The influence of al-ghazali and ibn sina on descartes

The influence of Al-Ghazali and Ibn Sina on Descartes*
Nazeem Goolam, Associate Professor, Department of Jurisprudence, University of South Africa In this article the author maintains that it is necessary to engage in a renewal of thought outside the European/Western tradition and to reappraise the contribution of Islamic legal thought to European legal philosophy. After brief bibliographicalsurveys of Al-Ghazali (1058±1111), Ibn Sina (980±1037) and Descartes (1596±1650) and an outline of Descartes' theory of knowledge, the author poses the question: To what extent was Descartes' famous proposition `I think, therefore I am' influenced by Al-Ghazali and Ibn Sina? He questions the originality of Cartesian thought and proceeds to demonstrate that the primary ideas in Descartes' theory ofknowledge, namely (1) the method of doubt and scepticism, (2) dualism and (3) the existence of God were directly influenced by the two Islamic scholars who preceded him by some 500 years, namely Ibn Sina and Al-Ghazali. Ithonya lika-Al-Ghazali no-Ibn Sina kuDescartes Kulo mbhalo umbhali ubeka ukuthi kuyadingeka ukuthi kuke kubhekwe imicabango emisha engaphandle kosiko lwaseYurophu/lwaseNtshonalanga, futhi kubuye kuhlolisiswe umnikelo owenziwa yimicabango yezomthetho yamaSulumani kuleyo ndlela abaseYurophu ababona ngayo ezomthetho. Ngemuva kophenyo olufushane lwemibhalo ka-Al-Ghazali (1058±1111), eka-Ibn Sina (980±1037) nokohlaka lwethiyori yolwazi kaDescartes, umbhali ubeka lo mbuzo: Ngabe isiphakamiso esidumile sikaDescartes esithi AI think, therefore I am@, sithonyeke kangakananiyimisebenzi ka-Al-Ghazali noIbn Sina? Ubuzisisa ngomsuka wendlela yokubuka izinto, olandela imibono kaDescartes, abeseqhubeka ekhombisa ukuthi imi-

ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ * Abridged version of a paper delivered at the Southern African Society of Legal Historians Conference, Stellenbosch University, 15±17 January 2003. The author wishes to thank Unisa's Research Committee for the research grant in 2002 whichenabled him to conduct this research at the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University and the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

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bonongqangi kule thiyori yolwazi kaDescartes, okuyile, (1) indlela elandelwayo mayelana nokungabaza nokungakholwa kahle ngokuthile, (2) ukuba nezinhlangothi ezimbili kokuthile, kanye (3) nokuba khona kukaNkulunkulu, yathelelwa ngqo yilezi zaziezimbili zamaSulumani ezeza ngaphambi kwakwe ngeminyaka engama-500, okungu-Ibn Sina no-Al Ghazali. 1 Introduction At the dawn of the twenty-first century, it is necessary to engage in a renewal of thought outside the European/Western tradition and to reappraise the contribution of Islamic legal thought to European legal philosophy and law. In an article published a few years ago and entitled `Islamicinfluences on European legal philosophy and law' the influence of the great intellectual activity of Islamic Spain in the eleventh and twelfth centuries on medieval Western Europe, focusing particularly on the impact of Ibn Rushd's (1126±1198) Aristotelian commentaries on the thinking of St Thomas of Aquinas1 was discussed. In that article, briefly overviewing the history and development of Islamicthought, it was stated that [t]he Persian Abu Ibn Sina (980± 1037), known as Avicenna in the West, is [regarded as] the most notable Islamic philosopher of the Middle Ages. Although some of his works are in Persian, he wrote mainly in Arabic. His greatest philosophical work, the Kitab al-Shifa (Book of Healing), translated into Latin as Liber Sufficientiae, exercised an important influence throughindependent circulation of its sections

on, inter alia, metaphysics and further had a powerful effect on Christian philosophy in the 13th century.2 On the transmission of knowledge from the Islamic world to Europe, Weeramantry was quoted as follows: Some great translators, such as the Italian Gerard of Cremona who lived in Toledo, translated as many as 71 scientific treatises from Arabic into...