It has been a weird time lately, but luckily these times allow us to keep following education. Al-Ghazali seems to be the last Arab philosopher we discuss in this course. He was a polymath, which seems to have become a very common way of philosophizing in the Middle Ages. Al-Ghazali’s work The doctrines of the philosophers was later translated into Latin and Hebrew, which shows how important it was considered. It was seen as the best summary of medieval philosophy, covering the subjects of theology, sufism, philosophy, jurisprudence, logic, ethics and grammar. Al-Ghazali considered metaphysics as problematic, because it ws unscientific. He tried to combine theology, philosophy and science. He used investigation and disjunction for logical arguments (A is true, B is necessarily false). He also attacked the major theses of muslim peripatetics.
I would like to discuss the importance of Al-Ghazali’s work about the doctrines of the philosophers. It is seen as the most accurate summary of medieval philosophy because it is a comprehensive analysis, with an important piece of criticism towards the Avicennian school of early Islamic philosophy. Al-Ghazali’s main criterion is that Avicenna and Al-Farabi follow Greek philosophy, even when it contradicts the islamic belief. Al-Ghazali’s opinion about this really changed the islamic philosophy for the better, I think, because it brought philosophy and religion more together as a whole. I think therefore Al-Ghazali can be seen as a philosopher that was the beginning of more modern philosophy.
Medieval Philosophy Blog 