Theologians Against Philosophers

(Photo: The trial of Ibn Rushd (Averroes))

Until the 18th and 19th  centuries, in the West there was no real distinction between a scientist and a philosopher, and many of the great scientist-philosophers were also theologians. Science in the West gave philosophy a way of empirically testing theories and concepts, whilst philosophy helped to develop the scientific method used today. [1] It is no secret that the advancement in science in the Western world could not have existed without philosophy, which dates back to ancient Greece’s biggest philosophers, Plato and Aristotle.

However, while in the Western world philosophy was embraced, in the Near East, it was sidelined. In the 11th to 13th century, the domination of western Asia by Seljuqs led to the eclipse of philosophy (falsafeh) in the eastern lands of Islam. The caliphate, supported by the Seljuqs, preferred the teaching of kalam (science of discourse) in the madrasahs (schools) to philosophy. [2]

The most famous attack against falsafeh came from the Sufi theologian, Ghazali, who dealt with philosophical themes himself and even composed treatises on formal logic. In his book, Tahafut al-falsafah (Incoherence of the Philosophers), he sought to demolish the views of the philosophers, such as Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Farabi, accusing them of deviating from Islam in their denial of the creation of the world, God’s knowledge of particulars and bodily resurrection.   

Ibn Rushd (Averroes), the celebrated Andalusian philosopher, attempted to respond to Ghazali’s attack with his book “The Incoherence of the Incoherence” but was only mildly successful. 

Ghazali’s attack has been portrayed by Western orientalists as the final blow to falsafeh and science in the Near East, but the truth is that though “Islamic philosophy” in the West did come to a sudden end at the time, philosophical thought did not disappear completely in the Muslim world, but took refuge mostly in philosophical Sufism and philosophical theology instead. [2]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources:
​[1] Martyn Shuttleworth (Sep 4, 2009). Philosophy of Science History. Retrieved Mar 09, 2018 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/history-of-the-philosophy-of-science

[2] Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. “Islamic philosophy from its Origin to Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy." State University of NY Press. 2006. https://www.amazon.com/Islamic-Philosophy-Its-Origin-Present/dp/0791468003​