Al-Kindi on building on the work of those before us

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

Challenges for 2016

Last year I've run two official half-marathons and a 10k run, all of them organized by BSI. One half-marathon and the 10k took place in Budapest, which proved to be a wonderful setting for running: wide roads, fascinating architecture, enthusiastic supporters, and a huge turnout. The third race took place at lake Balaton, at the end of October. Lovely race, lots of fun. The wind was a bit cold and when we ran on the shore the waves sprayed some water on us, but hey, who cares, we were already soaking wet from sweat.

This year the challenge will be a full marathon. I'll start preparing next week and as usual I'll use one of BUPA's training plan, this time the beginners marathon one. I would normally go for the intermediate plan, but I didn't do much running between December and April, so I think it will be best to go for a safe training.

At the same time I've also decided to try and read at least 25 books this year - or in what's remaining of it. I'm not really sure how many books I read each year. Suggestions on what would be good to read are welcome! You can go and check out my shelf here. It doesn't have everything, but covers a good deal of what I've been reading in the last years.

At the moment I'm reading - parallel as usually - Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, Sidney Giffard's Japan Among the Powers 1890-1990, and P. Adamson's A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy in the Islamic World.