Ibn Bajja lived in Zaragoza and later Fez during the Almoravid period. He was a physician, musician, and the first major Aristotelian philosopher in Islamic Spain. His Governance of the Solitary argues that in an imperfect society the philosopher cannot reform others but must focus on perfecting his own intellect. This solitary path leads to union with the Active Intellect. He influenced both Ibn Tufayl and Ibn Rushd. He died young, reportedly poisoned.
Born in Zaragoza during the flowering of philosophy in al-Andalus. He would become the first major Aristotelian thinker of the Iberian Muslim world.
Words
“In imperfect cities the happy are like weeds: they grow by their own order among plants tended by another.”
