Al- Kindi

Kindi, Al- 

(full name, Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi). Born about 800 in Basra; died about 870 in Baghdad. Arabian philosopher and scientist. Founder of eastern Peripateticism (Aristotelianism); known as the philosopher of the Arabs.

Kindi took part in translating and writing commentaries on the works of Greek philosophers and scholars during the reign of the Caliph al-Mamun. He absorbed Aristotle’s philosophy as it was interpreted by the Athenian school of neoplatonism. Holding that the classification of the sciences was the basis of philosophy, Kindi sought to comprehend the totality of the knowledge of his time. He wrote a great many treatises (in the tenth century 240 titles were known, and over 40 tracts have been preserved) on metaphysics, logic, ethics, mathematics, the classification of sciences, astrology, medicine, the theory of music, optics, meteorology, and alchemy. Kindi’s works were widely read in medieval Western Europe.

WORKS

Rasa’il al-Kindi, vols. 1–2. Edited by M. Abu Ridah. Cairo, 1950–53.
In Russian translation:
In the collection Izbr. proizv. myslitelei stran Blizhnego i Srednego Vostoka. Moscow, 1961. Pages 37–132.

REFERENCES

Sagadeev, A. V. “Novye publikatsii traktatov al’-Kindi.” Narody Azii i Afriki, 1964, no. 1.
Abu Ridah, M. Rasail al-Kindi al-falsafiyyah, vol. 1. Cairo, 1950.
Atiyeh, G. N. Al-Kindi: the Philosopher of the Arabs. Rawalpindi, 1966.
Rescher, N. Al-Kindi: An Annotated Bibliography. Pittsburgh, 1964.

A. V. SAGADEEV