person1 exalted like a ,god above all human laws4 ,religious or ,civil ,law is binding only on the ,many4 ,mohammed's object was1 to civilize the ,bedouins2 and1 in order to aid in accomplishing that object1 he preached1 among other doctrines1 that of the ,resurrection of the ,body4 ,they would never have understood the meaning of purely spiritual blessedness2 and so he had to educate them by setting before them the prospect of bodily pleasure or pain4 ,as for the ,ascetics1--notwithstanding their willingness to renounce entirely the world and the senses1--they chime in with this sensuous multitude 7whose worship of ,god consists in the observance of outward forms71 in respect that they practise their works of piety with an eye to a reward also1 even though it be a heavenly one4 ,higher than the many or the pious stand those who truly worship ,god in spiritual love1 entertaining neither hope nor fear4 ,their peculiar possession is ,freedom of the ,spirit4 ,but this secret should not be revealed to the multitude2 and the philosopher confides it only to his favourite pupils4 #i4 ,in the course of his travels ,ibn ,sina met with many of the learned men of his time2 but it would appear that these interviews did not give rise to any enduring intimacies4 ,just as he feels indebted to ,farabi alone1 of all those who preceded him1 so the only persons of his own day1 whom he sees fit to thank1 are the princes who patronized him4 ,he criticized unfavourably ,ibn ,maskawaih 7v4 ,,iv1 #c71 whom he met with still more frequently4 ,with ,beruni1 his superior in research1 he conducted a correspondence1 but it was soon broken off4 ,beruni 7#igc-ajdh7 deserves a short notice here1 to illustrate the character of the time1 although ,kindi and ,masudi have a better claim to be called his masters1 than ,farabi and the younger ,ibn ,sina4 ,he was particularly occupied in the study of ,mathematics1 ,astronomy1 ,geography and ,ethnology2 and he was a keen observer and a good critic4 ,for many a solution of his difficulties1 however1 he was indebted to ,philosophy2 and he continually bestowed attention upon it1 as one of the phenomena of civilization4 ,beruni brings into striking prominence the harmony which exists between the ,pythagorean-,platonic philosophy1 ,indian wisdom1 and many of the ,sufi views4 ,no less striking is his recognition of the superiority of ,greek ,science1 when compared with the attempts and performances of the ,arabs and the ,indians4 #8,india'1 he says1 #8not to mention ,arabia1 has produced no ,socrates3 there no logical method has expelled phantasy from science'4 ,but yet he is ready to do justice to individual ,indians1 and he quotes with approval the following1 as the teaching of the adherents of ,aryabhata3 8,it is enough for us to know that which is lighted up by the sun's rays4 ,whatever lies beyond1 though it should be of immeasurable extent1 we cannot make use of2 for what the sunbeam does not reach1 the senses do not perceive1 and what the senses do not perceive1 we cannot know04 ,from this we may gather what ,beruni's philosophy was3 ,only sense-perceptions1 knit together by a logical intelligence1 yield sure knowledge2 and for the uses of life we need a practical philosophy1 which enables us to distinguish friend from foe4 ,he doubtless did not himself imagine that he had said all that could be said on the subject4 #aj4 ,from the school of ,ibn ,sina1 we have had more names handed down1 than we have had writings preserved4 ,djuzdjani annexes to his ,autobiography an account of the life of the master4 ,and1 farther1 we have one or two short metaphysical treatises by ,abu-l-,hasan ,behmenyar ibn al-,marzuban1 which are nearly in complete agreement with the system of his teacher4 ,but ,matter appears to lose somewhat of its substantiality3 as ,possibility of ,existence it becomes a relation of thought4 ,according to ,behmenyar1 ,god is the pure1 uncaused ,unity of ,necessary ,existence1--not the living1 all-producing ,creator4 ,true enough1 ,he is the cause of the world1 but the effect is given necessarily and synchronously with the cause2 otherwise the cause would not be perfect1 being capable of change4 ,essentially1 though not in point of time1 the existence of ,god precedes that of the world4 ,three predicates thus pertain to the highest existence1 viz41 that it is 7#a7 essentially first1 7#b7 self-sufficing1 and 7#c7 necessary4 ,in other words ,god's essential nature is the ,necessity of his ,existence4 ,all that can possibly be1--owes its existence to this ,absolutely ,necessary ,being4 ,now that is quite in harmony with the doctrines of ,ibn ,sina2 and the same is the case with the disciple's scheme of the world and his doctrine of ,souls4 ,whatever has once attained to full reality1--the various ,sphere-,spirits according to their kind1 ,primeval ,matter1 and the individually different ,souls of ,men1--all lasts for ever4 ,nothing that is completely real can pass away1 inasmuch as the completely real has nothing to do with mere possibility4 ,the characteristic of all that is spiritual is its knowledge of its own essential nature4 ,will is nothing else1 in ,behmenyar's opinion1 than the knowledge of that which is the necessary outcome of that nature4 ,farther1 the life and the joy of rational souls consist in self-knowledge4 #aa4 ,ibn ,sina achieved a far-reaching influence4 ,his ,canon of ,medicine was highly esteemed even in the ,west1 from the #acth century to the #afth1 and it is still the authority for medical treatment among the ,persians of the present day4 ,on ,christian ,scholasticism his influence was important4 ,dante placed him between ,hippocrates and ,galen2 and ,scaliger maintained that he was ,galen's equal in ,medicine1 and much his superior in ,philosophy4 ,for the ,east he stood and yet stands as the ,prince of ,philosophy4 ,in that region ,neo-,platonic ,aristotelianism continues to be known under the form which was given it by ,ibn ,sina4 ,manuscripts of his works abound1--an evidence of his popularity1--while commentaries on his writings1 and epitomes of them1 are countless4 ,he was studied by physicians and statesmen1 and even by theologians3 ,it was only a few who went farther back and consulted his sources4 ,from the very first1 of course1 he had many enemies1 and they were more noisy in their demonstrations than his friends4 ,poets cursed him3 theologians either chimed in with him1 or tried to refute him4 ,and in ,bagdad in the year #aaej1 the ,caliph ,mustandjid consigned to the flames ,ibn ,sina's writings1 as part of a certain judge's philosophical library4 #e4 ,ibn al-,haitham4 #a4 ,after the days of ,ibn ,sina and his school1 little more attention was paid to the cultivation of ,speculative ,philosophy in the ,eastern regions of the ,muslim empire4 ,in these lands ,arabic was forced more and more to yield to ,persian1 both in life and in literature4 ,that the ,persian tongue is not so well adapted for abstract logical and metaphysical discussion--might be only of quite secondary importance1 in connection with this decline in speculation2 but the conditions of civilization1 and with them the subjects which interested men1 were sadly changed4 ,ethics and ,politics came more to the front1 although without assuming an actually new form4 ,but in the later ,persian literature the predominant place was unmistakeably held by ,poetry1 partly of a free-thinking tendency1 partly1 and indeed preponderatingly1 of a mystic kind1 which satisfied the need for wisdom1 experienced by people of culture4 ,from about the middle of the #ajth century1 the scientific movement which originated at ,bagdad had in part turned westward4 ,we have already found ,farabi in ,syria1 and ,masudi in ,egypt3 ,in the latter country ,cairo was becoming a second ,bagdad4 #b4 ,in ,cairo1 at the beginning of the #aath century1 we come upon one of the most considerable mathematicians and physicists in all the ,middle ,ages1 ,abu ,ali ,mohammed ibn al-,hasan ibn al-,haitham 7,alhazen74 ,he had formerly been a government-official in ,basra1 his native town4 ,confiding too much in the practical value of his mathematical knowledge1 he imagined that he could regulate the inundations of the ,nile2 but having been summoned on that account by the ,caliph al-,hakim1 he became aware1 soon after his arrival1 of the futility of his efforts4 ,thereupon he fell into disgrace as a public official1 and went into hiding till the ,caliph's death1 in #ajba4 ,from that time he devoted himself to literary and scientific work1 up to his own death1 in #ajch4 ,his chief strength is shown in mathematics and its practical application2 but he also devoted great attention to the writings of ,galen and ,aristotle1 nor did he confine that attention to the physical treatises4 ,by his own confession he had1 in a spirit of doubt about everything1 been engaged1 from his youth up1 in considering the various views and doctrines of men1 until he came to recognize in all of them more or less successful attempts to approximate to the truth4 ,moreover truth for him was only that which was presented as material for the faculties of sense-perception1 and which received its form from the understanding1 being thus the logically-elaborated perception4 ,to seek such truth was his aim in the study of philosophy4 ,in his view philosophy should be the basis of all the sciences4 ,he found it in the writings of ,aristotle1 inasmuch as that sage had best understood how to knit sense-perception into a coherent whole with rational knowledge4 ,with eagerness therefore he studied and illustrated ,aristotle's works1 for the use and profit of mankind1 as well as to exercise his own intellect and provide a treasure and consolation for his old age4 ,of these labours1 however1 nothing seems to have been preserved for us4 ,the most important of ,ibn al-,haitham's writings is the 8,optics01 which has come down to us in a ,latin translation and redaction4 ,in it he shows himself to be an acute mathematical thinker1 always taking pains with the analysis of hypotheses and of the actual examples4 ,a ,western1 belonging to the #acth century 7,vitello71 was able to give a more methodical account of the whole subject2 but yet in keenness of observation on specific points1 ,ibn al-,haitham may be reckoned his superior4 #c4 ,ibn al-,haitham's thinking is expressed in quite a mathematical style4 ,the ,substance of a body consists1 according to him1 of the sum of its essential attributes1 just as a whole is equal to the sum of its parts1 and a concept to the sum of its marks4 ,in the 8,optics0 the psychological remarks on ,seeing and on ,sense-,perception in general--are of special interest for us4 ,here he exerts himself to separate the individual ,moments of the ,perception1 and to give prominence to the condition of ,time as characterizing the whole process4 ,perception then is a compound process1 arising out of 7#a7 sensation1 7#b7 comparison of several sensations or of the present sensation with the memory-image which has been gradually formed in the soul as a result of earlier sensations1 and 7#c7 recognition1 in such fashion that we recognize the present percept as equivalent to the memory-image4 ,comparison and recognition are not activities of the ,senses1 which merely receive impressions passively1 but they devolve upon the ,understanding as the faculty of judgment4 ,ordinarily the whole process goes forward unconsciously or semi-consciously1 and it is only through reflection that it is brought within our consciousness1 and that the apparently simplex is separated into its component parts4 ,the process of ,perception is gone through very quickly4 ,the more practice a man has in this respect1 and the oftener a perception is repeated1 the more firmly is the memory-image stamped upon the soul1 and the more rapidly is recognition or perception effected4 ,the cause of this is that the new sensation is supplemented by the image which is already present in the soul4 ,one might thus be disposed to think that ,perception was an instantaneous act1 at least after long practice4 ,that1 however1 would be erroneous1 for not only is every sensation attended by a corresponding change localized in the sense-organ1 which demands a certain time1 but also1 between the stimulation of the organ and the consciousness of the perception an interval of time must elapse1 corresponding to the transmission of the stimulus for some distance along the nerves4 ,that it needs time1 for example1 to perceive a colour1 is proved by the rotating circle of colours1 which shows us merely a mixed colour1 because on account of the rapid movement we have no time to perceive the individual colours4 ,comparison and ,recognition are1 according to ,ibn al-,haitham1 the significant ,mental ,moments of ,perception4 ,on the other hand ,sensation tallies with the ,material2 and the ,sense experiencing the sensation exhibits a passive attitude4 ,properly all sensation is in itself a kind of discomfort1 which ordinarily does not make itself felt1 but which emerges into consciousness under very strong stimuli1 for example1 through too bright a light4 ,a pleasurable character accrues only to the completed perception1 that is to the recognition which lifts the material given in sensation1 up to the mental form4 ,the comparison and recognition1 which are put in operation in ,perception1 constitute an unconscious judgment and conclusion4 ,the child is already drawing a conclusion1 when of two apples he chooses the finer one4 ,as often as we comprehend a connection1 we are concluding4 ,but1 since judging and concluding are quickly settled1 men are easily misled in this matter1 and frequently they regard as an original concept that which is merely a judgment derived by a process of ratiocination4 ,in the case of everything which is announced to us as an axiom1 we should be on our guard and trace it up1 to see whether it cannot be derived from something more simple4 #d4 ,this appeal of our philosopher had little effect in the ,east4 ,it is true that in ,mathematics and ,astronomy he created somewhat of a school2 but his ,aristotelian philosophy had comparatively few admirers4 ,we know only one of his scholars who is counted among the ,philosophers1 ,abu-l-,wafa ,mubasshir ibn ,fatik al-,qaid1 an ,egyptian emir1 who in the year #ajec produced a work made up of proverbial wisdom1 anecdotes in illustration of the history of philosophy1 and so on4 ,hardly anything can be traced in it which is the result of his own thinking4 ,it should have been pleasant reading4 ,and the inhabitants of ,cairo in after times found edification1--more even than in such a work1--in the tales of the ,thousand and ,one ,nights4 ,the ,east set the stigma of heresy upon ,ibn al-,haitham and his works1 and now it has almost completely forgotten him4 ,a disciple of ,maimonides1 the ,jewish philosopher1 relates that he was in ,bagdad on business1 when the library of a certain philosopher1 7who died in #abad7 was burned there4 ,the preacher1 who conducted the execution of the sentence1 threw into the flames1 with his own hands1 an astronomical work of ,ibn al-,haitham1 after he had pointed to a delineation therein given of the sphere of the earth1 as an unhappy symbol of impious ,atheism4 ,v4 ,,the ,,outcome ,,of ,,philosophy ,,in ,,the ,,east4 #a4 ,gazali4 #a4 ,we have already seen that the theological movement in ,islam was strongly influenced by ,philosophy4 ,not only the ,mutazilite1 but also the ,antimutazilite ,dialectic drew its opinions and the arguments with which it supported its own teaching or disputed that of its opponents1 for the most part out of the writings of the philosophers4 ,out of these one took just what he was able to make use of3 the rest he left in peace1 or else he endeavoured to refute it4 ,thus numerous writings came into existence1 directed against some particular philosophical doctrine1 or some individual philosopher4 ,no attempt1 however1 had been made before the time of ,gazali1 to direct an attack from general points of view and after thorough-going study1 against the entire system of ,philosophy which had been built up in the ,east on a ,greek foundation4 ,gazali's undertaking had also a positive side4 ,along with the ,dialectic which sought to make the doctrines of the ,faith intelligible1 or even to provide them with a rational basis1 there were movements in ,islam of a mysticism which tended to a conception of dogma1 profound and full of feeling4 ,its wish was1 not to comprehend or demonstrate the contents of the ,faith1 but to learn them by experience and live in them through the ,spirit4 ,the highest certitude ought to belong to the ,faith4 ,ought it then to be in the power of any to transform it into a derived knowledge8 ,or must its tenets be principles of the ,reason1 neither capable of farther proof1 nor requiring it8 ,but the fundamental principles of the ,reason1 when once they are known1 must be universally recognized2 and universal recognition is lacking in the case of the tenets of the ,faith4 ,from what other source does unbelief arise8 ,thus the questioning proceeded2 and it seemed to many that the only way out of these doubts was to base religious doctrine upon an inner1 supra-rational illumination4 ,at first this came about unconsciously1 under a mystic impulse1 whereby the contents of moral and religious teaching were often brought into neglect4 ,gazali took part in this movement also4 ,that which had perhaps been typified by the ,salimites and ,karramites1 ,antimutazilite sects1 he set forth completely and in a dignified style2 and ever since his time ,mysticism both sustains and crowns the ,temple of ,learning in ,orthodox ,islam4 #b4 ,the story of this man's life is a remarkable one2 and1 in order to understand the effectiveness of his work1 it is absolutely essential to examine it with a measure of detail4 ,he was born at ,tos in ,khorasan in the year #ajei1 being thus a countryman of the great poet ,firdausi4 ,and just as the latter furnishes a proof of the old glory of the ,persian nation1 so ,gazali was destined to be a 8testimony and ornament0 for all future ,islam4 ,even his early education1--obtained after his father's death1 in the house of a ,sufi friend1--was rather cosmopolitan than national in its direction4 ,farther1 any limitation was displeasing to the youth's restless and fanciful spirit4 ,he did not feel at home in the hair-splitting casuistry of the teachers of ,morals with their precise formulas3 he regarded it as a worldly knowledge1 from which he turned away1 to immerse his spirit in the knowledge of ,allah4 ,then he studied theology in ,nishabur with the ,imm al-,haramain1 who died in #ajhe2 and at the same time he may himself have begun to write and to teach1 and1 perhaps even thus early1 to entertain doubts of his own science4 ,thereafter he was in attendance at the court of ,nizam al-,mulk1 the ,vizir of the ,seldjuk prince1 until in #ajia he was appointed a ,professor in ,bagdad4 ,it was during this time at all events that he busied himself most with philosophy4 ,but it was not pure love for the science1 which impelled him to that study1 but the longing of his heart to find a solution of the doubts which assailed his understanding4 ,not any explanation of the events of the world1 nor any clearing up of his own thinking1 but peace of mind and the experience of a higher reality constituted the object which he strove to reach4 ,he subjected to a thorough study the writings of the philosophers1 in particular those of ,farabi and ,ibn ,sina2 and1 following chiefly the system of the latter1 he composed a ,compendium of ,philosophy1 regarding it objectively1 but still with some appearance of sympathy with its contents4 ,he said1--at first in a kind of whisper to pacify his own mind1 but afterwards publicly in self-defence1--that he composed that work in order that he might follow up the statement of the doctrines of philosophy with the refutation of the same4 ,and that refutation did appear1 probably not long after4 ,it was the famous 8,destruction of the ,philosophers01--which was composed in all likelihood while he was still in ,bagdad1 or shortly after he had left it4 ,but by the end of four years1 viz4 in #ajie1 ,gazali had discontinued his work of teaching in ,bagdad1 attended though it had been with outward success4 ,his mind1 continually in a state of doubt1 probably found no satisfaction in dogmatic prelections4 ,he was alternately attracted and repelled by his own brilliant position1 and he came to think that he could1 and that he should1 fight against the world and its wisdom in some other way1 to more purpose4 ,ambition with him embraced far more than this world4 ,profounder still his musings became2 and during an illness of his1 the inner call presented itself to his soul4 ,he had secretly to prepare for the work1 by means of ,sufi exercises1--perhaps even to assume the character of a religious and political reformer4 ,at the very time that the ,crusaders were equipping themselves in the ,west against ,islam1 ,gazali was preparing himself to be the spiritual champion of the ,muslim faith4 ,his conversion was not of a violent character1 like that of ,st4 ,augustine1 but was rather to be compared to the experience of ,st4 ,jerome1 who was summoned in a dream from his ,ciceronian predilections to practical ,christianity4 ,for ten years ,gazali travelled here and there1 dividing his time between pious exercises and literary work4 ,in the first part of that period it may be conjectured that he wrote his principal theologico-ethical work1 8,the ,revival of ,religious ,sciences03 towards the end he endeavoured to exercise influence as a reformer4 ,his journeyings led him by way of ,damascus and ,jerusalem--before it was taken by the ,crusaders1--,alexandria1 ,mecca and ,medina1 back to his home4 ,after his return ,gazali once more engaged in teaching for a short time in ,nishabur2 and he died in ,tos1 his native town1 on the #aith of ,december1 #aaaa4 ,his closing years were chiefly devoted to pious contemplation and the study of the ,traditions1 which as a youth he could never remember4 ,a beautifully complete and rounded life1 in which the end comes back to the beginning6 #c4 ,gazali passes in review the spiritual tendencies of his time4 ,these are3 the ,dialectic of the ,theologians2 ,sufi ,mysticism2 ,pythagorean ,popular ,philosophy2 and ,neo-,platonic ,aristotelianism4 ,that which ,dialectic desires to establish is also the object of his own faith2 but its arguments appear to him rather weak1 and many of its assertions on that account open to question4 ,he feels most in sympathy with the ,sufi ,mysticism3 to it he owes his dearest possession1 viz41 the establishment of his own faith in ,personality1--so that he can postulate as an inner experience that which the ,dialecticians attempt to derive by a process of reasoning4 ,he thanks also the ,popular ,philosophy for the instruction it gives1 particularly in ,mathematics1 which he fully recognizes as a science1 together with its ,astronomical deductions4 ,he concedes the validity of its ,physics1 where that is not in conflict with the ,faith4 ,but ,aristotelianism1--as it has been taught by ,farabi and ,ibn ,sina1 with as much subservience to authority as has been exhibited by the ,theologians1--seems to him to be the enemy of ,islam2 and in the name of all the ,muslim schools and tendencies of thought together1 he feels bound to do battle with it1 as from a catholic standpoint4 ,and in truth he does this with ,aristotle's own weapons1--those of ,logic2 for the axioms of thought which ,logic lays down are1 in his eyes1 just as firmly established as the propositions of ,mathematics4 ,fully alive to this1 he starts from the ,principle of ,contradiction1 to which1 according to his contention1 ,god himself submits4 ,of the ,physico-,metaphysical doctrines of ,philosophy then1 he attacks three in particular3 #a4 ,that the world is eternal2 #b4 ,that ,god takes cognizance only of the ,universal1 and that consequently there is no special providence2 #c4 ,that the ,soul alone is immortal1 and therefore a ,resurrection of the ,body is not to be looked for4 ,in the refutation of these doctrines ,gazali is in many respects dependent on the ,christian commentator on ,aristotle1 ,johannes ,philoponus1 who also has written against the doctrine of the eternity of the world maintained by ,proclus4 #d4 7#a7 ,the world1 according to the philosophers1 is a sphere of finite extent but of infinite duration4 ,from all eternity1 it proceeds from ,god1 even as the effect is in existence at the same time with the cause4 ,gazali1 on the contrary1 is of opinion that it is not admissible to put such different constructions on the notions of ,space and ,time respectively2 and he holds that the ,divine ,causality should be defined as free ,creative ,might4 ,first then as to ,space and ,time3 we are as little able to imagine an outermost boundary of ,space as a beginning or end of ,time4 ,he who believes in an endless ,time1 must1 in consistency with that notion of his1 assume also the existence of an infinite ,space4 ,to say that ,space answers to the external sense1 and ,time on the other hand to the internal1--does not alter the case1 for we do not after all get rid of the ,sensible4 ,just as ,space bears a relation to ,body1 so does ,time to the movement of ,body4 ,both are merely relations of things1 created in and with the things of the world1 or rather relations between our conceptions1 which ,god creates in us4 ,still more important is that which ,gazali advances about ,causality4 ,the ,philosophers distinguish between an operation of ,god1 of ,spiritual ,beings endowed with will1 of the ,soul1 of ,nature1 of ,chance and the like2 but for ,gazali1 just as for the orthodox ,kalam1 there is really only one causality1 that of the #8,willing' ,being4 ,he completely puts aside the causality of ,nature1 which is reducible without remainder into a relation of ,time4 ,we see one definite phenomenon 7,cause7 regularly succeeded by another definite phenomenon 7,effect72 but how the latter results from the former is left an enigma for us4 ,of operation in the objects of ,nature we know nothing4 ,farther1 any alteration is in itself inconceivable4 ,that any one thing should become a different thing is incomprehensible to thought1 which may just as well ask about facts as about causes4 ,a thing either exists1 or it does not exist2 but not even ,divine ,omnipotence can transform one existing thing into another thing4 ,it creates or else annihilates4 ,and yet it is a fact of our consciousness that we do effect something4 ,if we #8will' anything1 and possess the power to carry it out1 we claim the result as our act4 ,action1 proceeding from a free will1 and conscious of the exertion of power1 is the only causality of which we know2 and we argue from this to the ,divine ,being4 ,but by what right8 ,the warrant for such a conclusion ,gazali thinks that he finds in his own personal experience of the image of ,god in his soul2 while on the other hand he declines to credit ,nature with the likeness to ,god which belongs to his own soul4 ,for him accordingly1 ,god1 in so far as he can be known from the world1 is the ,almighty ,being1 free in will and efficient in operation4 ,no spatial limit may be set to his causative activity1 which yet the philosophers do1 when they grant only his influence in his first created work4 ,but on the other hand ,he can limit his own work both in ,space and ,time1 so that this finite world has only a finite duration4 ,that ,god should call the world into existence out of nothing by an absolute act of creation--seems to the ,philosophers to be absurd4 ,they recognize only an exchange of ,accidents or ,forms in the one material1 a passing of the actual from possibility to possibility4 ,but does nothing new ever come then into being8 ,is not every apprehension of the senses1--asks ,gazali1--and every spiritual perception1 something entirely new1 which either exists or else does not exist1 but at whose coming into existence the contrary does not cease1 and at whose vanishing from existence1 the opposite does not make its appearance8 ,consider farther the numerous individual souls which1 according to ,ibn ,sina's system1 must be in existence3 have not these come into being1 absolutely new8 ,there is no end to the putting of questions4 ,the representative process wanders about in all directions and far2 and thought leads us on ad infinitum4 ,the chain of causation can nowhere be brought to an end1 any more than ,space or ,time4 ,in order then that there should be a definite1 final ,existence1--and in postulating this1 ,gazali is at one with the ,philosophers--1 we need an ,eternal ,will as ,first ,cause1 different from everything else4 ,we may at all events make this acknowledgement to ,gazali1 that ,ibn ,sina's fantastic doctrine of ,forms and ,souls makes no stand against his criticism4 #e4 7#b7 ,we have now come to the idea of ,god4 ,in the view of the ,philosophers1 ,god is the highest ,being1 and his essence is ,thought4 ,that which ,he knows1 comes into existence1 emanating from his abundance2 but he has not positively #8willed' it1 for all ,willing presupposes a deficiency1--a need--1 and is conditioned by some change in the ,being that wills4 ,willing is movement in the material3 completely real ,spirit wills nothing4 ,therefore ,god beholds his creation in a contemplation which is undisturbed by any wish4 ,he recognizes himself1 or even his first ,creature1 or1 according to ,ibn ,sina1 the ,universal1 the eternal ,genera and ,species of all things4 ,but according to ,gazali there must eternally belong to ,god a ,will1 as one of his eternal attributes4 ,in a conventional way he grants1 it is true1 that in metaphysical and ethical considerations knowing precedes willing1 but he is convinced that unity of ,being does not more reside in knowing than in willing4 ,not only the multiplicity of the objects of knowledge1 and their different relations to the knowing ,subject1 but even ,self-,consciousness1 or knowing about the knowing1 considered per se1 is an endless process4 ,an act of will is absolutely necessary to bring it to a conclusion4 ,in directing the attention and in self-communing an original 8,willing0 is in operation2 and thus even ,divine knowledge comes to a conclusion as a coherent unity1 in its ,personality1 by means of an original eternal ,will4 ,in place of the assertion of the ,philosophers that ,god wills the world1 because he thinks of it as the best1 ,gazali substitutes the statement3 8,god has cognizance of the world because he wills it and in his willing it04 ,must not then ,he1 who wills and creates all1 have cognizance of his work down to the smallest part of its material8 ,just as his eternal will is the cause of all individual things1 so his eternal knowledge embraces at one and the same time every particular thing1 without the unity of his nature being thereby taken away4 ,there is consequently a ,providence4 ,to the objection that ,divine ,providence makes every particular event a necessary event1 ,gazali1 like ,st4 ,augustine1 replies that this fore-knowledge is not distinguishable from knowledge in memory1--that is to say1 that ,god's knowledge is exalted above every distinction of time4 ,it may be questioned whether1 in order to save the eternal1 almighty1 creative ,will1 ,gazali has not sacrificed to that absolute might both the temporary character of the world1 which he would like to prove1 and the freedom of human action1 from which he sets out1 and which he would not altogether surrender4 ,this world of shadows and images1 as he calls it1 vanishes for the sake of ,god4 #f4 7#c7 ,the third question1 with regard to which ,gazali separates himself from the ,philosophers1 has less philosophic interest4 ,it refers to the ,resurrection of the ,body4 ,according to the ,philosophers it is only the ,soul that is immortal1 either in its individuality or as a part of the ,world-,soul3 ,the ,body on the other hand is perishable4 ,against this ,dualism1 which in theory led to an ascetic ,ethics1 but which in practice was easily converted into ,libertinism1 the religious and moral feeling of ,gazali rose in rebellion4 ,if the flesh is to have its obligations1 it must in turn be invested with its rights4 ,the possibility of the ,resurrection cannot be denied1 for the reunion of the ,soul with its 7new7 bodily frame is not more wonderful than its first union with the earthly body1 which has been assumed even by the ,philosophers4 ,surely then every soul at the resurrection-time may obtain a new body suited to it4 ,but in any case ,man's real essence is the ,soul2 and it is of little consequence what the material is1 out of which its heavenly body is formed4 #g4 ,even from these last propositions it is clear that ,gazali's theology did not remain unaffected by philosophical speculation4 ,like the ,fathers of the ,western ,church1 he had1 whether consciously or unconsciously1 appropriated a good deal from philosophy2 and for that reason his theology was long proscribed as a heretical innovation by the ,muslims of the ,west4 ,in reality his teaching regarding ,god1 the ,world1 and the human ,soul exhibits many elements which are foreign to the oldest type of ,islam1 and which may be traced back1--partly through the intervening agency of ,christian and ,jewish writers and partly through that of more recent ,muslim authors1--to heathen wisdom4 ,allah1 ,lord of the ,worlds1 ,god of ,mohammed1 is for ,gazali a living personality it is true1 but yet far less anthropomorphic than he appeared to simple ,faith or in the ,antimutazilite dogma4 ,the surest way of coming to know him must be to refuse to attribute to him any of the properties of his creatures4 ,but that does not mean that he possesses no attributes3 the very reverse is the case4 ,the plurality of his qualities does not prejudice the ,unity of his ,being4 ,analogies are presented in the bodily world3 ,a thing certainly cannot be both black and white at the same time1 but it may well be cold and also dry4 ,only1 if the qualities of men are attributed to ,god1 they must be understood in another and higher sense1 for he is pure ,spirit4 ,besides omniscience and omnipotence1 pure goodness and omnipresence belong to ,him4 ,by means of this omnipresence this world and the next are brought in a manner nearer to one another than by the usual representation4 ,the conception of ,god is thus spiritualized4 ,but resurrection and the future life are also regarded as being much more spiritual in character than the present life4 ,such a conception is facilitated by the doctrine of the ,gnostic ,philosophy1 that there are three or four worlds4 ,one above the other in regular order rise the ,earthly and ,sensible ,world of ,men1 the ,world of ,celestial ,spirits1 to which our ,soul belongs1 the ,world of ,supra-celestial ,angels1 and lastly ,god himself1 as the ,world of purest ,light and most perfect ,spirit4 ,the pious and enlightened ,soul ascends from the lower world through the heavens till it is face to face with ,god1 for it is of spiritual nature and its resurrection-body is of celestial essence4 ,in a manner corresponding to the different worlds and grades of ,souls1 men themselves differ from one another4 ,the man of sensuous nature must be content with the ,koran and ,tradition3 he should not venture beyond the letter of the ,law4 ,the study of duty is his bread of life2 philosophy would be a deadly poison to him4 ,he who cannot swim should not venture into the sea4 ,however there are always people who go into the water for the purpose of learning to swim4 ,they want to elevate their faith into knowledge1 but in the process they may easily fall into doubt and unbelief4 ,for them1 in ,gazali's opinion1 a useful remedy may be found in the study of ,doctrine and ,polemics directed against ,philosophy4 ,those1 however1 have reached the highest degree of human perfection1 who1 without any laborious cogitation1 experience in themselves by means of an inward and ,divine illumination the truth and the reality of the ,spiritual ,world4 ,such are the prophets and pious mystics1 among whom ,gazali himself may be reckoned4 ,they see ,god in everything1--,him1 and ,him alone--1 and in ,nature just as in the life of their own ,soul2 but they see ,him best in the ,soul1 for although it is not ,divine it has at least a likeness to the ,divine4 ,how altered now is every outward thing6 ,that which seems to be in existence outside of us1 becomes a condition or a property of the ,soul1 which in the consciousness of its union with ,god1 advances to the highest bliss4 ,all things then become one in ,love4 ,the true service of ,god transcends fear of punishment and hope of reward1 attaining to ,love of ,god in the ,spirit4 ,the perfect servant of ,god is raised above endurance and thanksgiving1--which constitute the obligation of the pious wanderer upon the earth1 so long as he remains imperfect--1 so that even in this world he loves and praises ,god with joy of heart4 #h4 ,from what has been said it follows that there are three stages of ,belief or ,certainty4 ,first1 the belief of the multitude1 who believe what some man worthy of belief declares to them1 for instance1 that ,so-and-so is in the house2 secondly1 the knowledge of the learned1 gained by deduction3 they have heard ,so-and-so speaking1 and conclude that he is in the house2 but thirdly we have the immediate certainty of the #8knowing' ones1 for they have entered the house and seen the person with their own eyes4 ,in contradistinction to the ,dialecticians and ,philosophers1 ,gazali everywhere lays stress upon experience4 ,the former1 with their ,universal ,ideas1 in the first place fail to do justice to the multiplicity which attaches to this world of sense4 ,the sensible qualities of things1--even the number of the stars for example1--we come to know only through experience1 and not from pure ,ideas4 ,much less1 however1 do such ,ideas exhaust the heights and depths of our inner being4 ,that which the friend of ,god knows intuitively1 remains hidden for ever from the discursive intellect of the learned4 ,a very small number attain to this height of knowledge1 where they meet with the ,apostles of ,god and ,prophets of all times4 ,it is the duty then of the ,spirits who stand at a lower level to strive to follow them4 ,but now how are we to recognize the superior ,spirit whom we need as our guide8 ,that is a question1 on which every religiously-determined system1 which cannot do without human intermediaries1 must founder1 if considered purely in the light of the understanding4 ,even ,gazali's answer is indecisive4 ,this much is certain to him1 that grounds furnished by the reason alone cannot decide this question4 ,the ,prophet and ,teacher who has been actually inspired by ,god is recognized by merging ourselves in his peculiar personality1 through the experience of an inward relationship4 ,the truth of ,prophecy is authenticated by the moral influence which it exercises upon the ,soul4 ,of the truthfulness of ,god's word in the ,koran we acquire a moral1 not a theoretical certainty4 ,the detached miracle is not capable of convincing2 but the revelation as a whole1 together with the personality of the ,prophet1 through whom the revelation has been conveyed1 produce an irresistible impression upon the kindred soul4 ,then1 wholly carried away by such impression1 the soul renounces the world1 to walk in the way of ,god4 #i4 ,gazali is without doubt the most remarkable figure in all ,islam4 ,his doctrine is the expression of his own personality4 ,he abandoned the attempt to understand this world4 ,but the religious problem he comprehended much more profoundly than did the philosophers of his time4 ,these were intellectual in their methods1 like their ,greek predecessors1 and consequently regarded the doctrines of ,religion as merely the products of the conception or fancy or even caprice of the lawgiver4 ,according to them ,religion was either blind obedience1 or a kind of knowledge which contained truth of an inferior order4 ,on the other hand ,gazali represents ,religion as the experience of his inner ,being4 ,it is for him more than ,law and more than ,doctrine3 it is the ,soul's experience4 ,it is not every one who has this experience of ,gazali's4 ,but even those who cannot follow him in his mystic flight1 when he transcends the conditions of any possible experience1 will at least be constrained to acknowledge that his aberrations in searching for the highest are not less important for the history of the ,human ,mind than the apparently surer paths taken by the philosophers of his time1 through a land which others had discovered before them4 #b4 ,the ,epitomists4 #a4 ,in a history of scholarly ,education as conducted in the ,muslim nations1 this subject would necessarily have a larger space assigned it3 but here we shall dismiss it in a few words4 ,that ,gazali has annihilated philosophy in the ,east1 for all time to come1 is an assertion frequently repeated but wholly erroneous1 and one which evidences neither historical knowledge nor understanding4 ,philosophy in the ,east has since his day numbered its teachers and students by hundreds and by thousands4 ,the teachers of the ,faith have no more discontinued their dialectical arguments in support of ,doctrine than the teachers of ,morals have abandoned their hair-splitting casuistry4 ,general culture too has adopted an element of philosophical learning4 ,but it is true that ,philosophy did not succeed in conquering for itself a commanding position1 or in retaining the consideration which it once enjoyed4 ,according to an ,arab anecdote a ,philosopher1 who had been thrown into prison1 on being asked what he was fit for1 by a man who wanted to purchase him as a slave1 is said to have replied3 8,for freedom04 ,philosophy needs freedom4 ,and where was this ,freedom to be met with in the ,east8 ,freedom from material cares1 freedom to exemplify unprejudiced thinking1 tended continually to dwindle away from regions where no enlightened despots were to be found1 able to warrant and protect it4 ,but that is just a symptom of the general decay of civilization4 ,and although travellers from the ,west in the twelfth century praised highly the culture of the ,east1 it had1 in comparison with earlier times1 at least begun to decline4 ,in no department did they pass the mark which had been reached of old3 ,minds were now too weak to accomplish such a feat4 ,literary production became stagnant1 and the only merit which belongs to the voluminous compilers of the following centuries is that of elegant selection4 ,ethical and religious doctrine had ended in ,mysticism2 and the same was the case with ,philosophy4 ,after the time of ,ibn ,sina1 the ,prince of ,philosophy1 no one felt called upon to come forward with independent views4 ,the day had come for ,abridgements1 ,commentaries1 ,glosses1 and ,glosses upon ,glosses4 ,the learned world occupied their time in school with work of that nature1 while the believing multitude placed themselves more and more under the guidance of the ,dervish orders4 #b4 ,that which general education borrowed most from philosophical ,propaedeutics was a little ,mathematics c41 naturally exceedingly elementary as a rule4 ,by sectaries and mystics a good deal was taken over from ,pythagorean-,platonic wisdom4 ,in particular these doctrines had to be drawn upon in order to support the belief in saints and miracles2 and a barren syncretistic ,theosophy was tricked out therewith4 ,the system even enrolled ,aristotle among its teachers1 of course the spurious ,aristotle1 but it turned him into a disciple of ,agathodaemon and ,hermes4 ,the more sober-minded thinkers1 on the other hand1 kept to ,aristotelianism1 so far as it agreed with their own views or with the orthodox ,faith4 ,the system of ,ibn ,sina was almost universally followed by them2 and it was only a few that went back to ,farabi1 or that endeavoured to combine the two4 ,very little notice was taken of ,physical and ,metaphysical doctrines3 ,ethics and ,politics were rather more attended to4 ,logic was the only subject universally studied2 for it could be admirably conveyed in scholastic form2 and1 as pure ,formal ,logic1 it was an instrument which every one was able to make use of4 ,in fact with the resources of ,logic everything might be proved2 and even if the demonstration should be recognized as faulty1 there was this consolation that the averment might still be true1 although its demonstration had not been properly conducted4 ,even in the ,encyclopaedia of ,abu ,abdallah al-,khwarizmi1 a production of the last quarter of the tenth century1 a larger space was assigned to ,logic than to ,physics and ,metaphysics4 ,the very same thing was done in many later encyclopaedias and compilations4 ,the ,dogmatists also commenced their system with logical and epistemological considerations1 in which a traditional eulogy was pronounced over 8knowing04 ,and from the twelfth century onwards there arose a whole multitude of separate arrangements of the ,aristotelian ,organon4 ,here may be mentioned only1--as being much used1 commented on1 and so forth1--the works of ,abhari 7 #abfd71 who gave a short summary of the whole #8,logic' under the title of 8,isagudji0 772 and the works of ,qazwini 7 #abgf74 ,at the greatest ,university in the ,muslim world1 that of ,cairo1 the ,epitomes of the #acth and #adth centuries are used1 up to this day4 ,there the word still is1 as for a long time it was with ourselves3 8,first of all a ,college of ,logic01 and1 we need scarcely add1 with no better result4 ,they indulge themselves1 within the limits of the ,law1 in the luxury of studying the rules of thinking discovered by the ancient philosophers1 but all the while they smile at these men and at the ,mutazilite ,dialecticians1 who 8believed in ,reason60 ,,vi4 ,,philosophy ,,in ,,the ,,west4 #a4 ,beginnings4 #a4 ,western ,north-,africa1 ,spain and ,sicily are reckoned as forming the ,muslim ,west4 ,north-,africa1 to begin with1 is of subordinate importance3 ,sicily is regulated by ,spain1 and is soon overthrown by the ,normans of ,lower ,italy4 ,for our purpose ,muslim ,spain or ,andalusia first falls to be considered4 ,the drama of culture in the ,east passes here through a second representation4 ,just as ,arabs there intermarried with ,persians1 so in the ,west they intermarry with ,spaniards4 ,and instead of ,turks and ,mongols we have here the ,berbers of ,north-,africa1 whose rude force is flung into the play of more refined civilization with a blighting influence ever on the increase4 ,after the fall of the ,omayyads in ,syria 7#gej71 a member of that ,house1 ,abderrakhman ibn ,moawiya1 betook himself to ,spain1 where he contrived to work his way up to the dignity of ,emir of ,cordova and all ,andalusia4 ,this ,omayyad overlordship lasted for more than #bej years1 and after a passing system of petty ,states1 it attained its greatest brilliancy under ,abderrakhman ,,iii 7#iab-ifa71 the first who assumed the title of ,caliph1 and his son al-,hakam ,,ii 7#ifa-igf74 ,the tenth century was for ,spain1 what the ninth was for the ,east1--the time of highest material and intellectual civilization4 ,if possible1 it was more fresh and native here than in the ,east1 and1 if it be true that all theorizing betokens either a lack or a stagnation of the power of production1 it was more productive also3 ,the sciences1 and ,philosophy in particular1 had far fewer representatives in ,spain4 ,speaking generally1 we may say that the relations of intellectual life took a simpler form4 ,there was a smaller number of strata in the new culture than in the old4 ,no doubt there were1 besides ,muslims1 ,jews and ,christians in ,spain1 who in the time of ,abderrakhman ,,iii played their part in this cultivated life1 of the ,arabic stamp1 in common with the rest4 ,but of adherents of ,zoroaster1 atheists and such like1 there were none4 ,even the sects of ,eastern ,islam were almost unknown4 ,only one school of ,law1 that of ,malik1 was admitted4 ,no ,mutazilite dialectic troubled the peace of the ,faith4 ,true enough the ,andalusian poets glorified the trinity of ,wine1 ,woman and ,song2 but flippant free-thinking on the one hand1 and gloomy theosophy and renunciation of the world on the other1 rarely found expression4 ,on the whole1 intellectual culture was dependent upon the ,east4 ,from the tenth century onwards many journeys in search of knowledge were undertaken thither from ,spain1 by way of ,egypt and as far as ,eastern ,persia1 for the purpose of attending the prelections of scholars of renown4 ,and farther1 educational requirements in ,andalusia attracted to it many a learned ,eastern who found no occupation in his own home4 ,besides1 al-,hakam ,,ii caused books to be copied1 all over the ,east1 for his library1 which is said to have contained #djj1jjj volumes4 ,the ,west was mainly interested in ,mathematics1 ,natural ,science1 ,astrology and ,medicine1 precisely as was the case at first in the ,east4 ,poetry1 ,history and ,geography were cultivated with ardour4 ,but the mind was not yet 8sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought01 for when ,abdallah ibn ,masarra of ,cordova1 under ,abderrakhman ,,iii1 brought home with him from the ,east a system of ,natural ,philosophy1 he had to submit to see his writings consigned to the flames4 #b4 ,in the year #ajac ,cordova1 8the ,gem of the ,world01 was laid waste by the ,berbers1 and the kingdom of the ,omayyads was split up into a number of minor ,states4 ,its second bloom fills up the eleventh century1--the ,medicean age of ,spain1 in which ,art and ,poetry still flourish in luxuriant growth at the courts of the various cities1 upon the ruins of ancient splendour4 ,art grows refined2 poetry becomes sage1 and scientific thought subtle4 ,intellectual nutriment continues to be fetched from the ,east2 and ,natural ,philosophy1 the writings of the ,faithful ,brethren1 and ,logic from the school of ,abu ,sulaiman al-,sidjistani find admission one after the other4 ,towards the close of the century it is possible to trace the influence even of the writings of ,farabi1 and the 8,medicine0 of ,ibn ,sina becomes known4 ,the beginnings of philosophical reflection are found chiefly with the numerous men of culture among the ,jews4 ,eastern ,natural ,philosophy produces a powerful and quite singular impression upon the mind of ,ibn ,gebirol1 the ,avencebrol of ,christian authors2 and ,bakhya ibn ,pakuda is influenced by the ,faithful ,brethren4 ,even the religious poetry of the ,jews is affected by the philosophical movement2 and what speaks therein is not the ,jewish ,congregation seeking after ,god1 but the ,soul rising towards the ,supreme ,spirit4 ,among the ,muslims1 however1 the number of those who addressed themselves to a thorough study of ,philosophy was very limited4 ,no master gathered about him a numerous band of disciples2 and meetings of the learned1 for the discussion of philosophical subjects1 were scarcely ever held4 ,the individual thinker must have felt very lonely in these circumstances4 ,in the ,west1 just as in the ,east1 ,philosophy was developed subjectively2 but here it was more the concern of a few isolated individuals2 and1 besides1 it stood more apart from the faith of the mass of the people4 ,in the ,east there were countless intermediary agencies between faith and knowledge1--between the philosophers and the believing community4 ,the problem of the individual thinker1 confronted by political society and the faith of narrow-minded fanatical multitudes1 was accordingly realized more acutely in the ,west4 #b4 ,ibn ,baddja4 #a4 ,towards the end of the eleventh century1 when ,abu ,bekr ,mohammed ibn ,yakhya ibn al-,saig ibn ,baddja 7,avempace7 was born in ,saragossa1 the fair kingdom of ,andalusia was approaching the time of its disappearance in a system of petty ,states4 ,it was threatened from the ,north by the less civilized but yet powerful and brave ,christian knights4 ,but the ,berber dynasty of the ,almoravids came to the rescue1 who were not only firmer in the faith but also wiser in their policy than the voluptuous ruling race of ,spain4 ,then the time of refined culture and free enquiry seemed gone for ever4 ,only traditionalists1 of the strictest rite1 ventured to make a public appearance1 while philosophers1 unless they kept concealed1 were persecuted or put to death4 #b4 ,but barbarous lords have their caprices1 being fond of appropriating1 at least superficially1 the culture of those who have been subjugated by them4 ,thus ,abu ,bekr ibn ,ibrahim1 brother-in-law of the ,almoravid prince ,ali1--who was for some time ,governor of ,saragossa1 made ,ibn ,baddja his intimate friend and first minister1 thereby giving great offence to his ,faqihs and soldiers4 ,now this was a man1 skilled both in the theory and practice of the ,mathematical ,sciences1 particularly ,astronomy and ,music1 as well as an adept in ,medicine1 and one who was devoted to speculative studies in ,logic1 ,natural ,philosophy and ,metaphysics2 and in the opinion of the fanatics he was an utterly abandoned atheist and immoral person4 ,we know nothing more of the outward life of ,ibn ,baddja except that he was in ,seville in the year #aaah1 after the fall of ,saragossa1 and that he composed several of his works there1 afterwards betaking himself to the ,almoravid court in ,fez1 where he died in #aach4 ,according to tradition he met his death by poison1 administered at the instigation of a jealous physician4 ,his short life1 as he himself confesses1 had not been a happy one2 and he had often longed for death1 as a final refuge4 ,material want1 and1 above all1 intellectual isolation1 may have weighed down his spirits4 ,his extant writings abundantly evince that he was unable to feel at home in that day and that environment4 #c4 ,he conforms almost entirely to ,farabi1 the quiet1 solitary ,eastern4 ,like him he was little given to systematizing4 ,his original treatises are but few in number2 and they consist chiefly of brief expositions of ,aristotelian and other philosophical works4 ,his observations are of a desultory character3 ,now he makes a beginning in one place2 again1 he starts afresh in another4 ,in continually renewed approaches he endeavours to get nearer ,greek thought1 and to penetrate from every possible side to ancient science4 ,he does not discard philosophy1 and he does not deal conclusively with it4 ,on a first glance1 that produces a puzzling impression2 but1 in the sombre impulse which is upon him1 the philosopher has become aware of the path he is pursuing4 ,in searching for truth and righteousness1 he is coming upon another thing1--unity and joy in his own life4 ,in his opinion1 ,gazali took the matter much too easily1 when he thought he could be happy only in the full possession of the truth comprehended by means of ,divine illumination4 ,in his love for the truth1 which is concealed rather than revealed by the sensuous images of religious mysticism1 the philosopher must be strong enough to renounce that happiness4 ,only pure thinking1 undisturbed by any sensuous desire1 is privileged to behold the supreme ,godhead4 #d4 ,in his logical writings ,ibn ,baddja hardly departs from ,farabi4 ,even his physical and metaphysical theories agree generally with the views of the master4 ,but perhaps the mode1 in which he represents the history of the development of the human spirit and the position of man in knowledge and in life1 may claim a measure of interest4 ,there are two kinds of existence1 according to his view1--one which is moved1 and one which is not moved4 ,that which is moved is corporeal and limited1 but its everlasting movement cannot be explained by finite ,body4 ,on the contrary1 in order to explain this endless movement1 an unending power is needed1 or an eternal essence1 namely ,spirit4 ,now while the corporeal or the natural is moved from without1 and the ,spirit1 itself unmoved1 confers movement upon the corporeal1 the ,soul-substance occupies a middle position1 being that which moves itself4 ,the relation between the natural and the psychical presents as little difficulty to ,ibn ,baddja as to his predecessors2 but the great problem is this3--#8,how are the ,soul and the ,spirit related to each other1 that is to say in ,man8' #e4 ,ibn ,baddja starts with the assumption that ,matter cannot exist without some ,form1 while ,form may exist by itself1 without ,matter4 ,otherwise1 in fact1 absolutely no change is thinkable1 because that is rendered possible only by the coming and going of substantial ,forms4 ,these ,forms then1 from the hylic up to the purely spiritual1 constitute a series1 to which the development of the human spirit corresponds1 in so far as it realizes the rational ideal4 ,man's task is to comprehend all the spiritual ,forms together2 first the intelligible ,forms of all that is corporeal1 then the sensible-spiritual presentations of the ,soul1 next the human ,spirit itself and the ,active ,spirit over it1 and lastly the pure ,spirits of the celestial spheres4 ,by rising through successive stages from the individual and sensible1 the presentation of which constitutes the material on which the ,spirit operates1 ,man attains to the superhuman and the ,divine4 ,now his guide in this process is ,philosophy1 or the knowledge of the universal1 which issues from knowledge of the particular through study and reflection1 aided however by the enlightening ,spirit from above4 ,contrasted with this knowledge of the universal or the infinite1--in which ,being1 and becoming the object of cognition coincide1--all perception and presentation prove deceptive4 ,thus it is by rational knowledge1 and not by religious and mystical dreaming1 with the sensuous invariably clinging thereto1 that the human ,spirit arrives at perfection4 ,thinking is the highest bliss1 for its very purpose is to reach all that is intelligible4 ,but since that is the universal1 the continued existence of individual human ,spirits beyond this life cannot be assumed4 ,it may be that the ,soul1--which apprehends the particular in the life of sensuous-spiritual presentation1 and notifies its existence in separate desires and actions1--has the faculty of continuing that existence after death1 and of receiving reward or punishment2 but the ,spirit or the rational part of the ,soul is one in all4 ,it is only the ,spirit of the entirety of ,mankind1 or1 in other words1 the one ,intellect1 ,mind or ,spirit in ,humanity1--and that too in its union with the active ,spirit over it1--which is eternal4 ,this theory1 which made its way into the ,christendom of the ,middle ,ages1 under the name of ,averroes' ,theory1 is thus found even with ,ibn ,baddja1 if not quite distinctly conceived1 at all events more clearly given than with ,farabi4 #f4 ,every man does not rise to such a height of contemplation4 ,the greater number grope about continually in the dark2 they merely see the adumbrations of things1 and like shadows they will pass away4 ,some see the ,light1 it is true1 and the coloured world of things1 but very few indeed recognize the essence of what they have seen4 ,it is only the latter1 the blessed ones1 who attain to life eternal1--in which state they themselves become ,light4 ,but now1 how does the individual man get to this stage of knowledge and blessed existence8 ,through action directed by reason1 and the free cultivation of his intellectual powers4 ,action directed by reason is free action1 that is1 action in which there is a consciousness of purpose4 ,if one1 for instance1 breaks a stone to pieces1 because he has stumbled against it1 he is behaving without purpose1 like a child or a lower animal2 but if he does this in order that others may not stumble against the stone1 his action must be called manlike1 and directed by reason4 ,in order to be able to live as a man should1 and to act in a rational way1 the individual man1 must as far as circumstances permit1 withdraw from society4 ,the name borne by the ,ethics of ,ibn ,baddja is 8,guidance to the ,solitary04 ,it demands self-culture4 ,generally1 however1 one may avail himself of the advantages attending social life in man1 without including in the bargain its disadvantages4 ,the wise may associate themselves in larger or smaller unions2 such indeed is their duty1 if they light upon one another2 and then they form a ,state within the ,state4 ,naturally they endeavour to live in such a manner that neither physician nor judge is necessary among them4 ,they grow up like plants in the open air1 and do not stand in need of the gardener's skill4 ,they keep at a distance from the lower enjoyments and sentiments of the multitude4 ,they are strangers to the movements of worldly society4 ,and as they are friends among themselves1 this life of theirs is wholly determined by ,love4 ,then too as friends of ,god1 who is the ,truth1 they find repose in union with the superhuman ,spirit of ,knowledge4 #c4 ,ibn ,tofail4 #a4 ,the sovereignty over ,western ,islam remained with the ,berbers1 but the ,almohads speedily took the place of the ,almoravids4 ,mohammed ibn ,tumart1 the founder of the new dynasty1 had1 from the year #aaba1 come forward as ,mahdi4 ,under his successors ,abu ,yaaqub ,yusuf 7#aafc-aahd7 and ,abu ,yusuf ,yaaqub 7#aahd-aaih71 their sovereignty1 which was centred in ,marocco1 reached its culminating point4 ,the ,almohads brought with them a startling novelty in theology3 ,the system of ,ashari and ,gazali1 which till then had been branded as heretical1 was adopted in the ,west4 ,that meant an infusion of intellectualism into the teaching of the ,faith1--a proceeding which could not be altogether satisfactory either to the adherents of the old ,faith or to freethinkers1 but which may have incited many to farther philosophizing4 ,hitherto an attitude of repudiation had been maintained towards all reasoning in matters of faith2 and1 even later1 many politicians and philosophers were of opinion that the faith of the multitude should not be violently disturbed1 nor elevated to knowledge1 but that the provinces of ,religion and of ,philosophy should be kept scrupulously separate4 ,the ,almohads were interested in questions of theology1 but yet ,abu ,yaaqub and his successors manifested1 as far as political conditions permitted1 such an appreciation of secular knowledge1 that philosophy was enabled to enjoy a brief period of prosperity at their court4 #b4 ,we find ,abu ,bekr ,mohammed ibn ,abdalmalik ibn ,tofail al-,qaisi 7,abubacer7 in the position of ,vizir and ,body-,physician to ,abu ,yaaqub1 after holding an appointment as ,secretary in ,granada4 ,his place of birth was the small ,andalusian town of ,guadix1 and he died in ,marocco1 the seat of ,government1 in the year #aahe4 ,the life that lies between appears to have been by no means eventful4 ,he was fonder of books than of men1 and in his sovereign's great library he gathered1 by reading1 much information which he required for his art1 or which met his ardent thirst for knowledge4 ,he was the dilettante of the philosophers of the ,west1 and was more given to contemplative enjoyment than scientific work4 ,rarely did he set himself to write4 ,we need not perhaps put absolute faith in his assertion that he could have fundamentally improved the ,ptolemaic system4 ,many ,arabs made a like assertion1 without carrying it into effect4 ,of ,ibn ,tofail's poetic ventures1 one or two poems have been preserved to us4 ,but his principal endeavour1 like that of ,ibn ,sina1 was to combine ,greek ,science and ,oriental ,wisdom into a modern view of the world4 ,that was to him a personal concern1 just as it was to ,ibn ,baddja4 ,he too occupied his mind with the relation of the individual man to ,society and its prejudices4 ,but he went farther3 ,ibn ,baddja1 as a rule made out the individual thinker or a small association of independent thinkers1 as constituting a ,state within the ,state1--a copy1 as it were1 of the great total1 or a model for happier times3 ,ibn ,tofail on the other hand1 turned to consider the original4 #c4 ,he states the case clearly1 in his work 8,hai ibn ,yaqzan04 ,the scenery is contributed by two islands1 on one of which he sets human society with its conventions1 and on the other an individual man1 who is being developed naturally4 ,this society as a whole is governed by lower impulses1 subjected only to some measure of outward restraint by a grossly sensuous religion4 ,but out of this society two men1 called ,salaman and ,asal 7,absal1 cf4 ,,iv1 #d #g71 rise to rational knowledge and control of their desires4 ,accommodating himself to the popular religion1 the first1 who is of a practical turn of mind1 contrives to rule the people2 but the second1 being of speculative disposition and mystic leanings1 wanders off to the island which lay opposite1 and which he imagines to be uninhabited1--there to devote himself to study and ascetic discipline4 ,on that island1 however1 our ,hai ibn ,yaqzan1--i4e4 #8the ,active one1 the son of the ,vigilant'1--had been trained into a perfect philosopher4 ,cast upon the island when a child1 or else brought into existence there by spontaneous generation1 he had been suckled by a gazelle1 and then had been in the course of time left1 like a ,robinson ,crusoe1 and that entirely1 to his own resources4 ,yet he had secured a material existence1 and farther1 by observation and reflection1 had acquired a knowledge of ,nature1 the heavens1 ,god1 and his own inner being1 until after seven times seven years he had attained to that which is highest1 viz41 the ,sufi vision of ,god1 the state of ecstasy4 ,in this situation he was found by ,asal4 ,after they had come to understand each other1--for at first ,hai was still without speech1--it was found that the philosophy of the one and the religion of the other were two forms of the same truth1 except that in the first form it was somewhat less veiled4 ,but when ,hai came to know that on the opposite island an entire people continued in darkness and error1 he resolved to proceed thither and reveal the truth to them4 ,here1 however1 he was brought to learn by experience that the multitude were incapable of a pure apprehension of the truth1 and that ,mohammed had acted wisely in giving the people sensuous forms instead of full light4 ,after this result therefore he repaired again with his friend ,asal to the uninhabited island1 to serve ,god in spirit and in truth till the hour of death4 #d4 ,ibn ,tofail has devoted by far the largest portion of his romance to the course of ,hai's development2 but he cannot certainly have thought that the individual man1 left to himself1 is able1 with the resources of ,nature alone and without the help of society1 to advance so far as ,hai did4 ,and yet his conception is perhaps rather more historical1 than certain views which have been entertained since his day1 e4g4 by some of the ,rationalists of the #ahth century4 ,many little touches in his work shew that ,hai was intended to represent humanity as it stands outside of revelation4 ,that which is accomplished in him1 is the development of ,indian1 ,persian and ,greek wisdom4 ,one or two hints pointing in that direction1 but which cannot be farther followed out here1 may help to lend probability to this view4 ,thus it is significant1 to begin with1 that ,hai lives on the island of ,ceylon1 the climate of which was held to be such as to render spontaneous generation possible1 where also1 according to the legend1 ,adam1 the first man1 had been created1 and where the ,indian king came to the ,wise ,man4 ,then ,hai's first religious sentiment of wonder1 after he had struggled up out of the primary1 animal stage1 through shame and curiosity1 is elicited by fire1 which has been discovered by him1--a circumstance which recalls to us the ,persian religion4 ,and his farther speculations are borrowed from ,greco-,arabic ,philosophy4 ,the affinity to ,ibn ,sina's ,hai1 which ,ibn ,tofail himself indicates1 is clear3 ,only1 the figure of ,hai in this case presents a more human appearance4 ,with ,ibn ,sina the character of ,hai represents the ,superhuman ,spirit1 but the hero of ,ibn ,tofail's romance seems to be the personification of the natural ,spirit of ,mankind illuminated from above2 and that ,spirit must be in accordance with the ,prophet-,soul of ,mohammed when rightly understood1 whose utterances are to be interpreted allegorically4 ,ibn ,tofail has thus arrived at the same result as his ,eastern predecessors4 ,religion must still be kept up for the ordinary man1 because he cannot go beyond it4 ,it is only a few who rise to an understanding of religious symbols2 and very rarely indeed does any one attain to the unrestrained contemplation of the highest reality4 ,this last truth he accentuates with the greatest emphasis4 ,even if we do find in ,hai the representative of human nature1 we cannot gainsay this truth2 for the representation given sets forth the supreme perfection of ,man as consisting in submerging his own self in the ,world-,spirit1 in the most lonely quietude1 and withdrawn from all that is sensuous4 ,it is true that this condition is attained only in mature age1 in which1 besides1 a human friend has been met with2 and attention to what is material1 and to the arts and sciences1 forms the natural preliminary stage of spiritual perfection4 ,thus ,ibn ,tofail is permitted to look back without regret or shame upon his life spent at court4 #e4 ,we have already met frequently with the philosophical views1 which ,hai developed in his seven life-periods4 ,but even his practical behaviour is specially considered by ,ibn ,tofail4 ,sufi exercises1 as they are still observed among the religious orders of the ,east1 and as they had been recommended even by ,plato and the ,neo-,platonists1 have taken the place of the observances of religious worship enjoined by the ,muslim ,law4 ,and ,hai forms for himself in the seventh period of his life a system of ,ethics which has a ,pythagorean appearance4 ,hai has set before him as the aim of his action1--to seek for the ,one in all things and to unite himself to the absolute and the self-existing4 ,he sees in fact all ,nature striving to reach this ,highest ,being4 ,he is far above the view that everything on the earth exists for the sake of ,man4 ,animals and plants likewise live for themselves and for ,god2 and thus he is not permitted to deal capriciously with them4 ,he now restricts his bodily wants to what is absolutely necessary4 ,ripe fruits are preferred by him1 the seeds of which he piously consigns to the soil1 taking anxious precaution that no kind may die out through his avidity4 ,and only in extreme need does he touch animal food1 in which case he seeks in like manner to spare the species4 #8,enough for life1 not enough for sleep' is his motto4 ,that has reference to his bodily attitude towards the earthly2 but the living principle binds him to the heavens1 and1 like the heavens1 he strives to be useful to his surroundings1 and to keep his own life pure4 ,he therefore tends the plants and protects the animals about him1 in order that his island may become a paradise4 ,he pays scrupulous attention to the cleanliness of his person and his clothing1 and endeavours to give a harmonious turn to all his movements1 in conformity with those of the heavenly bodies4 ,in this way he is gradually rendered capable of elevating his own self above earth and heaven to the pure ,spirit4 ,that is the condition of ecstasy1 which no thought1 no word1 no image has ever been able to comprehend or express4 #d4 ,ibn ,roshd4 #a4 ,abu-l-,walid ,mohammed ibn ,akhmed ibn ,mohammed ibn ,roshd 7,averroes7 was born at ,cordova1 of a family of lawyers1 in the year #aabf4 ,there too he made himself master of the learned culture of his time4 ,in #aaec he is said to have been presented to the prince ,abu ,yaaqub by ,ibn ,tofail2 and we possess a report of that occurrence1 full of character4 ,after the introductory phrases of politeness the prince asked him3 8,what is the opinion of philosophers about the heavens8 ,are they eternal1 or have they been brought into existence80 ,ibn ,roshd cautiously replied that he had not given attention to philosophy4 ,thereupon the prince commenced to discuss the subject with ,ibn ,tofail1 and1 to the astonishment of the listener1 shewed that he was acquainted with ,aristotle1 ,plato1 and the philosophers and theologians of ,islam4 ,then ,ibn ,roshd also spoke out freely1 and won the favour of his high-placed master4 ,his lot was fixed3 ,he was destined to interpret ,aristotle1 as no one before him had done1 that mankind might be put in complete and genuine possession of science4 ,he was1 besides1 a jurist and a physician4 ,we find him in #aafi in the position of judge in ,seville1 and shortly afterwards in ,cordova4 ,abu ,yaakub1 now ,caliph1 nominates him his ,body-,physician in the year #aahb2 but1 a short time after1 he is again judge in his native city1 as his father and grandfather had been4 ,circumstances1 however1 change for the worse4 ,philosophers are pronounced accursed1 and their writings are committed to the flames4 ,in his old age ,ibn ,roshd is banished by ,abu ,yusuf to ,elisana 7,lucena1 near ,cordova71 but yet he dies in ,marocco the capital1 on the #ajth ,december1 #aaih4 #b4 ,it was upon ,aristotle that his activity was concentrated4 ,all that he could procure of that philosopher's works1 or about them1 he subjected to diligent study and careful comparison4 ,writings of the ,greeks1 which are now lost either entirely or in part1 were still known to ,ibn ,roshd in translated form4 ,he goes critically and systematically to work3 ,he paraphrases ,aristotle and he interprets him1 now with comparative brevity1 and anon in greater detail1 both in moderate-sized and in bulky commentaries4 ,he thus merits the name of 8the ,commentator01 which also is assigned to him in ,dante's 8,commedia0 #ai4 ,it looks as if the ,philosophy of the ,muslims had been fated in him to come to an understanding of ,aristotle1 just that it might then expire1 after that end had been attained4 ,aristotle for him is the supremely perfect man1 the greatest thinker1 the philosopher who was in possession of an infallible truth4 ,new discoveries in ,astronomy1 ,art or ,physics could make no alteration in that respect4 ,of course it is possible to misunderstand ,aristotle3 ,ibn ,roshd himself came to have a different and better understanding of many a point which he took from the works of ,farabi and ,ibn ,sina2 but yet he lived continually in the belief that ,aristotle1 when rightly understood1 corresponds to the highest knowledge which is attainable by man4 ,in the eternal revolution of worldly events ,aristotle has reached a height which it is impossible to transcend4 ,men who have come after him are frequently put to the cost of much trouble and reflection to deduce the views which readily disclosed themselves to the first master4 ,gradually1 however1 all doubt and contradiction are reduced to silence1 for ,aristotle is one who is more than man1 destined as it were by ,providence to illustrate how far the human race is capable of advancing in its approximation to the ,world-,spirit4 ,as being the sublimest incarnation of the ,spirit of ,mankind1 ,ibn ,roshd would like to call his master the #8,divine' ,teacher4 ,it will be shewn by what follows1 that even in the instance of ,ibn ,roshd1 unmeasured admiration for ,aristotle did not suffice to bring about a perfect comprehension of his thoughts4 ,he allows no opportunity to pass of doing battle with ,ibn ,sina1 and1 upon occasion1 he parts company with ,farabi and ,ibn ,baddja1--men to whom he owes a great deal4 ,he carps at all his predecessors1 in a far more disagreeable fashion than ,aristotle did in the case of his teacher ,plato4 ,and yet he himself is far from having got beyond the interpretation of ,neo-,platonic expositors and the misconceptions of ,syrian and ,arab translators4 ,frequently he follows even the superficial ,themistius in opposition to the judicious ,alexander of ,aphrodisias1 or else he tries to combine their views4 #c4 ,ibn ,roshd is above all a fanatical admirer of the ,aristotelian ,logic4 ,without it one cannot be happy1 and it is a pity that ,plato and ,socrates were ignorant of it6 ,the happiness of men is measured by the degree of their logical attainments4 ,with the discernment of a critic he recognizes ,porphyry's 8,isagoge0 as superfluous1 but he still counts the 8,rhetoric0 and the 8,poetics0 as forming part of the ,organon4 ,and then the oddest misapprehensions are met with4 ,for example1 ,tragedy and ,comedy are turned into ,panegyrics and ,lampoons2 poetical probability has to be content with signifying either truth capable of demonstration1 or deceptive appearance2 recognition on the stage 77 becomes ,apodictic judgment1 and so on4 ,of course he has absolutely no conception of the ,greek world2 and that is venial1 for he could not have had any notion of it4 ,and yet we do not readily excuse one who has been so severe a critic of others4 ,like his predecessors1 ,ibn ,roshd lays especial emphasis upon ,grammar1 as far as it is common to all languages4 ,this common principle1 and therefore the universal one1 ,aristotle1 he thinks1 keeps always before him in his ,hermeneutics1 and even in the ,rhetoric4 ,accordingly the ,arab philosopher is also bound to adhere to it1 although in illustrating universal rules he may take his examples from the ,arabic language and literature4 ,but it is universal rules which form his object1 for science is the knowledge of the universal4 ,logic smooths the path for the ascent of our cognition from sensuous particularity to pure rational truth4 ,the multitude will always live in the sensuous element1 groping about in error4 ,defective mental parts and poor education1 and depraved habits to boot1 prevent them from making any advance4 ,but still it must be within the power of some to arrive at a knowledge of truth4 ,the eagle looks the sun in the face1 for if no being could look at him1 ,nature would have made something in vain4 ,whatever shines there is meant to be seen2 and so whatever exists is meant to be known1 were it only by one single man4 ,now truth exists2 and the love for it which fills our hearts would have been all in vain1 if we could not approach it4 ,ibn ,roshd thinks that he has come to know the truth in the case of many things1 and even that he has been able to discover absolute ,truth4 ,he would not1 with ,lessing1 have cared to resign himself to a mere search for it4 ,truth1 in fact1 has been given him in ,aristotle2 and from that standpoint he looks down upon ,muslim theology4 ,certainly he recognizes that religion has a truth of its own1 but theology is repugnant to him4 ,it wants to prove what cannot be proved in this way4 ,revelation1 as contained in the ,koran1--according to the teaching of ,ibn ,roshd and others1 and similarly of ,spinoza in later times1--does not aim at making men learned1 but at making them better4 ,not knowledge1 but obedience or moral practice is the aim of the lawgiver1 who knows that human welfare can only be realized in society4 #d4 ,that which especially distinguishes ,ibn ,roshd from those who preceded him1 and in particular from ,ibn ,sina1 is the unequivocal mode in which he conceives of the world as an eternal process of #8becoming'4 ,the world as a whole is an eternally necessary unity1 without any possibility of non-existence or of different existence4 ,matter and ,form can only be separated in thought4 ,forms do not wander like ghosts through dull ,matter1 but are contained in it after the manner of germs4 ,the ,material ,forms1 in the guise of natural forces1 operate in an eternal process of generation1 never separated from matter1 but yet deserving to be called divine4 ,absolute origination or extinction there is none1 for all happening is a transition from potentiality to actuality1 and from actuality back to potentiality1 in which process like is ever generated by like and by that alone4 ,but there is a graded order in the world of ,being4 ,the material or substantial ,form stands midway between mere ,accident and pure 7or separate7 ,form4 ,substantial ,forms also exhibit varieties of degree1--intermediate conditions between potentiality and actuality4 ,and1 finally1 the whole system of ,forms1 from the nethermost hylic ,form up to the ,divine ,essence1 the original ,form of the whole1 constitutes one compact structure rising tier upon tier4 ,now the eternal process of ,becoming1 within the given ,system1 presupposes an eternal movement1 and that again an eternal ,mover4 ,if the world had had an origin1 we might have reasoned from it to another and a similarly originated corporeal world1 which had produced it1 and so on without end4 ,if again it had been a #8possible' entity1 we might have inferred a #8possible' entity out of which it had proceeded1 and so on ad infinitum4 ,and according to ,ibn ,roshd1 it is only the hypothesis of a world moved as a unity and of eternal necessity1 that yields us the possibility of inferring a ,being1 separate from the world1 yet eternally moving it1 who in his continually producing that movement and maintaining the fair order of the ,all1 may legitimately be called the ,author of the world1 and who in the ,spirits that move the ,spheres1--for every separate kind of movement demands its separate principle1--possesses agents to give effect to his activity4 ,the essence of the ,first ,mover1 or of ,god1 as well as of the ,sphere-,spirits1 is found by ,ibn ,roshd in ,thought1 in which unity of ,being is given him4 ,thought which is identical with its object is the sole positive definition of the ,divine ,essence2 but ,being and ,unity absolutely synchronize with such ,thought4 ,in other words1 ,being and ,unity are not annexed to the ,essence1 but are given only in ,thought1 just like all universals4 ,thought produces everywhere the general in the particular4 ,it is true that the universal as a disposition is operative in things1 but the universal qua universal exists in the understanding alone4 ,or1 in possibility 7or potentiality7 it exists in things1 but it exists actually in the understanding1--that is1 it has more ,being1--a higher kind of existence1--in the understanding than in things4 ,if now the question is asked1--#8,does ,divine ,thought take in merely the general1 or does it take in the particular too8'1 ,ibn ,roshd replies1 #8,it does not directly take in either the one or the other1 for the ,divine ,essence transcends both of them4 ,divine ,thought produces the ,all and embraces the ,all4 ,god is the principle1 the original ,form1 and the final aim of all things4 ,he is the order of the world1 the reconciliation of all opposites1 the ,all itself in its highest mode of existence4' ,it follows of course from this theory1 that there can be no talk of a ,divine ,providence in the ordinary sense of the term4 #e4 ,two kinds of ,being we know3 one which is moved1 and one which causes motion1 though itself unmoved1--or a corporeal and a spiritual4 ,but it is in the spiritual that the higher unity or perfection of all ,being lies1 and that too in graded order4 ,it is thus no abstract unity4 ,the farther the ,sphere-,spirits are from the ,first1 so much the less simple are they4 ,all know themselves1 but in their knowledge there is at the same time a reference to the ,first ,cause4 ,the result is a kind of parallelism between the corporeal and the spiritual4 ,there is something in the lower ,spirits which corresponds to the composition of the corporeal out of ,matter and ,form4 ,what is mingled with the purely spiritual is of course no mere ,matter1 that could suffer anything1 but yet it is something resembling ,matter1--something which has the faculty of taking to itself something else4 ,otherwise the multiplicity of intelligibilia could not be brought into harmony with the unity of the ,spirit which apprehends them4 ,matter suffers1 but ,spirit receives4 ,this parallelism1 with its subtle distinction1 has been introduced by ,ibn ,roshd with special reference to the human ,spirit4 #f4 ,ibn ,roshd is firmly of opinion that the human soul is related to its body1 as ,form is to ,matter4 ,he is completely in earnest on this point4 ,the theory of numerous immortal souls he most decidedly rejects1 combating ,ibn ,sina4 ,the soul has an existence only as a completion of the body with which it is associated4 ,as regards empirical psychology he has anxiously endeavoured to keep by ,aristotle1 in opposition to ,galen and others2 but in the doctrine of the 8nous0 he diverges from his master not inconsiderably1 without being aware of it4 ,his conception1--springing from ,neo-,platonic views1--of the ,material ,reason1 is peculiar4 ,it is not a mere aptitude or capacity of the human soul1 neither is it equivalent to the sensuous-spiritual life of presentation1 but it is something above the soul1 and above the individual4 ,the ,material ,reason is eternal1 imperishable ,spirit1 as eternal and imperishable as the pure ,reason or the ,active ,spirit over us4 ,the ascription of a separate existence to ,matter in the domain of the corporeal1 is here transferred by ,ibn ,roshd1--following of course ,themistius and others1--to the region of the spiritual4 ,the ,material ,reason is thus eternal substance4 ,the natural aptitudes1 or the capacity of the human individual for intellectual knowledge ,ibn ,roshd denominates the ,passive ,reason4 ,that comes into being and disappears1 with men as individuals1 but the ,material ,reason is eternal1 like ,man as a race4 ,but a measure of obscurity remains1 and it could hardly have been otherwise1 about the relation between the ,active ,spirit and the ,receptive ,spirit1 7if we may for the time use this last term for the ,material ,reason74 ,the ,active ,spirit renders intelligible the presentations of the human soul1 while the ,receptive ,spirit absorbs these intelligibilia4 ,the life of the soul in individual men thus forms the meeting-place of this mystic pair of lovers4 ,and such places differ very greatly4 ,it depends on the entire capacity of a man's soul1 and on the disposition of his perceptions1 in what degree the ,active ,spirit can elevate these to intelligibility1 and how far the ,receptive ,spirit is in a position to make them a portion of its own contents4 ,this explains why men are not all at the same stage of spiritual knowledge4 ,but the sum of spiritual knowledge in the world continues unaltered1 although the partition of it undergoes individual variations4 ,by a necessity of nature1 the ,philosopher re-appears1 without fail1 whether an ,aristotle or an ,ibn ,roshd1 in whose brain ,being becomes ,idea4 ,it is true that the thoughts of individual men occur in the element of time1 and that the ,receptive ,spirit is changeable1 so far as the individual has a part in it2 but considered as the ,reason of the ,human ,race1 that ,spirit is eternally incapable of change1 like the ,active ,spirit from the last ,sphere above us4 #g4 ,on the whole1 three great heresies set the system of ,ibn ,roshd in opposition to the theology of the three world-religions of his time3 first1 the eternity of the material world and of the ,spirits that move it2 next1 the necessary causal nexus in all that happens in the world1 so that no place is left for providence1 miracle1 and the like2 and1 thirdly1 the perishable nature of all that is individual1 by which theory individual immortality is also taken away4 ,considered logically the assumption of a number of independent ,sphere-,spirits under ,god does not appear to have any sufficient basis4 ,but ,ibn ,roshd1 like his predecessors1 gets over this difficulty by asserting that these ,sphere-,spirits do not differ individually but only in kind4 ,their sole purpose was to explain the different movements in the system of the world1 so long as its unity was still unknown4 ,after the ,ptolemaic system of the world had been put aside1 and these intermediary ,spirits had become superfluous1 men identified the ,active ,spirit with ,god1 as1 for the matter of that1 they had even in earlier times attempted to do1 on speculative and religious grounds4 ,it was merely one step farther1 to identify even the eternal ,spirit of ,man with ,god4 ,ibn ,roshd did neither of these things1 at least according to the strict letter of his writings2 but his system1 when consistently carried out1 made it possible to take these steps1 and in this way to arrive generally at a ,pantheistic conception of the world4 ,on the other hand ,materialism might easily find support in the system1 however decidedly our philosopher contended against such a view2 for where the eternity1 form and efficacy of all that is material are so strongly emphasized1 as was done by him1 ,spirit may indeed still receive the name of king1 but seemingly by the favour merely of the material4 ,ibn ,roshd deserves at all events to be called a bold and consistent thinker1 although not an original one4 ,theoretical philosophy was sufficient for him2 but yet he owed it to his time and his position to come to an understanding with religion and practice4 ,we may devote a few words to this point4 #h4 ,ibn ,roshd often takes the opportunity of expressing himself against the uneducated rulers and obscurantist theologians of his own day2 but he continues to prefer life as a citizen to a solitary life4 ,he even thanks his opponents for many a piece of instruction1--and that is a pleasing touch of character4 ,he thinks that the solitary life produces no arts or sciences1 and that one can at the most enjoy in it what has been gained already1 or perhaps improve it a little4 ,but every one should contribute to the weal of the whole community3 even women as well as men should be of service to society and the ,state4 ,in this opinion ,ibn ,roshd agrees with ,plato 7for he was not acquainted with the ,politics of ,aristotle71 and he remarks with entire good sense that a great deal of the poverty and distress of his time arises from the circumstance that women are kept like domestic animals or house plants for purposes of gratification1 of a very questionable character besides1 instead of being allowed to take part in the production of material and intellectual wealth1 and in the preservation of the same4 ,in his ,ethical system our philosopher animadverts with great severity upon the doctrine of the professors of ,law1 that a thing is good or bad only because ,god so willed it4 ,on the contrary1 says he1 everything has its moral character from nature or in conformity with reason4 ,the action which is determined by rational discernment is moral4 ,it is not1 of course1 the individual ,reason1 but the ,reason which looks to the welfare of the community or ,state1 to which appeal must be made in the last instance4 ,ibn ,roshd regards religion also from a statesman's point of view4 ,he values it on account of its moral purpose4 ,it is ,law1 not ,learning4 ,he is therefore constantly engaged in fighting the ,theologians1 who wish to understand intellectually1 instead of obeying with docile faith4 ,he makes it a reproach to ,gazali1 that he has allowed philosophy to exercise an influence upon his religious doctrine1 and thereby has led many into doubt and unbelief4 ,the people should believe1 exactly in accordance with what stands in the ,book4 ,that is ,truth1--,truth meant no doubt for a bigger sort of children1 to whom we convey it in the form of stories4 ,whatever goes beyond this1 comes of evil4 ,for example1 the ,koran has two proofs of the existence of ,god1 which are evident to every one1 viz3 the ,divine care of everything1 especially of human beings1--and the production of life in plants1 animals1 c4 ,these deliverances should not be disturbed1 nor should the literal acceptation of revelation be quibbled about1 in the theological fashion4 ,for1 the proofs which theologians adduce of the existence of ,god can make no stand against a scientific criticism1 any more than the proof which is furnished from the notion of the possible and the necessary1 in ,farabi and ,ibn ,sina4 ,all this leads to ,atheism and ,libertinism4 ,in the interests of morality1 and therefore of the ,state1 this semi-theology should be fought against4 ,on the other hand1 philosophers who have attained to knowledge are permitted to interpret the ,word of ,god in the ,koran4 ,in the light of the highest truth they understand what is aimed at therein2 and they tell merely just so much of it to the ordinary man as he is capable of apprehending4 ,in this way the most admirable harmony results4 ,religious precept and philosophy are in agreement with one another1 precisely because they are not seeking the same thing4 ,they are related as practice and theory4 ,in the philosopher's conception of religion1 he allows its validity in its own domain1 so that philosophy by no means rejects religion4 ,philosophy1 however1 is the highest form of truth1 and at the same time the most sublime religion4 ,the religion of the philosopher1 in fact1 is the knowledge of all that exists4 ,but yet this view has the appearance of being irreligious2 and a positive religion can never be content to recognize the leading position of philosophy in the realm of truth4 ,it was only natural that the theologians of the ,west1 like their brethren of the ,east should seek to profit by the favour of circumstances1 and take no rest until they had reduced the mistress to the position of the handmaid of ,theology4 ,,vii4 ,,conclusion4 #a4 ,ibn ,khaldun4 #a4 ,the ,philosophy of ,ibn ,roshd1 and his interpretation of ,aristotle1 have had extremely little effect upon the ,muslim world4 ,many of his works1 in the original1 are lost1 and we have them only in ,hebrew and ,latin translations4 ,he had no disciples or followers4 ,in retired corners no doubt many a free-thinker or ,mystic might be met with1 to whose mind it looked sufficiently fantastic to toil earnestly with philosophic questions of a theoretical kind2 but ,philosophy was not permitted to influence general culture or the condition of affairs4 ,before the victorious arms of the ,christians the material civilization as well as the intellectual culture of the ,muslims retreated farther and farther4 ,spain became like ,africa1 where the ,berber was ruler4 ,the times were serious3 the very existence of ,islam in these regions was at stake4 ,men made ready for fighting against the enemy1 or even against one another2 and pious brethren everywhere formed unions for mystic observances4 ,in the ,sufi orders of these people1 a few philosophical formulae at least were still preserved in safety4 ,when1 towards the middle of the thirteenth century1 the emperor ,frederick ,,ii submitted a number of philosophical questions to the ,muslim scholars of ,ceuta1 the ,almohad ,abdalwahid charged ,ibn ,sabin1 founder of a ,mystic order1 to reply to them4 ,he did so1 drawling forth in a pedantic tone the views both of ancient and recent philosophers1 and affording a glimpse of the ,sufi secret1--that ,god is the reality of all things4 ,the only thing1 however1 which we can learn from his answers1 may be said to be1 that ,ibn ,sabin had read books1 of which he thought the ,emperor ,frederick had not the faintest notion4 #b4 ,in small ,state-systems1 the ,muslim civilization of the ,west drifted away1 now rising1 now falling4 ,but before it vanished completely1 a man appeared1 who endeavoured to discover the law of its formation1 and who thought to found therewith a new philosophical discipline1--the ,philosophy of ,society or of ,history4 ,that remarkable man was ,ibn ,khaldn1 born at ,tunis is the year #accb1 of a family belonging to ,seville4 ,there he also received his upbringing1 and there he was next instructed in philosophy1 partly by a teacher who had been trained in the ,east4 ,after studying all known sciences1 he occupied himself sometimes in the service of the ,government1 and sometimes in travel1 proving everywhere an excellent observer4 ,he served various princes in the capacity of secretary1 and he was ambassador at several courts in ,spain and ,africa3 as such he visited the ,christian court of ,peter the ,cruel in ,seville4 ,he was also at the court of ,tamerlane in ,damascus4 ,he had thus acquired a wide and full experience of the world1 when he died at ,cairo in the year #adjf4 ,in character perhaps he does not take a high rank2 but a measure of vanity1 dilettantism and the like1 may readily be forgiven to the man who1 above all others in his time1 lived for ,science4 #c4 ,ibn ,khaldn was not satisfied with the ,school-,philosophy1 as he had come to know it4 ,his picture of the world would not fit its conventional framing4 ,if he had been somewhat more given to theorizing1 he might no doubt have constructed a system of ,nominalism4 ,philosophers pretend to know everything2 but the universe seems to him too great to be capable of being comprehended by our understanding4 ,there are more beings and things1 infinitely more1 than ,man can ever know4 8,god creates what you know nothing of04 ,logical deductions frequently do not agree with the empirical world of individual things1 which becomes known by observation alone4 ,that we can reach truth by merely applying the rules of ,logic1 is a vain imagination3 therefore reflection on what is given in experience is the task of the scientific man4 ,and he must not rest satisfied with his own individual experience2 but1 with critical care he must draw upon the sum of the collected experience of mankind1 which has been handed down4 ,by nature the soul is devoid of knowledge2 but yet by nature it has the power of reflecting on the experience which is given1 and elaborating it4 ,in the course of such reflection1 there frequently springs forth1 as if by inspiration1 the proper middle term1 by means of which the insight which has been gained may be arranged and explained according to the rules of ,formal ,logic4 ,logic does not produce knowledge3 it merely traces the path which our reflection ought to take3 it points out how we arrive at knowledge2 and it has the farther value of being able to preserve us from error1 and to sharpen the intellect and keep it to accuracy in thinking4 ,it is therefore an auxiliary science1 and ought to be cultivated even for its own sake by one or two qualified men1 called specially to that task2 but it does not possess the fundamental importance which is attributed to it by the ,philosophers4 ,the path which it indicates for our reflection to take1 is at need followed by scientific talent in any individual science1 quite independently of logical guidance4 ,ibn ,khaldn is a sober thinker4 ,he combats ,alchemy and ,astrology on rational grounds4 ,to the ,mystic rationalism of the ,philosophers he opposes frequently the simple doctrines of his religion1 whether from personal conviction1 or from political considerations4 ,but religion exercises no greater influence upon his scientific opinions than ,neo-,platonic ,aristotelianism4 ,plato's ,republic1 the ,pythagorean-,platonic ,philosophy1 but without its marvel-mongering outgrowths1 and the historical works of his oriental forerunners1 particularly of ,masudi1 have had most influence on the development of his thoughts4 #d4 ,ibn ,khaldn comes forward with a claim to establish a new philosophical discipline1 of which ,aristotle had no conception4 ,philosophy is the science of what exists1 developed from its own principles or reasons4 ,but what the ,philosophers advance1 about the high ,spirit-world and the ,divine ,essence1 does not correspond thereto3 that which they say on these subjects is incapable of proof4 ,we know our world of men much better2 and a more certain deliverance may be given regarding it1 by means of observation and inner mental experience4 ,here facts permit of being authenticated1 and their causes discovered4 ,now1 so far as the latter process is feasible in ,history1 i4e4 so far as historical events are capable of being traced back to their causes1 and historical laws capable of being discovered1 ,history deserves actually to be called ,science and a part of ,philosophy4 ,thus the idea of ,history as ,science clearly emerges4 ,it has nothing to do with curiosity1 frivolousness1 general benefit1 edifying effect c4 ,it should1 although in the service of the higher purposes of life1 determine nothing except facts1 endeavouring to find out their causal nexus4 ,the work must be done in a critical1 unprejudiced spirit4 ,the governing principle which rules here is this1--that the cause corresponds to the effect1--that is to say1 that like events presuppose the same conditions1 or1 that under the same circumstances of civilization the like events will occur4 ,now1 as it is a probable assumption that the nature of men and of society undergoes no change by the advance of time1 or no considerable change1 a living comprehension of the present is the best means of investigating the past4 ,that which is fully known and is under our very eyes permits us to form retrospective conclusions in regard to the less fully known events of an earlier time3 it promises even a glance into the future4 ,in every instance1 therefore1 tradition must be tested by the present2 and if it tells us of things which are impossible now1 we must for that very reason doubt its truth4 ,past and ,present are as like one another as two drops of water4 ,if understood absolutely1 that might have been said even by ,ibn ,roshd4 ,but according to ,ibn ,khaldn it is only quite generally valid as a principle of research4 ,in detail it suffers many a limitation2 and in any case it has itself to be established by facts4 #e4 ,what then is the subject of ,history as a philosophical discipline8 ,ibn ,khaldn answers that it is the ,social life1--the collective1 material and intellectual culture of ,society4 ,history has to show how men work and provide themselves with food1 why they contend with each other and associate in larger communities under single leaders1 how at last they find in a settled life leisure for the cultivation of the higher arts and sciences1 how a finer culture comes into bloom in this way out of rude beginnings1 and how again this in time dies away4 ,the forms of ,society which replace one another are1 in the opinion of ,ibn ,khaldn2 #a7 ,society in the ,nomad condition2 #b7 ,society under a ,military ,dynasty2 and #c7 ,society after the ,city type4 ,the first question is that of food4 ,men and nations are differentiated by their economical position1 as nomads1 settled herdsmen1 agriculturists4 ,want leads to rapine and war1 and to subjection to a monarch who will lead them4 ,thus dynastic authority is developed4 ,this again founds for itself a city1 where division of labour or mutual assistance produces prosperity4 ,but this prosperity leads to degenerate idleness and luxury4 ,labour has in the first place brought about prosperity2 but now1 at the highest stage of civilization1 men get others to labour for them1 and often without any direct equivalent1 because regard or even servility to the upper classes1 and extortionate treatment of the lower1 secure success4 ,but1 all the same1 men are coming to depend upon others4 ,needs are always growing more clamant1 and taxes more oppressive4 ,rich spendthrifts and tax-payers grow poor1 and their unnatural life makes them ill and miserable4 #bj ,the old warlike customs have been refined away1 so that people are no longer capable of defending themselves4 ,the bond1--formed by a sense of belonging to one community1 or the bond of ,religion1--by the help of which the necessity and the will of the chief knit the individual members together in older days1 is relaxed1 for the citizens are not pious4 ,everything1 therefore1 is ready to break up from within4 ,and then appears a new and powerful nomad race from the desert1 or a people not so greatly over-civilized1 but possessed of a firmer public spirit2 and it falls upon the effeminate city4 ,thereafter a new ,state is formed1 which appropriates the material and intellectual wealth of the old culture1 and the same history is repeated4 ,it fares with ,states and the larger associations of men1 just as with single families3 their history is brought to a close1 in from three to six generations4 ,the first generation founds2 the second maintains1 as perhaps the third or even farther generations also do2 the last demolishes4 ,that is the cycle of all civilization4 #f4 ,according to ,august ,mller the theory of ,ibn ,khaldn is in conformity with the history of ,spain1 ,west ,africa and ,sicily1 from the eleventh to the fifteenth century1--from the study of which1 in fact1 it was taken4 ,his own historical work is a compilation1 it is true4 ,in detail he is often at fault1 when he criticizes tradition with the help of his theory2 but there is an abundance of fine psychological and political observation in his philosophical ,introduction1 and as a whole it is a masterly performance4 ,the ancients never dealt thoroughly with the problem of ,history4 ,they have bequeathed to us great works of art in their historical compositions1 but no philosophical establishment of ,history as a ,science4 ,that mankind1 though existing from all eternity1 long failed to attain to much of the higher civilization1 was explained by elementary occurrences1 such as earthquakes1 floods1 and the like4 ,on the other hand ,christian philosophy regarded ,history with its vicissitudes as the realization of1 or the preparation for1 the kingdom of ,god upon the earth4 ,now ,ibn ,khaldn was the first to endeavour1--with full consciousness and in a statement amply substantiated1--to derive the development of human society from proximate causes4 ,the conditions of race1 climate1 production of commodities1 and so on1 are discussed1 and are set forth in their effect upon the sensuous and intellectual constitution of man and of society4 ,in the course which is run by civilization he finds an intimate conformity to ,law4 ,he searches everywhere for natural causes1 with the utmost completeness which was possible for him4 ,he also asserts his belief that the chain of causes and effects reaches its conclusion in an ,ultimate ,cause4 ,the series cannot go on without end1 and therefore we argue that there is a ,god4 ,but this deduction1 as he calls it1 properly means this1--that we are not in a position to become acquainted with all things and the manner of their operation3 it is virtually a confession of our ignorance4 ,conscious ignorance is even a kind of knowledge2 but knowledge should be pursued1 as far as possible4 ,in clearing the way for his new science1 ,ibn ,khaldn considers that he has merely indicated the main problems1 and merely suggested generally the method and the subject of the science4 ,but he hopes that others will come after him to carry on his investigations and propound fresh problems1 with sound understanding and sure knowledge4 ,ibn ,khaldn's hope has been realized1 but not in ,islam4 ,as he was without forerunners1 he remained without successors4 ,but yet his work has been of lasting influence in the ,east4 ,many ,muslim statesmen who1 from the fifteenth century onwards1 drove so many a ,european sovereign or diplomatist to despair1 had studied in our philosopher's school4 #b4 ,the ,arabs and ,scholasticism4 #a4 ,to the victor belongs the bride4 ,in the wars which were waged in ,spain between ,christians and ,muslims1 the former had often come under the influence of the attractions of ,moorish fair ones4 ,many a ,christian knight had celebrated 8the nine-days' religious rite0 with a ,moorish woman4 ,but besides material wealth and sensual enjoyment1 the charm of intellectual culture had also its effect upon the conqueror4 ,and ,arab ,science thus presented the appearance of a lovely bride to the eyes of many men who felt their want of knowledge4 ,it was the ,jews especially who played the part of matchmakers in the transaction4 ,the ,jews had participated in all the transformations of ,muslim intellectual culture3 many of them wrote in ,arabic1 and others translated ,arabic writings into ,hebrew2 not a few philosophical works by ,muslim authors owe their preservation to the latter circumstance4 ,the development of this ,jewish study of philosophy culminated in ,maimonides 7#aace-abjd71 who sought1 chiefly under the influence of ,farabi and ,ibn ,sina1 to reconcile ,aristotle with the ,old ,testament4 ,in part he expounded the doctrines of philosophy from the text of revelation1 and in part he restricted the ,aristotelian philosophy to what belongs to this earth1 while a knowledge of that which is above it1 had to be gained from the ,word of ,god4 ,in the various ,muslim ,states1 at the time when they were most flourishing1 the ,jews had shewn an interest in scientific work1 and they had not only been tolerated1 but even regarded with favour4 ,their position1 however1 was altered1 when those ,states were together overthrown1 and when the decline of their civilization ensued4 ,expelled by fanatical mobs they fled for refuge to ,christian lands1 and particularly to ,southern ,france1 there to fulfil their mission as the disseminators of culture4 #b4 ,the ,muslim world and the ,christian world of the ,west came into contact at two points1--in ,lower ,italy and in ,spain4 ,at the court of the ,emperor ,frederick ,,ii in ,palermo1 ,arab science was eagerly cultivated and made accessible to ,latinists4 ,the ,emperor and his son ,manfred presented the ,universities of ,bologna and ,paris with translations of philosophical works1 partly rendered from the ,arabic1 and partly direct from the ,greek4 ,of much greater importance and influence1 however1 was the activity of translators in ,spain4 ,in ,toledo1 which had been re-captured by the ,christians1 there existed a rich ,arabic ,mosque-library1 the renown of which1 as a centre of culture1 had penetrated far into the ,christian countries of the ,north4 ,arabs of mixed lineage and ,jews1 some of them converts to ,christianity1 worked together there1 along with ,spanish ,christians4 ,fellow-workers were present from all countries4 ,thus co-operated as translators1 for example1 ,johannes ,hispanus and ,gundisalinus 7first half of the twelfth century71 ,gerard of ,cremona 7#aaad-aahg71 ,michael the ,scot and ,hermann the ,german 7between #abdj and #abdf74 ,we are not yet in possession of sufficiently detailed information regarding the labours of these men4 ,their translations may be called faithful1 to the extent that every word in the ,arabic original1 or the ,hebrew 7or ,spanish87 version has some ,latin word corresponding to it2 but they are not generally distinguished by an intelligent appreciation of the subject matter4 ,to understand these translations thoroughly is a difficult thing1 for one who is not conversant with ,arabic4 ,many ,arabic words which were taken over as they stood1 and many proper names1 disfigured beyond recognition1 flit about with the air of ghosts4 ,all this may well have produced sad confusion in the brains of ,latinist students of ,philosophy2 and the thoughts1 which were being disclosed afresh1 had themselves at least an equally perplexing tendency4 ,the activity of translators kept pace generally with the interest shewn by ,christian circles1 and this interest followed a development similar to that which we had occasion to observe in ,eastern and ,western ,islam 7cf4 ,,vi1 #a #b74 ,the earliest translations were those of works on ,mathematical ,astrology1 ,medicine1 ,natural ,philosophy1 and ,psychology1 including ,logical and ,metaphysical material4 ,as time went on1 people restricted themselves more to ,aristotle and commentaries upon him2 but1 at first1 a preference was shewn for everything that met the craving for the marvellous4 ,kindi became known chiefly as a physician and an astrologer4 ,ibn ,sina produced a notable effect by his #8,medicine'1 and his empirical psychology1 and also by his ,natural ,philosophy and his ,metaphysics4 ,compared with him1 ,farabi and ,ibn ,baddja exercised a less considerable influence4 ,lastly came the ,commentaries of ,ibn ,roshd 7,averroes72 and the reputation which they gained1 along with that which was secured by ,ibn ,sina's ,canon of ,medicine1 has been longest maintained4 #c4 ,what then does the ,christian ,philosophy of the ,middle ,ages owe to the ,muslims8 ,the answer to this question lies properly outside the scope of the present monograph4 ,it is a special task1 which necessitates the ransacking of many folios1 none of which ,i have read4 ,in general terms it may be affirmed that in the translations from the ,arabic a twofold novelty was disclosed to the ,christian ,west4 ,in the first place men came to possess ,aristotle1 both in his ,logic and in his ,physics and ,metaphysics1 more completely than they had hitherto known him4 ,but still this circumstance was only of passing importance1 though stimulating for the moment1 for erelong all his writings were translated much more accurately1 direct from the ,greek into ,latin4 ,the most important result1 however1 was--that from the writings of the ,arabs1 particularly of ,ibn ,roshd1 a peculiar conception of the ,aristotelian doctrines1 as constituting the highest truth1 came to the knowledge of men4 ,this was bound to give occasion for contradiction1 or for compromise1 between theology and philosophy1 or even for denial of the ,church's creed4 ,thus the influence of ,muslim ,philosophy upon the scholastic development of ,church dogma was partly of a stimulating1 partly of a disintegrating character2 for1 in the ,christian world1 philosophy and theology were not yet able to proceed side by side in an attitude of mutual indifference1 as doubtless happened in the case of ,muslim thinkers4 ,christian ,dogmatic had adopted too much ,greek ,philosophy already in the first centuries of its development1 to admit of such an attitude3 it could even assimilate a little more4 ,it was therefore relatively easier to get the better of the simple teachings of ,islam than the complicated dogmas of ,christianity4 ,in the twelfth century1 when the influence of the ,arabs commenced to operate in that field1 ,christian ,theology exhibited a ,neo-,platonic1 ,augustinian character4 ,that character continued to be kept up with the ,franciscans1 even in the thirteenth century4 ,now the ,pythagorean-,platonic tendency1 in ,muslim thought1 harmonized well with this4 ,ibn ,gebirol 7,avencebrol1 v4 ,,vi1 #a #b7 was1 for ,duns ,scotus1 an authority of the first rank4 ,on the other hand1 the great ,dominicans1 ,albert and ,thomas1 who decided the future of the doctrine of the ,church1 adopted a modified ,aristotelianism1 with which a good deal out of ,farabi1 but especially out of ,ibn ,sina and ,maimonides1 agreed quite well4 ,a more profound influence emanates from ,ibn ,roshd1 but not till about the middle of the thirteenth century1 and1 in fact1 in ,paris1 the centre of the ,christian scientific education of that time4 ,in the year #abef ,albertus ,magnus writes against ,averroes2 and fifteen years later ,thomas ,aquinas controverts the ,averroists4 ,their leader is ,siger of ,brabant 7known from #abff71 member of the ,parisian ,faculty of ,arts4 ,he does not shrink from the rigorous1 logical results of the ,averroist system4 ,and just as ,ibn ,roshd censures ,ibn ,sina1 so ,siger criticizes the great ,albert and the saintly ,thomas1 although in terms of the utmost respect4 ,it is true that he asseverates his submission to ,revelation2 but still1 his reason confirms what ,aristotle1--as he is expounded1 in doubtful cases1 by ,ibn ,roshd1--has taught in his works4 ,this subtle intellectualism of his1 however1 does not please the theologians4 ,at the instance of the ,franciscans1 it would seem1 who perhaps wished also to strike at the ,aristotelianism of the ,dominicans1 he was persecuted by the ,inquisition1 till he died in prison at ,orvieto 7circa #abha-abhd74 ,dante1 who possibly knew nothing of his heresies has placed ,siger in ,paradise as the representative of secular wisdom4 ,the two champions of ,muslim ,philosophy1 on the other hand1 he met with in the vestibule of the ,inferno1 in the company of the great and wise men of ,greece and ,rome4 ,ibn ,sina and ,ibn ,roshd there end the series of the great men of heathendom1 towards whom succeeding ages1 like ,dante1 have so often lifted up their eyes in admiration4 ,,notes #a ,s4 ,munk1 8,mlanges de ,philosophie juive et arabe01 ,paris #ahei4 #b ,carra de ,vaux1 8,avicenne01 ,paris #aijj4 #c ,translator's ,note3 ,in this version the transliteration has been adapted as far as possible to ,english sounds4 #d ,cf4 ,snouck ,hurgronje1 8,mekka01 ,,ii1 p4 #bbh sq4 #e ,job ,,xxxviii4 #f ,gen4 ,,xv3#e4 #g ,the dialogue has received this name from the circumstance that during the conversation ,aristotle holds in his hand an apple1 the smell of which keeps awake what remains of his vital powers4 ,at the close1 his hand drops powerless1 and the apple falls to the ground4 #h ,farther1 an epitome of the of ,proclus1 was held even in later times to be a genuine work of ,aristotle's4 #i ,examples of both methods occur1 but usually ,qiyas is equivalent to ,analogy4 ,however1 in the philosophical terminology which owes its origin to the ,translators1 ,qiyas always stands for 1 while is rendered by the ,arabic mithl4 #aj ,cf4 ,snouck ,hurgronje in ,,zdmg1 ,,liii p4 #aee4 #aa ,for this the ,mystics introduced a sixth sense4 #ab ,ascetics were called ,sufis1 from their coarse woollen garment1 or ,sf4 #ac ,v4 ,rckerts ,uebers4 d4 ,makamen ,,ii1 p4 #bai4 #ad ,translator's note4--#8,john of ,leyden'4 #ae ,cf4 my ,article 8,on ,kindi and his ,school0 in ,stein's #8,archiv fr ,geschichte der ,philosophie ,,xiii'1 p4 #aec sqq41 from which ,i have taken over1 without much alteration1 not a little that appears in this chapter4 #af ,translator's note4--,the ,bagdad ,caliphate lasted up to the death of ,mustassim 7,a4,h4 #fef or ,a4,d4 #abeh71 i4e4 for #djj ,mohammedan years after ,a4,h4 #bef or ,a4,d4 #hgj4 #ag ,the ,arabic aql 77 is usually translated by ,reason and ,intelligence 7,lat4 intellectus and intelligentia74 ,i prefer however the rendering1 ,geist1 ,spirit or ,mind1 because the expression includes ,god and the pure 7separate7 spirits of the spheres4 ,moreover it is hard to decide how far the personification of ,reason was carried by individual thinkers4 #ah ,translator's note4--,accordingly ,ibn ,sina's ,five ,internal ,senses are3 ,a4 ,the ,general or ,co-ordinating ,sense2 #b4 ,memory of the ,collective sense-images2 #c4 ,unconscious ,apperception1 referring to individuals2 #d4 ,conscious ,apperception1 with generalization2 #e4 ,memory of the higher apperceptions4 #ai 8,averrois1 che'l gran comento feo0 ,canto ,,iv4 #bj ,ibn ,khaldn speaks only of rich people who have grown poor1 and says nothing of the misery of the proletariate1 and that which prevails in large cities1 as we know it4 ,he lived too in smaller cities1 for the most part1 and till late in life admired ,cairo from a distance4