Greek Into Arabic - Essays On Islamic Philosophy

O R I E N T A L S T U D I E S I by the same author: MAGNAMORALIAUND ARISTOTELISCHE ETHIK. Weidmann, Berlin 1929 ARISTOTELIS DIALOGORUM FRAGMENTA. Sansoni, Florence 1934 STUDIsu AL-KINDI I1 (with H.Ritter). Accademia dei Lincei, Rome 1 ~ 3 8 ERACLITO, RACCOLTA DEI FRAMMENTI. Sansoni, Florence 1939. STUDIsu AL-KINDI I (with M. Guidi). Accademia dei Lincei, Rome 1939. AL-FARABIUS DE P L ~ T O N PHILOSOPHIA ~S (with F. Rosenthd). Warbzcrg Institute, London IP.f.3. GALEN ON MEDICALEXPERIENCE. Oxford University Press, 1944. GALEN ON JEWSAND CHRISTIANS. Oxford University Press, 1949. GALENI COMPENDIUMTIMAEI PLATONIS (with P. Krazcs). Warb-urg Institute, London 1951. GREEK INTO ARABIC Essays on Islamic Philosophy br Richard Walzer i HARVARD U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S Cambridge, Massachusetts I 062 0 1962 Richard WaIzer . Page Islamic Philosophy I 2. On the Legacy of the Classics i n the Islamic World 29 3- U n Fmmtttento nuovo d i Aristotele 38 4. Aristotle, Galen, and Palladius on Looe 48 5. New Light on the Arabic Translations of Aristotle 60 6. On the Arabic Versions of Books A, a and A of Aristotle's Metaphysics 114 Z u r Traditionsgeschichte der Aristotelischen Poetik Arabische Aristotelesiibersetzungen i n Istanbul New Light on Galen's Moral Philosophy A Diatribe of Galen New Studies on Al-Kindi AGFdrdbi's Tlzeory of Probhecy and Divirlation Some Aspects of Miskawaih's Tahdhib Al-Akhlrfq Platonism i n Islamic Philosophy INDEX ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author and the publishers wish to express their gratitude for permission to reprint essays which originally appeared in the following publications: I. The History of Philosophy, Eastern and Western, vol. 11, 120 ff. Allen & Unwin, London 1953. 2. Festschrift Bruno Snell, p. 189 ff. C. H. Beck, Miinchen 1956. 3. Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica NS, vol. 14 (1937)~p. 127 ff. 4. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1939)~p. 407 ff. 5. Oriens, vol. 6 (1953). p. 91 ff. 6. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. 43 (1958), p. 217 ff. 7. Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica NS, vol. 11 (1934)) p. 5 ff. 8. Gnomon, vol. 10 (1934), p. 277 ff. g. The Classical Quarterly, vol. 43 (1949), p. 82 ff. 10. The Harvard Theologcal Review, vol. 47 (1g54), p. 243 ff. 11. Oriens, vol. 10 (1957)~p. 203 ff. 12. Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 77 (1957). p. 142 ff. 13. Studi orientalistici in onore di Giorgio Levi della Vida, vol. 11, p. 603 ff. Istituto per l'oriente, Rome 1956. 14. Entretiens, voi. 3, p. 203 ff. Fondation Hardt, Vandoeuvres-Geneva 1957. ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY I - The Problem In the present state of our knowledge it would be premature to attempt a definitivehistory of Islamic philosophy. Too many facts are still unknown, too many works have been neglected for centuries and remained unread and are only gradually being rediscovered in Eastern and Western libraries and edited and studied. There is no agreement among scholars on the best approach to the subject: some try to understand Islamic philosophy as an exclusive achievement of the Arabs and accordingly - - minimize the importance of that Greek element whose presence throughout they cannot deny; others tend to fix their attention on the Greek sources and do not realiie that the Islamic philosophers, although continuing the Greek tradition, can rightly claim to be understood and appreciated in their own setting and according to their own intentions which may be different from those of their Greek predecessors. Very little has been said about the philosophical significance of Islamic philosophy for our own time. Only a few good interpretations of Arabic philosophical texts are av