Alfarabius—Alpharabius—Abn Nasr Muhammed ... al Farabi—(A.D. 870–950), celebrated Arabian philosopher, native of Turkestan, one of whose most important works, “Liber de scientiis ...” is an encyclopædia, giving in five chapters a classification of all known sciences. It is said he could speak in as many as seventy languages (J. C. L. S. de Sismondi, “Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe,” London, 1846, Vol. I. p. 65). He was a most zealous student of Aristotle, and is one of the authors (Aristotle, Avicenna and Al-gazel being the others) from whom David the Jew compiled his work “De Causis.” Of the latter, Albertus gives a long description, and it is likewise cited both by Thomas Aquinas and Bacon, “Opus Majus,” J. H. Bridges, Oxford, 1897, Vol. I. pp. 100–101, who quotes: Jourdain, pp. 112, 138–145, 184–185, and Wüstenfeld, “Geschichte,” Göttingen, 1840.
References.—Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. I. p. 195; “Biog. Gen.,” Vol. I. pp. 951–952 and the references therein given; “New Int. Encycl.,” New York, 1902, Vol. I. pp. 329–330; M. Stenischneider, “Al-Farabi,” St. Petersb., 1869; Friedrich Dieterici, “Al-Farabi’s Philosophische Abhandlungen,” Leyden, 1890, and his “Die Philosophie der Araber,” Leyden, 1892, 1895; Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy,” tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 407, 411–412.
Al-gazel—Al-Ghazzali—(1058–1111), another prominent Arabian philosopher, who was for a long time professor of theology in the Bagdad University, and became the ruler of the Sufis or Mystics, in whose behalf he travelled extensively.[15]
The biography in “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XVIII. pp. 899–900, gives a full account of his most important works and several valuable references, his principal book being “The Destruction of the Philosophers,” which called forth a reply in one of the two most important works of Averroës, entitled “The Destruction of Destruction.”
Tholuck says: “If ever a man hath deserved the name, Ghazzali was truly a divine, and he may justly be placed on a level with Origen [Fr. Dietericii, “Die Philosophie der Araber,” Leipzig, 1876, pp. 28–31], so remarkable was he for learning and ingenuity, and gifted with such a rare faculty for the skilful and worthy exposition of doctrine.”
References.—“Encycl. Britann.,” ninth ed., Vol. I. p. 510; “New Int. Encycl.,” Vol. I. p. 337; “The Alchemy of Happiness,” by Mohammed Al-Ghazzali, tr. of Henry Guy Homes, Albany, 1873, pp. 6–7, also Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy, tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 407 and 413–414.
Alexander of Hales, so called because he made his studies at the Monastery of Hales in Gloucestershire (d. 1245), called “Doctor Doctorum” or “Doctor Irrefragabilis,” also “Theologorum Monarcha,” was a celebrated English theologian. He became a noted professor of philosophy and then a lecturer among the Franciscans, being succeeded in turn by his pupils, John of Rochelle (who died in 1271) and John Fidanza, better known as Bonaventura (1221–1274). He was the first scholastic acquainted with the whole of the Aristotelian works and with the Arabian commentaries upon them. The only authentic work of his is the ponderous “Summa Universæ Theologiæ” (best edition, Venice, 1576), much of the substance and even the text of which is said to be found in the “Summa” of Aquinas and in the “Speculum Morale” of Vincent de Beauvais.
References.—“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” London, 1885, Vol. I. p. 271; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. II. p. 121; Fleury, “Hist. Eccles.,” Vol. XX; Du Boulay, “Hist. de l’univ. de Paris,” Vol. I.; Stoeckl, “Geschichte d. Phil. d. Mittelalters,” 1865, Vol. II. pp. 317–326; “Chambers’s Encycl.,” 1888, Vol. I. p. 148; Ninth “Encycl. Britann.,” Vol. XXI. p. 427; “Dict. of Philos. and Psychol.,” by J. M. Baldwin, New York, 1901; Vol. I. pp. 30, 124; Wadding, “Annales Ord. Min.”; “New Int. Encycl.,” New York, 1902, Vol. I. pp. 321–322; Fabricius, “Bibl. Lat. mediæ et inf. ætat.,” Vol. I. p. 1; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. I. pp. 923–927; J. B. Hauréau, “Hist. de la Philos. Scholastique,” 1880, Vol. I. part ii. pp. 131–141, or the 1850 Paris ed., Vol. I. p. 418; Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy,” tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 433–434; Thos. Fuller, “Church History of Britain,” London, 1837, Vol. I. pp. 398–402.
Avempace—Abn Bekr Muhammed Ibn Yahga, Arabic philosopher, physician and poet (d. 1138), introduced the peripatetic philosophy into Andalusia, and wrote commentaries on Aristotle, in addition to a book, “Conduct of the Individual,” alluded to by Averroës, likewise several works upon medicine and music.
References.—“The History of Philosophy” of Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. p. 414 (Munk, “Mélanges de Philosophie,” pp. 383–410); “New Int. Encycl.,” New York, 1902, Vol. II. p. 281; Brockelmann, “Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur”; James Gow, “A Short History of Greek Mathematics,” Oxford, 1884, pp. 203–205 for Arabic learning in Spain.