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Peter Adamson and Peter E. Pormann, editors and translators. The Philosophical Works of al- Kindi Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Pp. lxxv + 363. Cloth, $75.00.
Al-Kindi(d. circa 870 CE), or the 'philosopher of the Arabs' as his honorific title has it, will forever hold a crucial distinction: he was there first. Standing at the crest of the Arabic appropriation of the Greek philosophical and scientific legacy, al-Kindis work already exemplifies most of the movement's salient trends. At the same time, because of the pioneering nature of al-Kindis exploits (if he had predecessors, we know precious little about them) his accomplishments have a peculiar flavor about them, as if one were witnessing a particularly freewheeling spirit reimagining Greek wisdom for an Arabic audience.
Al-Kindieativity as a philosopher was predicated on an incomplete understanding of the principal Greek philosophical sources, one still prevalent in his own formative years, but al-Kindihimself contributed significantly to expanding the text base from which Arabic philosophers approached their task. Equally, however, his philosophical work was made possible by the availability of supplementary materials from cognate fields of inquiry. Al- Kindinot only wrote on astronomy and astrology, swords and spheres, medicine, music, and magic. Because of the relative permeability of disciplinary boundaries that would grow more rigid later (as indeed they...