Scholasticism and Arabian Influence

Medieval Arabic philosophy was a major influence on the academic development of the western Scholasticism. How were these ideas that brought Europe out of the dark ages formed? The influence of Arab philosophy and Aristotelianism are intertwined, as knowledge of the ancient world was reinterpreted for the medieval world on the cusp of enlightenment.

Fig. 1: Medieval European Scholars

Influence of Arab Scholasticism

From 1100 through 1700 Scholasticism dominated European intellectual life. Based upon dialectical reasoning, Europeans now sought to discern truth through logic and reasoning combined with traditional dogma. Going back to the ninth century, Europeans had been rediscovering the lost philosophical works of the ancient Greek world. Although this was initially fueled largely by the Irish, who held the greatest repositories of this knowledge in Europe, hunger for information caused Europeans to cast a wider net. They found what they were looking for in the Arab world.

It was in the 12th century that these Arab materials allowed Europeans greater access to preserved Greek thinking. There was one major issue, though. Arabic was very distinct from Latin, which the European scholars read and write. Difficulties in parsing exact meanings were created as work had been translated from Greek into Arabic and then into Latin, occasionally with even more languages in the middle.

Within two centuries, Europeans would be more interested in locating Greek originals. That did not mean there was no more Arabic influence on scholasticism. The work that the Muslim thinkers had done on synthesizing ancient thought with a monotheistic worldview was important to later Christian writers. Additionally, various concepts of Arabic origin such as Arabic numerals proved essential to European academic development.

Medieval Arabic Scholasticism

Between the 8th and 12th centuries occurred the Islamic Golden Age. During this period, two critical concepts called Kalam and Falsafa entered Arab thought.

In the Abbasid Empire, many of the world's greatest intellectual works were assembled into a great library known as the House of Wisdom, in Baghdad. This period ended with the publication of the highly influential work The Incoherence of the Philosophers by al-Ghazali. He believed in strictly following Islam, ignoring any contradicting ideas presented by philosophers.

As the influence of al-Ghazali spread, the incredible scientific advances that were being made in the Arab world began to fade away.

Aristotelianism and Arab scholasticism

Translation projects that were undertaken by the Abbasid Empire during the ninth century preserved and made the works of Aristotle accessible to Arabic scholars. Overseen by Hunayn ibn Ishaq, the work had an immense influence on Arab and Muslim thought. Besides the works Eudemian Ethics, Magna Moralia, and Politics, almost all of Aristotle’s writings were included.

Three waves of thought followed as the works were digested by Muslim thinkers.

Fig. 2: Al-Kindi.

Al-Kindi

While Ishaq had been a Nestorian Christian in a largely Muslim society, his contemporary Al-Kindi took up the works of Aristotle in a Muslim context. Engaged directly in translating earlier Greek works into Arabic, Al-Kindi began the process of synthesizing Greek and Muslim thought. For 260 books, Al-Kindi popularized Aristotle and other Greeks with Muslim thinkers.

Avicennism

The acceptance of Aristotle’s ideas was widespread in the Muslim world. There was another notable thinker, Al-Farabi. He received the title of the “Second Teacher.” Aristotle himself was the first teacher that Al-Farabi’s title referenced. Learned in a staggering number of disciplines from math to music, Al-Farabi wrote commentaries that focused on placing the works of Aristotle in the context of the Sufi sect of Islam specifically.

His work blazed the trail for Avicenna, who was born in 980, 30 years after Al-Farabi’s death. The Avicennism school of thought would grow into one of the major strains of Islamic philosophy.

Fig. 3: Averroës.

Averroism

The next major synthesis of Aristotle and Muslim thought would occur in the eleventh century. The Averroism school of thought founded by Averroes would continue the development of Muslim thinking on Aristotle’s ideas. The influence of these ideas as developed by Averroes was even greater in the west than in the Muslim world.

Scholasticism and Arabic Philosophers

It was the work of two specific Arabic philosophers that made the greatest impact on Europe’s Scholastic thought. They were Avicenna and Averroes. These two thinkers bridged the gap between the thought of antiquity and the monotheistic beliefs of the medieval period.

Avicenna

Avicenna, whose Arabic name was Ibn Sīnā, was a Persian philosopher born in the year 980. He was the most well-known and important of Arabic philosophers and scientists. Distinguished from a young age, he memorized the Quran by the time he was 10 before learning logic and medicine by the age of 16. His abilities were tested when he cured the Sultan of Bukhara of an unknown illness. As a reward, the Sultan gave him access to the library of Sāmānid, furthering feeding his tremendous knowledge.

Fig.4: Avicenna

Beginning when he was only 21, Avicenna produced an extensive body of work that included 240 pieces of writing. His subject interests ranged from the hard scientific study of math, geometry, astronomy, and physics, to artistic subjects such as poetry and music.

Foremost among his works is The Book of Healing, known as Kitāb al-shifāʾ in the original Arabic, and available to Scholastics under the Latin title, Sufficientiae. The four-volume work was an encyclopedia covering logic, metaphysics, and scientific concepts. His conception of God as the First Cause of all things helped Scholastics to marry Christian thought to Aristotelian ideas.

Averroes

Averroes was the Latin name used to refer to the Arabic philosopher whose Arabic name was Ibn Rushd. Born in what is now Spain in 1126, Averroes was another influential commentator on older Greek works. Having served as both a judge and a physician to the caliph, he was an extremely well-educated individual.

It was the Caliph Abū Yaʿqūb who assigned Averroes to the task of writing a commentary on the works of Aristotle and Plato. From 1169 to 1195, he wrote summaries and commentaries aimed at illuminating the ancient works for an Arabic Muslim audience. His focus on reconciling Aristotle specifically with the religion of Islam may seem a strange choice of inspiration for Christian Europe, but proved to be a useful starting place for Scholastic thinkers.