At the moment I'm reading bits and pieces on Arabic philosophy/Philosophy in the Islamic world, and I happened to stumble upon these lines by Al-Kindi:
"The truth requires that we do not reproach anyone who is even one of the causes of small and meagre benefits to us (...) Though deficient in some of the truth, they have been our kindred and associates in that they benefited us by the fruits of their thought, which have become our approaches and instruments, leading to much knowledge of that the real nature of which they fell short of obtaining. (...) When, though, the little which each of them who has acquired the truth is collected, something of great worth is attained." Al-Kindi - 'On First Philosophy'
This is as fine an example of appreciative belittling and/or realistic assesment as it can get. Al-Kindi goes on in similarly entertaining style until he gets down to the real issue, which is that one should take the unity of God seriously, and take a largely Aristotelian, metaphysics-first (and even within that: Aristotelian causation-first) approach. In Al-Kindi's view, others have assumed the title of 'philsoopher' without much justification, and only in order to gain religious infuence. Whatever the truth, it is very entertaining to read.
Here is a nice discussion on Al-Kindi that aired on BBC Radio 4.
Al-Kindi depicted on a Syrian post stamp. Source
No comments:
Post a Comment