The Introduction of Arabic Philosophy into Europe

Abstract

During the first three decades of this century, a lively debateemerged in western academic circles regarding the extent of theArab-Islamic influence on western civilization. Certain scholarsrejected the idea that the West had been influenced in any significantmanner by the classical Arab-Islamic civilization (ninth to twelfthcenturies CE). Barnes, in The Intellectual History of Mankind, arguesthat there is nothing in Islamic teachings or history that encouragedthe pursuit of learning and scholarship. Thus, he claimed, one cannotspeak of any "Islamic contribution" to western civilization. Sevier, inhis The Psychology of the Mussa/man, goes further and argues thatone cannot even speak of an "Arab" civilization, because all of theknowledge and scholarship produced in the classical age of Islamwere due to Syrian, Jewish, Hindu, and Persian efforts. It naturallyfollows that all talk of any Arab influence on the West is superfluous.Other scholars presented counterarguments and took the positionthat the Arab-Islamic influence on western civilization was very significant.Briffault, in The Making of Humanity, credits classical Islamicscholarship with producing the intellectual concepts and methods thatwere the indispensable preludes to the European renaissance. Sarton,in his Introduction to the History of Science, argues that the impact ofHindu and Chinese cultures on the West can be totally disregardedwithout seriously impairing one's ability to understand the postmedievalprogress of the West. But if the Arab-Islamic impact were tobe discounted, then the story of this progress would become confusedand unintelligible ...