Aristotle and the Arabic Tradition

This volume of essays by scholars in ancient Greek, medieval, and Arabic philosophy examines the full range of Aristotle's influence upon the Arabic tradition. It explores central themes from Aristotle's corpus, including logic, rhetoric and poetics, physics and meteorology, psychology, metaphysics, ethics and politics, and examines how these themes are investigated and developed by Arabic philosophers including al-Kindî, al-Fârâbî, Avicenna, al-Ghazâlî, Ibn Bâjja and Averroes. The volume also includes essays which explicitly focus upon the historical reception of Aristotle, from the time of the Greek and Syriac transmission of his texts into the Islamic world to the period of their integration and assimilation into Arabic philosophy. This rich and wide-ranging collection will appeal to all those who are interested in the themes, development and context of Aristotle's enduring legacy within the Arabic tradition.

Introduction; 1. 'Ariṣtū ʿinda l-ʿArab', and beyond Christina D'Ancona; 2. The division of the categories according to Avicenna Paul Thom; 3. What if that (is) why?: Avicenna's taxonomy of scientific inquiry Riccardo Strobino; 4. The Rhetoric and Poetics in the Islamic world Uwe Vagelpohl; 5. Al-Fārābī and the Didascalia Frédérique Woerther; 6. Aristotle's 'Physical' works and the Arabic tradition Paul Lettinck; 7. Defining nature: from Aristotle to Philoponus to Avicenna Andreas Lammer; 8. Avicenna on self-cognition and self-awareness Ahmed Alwishah; 9. Averroes on intentionality and the human experience of the natural world Yehuda Halper; 10. Metaphysics in the orbit of Islam Calvin G. Normore; 11. The Arabic reception of the Nicomachean Ethics Josh Hayes; 12. The shining and the hidden: notes on politics and solitude from the 'Greek Prophets' to Al-Fārābī Claudia Baracchi.

Ahmed Alwishah is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Pitzer College, Claremont. He has translated the Arabic testimonial of Thales jointly with Richard McKirahan in Thales (2014).
Josh Hayes is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Alvernia University, Pennsylvania. His research focuses upon Aristotle and the history of Aristotelian commentary.