Philosophy · Medieval & Early Modern Philosophy
A topic within Medieval & Early Modern Philosophy, itself one of 12 topics in that field and part of Philosophy.
No prior grounding assumed.
Hayy ibn Yaqzan
Ibn Tufail · 1160
A boy raised alone on a desert island reasons his way from observing nature to mystical knowledge of God without any teacher or revealed text,…
Primary sources and full treatments.
The Incoherence of the Philosophers
Al-Ghazali · 1095
Attacks twenty theses of the Aristotelian philosophers, including the eternity of the world and the denial of bodily resurrection, arguing that even…
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Ibn Tufail
A boy raised alone on a desert island reasons his way from observing nature to mystical knowledge of God without any teacher or revealed text, arguing that philosophical and religious truth arrive at the same destination by different roads.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Al-Ghazali
Attacks twenty theses of the Aristotelian philosophers, including the eternity of the world and the denial of bodily resurrection, arguing that even causation is only God's habitual practice rather than a logical necessity — the book Averroes later wrote a point-by-point rebuttal to.
link failing as of 17 Sept 2026Averroes
Defends the philosophers point by point against al-Ghazali's Incoherence of the Philosophers, arguing that reason and Aristotelian philosophy are compatible with Islamic faith rather than a threat to it.
link checked 17 Sept 2026