Ibn Tufayl 1105 – 1185
Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Tufayl was an Andalusian philosopher, physician, and statesman, court physician to the Almohad caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf and a patron of the young Averroes. His philosophical novel Hayy ibn Yaqzan, the story of a child who grows up alone on a desert island and arrives by unaided reason at the deepest truths of philosophy and religion, is one of the most original works of medieval philosophy. The book was translated into Latin in the seventeenth century and exercised an underrecognized influence on early modern European thought, including on Locke and Pufendorf.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Andalusian
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Islamic, Medieval
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Ibn Tufayl:
“True religion arises from reason, and revelation confirms what reason discovers.”
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Attributed to Ibn Tufayl:
“The book of nature is open to anyone who would read it.”
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Attributed to Ibn Tufayl:
“The senses give us the materials, the intellect builds the structure.”
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Attributed to Ibn Tufayl:
“The wise man, alone on his island, can yet contemplate the divine.”
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Attributed to Ibn Tufayl:
“Solitude is the condition under which the soul most easily ascends.”