Philosophy in the Islamic World: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #445

by Peter S. Adamson

In the history of philosophy, few topics are so relevant to today's cultural and political landscape as philosophy in the Islamic world. Yet, this remains one of the lesser-known philosophical traditions. In this Very Short Introduction, Peter Adamson explores the history of philosophy among Muslims, Jews, and Christians living in Islamic lands, from its historical background to thinkers in the twentieth century.

Introducing the main philosophical themes of the Islamic world, Adamson integrates ideas from the Islamic and Abrahamic faiths to consider the broad philosophical questions that continue to invite debate: What is the relationship between reason and religious belief? What is the possibility of proving God's existence? What is the nature of knowledge? Drawing on the most recent research in the field, this book challenges the assumption of the cultural decline of philosophy and science in the Islamic world by demonstrating its rich heritage and overlap with other faiths and philosophies.

Genres: Philosophy, Islam, Religion, Nonfiction, History, Middle East

128 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 27, 2023

About the author

Peter Scott Adamson is an American academic who is professor of philosophy in late antiquity and in the Islamic world at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich as well as professor of ancient and medieval philosophy at Kings College London.

Reviews

[Daniel Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to shelve this book by Dewey Decimal poses a peculiar challenge, largely because of that system's anachronism. Most libraries seem to put this topic under 297 - Islam, but this is incorrect. Firstly, this is philosophy, not religion, and secondly, many philosophers in the Islamic world have not even been Muslims - perhaps Maimonides is the most famous example. Clearly it most go under philosophy, but where? It is neither about philosophy generally, nor about a specific area of philosophy (ethics, metaphysics etc.), nor can it be put under 190 - Modern Western philosophy. This leaves only 181 - Eastern philosophy as in any way plausible, but philosophy in the Islamic world historically has been no more Eastern than Western - it was enormously influenced by the Greeks, especially Aristotle, and was itself enormously influential on the European middle ages and what followed (through people like Averroes and Avicenna). 181 it is, then, until someone comes up with a better one and I can find the time to reorganise everything accordingly.

Chapter 1: A historical whirlwind tour
Chapter 2: Reason and revelation
Chapter 3: God and being
Chapter 4: Eternity
Chapter 5: Knowledge
Chapter 6: Ethics and politics

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adamson's podcasts and attempts to catalog and explicate the entire history of philosophy is incredibly fascinating and useful, and this is a wonderful, if brief addition to his work. It is, however, a whirlwind tour of Philosophy in the Islamic World including Arab Christian and diaspora Jewish philosophers. Building on both the disputes in early Arabic theology as well as building on Aristotle, one sees medieval arabic philosophy develop and somewhat predate a lot of the later medieval and early modern debates in Christian philosophy as well as being a continuation of classical philosophy. Adamson does a good job of showing how tensions between syncretic, mystical, and rationalists threads really color Islamic and Arab philosophy as well as trying to work through various forms of the unity of God and even intellect. The variety of names can be overwhelming given some of the lack of references for later Islamic philosophers, particularly once Ottoman and Safavid's become dominant. An excellent introduction that only suffers from perhaps too much information in too small a book.

[یاسر میردامادی · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly accessible, and fully informative introduction to Muslim philosophies accompanied with a comparative analysis.

[Hamdanil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise and very accessible introduction to the topic. Covers wide range of issues and features prominent philosophers from classical to modern times. The author is very knowledgeable and respectful of the Islamic philosophers, and good at discussing the issues in an readable and entertaining, but also insightful manner.

[Mustafa Hasan · Rating 3 out of 5]

يعبر الكتاب على كل الاسماء المؤثرة في تاريخ الاسلام من فلاسفة وعلماء دين من مختلف المدارس والافكار منذ اوائل الاسلام الى عصرنا الحديث، ملخصا فكر كل واحد في كلام وجيز.

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's usual to identify the beginning of philosophy in the Islamic world with a translation movement that began more than 200 years after the age of the Prophet Muhammad.

From the end of the 8th Century until the beginning of the 10th Century, many works of Greece science and philosophy were translated into Arabic. The most famous philosophers of the Islamic world namely al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes, and Maimonides responded directly to these translations and especially to the Arabic versions of Aristotle.

The tradition they represent was called falsafa, based on the Greek word philosophia. This book not only considers falsafa, but also the more familiar mystical tradition of Islam called sufism and the theology or rational theology called Kalam.

The book also refers to the theologians or mutakallimun and their exploration of proofs of God's existence, human freedom, knowledge, eternity, and atomistic theories of matter.

[লোচন · Rating 3 out of 5]

অনেক আশা নিয়া বসছিলাম। লেখক যে আমারে উটপাখির ডিম দেখায়া কোয়েল পাখির ডিম খাওয়াবে, তা কল্পনা করি নাই। এই বইটা ট্যালট্যালা সবজি খিচুড়ি হয়া গেছে, যাতে হলুদ বেশি, আলুগুলা শক্ত, মসল্লা ডাইল কিসসু মিশ খায় নাই, এবং প্রথম নলা মুখে দিতেই এলাচে কামড় পড়ছে।

"এ ভেরি শর্ট ইন্ট্রোডাকশন" সিরিজের অন্যতম দুর্বল বই বলবো আমি এইটারে। হতাশ। তিন দিসি তাও, কারণ ভিত্রে ইসলামি দর্শনের টাইমলাইন যেটা ইনক্লুড করছে সেইটা চমৎকার। বারবার পাঠের দাবি রাখে।

তাই, পাঁচে তিন।

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This introduction is not only very short, it is also highly distilled. (Maybe that's an inept descriptor... let's say instead, very condensed.) Adamson covers a lot of ground and probably leaves a lot out, but for the complete neophyte (that's me) it's a mile wide and an inch thick. I need to read it again, or better yet, pick up Adamson's Philosophy in the Islamic World -- he is a specialist in this area and it shows. Some disciplines don't benefit from the VSI approach. It's like learning how a sport is played by watching the highlight reel on ESPN.

[Lukas Stock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction, and Adamson has a witty academic style that is more enjoyable than most.

[m0se · Rating 4 out of 5]

very great and straightforward read. I would recommend this for anyone trying to get a general overview of Philosophy in the Islamic world starting from the beginning to the modern day. The author does a good job of explaining concepts and giving context but if you are less acquainted with the time period or Islam and the Muslim world you might have to google a thing or two there but nothing that will hinder you from understanding the book.

[Maram]

I'm biased because I have a deep love for Islamic philosophy, so I may be a bit harsh. I think it's very difficult to condense such complex ideas and concepts into a short book. You can never truly do justice to the philosophers. Additionally, I'm not very fond of the book's organization. At times, it feels scattered, mentioning too many names and ideas within a small space.

However, I’m not sure how it could have been better structured—perhaps by focusing on the major philosophers, their influences, and then the key topics? The challenge of compressing such a rich history into a limited number of pages is significant, and I believe the author did their best. I’m just overly critical because of my bias.

[Werevrock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer chronologic approach to thematic one.

[Tvrtko Balić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodreads seems to be a little bit confused. It says that the title of the book I shelved is "Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna): A Very Short Introduction", yet the cover is for "Philosophy in the Islamic World: A Very Short Introduction" by the same author and if I search for "Philosophy in the Islamic World: A Very Short Introduction", it seems like these two books are registered as different editions of the same book, which they clearly are not. The book I read was the one on Ibn Sina, yet I am sure that both books deserve a five star rating. I have previously read Adamson's "Philosophy in the Islamic World (A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps #3)" and even before that I listened to his podcast on which his series of books on the history of philosophy is based. Both were amazing. So this is really going over old ground in any case. If it is the introduction to Ibn Sina you are reading, it is the chapters already written on him adapted to a new format and if it is the introduction to philosophy in the Islamic world you are reading, it is a summary of a much larger work. In any case what you get is an amazing introduction to a topic from one of the best educators in philosophy currently active. His podcast is what made me interested in and helped me study philosophy. Hopefully this book, whichever it is, will do the same for someone. It's sure to be among the best books in the A Very Short Introduction series.

[Hany Gamal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is an appreciated attempt to introduce the philosophy of Islamic civilization to Western readers , the author , a very active intellectual in fields of philosophy and history of philosophical systems, did a good job but a wrong choice of the medium. The very short introduction series fits better for single subject or school of thought or a single philosopher or thinker, but to introduce such a wide and interconnecting tradition of philosophy in Islamic civilization in such a small book. Although appreciated. Left the reader with a big headache for many philosophies and ideas that have been and still are debating together to this day. Each philosopher needs his own introduction. I also took note of the absence of the historical context for the discussed philosophers .
The book needs to be read 2 to 3 times, and then a wider and more detailed introduction will still be needed.

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at philosophy in the Islamic world, but mostly from centuries ago. (i.e. While it focuses on Islamic philosophers, it does look at Judeo-Christian philosopher who lived in Islam dominated regions.) The book does a lot of comparing and contrasting those philosophers' ideas to the Ancient Greek and Roman philosophers who influenced them. While the author emphasizes that (contrary to popular belief) philosophy didn't die out in the Islamic world around the Middle Ages, there isn't much discussion of recent times. Readers looking for discussion of current philosophy will find little more than a brief discussion of ideas pertaining to the rights and role of women. I don't know whether the author didn't want to stir up any hornets by comparing today's Islamic world philosophy with modern Western or Eastern thinkers, but he certainly undermined his point that Islamic philosophy wasn't dead by spending 90% of the book talking about the early days of Islam and how those philosophers were influenced by Aristotle and others.

[Aakif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this book to be a rather difficult one. The author takes a thematic approach to philosophy highlighting the discussions around God, Reason, Universe, morality, law etc in Islamic world. But what makes this more complicated is the authors desire to include as vast an array of thinkers as possible. He not only discusses the ideas of the classical philosophers, but also of Traditionalists, Jews and Sufis. Overall all I believe one would be better served by spending a bit more time and reading the Author's longer version Philosophy in the Islamic world, if one aims to gain atleast a decent understanding of the topic.

[Syeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

digestible introduction to the ideas of the major philosophers in the islamicate world. does require some basic knowledge of aristotelian logic, especially in the presentment of avicenna's argument for the existence of god.

the thematic approach v the chronological one has the benefit of continuity for the development of an idea, but also the challenge of confusion because adamson will occasionally leave out what century/continent we're in when jumping between philosophers. that added historical context would've been helpful and saved some extra trips to wikipedia. overall solid primer to the field of islamicate philosophy.

[Magnus · Rating 4 out of 5]

«As Ibn Sīnā says in the metaphysics of The Healing, even if we only make a negative judgement about something, it has to at least ‘have a form in the mind’. Once we add that things can exist mentally as well as concretely, we can say that every essence has existence of one sort or another. This allows him to have the best of both kalām views.» - Adamson, Ibn Sīnā, p. 67.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This "Very Short Introduction" attempts to outline the history of philosophy in the Islamic world, from the first Arabic translations of Plato and Aristotle to the Young Turks movement of the early 20th century. While the book contains a tremendous wealth of information and distills the broad contours of this history, it's so dense and summarized that I found it challenging to absorb enough information from it.

Peter Adamson's study is broken into a couple different parts. The first chapter provides a whirlwind historical tour, covering the entire historical evolution of Islamic philosophy from the 7th century to the modern world. After that, Adamson focuses each chapter on a particular aspect of philosophy, from the nature of eternity to the intersection between religion, ethics, and politics. In general, I found the latter chapters useful but the former far too condensed. Perhaps this is inevitable in a book so small, but there were far too many names and distinct beliefs to memorize, or even fully account for, the arc of philosophical thought in the Islamic world. The latter chapters, meanwhile, gave a more cohesive survey of different philosophers' and theologians' beliefs about important philosophical issues.

I certainly still did learn a lot from this book. It's fascinating to see how central Aristotelian and Platonic thought has been to Islamic philosophy, even from the earliest days. Avicenna has long been a central figure in this field, but even he was primarily influenced by the Greek philosophers. And more generally, I found it very interesting to see how Islam -- just like Christianity and Judaism and every other major religion -- has gone through centuries of thinkers trying to reconcile foreign beliefs and practices with their own, rather than simply rejecting them. Another particular highlight for me was the overlap between Islamic and Jewish philosophy/theology throughout history (hence the title "philosophy in the Islamic world" rather than "Islamic philosophy"). Moses Maimonides, perhaps the greatest figure in Jewish philosophical history, was steeped in the Andalusian Islamic philosophical tradition. And later Islamic philosophers such as Averroes would deeply engage with Jewish and Christian thinkers both to determine the ideal interpretation of the Quran.

Overall, this book does have a lot to offer. It outlines the history of philosophy in the Islamic world in broad strokes, and tells an important story about the evolution and interconnectedness of religions over time. The book does suffer from its shortness: a tremendous amount of information is crammed into just 120 pages, and this makes it quite hard to absorb even a majority of the book's content. But perhaps this is the point of the "Very Short Introduction" series, and the book is only intended to provide a useful starting point for future research. Ultimately, I would recommend this book to anyone with a moderate interest in the history of religion, the medieval Middle East, or the Islamic world in general.

[Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been a fan of Adamson for years. His podcast is very well done (The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps) and this book is similarly thorough, despite being a “short introduction”. It is interesting to see the parallel development of ideas in Europe and the Islamic world based on the similar source material of Greek philosophy.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Very Short Introduction essentially functions as a detailed primer for Adamson's Philosophy in the Islamic World as part of his History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps series. He gives a readable, digestible overview of key developments in the Islamic Middle Ages, surveying the impact of thinkers like al-Farabi, ibn Sina, ibn Rushd, al-Ghazali, Maimonides, and Ibn Taymiyyah.

As with Adamson's larger work on the same subject, prior understanding of what thinkers like Plato and Aristotle were doing would greatly assist a reader's comprehension. Knowing something about Aristotlean logic would certainly help unpack a lot of what the later Islamic thinkers were responding to and building on. But he is to be commended for his ability to distill key philosophical developments like Ibn Sina's proof of God's existence, al-Ghazali's occasionalism, and for taking Ibn Taymiyyah's philosophical contribution seriously - expounding upon some of the depths of his critique of logic without falling into lazy stereotypes about the scholar popular in wider discourse on Islamic thought - all while avoiding the strange jokes that too often disrupt the narrative of the larger book.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adamson loves his subject, and that enthusiasm really comes through in this book, a tour at breakneck speed of nearly a millennium and a half of philosophical history in little over a hundred pages. I really liked his broad conception of philosophy; while many scholars will only recognise the falāsifa, ‘pure’ philosophers, those concerned with the commenting on and discussion of Greek texts and ideas, as deserving of the label, Adamson stresses, surely correctly, how much of philosophical interest is to be found in the fields of Islamic theology, law, qur’anic interpretation, and so on. The book’s biggest problem is unavoidable given its format: because it’s so very short, the material is extremely condensed, meaning that it’s sometimes quite hard going, and of course that Adamson is often unable to give anything but a cursory presentation of the issues he raises.

[Aazir · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a graduate philosophy student and a life long lover of philosophy, I consider myself well-read on the subject. However, I realized one day that I had never come across works of Arabic or Islamic philosophy. I'd heard offhand about the Islamic golden age and how important it was to global intellectual history, but I didn't know the details.

I was very impressed by this short introduction as it filled in many gaps for me and gave me a basic understanding of Islamic philosophy and how it flows from the ancient Greek tradition. This book encouraged me to read more source texts in this tradition.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a great understanding of the history of thought as a whole - not just western thought.

[Rusty del Norte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Adamson does a good job in introducing Philosophy in the Islamic World. Many philosophers from different eras are mentioned, including AL-Ghazali, Al-Farabi, Al-Razi, and of course Al-ibn Rushd. Adamson takes you through the different schools of though with the Mutazilites and the Asharites during the Islamic Golden Age. And don't forget the Peripatetic Baghdad school of philosophy.

If you are into Plato and his view of the 3-part soul, Galen, or possibly the philosopher Miskawayh, then this would be a good read. He is a concise and readable philosophy author. Take a gander.

[Hunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew of Adamson going in via his long running podcast, the History of Philosophy without any Gaps. I have always found his show glib, slightly annoying, and just really superficial, and I was disappointed to see that same tone here. The book just does not touch on any of the figures it profiles in enough depth, and the very contemporary slant against canon formation that Adamson adopts hampers any attempt at communicating the unified narrative that underlines Islamic thought in all its variety.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual with these books this is a lot of very dense and complex information presented in as simple a form as possible. The author did an okay job with this, better than a lot of the books in the series, but it functions as a primer. If you aren't willing to go into the further reading and investigate the subject further than you're going to have very little understanding of the subject from this book alone.

[Musab Hayatli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat introduction to Philosophy in the Islamic world, and a commended effort at refuting the often-shared misconception that somehow there is not much to talk about in terms of philosophy in the Islamic world post 13th century.

[Sameer Shaikh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good primer on Islamic philosophy during the golden age of Islam

[mo.problemo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction for people who have no background in this topic. Peter's podcast is also a great resource to go along with the book and helps to explain some of the more complicated concepts.

[Safiyya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good, dispassionate introduction to philosophy in the Islamic empires, which was exactly what I was looking for. I will note that the content was broad and, at times, rather dense.