Editing Islamic philosophy (section)

== Natural philosophy ==
{{See also|Physics in medieval Islam}}

===Atomism===
{{See also|Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam}}
[[Atomism|Atomistic]] philosophies are found very early in Islamic philosophy, and represent a synthesis of the Greek and Indian ideas. Like both the Greek and Indian versions, Islamic atomism was a charged topic that had the potential for conflict with the prevalent religious orthodoxy. Yet it was such a fertile and flexible idea that, as in Greece and India, it flourished in some schools of Islamic thought.

The most successful form of Islamic atomism was in the [[Asharite]] school of philosophy, most notably in the work of the philosopher [[al-Ghazali]] (1058–1111). In [[Asharite]] atomism, atoms are the only perpetual, material things in existence, and all else in the world is "accidental" meaning something that lasts for only an instant. Nothing accidental can be the cause of anything else, except perception, as it exists for a moment. Contingent events are not subject to natural physical causes, but are the direct result of God's constant intervention, without which nothing could happen. Thus nature is completely dependent on God, which meshes with other Asharite Islamic ideas on [[Causality|causation]], or the lack thereof.<ref name="Gardet">L. Gardet (2001), "djuz’", in ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', CD-ROM Edition, v. 1.1, Leiden: Brill</ref>

Other traditions in Islam rejected the atomism of the Asharites and expounded on many Greek texts, especially those of Aristotle. An active school of philosophers in Spain, including the noted commentator [[Averroes]] (1126-1198 AD) explicitly rejected the thought of al-Ghazali and turned to an extensive evaluation of the thought of [[Aristotle|Aristotle.]] Averroes commented in detail on most of the works of Aristotle and his commentaries did much to guide the interpretation of Aristotle in later Jewish and Christian scholastic thought.

===Cosmology===
{{Main|Astronomy in medieval Islam}}
There are several [[cosmological]] verses in the [[Qur'an]] which some modern writers have interpreted as foreshadowing the [[Metric expansion of space|expansion of the universe]] and possibly even the [[Big Bang]] theory:<ref>{{cite web |author=A. Abd-Allah |url=http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/scislam.html |title=The Qur'an, Knowledge, and Science |publisher=[[University of Southern California]] |access-date=2008-01-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081128054613/http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/scislam.html |archive-date=2008-11-28 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|Do the disbelievers not realize that the heavens and earth were ˹once˺ one mass then We split them apart? And We created from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?|{{qref|21|30|c=y}}}}
{{blockquote|We built the universe with ˹great˺ might, and We are certainly expanding ˹it˺.|{{qref|51|47|c=y}}}}

In contrast to ancient [[Greek philosophy|Greek philosophers]] who believed that the [[universe]] had an infinite past with no beginning, [[Medieval philosophy|medieval philosophers]] and theologians developed the concept of the universe having a finite past with a beginning. This view was inspired by the [[creation myth]] shared by the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The [[Christian philosophy|Christian philosopher]], [[John Philoponus]], presented the first such argument against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past. His reasoning was adopted by many, most notably; Muslim philosopher, [[Al-Kindi]] (Alkindus); the [[Jewish philosophy|Jewish philosopher]], [[Saadia Gaon]] (Saadia ben Joseph); and the [[Kalam|Muslim theologian]], [[Al-Ghazali]] (Algazel). They used two logical arguments against an infinite past, the first being the "argument from the impossibility of the existence of an actual infinite", which states:<ref name=Craig/>

:"An actual infinite cannot exist."
:"An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite."
:".•. An infinite temporal regress of events cannot exist."

The second argument, the "argument from the impossibility of completing an actual infinite by successive addition", states:<ref name=Craig/>

:"An actual infinite cannot be completed by successive addition."
:"The temporal series of past events has been completed by successive addition."
:".•. The temporal series of past events cannot be an actual infinite."

Both arguments were adopted by later Christian philosophers and theologians, and the second argument in particular became famous after it was adopted by [[Immanuel Kant]] in his thesis of the first antimony concerning time.<ref name=Craig/>

In the 10th century, the [[Brethren of Purity]] published the ''[[Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity]]'', in which a [[Heliocentrism|heliocentric]] view of the universe is expressed in a section on cosmology:<ref>{{Harvp|Nasr|1993|p=77}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|God has placed the Sun at the center of the Universe just as the capital of a country is placed in its middle and the ruler's palace at the center of the city.}}

Cosmological ideas maintained by scholars such as [[al-Farabi]] and Ibn Sina, have strong resemblance with the [[Neoplatonism|Neo-Platonistic]] [[Emanationism|emanation cosmology]]. They identified the different [[Nous|Intellects]], dividing the cosmos into different spheres, as similar to the Islamic angels. However, Islamic scholars repeatedly insist that all heavenly spheres as a whole form a single body and are moved by God, in contrast to Aristotelian cosmology in which God only moves the outer sphere.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|date=9 March 2020|title=Guardian cartoon of cow in relation to Priti Patel sparks outrage amongst diaspora in Britain|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/guardian-cartoon-of-cow-in-relation-to-priti-patel-sparks-outrage-amongst-diaspora-in-britain/articleshow/74557770.cms|url-status=live|access-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200911224645/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/guardian-cartoon-of-cow-in-relation-to-priti-patel-sparks-outrage-amongst-diaspora-in-britain/articleshow/74557770.cms|archive-date=11 September 2020}}</ref> According to ibn Sina, but differing from al-Farabi, God is not part of the scheme of emanation. God emanated things in accordance with his will. In his ''Theologia Aristotelis'' he shows that through the manifestation of God, the intellects are aware of God and their role in the universe. Further Ibn Sina seems to distinguishes between two types of angels: One completely unrelated to matter, and another one, which exists in form of a superior kind of matter. The latter ones can carry messages between the heavenly spheres and the sublunary world, appearing in visions. Therefore, the higher angels dwell in [[Jabarut|higher spheres]], while their subordinate angels appear in an [[Malakut|intermediary realm]]. Ibn Sina's explanation might imply an attempt to consider revelation as part of the natural world.<ref name="glasse 49 50">Cyril Glassé, Huston Smith, The New Encyclopedia of Islam Rowman Altamira 2003 {{ISBN|978-0-759-10190-6}} page 49-50</ref><ref>[[Al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar|Abd al-Jabbar]], Ibn Sina and al-Ghazali ''God and Humans in Islamic Thought'' Routledge 2006 {{ISBN|9780203965375}}  p. 97</ref> Also Qazwini lists a lower type of angels; earthly angels as indwelling forces of nature, who keep the world in order and never deviate from their duty. Qazwini believed that the existence of these angels could be proved by reason and effects of these angels on their assigned object.<ref>Syrinx von Hees Enzyklopädie als Spiegel des Weltbildes: Qazwīnīs Wunder der Schöpfung: eine Naturkunde des 13. Jahrhunderts Otto Harrassowitz Verlag 2002 {{ISBN|978-3-447-04511-7}} page 263</ref>

===Evolution===

====Struggle for existence====
The [[Mu'tazili]] scientist and philosopher [[al-Jahiz]] (c. 776–869) was the only known medieval Arab philosopher to write on topics related to [[natural selection]].<ref>Conway Zirkle (1941). Natural Selection before the "Origin of Species", ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' '''84''' (1), pp. 71–123.</ref><ref>Mehmet Bayrakdar (Third Quarter, 1983). "Al-Jahiz And the Rise of Biological Evolutionism", ''The Islamic Quarterly''. London.</ref> Al-Jahiz's ideas on the struggle for existence in the ''Book of Animals'' have been summarized as follows:

{{Blockquote|Animals engage in a struggle for existence; for [[Natural resource|resources]], to avoid being eaten and to [[breed]]. Environmental factors influence [[organism]]s to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus transforming into new species. Animals that survive to breed can pass on their successful characteristics to offspring.<ref>Ehsan Masood, [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/feb/27/islam-religion-evolution-science "Islam's evolutionary legacy"], ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref>}}

However, according to Frank Edgerton (2002), the claim made by some authors that al-Jahiz was an early evolutionist is "unconvincing", but the narrower claim that Jahiz "recognized the effect of environmental factors on animal life" seems valid.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20168700 |journal=Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America |volume=83 |issue=2 |date=2002 |title=A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 6: Arabic Language Science: Origins and Zoological Writings |last=Edgerton |first=Frank N. |pages=142–146|jstor=20168700 }}</ref> Rebecca Stott (2013) writes of al-Jahiz's work:

<blockquote>Jahiz was not concerned with argument or theorizing. He was concerned with witnessing;...Jahiz was not trying to work out how the world began or how species had come to be. He believed that God had done the making and that he had done it brilliantly...He also understood what we might call the [[survival of the fittest]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzY_kGjRCXkC |title=Darwin's Ghosts |date=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781408831014 |last=Stott |first=Rebecca |pages=50}}</ref></blockquote>

In Chapter 47 of ''India'', entitled "On Vasudeva and the Wars of the Bharata," [[Abu Rayhan Biruni]] attempted to give a [[Natural history|naturalistic explanation]] as to why the struggles described in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' "had to take place." He explains it using [[Nature|natural]] processes that include [[Biology|biological]] ideas related to evolution, which has led several scholars to compare his ideas to [[Darwinism]] and [[natural selection]]. This is due to Biruni describing the idea of [[artificial selection]] and then applying it to nature:<ref>{{citation|title=On the Presumed Darwinism of Alberuni Eight Hundred Years before Darwin|author=Jan Z. Wilczynski|journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]]|volume=50|issue=4|date=December 1959|pages=459–66 [459–61]|doi=10.1086/348801|s2cid=143086988}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|The agriculturist selects his corn, letting grow as much as he requires, and tearing out the remainder. The forester leaves those branches which he perceives to be excellent, whilst he cuts away all others. The bees kill those of their kind who only eat, but do not work in their beehive. Nature proceeds in a similar way; however, it does not distinguish for its action is under all circumstances one and the same. It allows the leaves and fruit of the trees to perish, thus preventing them from realising that result which they are intended to produce in the economy of nature. It removes them so as to make room for others.}}

In the 13th century, [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]] explains how the [[Classical element|element]]s evolved into [[mineral]]s, then [[plant]]s, then [[animal]]s, and then [[human]]s. Tusi then goes on to explain how [[Heredity|hereditary]] variability was an important factor for biological evolution of living things:<ref name=Alakbarov>Farid Alakbarov (Summer 2001). [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/92_folder/92_articles/92_tusi.html A 13th-Century Darwin? Tusi's Views on Evolution], ''[[Azerbaijan International]]'' '''9''' (2).</ref>

{{Blockquote|The [[organism]]s that can gain the new features faster are more variable. As a result, they gain advantages over other creatures. [...] The bodies are changing as a result of the internal and external interactions.}}

Tusi discusses how organisms are able to [[Adaptation|adapt]] to their environments:<ref name=Alakbarov/>

{{Blockquote|Look at the world of animals and birds. They have all that is necessary for defense, protection and daily life, including strengths, courage and appropriate tools [organs] [...] Some of these organs are real weapons, [...] For example, horns-spear, teeth and claws-knife and needle, feet and hoofs-cudgel. The thorns and needles of some animals are similar to arrows. [...] Animals that have no other means of defense (as the gazelle and fox) protect themselves with the help of flight and cunning. [...] Some of them, for example, bees, ants and some bird species, have united in communities in order to protect themselves and help each other.}}

====Transmutation of species====
[[Al-Dinawari]] (828–896), considered the founder of [[Muslim Agricultural Revolution|Arabic botany]] for his ''Book of Plants'', discussed [[plant evolution]] from its birth to its death, describing the phases of [[plant growth]] and the production of flowers and fruit.<ref name=Fahd-815>{{citation |last=Fahd |first=Toufic |title=Botany and agriculture |pages=815 |postscript=.}}, in {{Harvp|Morelon|Rashed|1996}}</ref>

[[Ibn Miskawayh]]'s ''al-Fawz al-Asghar'' and the [[Brethren of Purity]]'s ''[[Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity]]'' (''The Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa'') developed theories on evolution that possibly had an influence on [[Charles Darwin]] and his inception of [[Darwinism]], but has at one time been criticized as overenthusiastic.<ref name=Muqaddimah-Footnotes>[http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter6/Ch_6_05Footnote.htm Footnote 27a] to Chapter 6, Part 5 in {{citation |last=Khaldūn |first=Ibn |others=Franz Rosenthal (trans.) |title=The Muqaddimah |url=http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|[These books] state that God first created [[matter]] and invested it with [[energy]] for development. Matter, therefore, adopted the form of [[vapour]] which assumed the shape of water in due time. The next stage of development was [[mineral]] life. Different kinds of [[Rock (geology)|stone]]s developed in course of time. Their highest form being mirjan ([[coral]]). It is a stone which has in it branches like those of a tree. After mineral life evolves [[vegetation]]. The evolution of vegetation culminates with a tree which bears the qualities of an animal. This is the [[Date Palm|date-palm]]. It has male and female genders. It does not wither if all its branches are chopped but it dies when the head is cut off. The date-palm is therefore considered the highest among the trees and resembles the lowest among animals. Then is born the lowest of animals. It evolves into an [[ape]]. This is not the statement of Darwin. This is what Ibn Maskawayh states and this is precisely what is written in the ''Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa''. The Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved into a lower kind of a [[barbarian]] man. He then became a superior human being. Man becomes a [[saint]], a [[prophet]]. He evolves into a higher stage and becomes an [[angel]]. The one higher to angels is indeed none but God. Everything begins from Him and everything returns to Him.<ref name=Hamidullah>[[Muhammad Hamidullah]] and Afzal Iqbal (1993), ''The Emergence of Islam: Lectures on the Development of Islamic World-view, Intellectual Tradition and Polity'', pp. 143–44. Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad.</ref>}}

English translations of the ''Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity'' were available from 1812,<ref>"Ikhwan as-Safa and their Rasa'il: A Critical Review of a Century and a Half of Research", by A. L. Tibawi, as published in volume 2 of ''The Islamic Quarterly'' in 1955; pp. 28–46</ref> while [[Arabic language|Arabic]] [[manuscript]]s of the ''al-Fawz al-Asghar'' and ''The Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa'' were also available at the [[University of Cambridge]] by the 19th century. These works likely had an influence on 19th-century evolutionists, and possibly [[Charles Darwin]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

In the 14th century, [[Ibn Khaldun]] further developed the evolutionary ideas found in the ''Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity''. The following statements from his 1377 work, the ''[[Muqaddimah]]'', express evolutionary ideas:

{{Blockquote|We explained there that the whole of existence in (all) its simple and composite worlds is arranged in a natural order of ascent and descent, so that everything constitutes an uninterrupted continuum. The essences at the end of each particular stage of the worlds are by nature prepared to be transformed into the essence adjacent to them, either above or below them. This is the case with the simple material elements; it is the case with palms and vines, (which constitute) the last stage of plants, in their relation to snails and shellfish, (which constitute) the (lowest) stage of animals. It is also the case with monkeys, creatures combining in themselves cleverness and perception, in their relation to man, the being who has the ability to think and to reflect. The preparedness (for transformation) that exists on either side, at each stage of the worlds, is meant when (we speak about) their connection.<ref>[http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter6/Ch_6_05.htm ''Muqaddimah'', Chapter 6, Part 5]</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|Plants do not have the same fineness and power that animals have. Therefore, the sages rarely turned to them. Animals are the last and final stage of the three permutations. Minerals turn into plants, and plants into animals, but animals cannot turn into anything finer than themselves.<ref>[http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter6/Ch_6_29.htm ''Muqaddimah'', Chapter 6, Part 29]</ref>}}

Numerous other Islamic scholars and scientists, including the polymaths [[Ibn al-Haytham]] and [[Al-Khazini]], discussed and developed these ideas. Translated into Latin, these works began to appear in the West after the [[Renaissance]] and may have influenced [[Western philosophy]] and science.

===Phenomenology of Vision===
{{See also|Book of Optics}}
The polymath [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhacen) is considered a pioneer of [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenology]]. He articulated a relationship between the physical and observable [[World (philosophy)|world]] and that of [[Intuition (knowledge)|intuition]], [[psychology]] and [[mental function]]s. His theories regarding knowledge and [[perception]], linking the domains of science and religion, led to a philosophy of existence based on the direct observation of [[reality]] from the observer's point of view. Much of his thought on phenomenology was not further developed until the 20th century.<ref>[[Nader El-Bizri]], 'A Philosophical Perspective on Alhazen's Optics', Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 15 (2005), 189–218; [[Nader El-Bizri]],'La perception de la profondeur: Alhazen, Berkeley, et Merleau-Ponty', Oriens-Occidens: Cahiers du centre d'histoire des sciences et des philosophies arabes et médiévales, CNRS. 5 (2004), 171–184; and see a short essay by Valérie Gonzalez, "Universality and Modernity", ''The Ismaili United Kingdom'', December 2002, pp. 50–53.</ref>

===Philosophy of mind===
{{Main|Psychology in medieval Islam}}
The [[philosophy of mind]] was studied in medieval [[Islamic psychological thought]], which refers to the study of the ''[[nafs]]'' (literally "[[Self (philosophy)|self]]" or "[[Psyche (psychology)|psyche]]" in [[Arabic]]) in the [[Islamic world]], particularly during the [[Islamic Golden Age]] (8th–15th centuries) as well as modern times (20th–21st centuries), and is related to [[psychology]], [[psychiatry]] and the [[neuroscience]]s.

===Place and space===
The Arab polymath al-Hasan [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen; died c. 1041) presented a thorough mathematical critique and refutation of [[Aristotle]]'s conception of place (''topos'') in his ''Risala/Qawl fi’l-makan'' (''Treatise/Discourse on Place'').

Aristotle's ''[[Physics (Aristotle)|Physics]]'' (Book IV – ''Delta'') stated that the place of something is the two-dimensional boundary of the containing body that is at rest and is in contact with what it contains. Ibn al-Haytham disagreed with this definition and demonstrated that place (''al-makan'') is the imagined (three-dimensional) void (''al-khala' al-mutakhayyal'') between the inner surfaces of the containing body. He showed that place was akin to [[space]], foreshadowing [[Descartes]]'s notion of place as space qua ''Extensio'' or even [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Leibniz]]'s ''analysis situs''. Ibn al-Haytham's mathematization of place rested on several geometric demonstrations, including his study on the sphere and other solids, which showed that the [[sphere]] (''al-kura'') is the largest in magnitude (volumetric) with respect to other geometric solids that have equal surface areas. For instance, a sphere that has an equal surface area to that of a [[Cylinder (geometry)|cylinder]], would be larger in (volumetric) magnitude than the cylinder; hence, the sphere occupies a larger place than that occupied by the cylinder; unlike what is entailed by [[Aristotle]]'s definition of place: that this sphere and that cylinder occupy places that are equal in magnitude.<ref>Nader El-Bizri, "In Defence of the Sovereignty of Philosophy: al-Baghdadi's Critique of Ibn al-Haytham's Geometrisation of Place", ''Arabic Sciences and Philosophy'' (Cambridge University Press), Vol. 17, Issue 1 (2007): 57–80.</ref> Ibn al-Haytham rejected [[Aristotle]]'s philosophical concept of place on mathematical grounds. Later, the philosopher '[[Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi]] (13th century) tried to defend the Aristotelian conception of place in a treatise titled: ''Fi al-Radd ‘ala Ibn al-Haytham fi al-makan'' (''A refutation of Ibn al-Haytham's place''), although his effort was admirable from a philosophical standpoint, it was unconvincing from the scientific and mathematical viewpoints.<ref>El-Bizri (2007) and handouts of El-Bizri's lectures at the Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge [http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk]</ref>

Ibn al-Haytham also discussed [[Depth perception|space perception]] and its [[Epistemology|epistemological]] implications in his ''[[Book of Optics]]'' (1021). His experimental proof of the intromission model of vision led to changes in the way the [[visual perception]] of space was understood, contrary to the previous [[Emission theory (vision)|emission theory of vision]] supported by [[Euclid]] and [[Ptolemy]]. In "tying the visual perception of space to prior bodily experience, Alhacen unequivocally rejected the
intuitiveness of spatial perception and, therefore, the autonomy of vision. Without tangible notions of distance and size for
correlation, sight can tell us next to nothing about such things."<ref>{{citation|first=A. Mark|last=Smith|title=The Alhacenian Account Of Spatial Perception And Its Epistemological Implications|journal=Arabic Sciences and Philosophy|volume=15|issue=2|year=2005|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|pages=219–40|doi=10.1017/S0957423905000184|s2cid=171003284}}</ref>