al-Kindii

al-Kindii Abu Yusuf, in Latin, Alkindus (c.800– 70), Arab philosopher who was an early and prominent supporter of philosophical studies among the Muslims. He combined a noble Arab lineage with an influential position in the caliphate during a critical period for the translation and propagation of Greek sciences in Arabic. Known as ‘the philosopher of the Arabs,’ he more than any other scholar of his generation was responsible, as a patron, book collector, editor, and writer, for the acceptance of philosophy, despite its foreign and non-Islamic Greek source. Later writers surpassed him in knowledge of philosophy, and his numerous epistles, treatises, and books were eventually left in limbo. Of the 250 titles recorded in his name on an unusual variety of subjects, most are lost. About forty survive in a poor state, full of uncertain readings and other textual problems. Nevertheless, al-Kindi’s works provide ample evidence of his close interest in Aristotle and to an extent Plato. Unlike later philosophers in the Islamic world, he firmly believed he could combine literal Koranic religious doctrines and Greek philosophical concepts. Among his best-known philosophical works is On First Philosophy (English translation by A. Ivry, 1974), whose theme is that the noblest part of philosophy is first philosophy, which is knowledge of the First Truth and the First Cause. Al-Kindi includes an extended demonstration of the finiteness of the universe, time, and motion and the consequent infinitude of a creator who was their cause, who is the pure unity that is the ultimate source of all else and yet who, in al-Kindi’s mind, brings the world into being ex nihilo. In On the Number of Aristotle’s Books, he separates prophetic knowledge from ordinary, discursive philosophy: prophets know intuitively without effort or time. See also ARABIC PHILOSOPH. P.E.W.

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