Abstract

The Andalusian logician and physician Ibn TumlUs (c. 1150-1156 until 1223 or 1224), about whose biography very little is known, is a rare testimony to the afterlife of Ibn Rushd’s philosophy in the Islamic world. His only known substantial philosophical work, the Introduction to the Art of Logic, offers a brief account of the intellectual history of al-Andalus. He highlights the importance of logic, which is required for any systematic presentation of ideas. There is nothing in logic, which is opposed to religion. While Ibn TumlUs dismisses al-Gazali’s logic, which harmonizes the Greek tradition with Islamic scholarship, al-Farabi receives only moderate praise, but remains inferior compared to Aristotle. Ibn TumlUs read his works with the help of commentaries, presumably by Ibn Rushd. Ibn TumlUs’ failure to mention the name of Ibn Rushd, who was his teacher, has attracted attention as possible evidence for an anti-philosophical Zeitgeist in Almohad Spain. The general structure of the Introduction follows the model of al-Farabi, in particular his Enumeration of the Sciences. The ten books of the Organon according to the Arabic tradition are all represented. While the Categories are based on al-Farabi, Ibn Rushd’s Middle Commentaries influenced the Rhetoric and Poetics. Ibn Tumliis detaches rhetoric from its traditional political context and emphasizes its use in medicine and for discussing Islamic ideas. The only medical work of Ibn Tumluis, which is preserved, is a commentary on Avicenna’s didactic poem.