History of Philosophy

Philosophy of the Near East

Andalusian Philosophy

The Iberian Peninsula, now modern Spain, emerged as a significant center for the development and dissemination of philosophy, known as Andalusian philosophy.

• The first notable figure in Andalusian philosophy was Ibn Masarra (883-931), whose teachings represented another attempt to integrate Neoplatonism and Gnosticism into Islamic thought. Ibn Masarra, consistent with Muslim thinkers, emphasized the transcendence of God. His concept of the "first matter" differs from Aristotle's materia prima and Plotinus' One. For Ibn Masarra, the first matter is the undetermined principle of all existence, not to be equated with the undetermined nature of Plotinus' One. However, while transcendence belongs to God, the first matter is a creation of God. From this first matter, which is the seed of all being, emanates the Intellect, which defines and realizes it. From the Intellect emanates the World Soul, which contains the principles of the existence of things. From the Soul emanates the second matter—the common substrate for all things. Ibn Masarra’s philosophy was a specific interpretation of Neoplatonism and Gnosticism and was considered heretical by orthodox Islam, leading to severe criticism from Muslim theologians. Like the Gnostics, Ibn Masarra’s followers presented their doctrine as an esoteric teaching, accessible only through initiation.
• Ibn Hazm (994-1064) was the greatest popularizer of Platonism within the Muslim cultural milieu. He adopted Plato's theory of androgynes, which posits that humans originally possessed both sexes, thus being androgynes. At some point, humans were divided, and since then, they have constantly sought their other half. Only when this half is found does one attain happiness. For Ibn Hazm, love is the sensation that arises when one finds their other half and feels a natural inclination to restore the original unity. Ibn Hazm believed that androgyny pertains to souls, which entered human bodies already divided. Hence, humans seek to restore spiritual unity rather than physical. Ibn Hazm is renowned as the first, at least in the Islamic world, to attempt a comprehensive classification of world religions and to establish criteria for their analysis. He divided people into unbelievers, who failed to find God, and believers, whom he further divided into monotheists and polytheists. Among monotheists, he distinguished between those who possess the book of complete Divine revelation and those who have lost it. Thus, Muslims, possessing the book of revelation, are considered to have the most perfect religion.
• Ibn Tufayl (circa 1110-1185) presented his philosophical views in the novel "Hayy ibn Yaqzan," meaning "Alive, son of the One Who Watches." In this novel, he narrates the story of an island inhabited by ordinary people, among whom two individuals stand out: Salaman, a man of practical intellect who becomes a political and religious ruler striving to improve people’s lives, and Absāl, a woman inclined towards mysticism and introspection. She differed sharply from the islanders, leading to her ostracism and relocation to another island. On this new island lived only one person—Hayy ibn Yaqzan, a mystic who appeared in a wondrous manner and lived a solitary life. Hayy achieved mystical contact with the Active Intellect, from which he acquired wisdom. When Hayy and Absāl came together, she informed him of the people on her former island and their distance from the fullness of truth. Hayy, eager to assist the islanders, journeyed there with Absāl. Initially, they were ceremoniously welcomed, but when they began to speak of truth, the people, unwilling to abandon their familiar way of life, despised them. They were forced to return to their uninhabited island and continue their solitary existence. Ibn Tufayl's novel reveals the tension between the crowd and truth, suggesting that a mystic and true philosopher is always alone, misunderstood by the masses who live by different values.
• A prominent figure in Andalusian philosophy was Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), known as Averroes.
• He believed that the Quran could be interpreted on multiple levels: literal and allegorical. The literal meaning is accessible to everyone and forms the basis of popular piety, while understanding the allegorical meaning requires significant intellectual effort, attainable by few. This doctrine is known as the theory of double truth. Philosophy and religion differ not in content but in the level of profundity.
• Averroes' second major task was the interpretation of Aristotle’s works. In this endeavor, he was the most diligent among Muslim thinkers. Averroes wrote commentaries on numerous Aristotelian treatises. Medieval Christian thinkers commonly referred to Aristotle as "The Philosopher" with a capital letter, while Averroes was known as "The Commentator." Without needing to specify their names, it was understood that "The Philosopher" was Aristotle and "The Commentator" was Averroes. Averroes believed that Aristotle was so brilliant that no new philosophical insights could be made beyond him; philosophers could only comment on Aristotle. He sought to purify Aristotelianism from Platonism and, based on this position, criticized Avicenna and other Muslim philosophers.
• A significant step taken by Averroes that distanced him from Avicenna and Eastern philosophy, aligning him more closely with Aristotle, was his interpretation of the concept of the Active Intellect. For Avicenna, the Active Intellect is a realm of being that surpasses the material and human worlds and is the source of forms for all existing things. Avicenna posited that matter needs external forms for its organization, a notion closer to Plato than Aristotle. Averroes, in contrast, as a faithful Aristotelian, argued that matter potentially contains forms and actualizes them as it moves toward the Absolute. Consequently, in Averroes’ philosophy, the Active Intellect as a source of forms is unnecessary. For Averroes, the Active Intellect is not something beyond humans but one aspect of the individual human intellect; it exists within rather than above humans.
• Averroes expressed several heretical ideas from the perspective of Islam, including the belief that matter is eternal and that the creation of the world is an ongoing process rather than a one-time event. Each human soul is mortal, and immortality is a feature of humanity as a whole.

While Avicenna’s ideas flourished in Muslim Asia, Averroes' ideas faded into obscurity. Even his original Arabic works have barely survived. Averroes' treatises were preserved by Jews who had an extensive diaspora on the Iberian Peninsula. It was the Jews, through translating and copying Averroes' works, who conveyed them to Western European medieval philosophers, among whom Averroes had a profound impact. This influence was twofold: on one hand, Latin Averroists adopted his heretical ideas and attempted (though unsuccessfully) to develop them; on the other, Averroes' works attracted Christian philosophers to Aristotle’s corpus so significantly that, by the mature Middle Ages, Aristotelianism became the foundation, form, and language of philosophy and theology.