Arabian Philosophy From The Horizons Of Ancient Greek Philosophy: Research On The Philosophy Of Ibn Tufayl

As one of the most important Philosophers in Western Islamic world, Ibn Tufayl’s thought has great influenced his former student, Ibn Rushd. Tufayl was famous for his philosophical novel The Story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan. It seems that this novel has more literary value comparing to the philosophical value it has, which leads to the undervaluation of his philosophy thought within the academic field. However, as a matter of fact the novel Story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan is invested with all Ibn Tufayl’s understanding of philosophy and religion. In the novel, he created a character called Hayy who tries to set up a huge system which includes philosophy and religion, aiming to prove that religion and science are compatible, which is the prelude of his “Double Truth” doctrine.From the origin of Thinking, there is intimate relation between Arab Philosophy and ancient Greek Philosophy with long-term interaction to each other and development made to Thinking. During this period, Ibn Tufayl should be memorized as a typical philosopher, although most of his masterpieces had been lost except only one, namely The Story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan in which we could see obvious clue of being influenced by ancient Greek Philosophy. This paper try to elucidate what Ibn Tufayl inherited and developed from ancient Greek Philosophy from the perspective of ancient Greek philosophy including Greek-style rational argument of God’s necessary existence, his viewpoints of Soul influenced by Aristotle and his philosophy of Nature influenced by Aristotle. The first chapter introduces Ibn Tufayl’s experiences during his entire lifetime and his masterpiece left; The second chapter elucidates Ibn Tufayl’s own philosophical points directly influenced by ancient Greek philosophy; The third chapter elucidates Ibn Tufayl’s philosophical points indirectly influenced by ancient Greek philosophy; The last chapter summarized the influence of Ibn Tufayl’s philosophy to the history of Thinking.