al-Kindi

Agora

al-Kindi

c. 801–873

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

Greek philosophy and the Qur’an lead to the same truth, so Muslims should welcome reason and learn from the Greeks.

Placement

Philosophy in the Islamic World · West Asia & North Africa · Metaphysics, Religion, Science

“Philosopher of the Arabs” and the first major philosopher writing in Arabic: in the Baghdad of the translation movement he worked with translators of Greek texts and argued that truth should be welcomed from whatever source.

Key ideas

Compatibility of reason and revelation

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Influence

Influenced by 4

Aristotle

influenced by
Al-Kindi’s circle translated Aristotle’s Metaphysics, and his On First Philosophy took up its idea of a science of first causes while arguing against the world’s eternity. al-Kindi, On First Philosophy, tr. A. L. Ivry, Al-Kindi’s Metaphysics (1974); P. Adamson, Al-Kindi (2007); SEP “al-Kindi”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Aristotle › 384–322 BCE
Plotinus

influenced by
The Arabic paraphrase of Plotinus known as the Theology of Aristotle was made in al-Kindi’s circle and corrected by him; its account of the One shaped his metaphysics. P. Adamson, The Arabic Plotinus (2002); P. Adamson, Al-Kindi (2007); SEP “al-Kindi”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Plotinus › 204–270
Proclus

influenced by
Al-Kindi’s circle produced Arabic adaptations of Proclus’ Elements of Theology, among them the source of the Book of Causes, and his account of the One reflects them. C. D’Ancona, Recherches sur le Liber de causis (1995); P. Adamson, Al-Kindi (2007)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Proclus › 412–485
John Philoponus

influenced by disputed
Al-Kindi’s arguments that the world and time must be finite resemble Philoponus’ proofs against eternity; transmission through Arabic sources is likely but disputed. H. A. Davidson, “John Philoponus as a Source of Medieval Islamic and Jewish Proofs of Creation”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 89 (1969); SEP “al-Kindi”
Evidence: AI draft
John Philoponus › c. 490–570

Influenced 2

Isaac Israeli

influenced ✓
Isaac Israeli took many of the definitions in his Book of Definitions, among them those of philosophy, from al-Kindi’s treatise on definitions, and followed his Neoplatonic Aristotelianism, departing from it on the emanation of each stage as the “shadow” of the higher. SEP “Isaac Israeli” (L. Levin, R. D. Walker, S. Sadik); A. Altmann and S. M. Stern, Isaac Israeli (1958)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Isaac Israeli › c. 855–955
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

influenced disputed ✓
Avicenna built on the Arabic Neoplatonic Aristotle shaped in al-Kindi’s circle, including the Theology of Aristotle; a direct influence of al-Kindi himself is disputed. P. Adamson, The Arabic Plotinus (2002); P. Adamson, Al-Kindi (2007); SEP “al-Kindi”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata · InPhO
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) › 980–1037

Works

c. 840On First Philosophy
The first treatise of Arabic metaphysics: philosophy as the search for truth from whatever source, arguments that the world cannot be eternal, and God as the True One beyond all description.

Position

Al-Kindi was the first major philosopher writing in Arabic and was honoured as “the philosopher of the Arabs”. He argued that truth should be welcomed from wherever it comes, even from foreign peoples, and that philosophy and prophetic revelation agree. In his metaphysics God is the “True One”, the cause of all being and unity. Unlike later Aristotelians, he argued that the world cannot be eternal but was created in time. His treatises on the intellect and on dispelling sorrow, which draws on Stoic ideas, brought Greek concepts into Arabic and shaped its philosophical vocabulary; al-Farabi and Avicenna built on other foundations.

Life & context

Born around 801 in Kufa into a prominent Arab family, al-Kindi worked in Baghdad under the Abbasid caliphs al-Ma’mun and al-Mu’tasim, at the height of the translation movement that brought Greek science into Arabic. He supervised translations, tutored a caliph’s son and wrote on mathematics, optics, medicine and music. Under al-Mutawakkil he lost favour; he died around 873.