3. 1. While philosophy, art and science lingered for a long time in its development in
the West, it bloomed in the East owing to the merit of their thinkers.
Arabic philosophy noticeably influenced on the development of West European
philosophical conception. The power of the Arabs strengthened after the religious and
national integration of nomadic Arab tribes in the era of Prophet Muhammad (569-
632). In the end of XV century Arab Caliphate was bigger than the former Roman
Empire. There was a rise of production, science and culture, a significant revival of trade
in the Muslim world that covered a vast territory from Spain to Turkestan.
4. Islam was not just a religion. It regulated almost
all the aspects of the Muslim life. With 622 began the
calculus of the Muslim calendar. Muslim culture was
rich and complex.
There was a development of science in the Arab world from VIII to XII
centuries: trigonometry, algebra, later optics, psychology, then astronomy,
chemistry, geography, zoology, botany and medicine. Gradually it acquired
religious and philosophical approach. Ancient philosophy was saved close to
Islamic culture.
5. 2. Greek philosophical texts were translated into
Arabic
Al-Kindi was considered as first Muslim philosopher, the merits of
whom was the formulation of philosophical Arabic vocabulary, as well as
rethinking of Greek philosophy in terms of the Arab doctrines.
6. 3. Al-Farabi continued al-Kindi’s line and
laid the foundation of Peripatetic school in
Islam. It should be noted that al-Kindi, al-Farabi,
Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd represent the first
fundamental school in Islamic philosophy,
which was called Peripatetic school. Aristotle’s
progeny was Abu Nasr al-Farabi (870-950), who
was born in Otrar. He studied all known at that
time fields of knowledge. In the first place, there
was philosophy, and especially logic. His
comments to all the basic logical works of
Aristotle are known. The philosophers of the
East called al-Farabi “Muallim Al-Thani” that
means the second teacher. They called Aristotle
the first teacher. Al-Farabi wrote more than
hundred works on philosophy and natural
sciences.
7. 4. Arabic philosophy adopted Plato and Aristotle’s ideas from Greeks, developed as
well as deepened it further.
Arabic words became a part of Western lexicon, for example, "arsenal",
"accident", "admiral", "tariff" etc. The term "algorithm" was derived from the
Latinized name of al-Khwarizmi-Algoritmi, "algebra" from the word "aldzhebr".
Even more, in this period Arabic language was considered as the language of
science.
The West returned to Greek philosophy through Arabic translations.
8. 5. The famous scientist and philosopher Abu Ali ibn Sina
(Latinized name is Avicenna), who is considered as the first
physician-astrologer in the history of the mankind, presented to
European scientists first systematic Aristotelian form. He was born
in the suburbs of Bukhara in 980, an ethnic Tajik.
Many of his works were translated into Latin in the second part
of XII century. His most known work is “The Healing book” in 18
volumes that include logic, rhetoric, physics, metaphysics, etc. It
was the first grand synthesis in classical culture, which gave impulse
to the scientific development of the whole of Western philosophy.
The treatise of Ibn Sina "Canon of Medicine" had become a
handbook for doctors of both the West and the East for five
centuries.
9. 5. Ibn Rushd (1126-1196)
(Latinized name is Averroes) was from
Cordoba the heart of Muslim Spain,
where Arab culture, especially
philosophy, experienced perhaps the
most fruitful period of its development
over eight centuries. Averroes was
theologian, lawyer, mathematician and
philosopher. At the same time Averroes
was a great medical scientist standing on
a level with such great physicians like
Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna.
If it is true that philosophy and
religion taught the truth, then the
differences between them are not the
main concern. If not, it is necessary to
expound religious text in the
requirements of reason, because truth is
one, and it is reasonable. Averroes
claimed that there is no double truth.
10. Sufism (from Arabic Suf - wool, Sufi - wearing a woolen cloak) is religious-
mystical doctrine of Islam, which appeared in VIII-IX centuries. Asceticism and
extreme mysticism take the central position in Sufism. The ultimate goal of life in
Sufism is mystical union of the soul with God, with the removal of the entire earth.
Outstanding representatives of Sufism were al-Ghazali (1059- 1111), the Central
Asian Sufi philosopher Alayar, H.A. Yassaui and others.
11. "It was the Arabs, who taught and educated, and not just, as is often
believed were the mediators between the Greek and the Latin world" as Arabs
have taught Europeans to understand the philosophical texts (Koyre A. Essays on
the history of philosophical thought. M., 1985.p.52).
Greco - Arabic science delved into to the West in all its independence from
the Christian tradition in the second part of the XII century.
Many thinkers (for example, D. Vico) introduced the Middle Ages as a deep
gulf between the ancient and the new rise of the West - the Renaissance.