Abu-Yusuf Yaqub
ibn-Ishaq al-Kindi
|
Portrait of Al-Kindi |
|
|
Born |
c. 801 Kufa, Abbasid Caliphate (now
in Iraq) |
|
Died |
c. 873 (aged approximately
72) Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate (now in Iraq) |
|
Era |
Islamic Golden Age |
|
Region |
Islamic philosophy |
|
School |
·
Aristotelianism[1] |
|
Main
interests |
Philosophy, Islamic theology, logic, ethics, mathematics, physic theory, Islamic theology (kalam) |
Abu-Yusuf Yaqub ibn-Ishaq al-Kindi (died 873) was the first
significant Arabian philosopher to utilize and develop the philosophical
conceptions of Greek thought. His work significantly affected the intellectual
development of western Europe in the 13th century.
A great achievement of medieval Islamic civilization was the
development of a philosophical tradition that preserved and expanded upon many
of the important elements of Greek learning and outshone the contemporary
philosophical and scientific knowledge of Christian Europe.
Al-Kindi and later Arabian philosophers, such as al-Farabi,
Avicenna, Avempace, and Averroës, benefited from the missionary zeal of the
Hellenistic Mutazilite movement, which, in the 9th century, encouraged the
study of Greek philosophy and logic to combat the Moslem heretics who affirmed
either a Gnostic or a Manichaean dualism. Arabian philosophy, as it developed
from the 9th to the 12th century, was basically Neoplatonic in structure and
incorporated large portions of Aristotelian philosophy, along with elements of
Islamic theology that were not directly incompatible with Greek thought.
Generally ignored and sometimes attacked by the more
conservative forces in Islamic religion and society, the writings of al-Kindi
and his successors made an enormous impact upon scholastic philosophy in the
West. Europe initially became acquainted with the majority of the philosophical
and scientific concepts of Aristotle through the mediation of Arabian
philosophy.
Court
Scholar
Al-Kindi was born at Al Kufa (in modern Iraq) on the Euphrates in the early years of the 9th century. Most of his life he lived in that region, at Basra, and, eventually, at Baghdad until he died in
873. At that time Baghdad was the cultural and political capital of Islam, and in his studies al-Kindi became acquainted with the philosophy and science of India as well as of Greece. He studied Hindu works that had been translated into Arabic by way of Persian, and Greek works that had been translated by way of Syriac. Al-Kindi undertook some translations, at least from the Syriac into Arabic, and his thought always reflected an eclectic tendency to reconcile different philosophies.
Throughout
most of his career al-Kindi held a position as court scholar in Baghdad. He
acted as tutor to the son of al-Mutasim (reigned 833-842), dedicating several
works to his young pupil. Under the conservative caliph al-Mutawakkil (reigned
847-861), however, al-Kindi was disgraced and his position at court terminated.
Little is known of his later life. He seems to have continued his work as a
private scholar until his death.
Arabian
Philosopher
As the first outstanding Arabian scholar, al-Kindi received the honorific title Faylasuf al-Arab (the philosopher of the Arabs). His works are extensive in both number and subject. He composed in Arabic well over 300 treatises and translations. Primarily an encyclopedist, he wrote not only on philosophy and logic but also on arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, meteorology, optics, medicine, politics, and music. Medieval Europe was familiar with only a portion of his writings, the most important
being On the
Intellect and What Is Understood, On Sleep and Vision, On the Five Essences,
Introduction to the Art of Logical Demonstration, The Theory of the Magical
Arts, and The Agent in the Proper Sense and in the Metaphorical
Sense.
On the Intellect,
the
most influential of these works, was written to clarify Aristotle's distinction
between that portion of the intellect that receives knowledge (the possible
intellect) and that portion of the intellect that causes knowledge by
reproducing intelligible objects (the active, or agent, intellect). The agent
intellect al-Kindi considered to be a spiritual being or substance distinct
from the human soul and outside the individual person.
Following
the precedent of Alexander of Aphrodisias, al-Kindi thus identified the agent
intellect of Aristotle with the last of the Neoplatonic Intelligences that
emanate from God to effect and sustain creation. This concept of one separate
agent intellect for all men remained a major tenet of the Arabian philosophers.
It explained human knowledge as a product of outside stimulation and, inasmuch
as the human personality and soul were strongly dependent upon the active
reason, it implied a denial of personal survival after death.
The Theory of the Magical Arts, the second most important
work of al-Kindi, has even stronger Neoplatonic elements. It describes a
celestial harmony based on an emanation of light and being from God. Each part
of the universe reflects the order of the whole.
It was possibly in the
context of the Neoplatonic interest in light rays that al-Kindi explored the
field of optics. In a work translated as De aspectibus, he discussed the passage of light in a
straight line and the effect of a looking glass on the process of vision. In a
treatise on sky color, he discussed the effect of dust and vapor.
The works of al-Kindi set the foundation for the achievements of Arabian philosophy and science. Later scholars adopted his belief that mathematics was the basis of science. The type of questions raised and the explanation of Aristotelian concepts in Neoplatonic terms established a pattern for later Arabian philosophers. Although not the most famous thinker in Islamic philosophy, al-Kindi began a movement of great importance in both European and Islamic civilizations.
Biography
Al-Kindi was born and brought up in Kufa, which was a centre for
Arab culture and learning in the 9th century. This was certainly the right place for al-Kindi
to get the best education possible at this time. Although quite a few details (and
legends) of al-Kindi's life are given in various sources, these are
not all consistent. We shall try to give below details which are fairly well
substantiated.
According to [3], al-Kindi's father was the governor of Kufah, as his grandfather
had been before him. Certainly all agree that al-Kindi was descended from the
Royal Kindah tribe which had originated in southern Arabia. This tribe had
united a number of tribes and reached a position of prominence in the 5th and 6th centuries
but then lost power from the middle of the 6th century.
However, descendants of the Royal Kindah continued to hold prominent court
positions in Muslim times.
After beginning his education in Kufah, al-Kindi moved to
Baghdad to complete his studies and there he quickly achieved fame for his
scholarship. He came to the attention of the Caliph al-Ma'mun who was at that
time setting up the "House of Wisdom" in Baghdad. Al-Ma'mun had won
an armed struggle against his brother in 813 and became Caliph in
that year. He ruled his empire, first from Merv then, after 818, he ruled from Baghdad where he had to go to put down an
attempted coup.
Al-Ma'mun was a patron of learning and founded an academy
called the House of Wisdom where Greek philosophical and scientific works were
translated. Al-Kindi was appointed by al-Ma'mun to the House of Wisdom together
with al-Khwarizmi and the Banu Musa brothers. The main task that
al-Kindi and his colleagues undertook in the House of Wisdom involved the
translation of Greek scientific manuscripts. Al-Ma'mun had built up a library
of manuscripts, the first major library to be set up since that at Alexandria,
collecting important works from Byzantium. In addition to the House of Wisdom,
al-Ma'mun set up observatories in which Muslim astronomers could build on the
knowledge acquired by earlier peoples.
In 833 al-Ma'mun died and
was succeeded by his brother al-Mu'tasim. Al-Kindi continued to be in favour
and al-Mu'tasim employed al-Kindi to tutor his son Ahmad. Al-Mu'tasim died in 842 and was succeeded by al-Wathiq who, in turn, was succeeded
as Caliph in 847 by al-Mutawakkil.
Under both these Caliphs al-Kindi fared less well. It is not entirely clear
whether this was because of his religious views or because of internal
arguments and rivalry between the scholars in the House of Wisdom. Certainly
al-Mutawakkil persecuted all non-orthodox and non-Muslim groups while he had
synagogues and churches in Baghdad destroyed. However, al-Kindi's.
... lack
of interest in religious argument can be seen in the topics on which he wrote.
... he appears to coexist with the world view of orthodox Islam.
In fact most of al-Kindi's philosophical writings seem designed to show that he believed that the pursuit of philosophy is compatible with orthodox Islam. This would seem to indicate that it is more probably that al-Kindi became .
... the
victim of such rivals as the mathematicians Banu Musa and the astrologer Abu Ma'shar.
It
is claimed that the Banu Musa brothers caused al-Kindi to
lose favour with al-Mutawakkil to the extent that he had him beaten and gave
al-Kindi's library to the BanuMusabrothers.
Al-Kindi was best known as a philosopher but he was also a
mathematician and scientist of importance [3]:-
To his
people he became known as ... the philosopher of the Arabs. He was the only
notable philosopher of pure Arabian blood and the first one in Islam. Al-Kindi
"was the most leaned of his age, unique among his contemporaries in the
knowledge of the totality of ancient scientists, embracing logic, philosophy,
geometry, mathematics, music and astrology.
Perhaps,
rather surprisingly for a man of such learning whose was employed to translate
Greek texts, al-Kindi does not appear to have been fluent enough in Greek to do
the translation himself. Rather he polished the translations made by others and
wrote commentaries on many Greek works. Clearly he was most influenced most
strongly by the writings of Aristotle but the influence of Plato, Porphyry and Proclus can also be seen in al-Kindi's
ideas. We should certainly not give the impression that al-Kindi merely
borrowed from these earlier writer, for he built their ideas into an overall
scheme which was certainly his own invention.
Al-Kindi wrote many works on arithmetic which included manuscripts
on Indian numbers, the harmony of numbers, lines and multiplication with
numbers, relative quantities, measuring proportion and time, and numerical
procedures and cancellation. He also wrote on space and time, both of which he
believed were finite, 'proving' his assertion with a paradox of the infinite.
Garro gives al-Kindi's 'proof' that the existence of an actual infinite body or
magnitude leads to a contradiction in . In his more recent paper [8], Garro formulates the informal axiomatics of al-Kindi's paradox
of the infinite in modern terms and discusses the paradox both from a
mathematical and philosophical point of view.
In geometry al-Kindi wrote, among other works, on the theory
of parallels. He gave a lemma investigating the possibility of exhibiting pairs
of lines in the plane which are simultaneously non-parallel and
non-intersecting. Also related to geometry was the two works he wrote on
optics, although he followed the usual practice of the time and confused the
theory of light and the theory of vision.
Perhaps al-Kindi's own words give the best indication of
what he attempted to do in all his work. In the introduction to one of his
books he wrote (see for example [1]):-
It is
good ... that we endeavour in this book, as is our habit in all subjects, to
recall that concerning which the Ancients have said everything in the past,
that is the easiest and shortest to adopt for those who follow them, and to go
further in those areas where they have not said everything ...
Certainly
al-Kindi tried hard to follow this path. For example in his work on optics he
is critical of a Greek description by Anthemius of how a mirror was used to set
a ship on fire during a battle. Al-Kindi adopts a more scientific approach (see
for example :-
Anthemius
should not have accepted information without proof ... He tells us how to
construct a mirror from which twenty-four rays are reflected on a single point,
without showing how to establish the point where the rays unite at a given
distance from the middle of the mirror's surface. We, on the other hand, have
described this with as much evidence as our ability permits, furnishing what
was missing, for he has not mentioned a definite distance.
Much
of al-Kindi's work remains to be studied closely or has only recently been
subjected to scholarly research. For example al-Kindi's commentary on Archimedes' The measurement of the circle has only received careful attention as recently as the 1993 publication [] by Rashed.
References
- J Jolivet,
R Rashed, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific
Biography (New York 1970-1990).
- G N Atiyeh,
Al-Kindi : The philosopher of the Arabs (Karachi, 1966).
- A A
al'Daffa, The Muslim contribution to
mathematics (London, 1978).
- J Jolivet,
L'Intellect selon Kindi (Leiden, 1971).
- P G
Bulgakov and A A Ahmedov, al-Biruni and al-Kindi on the theory of
parallels (Russian), Obshchestv. Nauki v Uzbek. 8 (1977), 30-36.
- E Craig (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of
Philosophy 5 (London-New York, 1998), 250-252.
- I Garro,
al-Kindi and mathematical logic, Internat. Logic Rev. No. 17-18 (1978), 145-149.
- I Garro,
The paradox of the infinite by al-Kindi, J. Hist. Arabic Sci. 10 (1-2) (1994), 111-118, 143.
- M Moosa,
Al-Kindi's role in the transmission of Greek knowledge to the Arabs, J. Pakistan Hist. Soc. 15 (1967), 3-18.
- R Rashed,
al-Kindi's commentary on Archimedes' The measurement of the circle, Arabic Sci. Philos. 3 (1) (1993), 7-53.
- R Rashed,
Le commentaire par al-Kindi de l'Optique d'Euclide : un traité jusqu'ici
inconnu, Arabic Sci. Philos. 7 (1) (1997), 3, 5, 9-56.
- S M Stern,
Notes on al-Kindi's treatise on definitions, J. Royal Asiatic Soc. (1-2) (1959), 32-43.
