About The Book

Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185) was an Andalusian courtier, philosopher, Sufi master, and royal physician to the Almohad Caliphs. He inspired the twelfth-century Andalusian revolt against Ptolemaic astronomy and sponsored the career of the most renowned Aristotelian of medieval times, Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd (the Latin Averroes). Ibn Tufayl was an exemplar of the kind of versatile scholar early Almohad culture wanted to cultivate.

In this thought provoking and concise account, Taneli Kukkonen explores the life and thought of Ibn Tufayl and assesses the influence and legacy of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, Ibn Tufayl's famous philosophical romance. Hayy Ibn Yaqzan became a popular and often-copied work in early modern Europe; it has since secured a place as one of the best read pieces in all Arabic literature, partly due to its outstanding literary qualities, in part because it provides an ideal introduction to the themes and preoccupations of classical Arabic philosophy. The study sets Hayy in its historical and philosophical context and paints a vivid portrait of the world as Ibn Tufayl saw it and as he wished for it to be seen.

CONTENTS

Preface

Hayy Ibn Yaqzan: An overview

1 LIFE AND TIMES

The Almohad Revolution
A New Intellectual Order
The Caves of Guadix
The Medical Tradition
In Royal Service
Sufi, Musicologist, Medical Author
Sponsor

2 HAYY

Hayy: A Synopsis
An Architectural Design
Hayy's Theme
Pointers and Reminders
The Spiral Path
Authority and Authentication
Harmony and Hierarchy

3 ISLAND LIFE

The Island
The Perfect Climate
From Ceylon to Mali
The Twice-born Child
History or Drama
Seeing with One's Own Eyes
Beginning from the Beginning
Experience and Art
The Limits of Skill

4 NATURE

Taking in the World
Structure and Scaffolding
Suspended between Worlds
Natures and Powers
Forms and Universals
Synthesis and Analysis
Matter
The Elements
The Heavenly Spheres

5 SOUL

Living Nature
Vital Heat
The Vehicle of the Soul
The Spirit which is God's
Diffusion and Suffusion
Plurality and Unity
The Human Distinction
The Science of the Soul

6 THREE DUTIES

Finitude and Transcendence
Two Worlds
Ought from Is
Three Lives
The Conservation Principle
Kinship with the Heavens
Leaving the World Behind

7 GOD

Unveiling the Mysteries
From Asceticism to Mysticism
Tasting the Truth
Theological Precepts
Like Knowing Like
Annihilation and Restoration
Faces and Names
The "Eastern Wisdom”
Sensation and Intellection
Arrival

8 RELIGION

Religion and Society
Asal and Salaman
Language and Reality
Modeling Perfection
Re-entering the Cave
Human Weakness
Morality and Scripture
Mortality and Revelation

9 AFTERLIFE

Arabic Margins
Hebrew Echoes
Early Modern Success
The "Robinson” Question
Orientalist Ideas
Back to Ibn Tufayl
 
Bibliography
Index

About The Author

Taneli Kukkonen has held appointments at the universities of Victoria, Jyväskylä, and Otago. He is currently Visiting Associate Professor in Philosophy at New York University Abu Dhabi. He has published widely on topics in Arabic philosophy and the Aristotelian tradition.