al-Kindi, Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub ibn
Ishaq (d. c.866–73)
Practically unknown in the Western
world, al-Kindi has an honoured place in the Islamic world as the ‘philosopher
of the Arabs’. Today he might be viewed as a bridge between Greek philosophers
and Islamic philosophy. Part of the brilliant ninth-century ‘Abbasid court at
Baghdad, composed of literati of all types, he served as tutor for the caliph’s
son. He gained insights into the thought of Greek philosophers, especially
Aristotle, through the translation movement; although he did not make
translations himself, he corrected them and used them advantageously in his own
thought.
Al-Kindi is notable for his work on
philosophical terminology and for developing a vocabulary for philosophical
thought in Arabic, although his ideas were superseded by Ibn Sina in the
eleventh century. The debate about the allowability of philosophy in terms of
orthodox Islam also began with al-Kindi, a battle that is usually considered to
have been won for religion by al-Ghazali. Like other innovators, his ideas may
no longer appear revolutionary, but in his own day, to push for the supremacy
of reason and for the importance of a ‘foreign science’ – philosophy – as
opposed to an ‘Arab science’ – grammar, Qur’anic studies – was quite
astonishing. When the Khalif al-Mutawwakil came to power and sought to restore
traditionalism, al-Kindi suffered a reversal of fortunes.
Logic and translation
Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi
was an ethnic Arab (died in Baghdad between AH 252–60/AD 866–73), with an
illustrious lineage going back to such near-mythic Arabian families as Qays.
Al-Kindi was known as ‘the philosopher of the Arabs’ in contrast to the later
Islamic philosophers who, though Muslim, were not Arabs and often learned
Arabic as a second language. The early bio-bibliographers gave his ancestry and
a long list of works, many of which are no longer extant, but his personal life
remains unknown. Although he is remembered for introducing philosophy to the
‘Abbasid court, his skills covered many fields including medicine, mathematics,
music, astrology and optics. He also served as tutor to the son of the Khalif
al-Mu‘tasim. Al-Qifti, one of the medieval Islamic bio-bibliographers,
pointedly asserted that al-Kindi was skilled in the arts of the Greeks, the
Persians and the Hindus.
Al-Kindi used early,
Arabic-language translations of Greek philosophy, which enabled him to add part
of the Hellenistic tradition to his programme. The founding of the bayt
al-hikma (house of wisdom), for the large-scale translation of documents from
Greek, in the early ninth century meant both that the ‘foreign sciences’ were
available wholesale to Arabophone scholars and that there was serious interest
in the knowledge they contained. Al-Kindi was occasionally credited (in the
title inscription) with correcting the translation, but it is generally
accepted that he did not read Greek himself. The pursuit of ‘foreign sciences’
was also politically acceptable at this juncture, which ceased to be the case
later. A study of his terminology shows that al-Kindi was aware of particular
terms used in Hellenistic philosophy, and of which Arabic word best expressed
the same idea.
Al-Kindi may be thought of as a
stage-setter for philosophy in the Islamic world, laying out terms qua terms
and redirecting the metaphysical concerns suggested by the mutakallimun
(theologians) from the realm of religion to that of philosophy. His lack of
interest in religious argument can be seen in the topics on which he wrote.
These topics were ontological, but he generally refrained from eschatological
discussions on topics such as the resurrection, the last day and the last
judgment. Even in his ethical treatise he dealt with the disciplined life in
which a person might find interior serenity in their current life, rather than
an emphasis on reward in the hereafter. Scholars have sometimes thought of
al-Kindi as a Mu‘tazili sympathizer, but this has not been proved; he appears
rather to coexist with the worldview of orthodox Islam.
Al-Kindi’s work on definition is Fi
Hudud al-Ashya’ Wa-Rusumiha (On the Definitions of Things and their
Descriptions). Through the terms he chose to define – finitude, creation, the
first cause – we can see where the constructs of Islamic philosophy diverged
from their Greek predecessors. In the eleventh century the Kitab al-hudud (Book
of Definitions) of Ibn Sina replaced al-Kindi’s work; this was
considerably more advanced, both in its definitions and in its organization of
the world into a concise ontological schema.
Metaphysics
Al-Kindi’s best known treatise is
the metaphysical study, Fi al-Falsafa al-Ula (On First Philosophy).
Aristotelian influence can be seen in certain elements, such as the four
causes. However he is Aristotelian only up to a point. The point of divergence
is reached over the question of the origin of the world. Aristotle teaches the
eternity of the world; Al-Kindi propounds creation ex nihilo. The later
philosophers, such as al-Farabi, are usually considered to understand Aristotle
more accurately; they had the advantage of better translations and a greater
number of works. In Fi al-Falsafa al-Ula, al-Kindi described the first
philosophy, which is also the most noble and highest philosophy, as the
knowledge of the first truth, including the cause of every truth (the first
cause). The first cause is prior in time because it is the cause of time. By
the study of philosophy, people will learn the knowledge of things in reality,
and through this the knowledge of the divinity of God and his unity. They will
also learn human virtue. Throughout many of his treatises, al-Kindi emphasizes
the importance of the intellect (‘aql) and contrasts it with matter.
He also discusses the One Truth,
which is another name for God, and states that it does not have any attributes,
predicates or characteristics. This view is consonant with the Mu‘tazili
declaration of the unity of God as being strictly without attributes, and
consequently al-Kindi has sometimes been deemed to be a Mu‘tazili by scholars.
Other aspects of his position
include emphasis on the absolute unity of God, his power – particularly as
creator – and creation ex nihilo. The Eternal, that is God, is not due to
another; he has no cause and has neither genus nor species. There is no
‘before’ for the Eternal. The Eternal is unchanging, immutable and
imperishable. In human terms, death is the soul’s taking leave of the body,
which it employed during life. For al-Kindi, the intellect continues. Perhaps
the soul is primarily the locus of the intellect. He reiterated in his ethical
treatise the idea that humans must choose the world of the intellect over the
material world (see §3).
Al-Kindi differs from the
Hellenistic philosophical tradition primarily in espousing the belief that the
world was created ex nihilo. In Aristotelian metaphysics the Prime Mover set
the world in motion, but in the Hellenistic tradition, time and motion are
intrinsically linked. Matter set in motion is eternally existing, since it
exists before motion (and therefore before time). In this system, time is
defined as the extension of the series of movements. Thus time begins with
movement. In al-Kindi’s system, matter, time and movement are all finite, with
a beginning and a cessation at some future point. Other subjects that concern
al-Kindi can be seen from his titles, including Fi wahdaniya Allah wa
tunahiy jirm al-‘alam (On the Unity of God and the Limitation of the
Body of the World), and Fi kammiya kutub Aristutalis wa ma yahtaj ilahi
fi tahsil al-falsafa (The Quantity of the Books of Aristotle and What
is Required for the Acquisition of Philosophy).
In his philosophical writings,
al-Kindi does not so much direct arguments to the concerns of religion as avoid
them altogether, instead describing a parallel universe of philosophy. He
consistently tries to show that the pursuit of philosophy is compatible with
orthodox Islam. The mutakallimun had previously speculated on questions about
matter, atoms and substance, which he also considers. Another reason for the
claim that he was a Mu‘tazili was his persecution by the Khalif al-Mutawwakil,
who instigated a reactionary policy against the Mu‘tazili and a return to
traditionalism (see Ash‘ariyya and Mu‘tazila). Al-Kindi was caught in the
general net of the Khalif’s anti-intellectualism; the Kindian emphasis is
always on rationalism, an attitude which the orthodox establishment of a
revealed religion is bound to find inimical.
Ethics
Al-Kindi’s ethics and practical
philosophy are most discussed in a treatise Fi al-hila li-daf‘ al-ahzan
(On the Art of Averting Sorrows), of questionable authenticity. Fehmi Jadaane
(1968) argues that al-Kindi was strongly influenced by the Stoic tradition,
particularly the thought of Epictetus, which was known throughout the Islamic
world at the time through contact with Syriac Christian scholars, if not
through specific texts. Epictetus emphasized the importance of freedom from the
world and human beings’ status as agents, who through their ultimate
independence were responsible for their own happiness and independent of
others. His last logical step, however, was that suicide was permissible if
life was no longer worth living. This last idea is not repeated in al-Kindi.
Like the writings of the Stoics,
al-Kindi’s treatise, which is of the ‘consolation of philosophy’ type, exhorts
readers to concentrate on the life of the mind and the soul, not of the body
(see Stoicism). Al-Kindi says that human beings are what they truly are in the
soul, not in the body. Again, on the futility of looking for eternities in the
visible world, he says that whoever wishes for what is not in nature wishes for
what does not exist. The reader is admonished that unhappiness follows such an
attitude. In this treatise, al-Kindi advocates maintaining an internal balance
through the mechanism of the individual’s interior autonomy. If worldly
property becomes a concern and is then lost or damaged, this will upset an
individual’s mental equilibrium. Stoic ideas about the ephemeral nature of
earthly goods are recalled; al-Kindi warns against attachment to favourite
worldly goods, using an example from Plutarch’s On Moral Virtue. In that story,
Nero receives a gift of a gorgeous, elaborate crystal tent, with which he is
obviously smitten. A philosopher who is present in the crowd advises him that
he has already been impoverished through his keen attachment to this object. If
Nero were to lose it, the philosopher says, he will suffer because it is
irreplaceable. Later when the rare object is lost at sea during transport, Nero
is devastated. Scholars have argued that this treatise appears to be a mélange
of wisdom literature from various Hellenistic sources, with no ideas that sound
Kindian. Ibn Miskawayh refers to the ideas of al-Kindi in his treatise on
ethics, Tahdib al-akhlaq.
Some ethical remarks are contained
in other treatises. The virtues discussed in the treatise on definitions are
wisdom, courage and temperance. A reflection of each virtue which exists in the
soul is seen in the body. Virtue exists as a focal point between two extremes.
Bravery, for example, is both mental and physical; it is midway between
rashness and timidity.
Some reverberations of al-Kindi’s
thought also continued in the twelfth-century Christian Latin West, as certain
of his treatises were translated into Latin by the Scholastics, notably De
intellectu (On the Intellect). In the thirteenth century Giles of Rome
criticized ‘Alkindus’ with other philosophers in his work Errores philosophorum
(Errors of the Philosophers). Only a portion of al-Kindi’s work survives, so
judgment of him must necessarily be imperfect. However, al-Kindi’s influence
endured longer in the Western Islamic tradition than in the Eastern, as
reflected in the writings of the twelfth-century mystic Ibn al-‘Arabi. With
al-Kindi, who pursued reason against the background of revealed religion,
begins the Islamic philosophical tradition which continues with the works of
Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd.
List of works
- al-Kindi
(before 873) Rasa’il al-Kindi al-falsafiya (Philosophical Treatises of
al-Kindi), ed. M.A. Abu Ridah, 2 vols in 1, Cairo, 1953. (The standard
collection of al-Kindi’s treatises, with introductory notes in Arabic.
- al-Kindi
(before 873) Fi al-falsafa al-ula (On First Philosophy), ed. and trans. A.
L. Ivry, Al-Kindi’s Metaphysics: A translation of Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq
al-Kindi’s Treatise ‘On First Philosophy’, Albany, NY: State University of
New York Press, 1974. (A clear account of al-Kindi’s metaphysics with
English translation.)
- al-Kindi
(before 873) Risalah fi al-hilah li-daf‘ al-ahzan (On the Art of Averting
Sorrows), ed. and trans. H. Ritter and R. Walzer, ‘Uno scritto morale
inedito di al-Kindi’, Memorie della Reale Accademia nazionale dei Lincei,
Rome, Series VI, 8 (1), 1938, 47–62. (Text and Italian translation.)
- al-Kindi
(before 873) Fi hudud al-ashya’ wa-rusumiha (On the Definitions of Things
and their Descriptions), ed. M. A. Abu Ridah in Rasa’il al-Kindi
al-falsafiya, Cairo, 1953; trans. D. Gimaret in Cinq épîtres, Paris:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1976. (Al-Kindi’s treatise
on definitions.)
- al-Kindi
(before 873) Fi wahdaniya allah wa tunahiy jirm al-‘alam (On the Unity of
God and the Limitation of the Body of the World), ed. M. A. Abu Ridah in
Rasa’il al-Kindi al-falsafiya, Cairo, 1953. (Al-Kindi on the nature of
God.)
- al-Kindi
(before 873) Fi kammiya kutub Aristutalis wa ma yahtaj ilahi fi tahsil
al-falsafa (The Quantity of the Books of Aristotle and What is Required
for the Acquisition of Philosophy), ed. M. A. Abu Ridah in Rasa’il
al-Kindi al-falsafiya, Cairo, 1953. (Writings on Aristotle.)
References and further reading
- Gimaret,
D. (1976) Cinq Épîtres (Five Treatises), Paris: Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique. (An excellent French translation with commentary
of five treatises by al-Kindi. There are unfortunately very few English
translations of al-Kindi’s works.)
- Jadaane,
F. (1968) L’Influence du stoïcisme sur la pensée musulmane (The Influence
of Stoicism on Muslim Thought), Beirut: Dar el-Machreq. (An interesting
argument for Stoic, rather than merely Aristotelian and Neoplatonic
influence, on the Islamic philosophers.)
- Jolivet,
J. (1971) L’Intellect selon Kindi, Leiden: Brill. (A classic work:
extensive commentary and French translation of al-Kindi’s treatise on the
intellect.)
- Klein-Franke,
F. (1996) ‘Al-Kindi’, in S. H. Nasr and O. Leaman (eds) History of Islamic
Philosophy, London: Routledge, ch. 11, 165–77. (Account of the role of
al-Kindi as the first Muslim philosopher, and in particular the links
between his philosophy and contemporary theology and understanding of
Greek thought.)
- Moosa,
M. (1967) ‘Al-Kindi’s Role in the Transmission of Greek Knowledge to the
Arabs’, Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society 15 (1): 3–18. (Good
discussion of ‘The Quantity of the Books of Aristotle’.)
- Rosenthal,
F. (1940) Review article of ‘Uno scritto morale’, Orientalia IX: 182–91.
(An interesting review of the Ritter–Walzer treatise, still important
despite its age.)
- Stern,
S. M. (1959) ‘Notes on al-Kindi’s Treatise on Definitions’, Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society parts 1 and 2: 32–43. (Considered a classic.)
Source: Routledge Encyclopedia of
Philosophy site sampler/teaser.
