Philosopher
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
1149–1210
Also known as Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi
Theologian and philosopher who tested every argument of Avicenna's system in turn, and whose critical commentaries set the agenda for later Islamic thought.
I have not yet arrived at the realization of the truth about time, so let your expectation from this book be a thorough examination and report of whatever can possibly be said [about time] from all points of view.
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi was born in Rayy, near modern Tehran, the son of an expert in Ash’arite theology and Shafi’i law, who gave him his first training. He travelled widely across Persia and Central Asia in search of patrons and opponents, served the rival courts of the Khwarazm-Shahs and the Ghurids, and died in Herat. His output was vast: law, theology, astrology and one of the most important commentaries on the Qur’an, as well as long philosophical works.
His central project was a critical response to Avicenna, whom he treated as the chief representative of philosophy. His line-by-line commentary on Avicenna’s Pointers and Reminders seems to be the first such commentary on an Arabic philosophical work. Unlike al-Ghazali, he did not treat the philosophers as heretics, but welcomed Avicenna’s challenge and tested every part of his thought. On time and place he followed the earlier Abu Bakr al-Razi, from his own city. His reorganisation of logic and metaphysics shaped much of later Islamic philosophy.
Key ideas
- Testing every position
- Fakhr al-Din set out arguments for and against every position that could be held on a question, whether or not anyone had held it, making himself the judge of debates between philosophy and theology. Often he ended with only a tentative verdict.
- No real definitions
- Reviving Meno’s paradox, he argued that we cannot learn what things are by defining their essences. A definition such as “rational animal” only explains what we already meant; our basic knowledge is simply given to us.
- Essence before existence
- Against Avicenna, existence is the same in everything that exists, God included. What makes God unique is His essence, which implies its own existence, not a special kind of existence.
- Knowing is a relation
- To perceive Zayd is to stand in a relation to Zayd himself, not to hold an image of him in the mind. This let Fakhr al-Din argue that God knows changing particular events without changing in Himself.
- Ethics grounded in pleasure
- Pleasure is good and pain bad, and this is the basic norm. God’s commands are justified because He promises pleasure to those who obey, and where there is no command we should do what is beneficial, that is, what brings us most pleasure.
- Tradition
- Arabic and Islamic
- Region
- Persia and Central Asia
- Period
- Classical Islamic
Influences
Influenced by
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi1149–1210
Influenced
Influenced by
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi1149–1210
Influenced
Where these links come from
- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi drew on Abu Bakr al-Razi. Source: Peter Adamson and Fedor Benevich, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi drew on and argued against Avicenna. Source: Peter Adamson and Fedor Benevich, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi drew on al-Ghazali. Source: Peter Adamson and Fedor Benevich, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Ibn Taymiyya argued against Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. Source: Jon Hoover, Ibn Taymiyya, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- Eastern Investigations (al-Mabahith al-mashriqiyya)
- Commentary on the Pointers and Reminders (Sharh al-Isharat)
- Exalted Topics of Inquiry (al-Matalib al-'aliya)
- The Great Commentary on the Qur’an (Mafatih al-ghayb)
Sources
- Peter Adamson and Fedor Benevich, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy