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Two thinkers, side by side

Life

Portrait of Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali

1058 CE – 1111 CE

IslamicSufi

Born Tus

He held the most prestigious teaching post in the Islamic world, then abandoned it. Philosophy had failed him. Only direct experience of God would do.

Portrait of Ibn Rushd
Ibn Rushd

1126 CE – 1198 CE

IslamicPeripatetic

Born Cordoba

The great commentator on Aristotle. He argued that philosophy and religion are two paths to the same truth, and neither should silence the other.

Connection

Al-Ghazali target of counter-critique Ibn Rushd — Ibn Rushd wrote the Incoherence of the Incoherence as a direct response to Al-Ghazali.

Shared Ideas

Faith & Reason

Ideas

Faith & ReasonSkepticism
Faith & ReasonThe IntellectReason

Words

“Knowledge without action is vanity, and action without knowledge is insanity.”

— Al-Ghazali

“Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to violence.”

— Ibn Rushd

Key Moments

1091 CE

Teaching at the Nizamiyya

1095 CE

Crisis and Departure

c. 1095 CE

The Incoherence of the Philosophers

1111 CE

Death in Tus

1126 CE

Born in Cordoba

c. 1169 CE

Commissioned to Comment on Aristotle

c. 1180 CE

The Incoherence of the Incoherence

1195 CE

Exile and Restoration

Works

The Incoherence of the Philosophers

The Incoherence of the Incoherence

Atlas of Thinkers

A story-first philosophy atlas. Explore history's greatest thinkers through place, time, movement, and ideas.

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Volume I · Ancient Greece · 624-262 BCE