Commentaries On Aristotle - Islamic Commentators

Islamic Commentators

In the 9th century, the Platonising school of Thābit ibn Qurra in Baghdad translated Aristotle and his commentators into Arabic. Islamic scholars made a point of studying the writings of Aristotle, especially his metaphysical and logical writings, and also of his Physics. They wrote commentaries on Aristotle, and developed still further the abstract logical element. Many of these commentaries are still extant.

Al-Kindi, who wrote a commentary on Aristotelian logic, lived in the 9th century, under Al-Ma'mun. Al-Farabi (10th century) wrote commentaries on Aristotle's Organon, which were made diligent use of by the Scholastics. It is related of him that he read through Aristotle's treatise On Hearing forty times, and his Rhetoric two hundred times, without getting at all tired of them. The physicians made a study of philosophy, and formulated theories; among them was Avicenna (c. 980-1037), who came from Bukhara, to the east of the Caspian Sea; he wrote a commentary on Aristotle. Al-Ghazali (1058–1111) wrote compendiums of logic and metaphysics. Averroes (1126–1198) was especially distinguished as a commentator of Aristotle. He often wrote two or three different commentaries on the same work, and some 38 commentaries by Averroes on the works of Aristotle have been identified. Although his writings had only marginal impact in Islamic countries, his works had a huge impact in the Latin West following the Latin translations of the 12th and 13th centuries.