Aldeous P.

Positos

Introduction

Abu Yusuf Yaq1ub ibn Ishaq al-Sabbah Al-Kindi also known as

Al kindi was the first recognized philosopher of the Arabic
tradition. His works are greatly influenced by the Greek
philosopher, even once he collaborated with a team of translators
to translate Aristotle, Neoplatonist, Greek mathematician, and
scientist. His treaties relied on these translations, which included
the famous books of Aristotle. On the First Philosophy, and On
the Intellect are one of the many famous writings on his
philosophical works which discuss God and Knowledge.
(Standford Encyclopedia)

John Duns Scotus was one of the most important and influential
Philosopher-Theologian of the high middle Ages. His brilliantly
complex and nuanced thought, which earned him the name
“Subtle Doctor”. Scotus was ordained to the priesthood in the
order of Friars Minor, The Franciscans at Saint Andrew’s Priory
in Northamptu England. Moreover, He offers an overview of
some of his key positions in Four main areas of Philosophy,
Natural Theology, Metaphysics, the Theory of Knowledge,
Ethics and Moral psychology. ( Standford Encyclopedia)

1
Adamson, Peter, “al-kindi, the standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2020 edition, Edward N. Zalta (Ed), URL=
<https:// plato. Standford.edu/archives. spr2020/entries/al-kindi
Metaphysics

Al-kindi’s goal in his book called metaphysics is to explain that

there are things that exist without matter and are not connected or
united to matter; to affirm God’s oneness, the great and exalted,
to explain His great names, and to show that He is the agent
cause of the universe, which governs through his flawless grace
and complete wisdom./ God;s absolute oneness, which Al-kindi
believes is a unique feature linked with God, is central to his view
of metaphysics. / As a Result, only God is truly one, both in
actuality and in notion, devoid of any multiplicity. / In his book
he discusses that God is called the “True one” which is the cause
of beigns in the world and that God can create from ex nihilo. /
(Standford Encyclopedia)
Philosophy of God

Al kindi, God is a causative entity. / God, acoording to Al kindi,

is an active player who serves as a final and efficient cause. The
major premise of Al-kindi’s Theodicy is the rejection of God’s
positive traits in favor of his negative attributes; His goal was to
underline God’s total transcendence over the world. / He chose
the demonstration based on creation to prove God’s existence
because It demonstrate God as the Necessary Being, supreme
Creator, and source of order and administration in the universe. /
he used the negative theology of Neo-platonic origin as a key to
grasping, from a human perspective, what was intended by God.
In other words, he held, human beings could say what God was
not, while they found it impossible to say what he was. /

For John Duns Scotus, He begins by arguing that there is a First

Agent (A being that is First in Efficient Causality) Consider the
First the distinction between essentially ordered causes and
accidentally ordered causes, He Argue that there is an Ultimate
Goal of Activity (A Being that is First in Final Causality) and a
Maximally Excellent Being (A Being that is First in what Scotus
calls “Pre-Eminence” (Standford)

I can say that their Philosophy of God is very related to their

metaphysics because just like in their metaphysics they both
affirm that God is the cause of Everything. They both used the
principle of Causality to affirm that God exist.
Anthropology

Al kindi, he proposes that the soul is an immaterial substance that

is greatly related to the material world only because of its
faculties. which operates through the physical body. To
explained the nature of our worldly existence. He borrowed the
Analogy of a ship by Epictetus. He compares to a ship during the
course of its ocean voyage, temporarily anchored itself at an
island and allowed its passenger to disembark. He claims that the
soul is not tied to the body and when the body dies the soul does
not die; He also proposes that our soul can be directed towards
the pursuit of intellect. On human nature he does not explicit
claim but we can infer that the nature of humans is good and that
it is stained by the pleasures present in the world.

For John Duns Scotus, Human nature is distinguished by the

present of a rational soul in the person. While it may be corrected
to consider that Human Nature as the rational (Image)species of
the genus animal. It is more important that Human soul is made
in God’s image. That image exist can be known by its effect
(Human nature), but what it is as being a cause in God,
transcends our knowledge. Thus, Humans participate in God but
cannot grasp equality with God. By its standing in the hierarchy,
Human nature is a Microcosm summing up creation.
Epistemology