Al-Kindī is important as the individual who established the earliest vocabulary for philosophy in the Islamic world. He was unusual in tending to avoid religious issues. In particular, in his ethics he tended to steer clear of specifically religious issues altogether. In this respect he followed a broadly Stoic line by advocating the life of the mind and the futility of relying on physical things to bring happiness. Virtue is attained by adhering to the middle ground and avoiding extremes. Toward the end of his life al-Kindī came under sustained attack by the local ruler. All in all, he did place philosophy in the Islamic world on a firm footing, and his influential disciples continued to debate and write along the lines their teacher had demonstrated.

See Also

Happiness; Islamic Philosophy; Stoicism; Virtue and Vice.

Bibliography

Works by Al-KindĪ

Al-Kindī's Metaphysics: A Translation of Yaʿqub ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī's Treatise "On First Philosophy" (fī al-Falsafah al-ūlā), edited and translated by Alfred L. Ivry. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1974.

"Uno scritto morale inedito di al-Kindi," edited and translated by H. Ritter and R. Walzer. Memorie della Reale Accademia nazionale dei Lincei (Rome), series VI, 8 (1) (1938): 47–62. Originally published as Risalah fi al-hilah li-daf' al-ahzan (On the art of averting sorrows).

Fī ḥudūd al-ashyā' wa-rusūmihā (On the definitions of things and their descriptions), edited by M. A. Abu Ridah. In Rasā'il al-Kindī al-falsafiya. Cairo, 1953. Translated by D. Gimaret in Cinq épîtres. Paris: Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1976.

Works on Al-KindĪ

Klein-Franke, Felix. "Al-Kindi." In History of Islamic Philosophy, edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman. London: Routledge, 1996. ch. 11, 165–177. I: 182–191