Tahafut al-Falasifa
- Author died
- 505 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Maʿārif
Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) is a treatise by the Shafi'i jurist and Ash'ari theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (450–505 AH / 1058–1111 CE) dedicated to refuting the metaphysical doctrines of the philosophers and exposing the contradictions in their arguments .
Background and Purpose
Al-Ghazali undertook the study of philosophical writings independently while teaching in Baghdad, mastering their works in less than two years and reflecting on them for nearly another year . Before writing his critique, he composed Maqasid al-Falasifa (The Aims of the Philosophers) as an objective summary of their philosophical system .
He was motivated to write Tahafut al-Falasifa after observing a prevailing fascination with philosophy among contemporaries who abandoned Islamic religious obligations and neglected worship out of blind conformity to ancient figures such as Socrates, Hippocrates, Plato, and Aristotle . Al-Ghazali directed his critique specifically against the Peripatetic tradition of Aristotle as transmitted and interpreted in the Islamic world by Abu Nasr al-Farabi and Ibn Sina .
Structure and Content
The work is organized into four prefaces, twenty distinct discussions or problems (mas'ala), and a concluding verdict . The four introductory prefaces outline:
- The internal disagreements and divergent paths among the philosophers .
- The divisions and categories of dispute between the philosophers and their opponents .
- His methodological framework for refuting their doctrines .
- The rhetorical devices and techniques whereby philosophers mixed certain rational premises with conjectural assertions .
The twenty problems address core metaphysical and cosmological questions:
- Eight problems focus on God and divine attributes, in which al-Ghazali critiques their denial of divine attributes and their claim regarding God's knowledge of particulars .
- Eight problems address cosmological issues and creation, particularly refuting the philosophers' assertion of the pre-eternity and perpetuity of the world .
- Two problems examine the immortality of the soul and psychology, demonstrating that the philosophers failed to provide clear rational proof for their stances .
- The remaining sections cover causality—reducing necessary causal connections to observed succession—and bodily resurrection .
Theological Verdict
Al-Ghazali distinguished between mathematical or logical disciplines—which he noted do not conflict with religious doctrine in affirmation or negation—and metaphysics, where he argued the philosophers committed their primary errors . In his conclusion, he classified their twenty errors into two categories: seventeen were deemed blameworthy religious innovations (bid'a), while three constituted disbelief (kufr) :
- The doctrine of the pre-eternity and beginninglessness of the world (qidam al-'alam) .
- The claim that God knows only universals and not particulars ('ilm al-kulliyyat duna al-juz'iyyat) .
- The denial of physical, bodily resurrection in the hereafter (inkar hashr al-ajsad) .
Reception, Counter-Refutations, and Editions
Tahafut al-Falasifa generated extensive scholarly debate across the Islamic world . Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi noted that al-Ghazali composed the book to censure the philosophers and uncover their flaws, though adding that he concurred with them in certain points believing them to be true or in harmony with religion .
The Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd (d. 595 AH / 1198 CE) wrote a direct refutation titled Tahafut al-Tahafut (The Incoherence of the Incoherence) to defend philosophy against al-Ghazali's criticisms . Later, the Ottoman scholar Khwajahzadah Mustafa ibn Khalil al-Bursewi (d. 893 AH / 1487 CE) authored another work titled Tahafut al-Falasifa at the request of Sultan Mehmed II to arbitrate between the arguments of al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd .
Tahafut al-Falasifa has been published in multiple editions, including printings in Cairo (1302 AH / 1884 CE), a lithograph edition in Bombay (1304 AH / 1887 CE), an edition by al-Matba'a al-Khayriyya in Cairo (1319 AH / 1901 CE), and an edition by Dar al-Ma'arif in Egypt (1374 AH / 1955 CE) . It was also published in Cairo in 1303 AH alongside the treatises of Ibn Rushd and Khwajahzadah .
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