Philosopher

al-Kindi

c. 800 – c. 870 CE

Also known as Alkindus, Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi

The first self-identified philosopher in the Arabic tradition, who worked with translators of Greek philosophy and argued that philosophy and revelation agree.

Handwritten page of a Latin manuscript headed “Alkyndus de radiis” — Not a likeness: the opening of De radiis (“On Rays”), a Latin work attributed to al-Kindi, in a 17th-century manuscript. Trinity College, Cambridge.Trinity College Library, Cambridge (via BEIC) · Public domain · See the original

We must not be ashamed to admire the truth or to acquire it, from wherever it comes.

On First Philosophy, section 1, translated by Peter Adamson

Al-Kindi worked in Baghdad under the Abbasid caliphs, alongside a circle of translators who rendered Aristotle, Neoplatonic writers and Greek mathematicians and scientists into Arabic. Their translations included the so-called Theology of Aristotle, in fact drawn from Plotinus, and many of al-Kindi’s own treatises were letters to members of the caliph’s family.

His thought blends Aristotle with Neoplatonism. He wrote on metaphysics, the soul, mathematics, optics and music, and argued that philosophy, the search for truth, supports the teachings of Islam: in On First Philosophy he argues that the world is not eternal but was created.

Key ideas

Truth from wherever it comes: “We must not be ashamed to admire the truth or to acquire it, from wherever it comes”, even from “far-flung nations and foreign peoples”. Al-Kindi used this principle to welcome Greek philosophy into Arabic thought.
God as the true One: First philosophy is knowledge of God, “the first truth and the cause of all truth”. Al-Kindi argued for a simple “true One” that causes the unity, and so the very being, of everything else.
The world had a beginning: Against Aristotle and most Greek philosophers, and drawing on arguments from Philoponus, al-Kindi argued that the world is not eternal but has a beginning in time.
Mathematics as method: Mathematics was fundamental to al-Kindi’s philosophical method. He applied it wherever he could, from geometry in optics to the theory of compound drugs and music.

Tradition: Arabic and Islamic
Region: Baghdad
Period: Classical Islamic
Themes: Faith and reason

Influences

Influenced by

al-Kindic. 800 – c. 870 CE

Influenced by

al-Kindic. 800 – c. 870 CE

Key works

On First Philosophy (Fi al-falsafa al-ula)

Sources

Peter Adamson, al-Kindi, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy