PREFACE.
I. INTRODUCTION.
II. PHILOSOPHY AND ARAB KNOWLEDGE.
III. THE PYTHAGOREAN PHILOSOPHY.
IV. THE NEO-PLATONIC ARISTOTELIANS OF THE EAST.
V. THE OUTCOME OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE EAST.
VI. PHILOSOPHY IN THE WEST.
VII. CONCLUSION.
PREFACE.
The
following is the first attempt which has been made, since the
appearance of Munk’s excellent sketch,
to present in connected form a History of Philosophy in Islam. This
work of mine may therefore be regarded as a fresh initiation,—not a
completion of such a task. I could not know of all that had been
done
by others, in the way of preliminary study in this field; and when
I
did know of the existence of such material, it was not always
accessible to me. As for manuscript assistance, it was only in
exceptional cases that this was at my disposal.Conforming
to the conditions which I had to meet, I have in the following
account refrained from stating my authorities. But anything which I
may have taken over, nearly word for word or without testing it, I
have marked in foot-references. For the rest, I deeply regret that
I
cannot duly indicate at present how much I owe, as regards
appreciation of the sources, to men like Dieterici, de Goeje,
Goldziher, Houtsma, Aug. Müller, Munk, Nöldeke, Renan, Snouck
Hurgronje, van Vloten, and many, many others.Since
the completion of this volume an interesting monograph on Ibn
Sina has
appeared, which farther extends
[VIII]its survey
over the earlier history of Philosophy in Islam. It gives rise to
no
occasion, however, to alter substantially my conception of the
subject.For
all bibliographical details I refer the reader to “die
Orientalische Bibliographie”, Brockelmann’s “Geschichte der
Arabischen Litteratur”, and Ueberweg—Heinze’s “Grundriss der
Geschichte der Philosophie” II3,
p. 213 sqq.
In the transcription of Arabic names I have been more heedful of
tradition and German pronunciation, than of consistency. Be it
noted
only that z
is to be pronounced as a soft
s, and
th like the
corresponding English sound.
In the Index of Personal Names, accents signify length.As
far as possible I have confined myself to Islam. On that ground Ibn
Gebirol and Maimonides have received only a passing notice, while
other Jewish thinkers have been entirely omitted, although,
philosophically considered, they belong to the Muslim school. This,
however, entails no great loss, for much has been written already
about the Jewish philosophers, whereas Muslim thinkers have
hitherto
been sadly neglected.Groningen
(Netherlands).T. J.
de Boer.
[IX]1
S. Munk, “Mélanges
de Philosophie juive et arabe”,
Paris 1859. ↑2
Carra de Vaux, “Avicenne”,
Paris 1900. ↑3
[Translator’s
Note: In this
version the transliteration has been adapted as far as possible to
English sounds.] ↑
