Ibn Bajja was an influential 12th century Andalusian philosopher born in Spain who later moved to North Africa where he died. His philosophy centered around two key concepts: conjunction, which is the union of the human soul with the divine realm through knowledge, bringing happiness and completion; and solitude, which is separating oneself from an ignorant society once achieving conjunction. He was an important figure as one of the first in the West to deeply understand the views of philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, al-Farabi and Ibn Sina, serving as a link between Eastern and Western thought.

1. Ibn Bajja, (1138 AD)
Ibn Bajja (or Avempace in the West), was born in Saragossa, Spain,
died in Fez in North Africa in ah 537/ad 1138.
Ibn Bajja's philosophy may be summed up in two words;
(conjunction) and (solitude).
Conjunction is union with the divine realm, a union that reveals the eternal
and innermost aspects of the universe. Through this union or knowledge, one is
completed as a human being, and in this completion the ultimate human end,
happiness, is achieved.
Solitude, on the other hand, is separation from a society that is lacking in
knowledge. Once united with the eternal aspects of the universe, one must isolate
oneself from those who are not in the same state, who may therefore distract one
from the supernatural realm through their ignorance and corruption.

2. Ibn Bajja was the teacher of Ibn Rushd(Averroes).
His prominence was the result of his being the first in the West to show deep
understanding of the views of some of his predecessors, such
as Plato, Aristotle, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina and al-Ghazali.
Thus he served as a link between the East and the West.
His works include medical works, commentaries on Aristotle and al-Farabi and
original philosophical treatises.
The most important of these treatises are
Tadbir al-mutawahhid (Management of the Solitary), .
He was concerned with the ultimate human objective.
To understand the ultimate human objective and the instruments through
which it is attained.

3. Ibn Bajja first traces the development of the human soul, the only means to
conjunction.
The human soul, he believes, develops from the plant to the animal and finally to
the rational life.
The plant life is the embryonic life, which provides one with nourishment and
growth.
With the progress from the plant to the animal life, which is the sensitive life, one
moves from mere vegetation to sensation, movement and desire.
Sensation is acquired either by the five external senses or by the internal senses,
the common sense, the imagination and memory.
By acquiring thought, or the highest human state, one rises to the level of rational
speculation.
While the human soul incorporates these three states, human nature or essence
as such is described as 'aql (reason or intellect).

4. Ibn Bajja teaches that the intellect is either potential or actual.
When it is potential, it has the capacity for acquiring its proper object, the
intelligible form (as-sura al-'aqliyya) or,
as Ibn Bajja is fond of calling it, the spiritual form (as-sura ar-ruhaniyya), the form
that belongs to the soul. When it is actual, it is identified with its object.