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Al-Kindi (full name: Abu Yusuf Ya’qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi) was an Arab philosopher, scientist, and astrologer who lived in the 9th century. He was born in Kufa, in present-day Iraq, and is considered to be one of the most influential figures in the intellectual and cultural life of the Islamic Golden Age.
Al-Kindi was well-versed in various fields of knowledge, including mathematics, physics, medicine, and astrology. He wrote numerous works on these subjects, including “On the Stellar Rays” and “On the Judgment of the Stars,” which were influential texts on astrology.
Al-Kindi was also involved in the translation of Greek philosophical and scientific texts into Arabic, and he played an important role in the transmission of ancient knowledge to the Islamic world. He was a prominent figure in the court of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad, and his works were highly respected by both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars.
Al-Kindi’s contributions to the development of astrology included his development of astrological theory and the application of mathematical calculations to astrological charts. He also wrote about the role of astrology in medicine and the interpretation of celestial phenomena. His work in astrology helped to establish the discipline as a respected field of knowledge in the Islamic world, and his influence continued to be felt long after his death.
Adamson, P., 2002a, “Abu Ma‘shar, al-Kindi and the Philosophical Defense of Astrology,” Recherches de philosophie et théologie médiévales, 69: 245–270. ➤
——, 2002b, “Before Essence and Existence: Al-Kindi’s Conception of Being,” The Journal of the History of Philosophy, 40: 297–312. ➤
——, 2003, “Al-Kindi and the Mu‘tazila: Divine Attributes, Creation and Freedom,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 13: 45–77. ➤
–––, 2005, “Al-Kindi and the Reception of Greek Philosophy,” in The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, ed. P. Adamson and R.C. Taylor, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 32–51. ➤
–––, 2006, “Vision, Light and Color in al-Kindi, Ptolemy and the Ancient Commentators,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 16: 207–236. ➤
–––, 2015, Studies on Plotinus and al-Kindi, Farnham: Ashgate Variorum. ➤
Adamson, P. and Pormann, P.E. (trans.), 2012, The Philosophical Works of al-Kindi, Karachi: Oxford University Press. ➤
Adamson, P. and Pormann, P.E., 2009, “Aristotle’s Categories and the Soul: an Annotated Translation of al-Kindi’s That There Are Separate Substances,” in J.M. Dillon and M. Elkaisy-Friemuth (eds), The Afterlife of the Platonic Soul. Reflections of Platonic Psychology in the Monotheistic Religions, Leiden: Brill, 95–106. ➤
Altmann, A., and Stern, S.M., 1958, Isaac Israeli: a Neoplatonic Philosopher of the Early Tenth Century, Oxford: Oxford University Press. ➤
Burnett, C., 1993, “Al-Kindi on Judicial Astrology: ‘The Forty Chapters,’” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 3: 77–117. ➤
Davidson, H.A., 1969, “John Philoponus as a Source of Medieval Islamic and Jewish Proofs of Creation,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 89: 357–91. ➤
–––, 1987, Proofs for Eternity, Creation and the Existence of God in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press. ➤
Fazzo, S. and Wiesner, H., 1993, “Alexander of Aphrodisias in the Kindi Circle and in al- Kindi’s Cosmology,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 3: 119–53. ➤
Gutas, D., 1998, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: the Graeco-Arabic Translation movement in Baghdad and early society (2nd-4th / 8th-10th centuries), London: Routledge. ➤
Ighbariah, A., 2012, “Between Logic and Mathematics: al-Kindi’s Approach to the Aristotelian Categories,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 22: 51–68. ➤
Ivry, A., 1974, Al-Kindi’s Metaphysics, Albany: SUNY Press. ➤
Janssens, J., 1994, “Al-Kindi’s Concept of God,” Ultimate Reality and Meaning, 17: 4–16. ➤
Jayyusi-Lehn, G., 2002, “The Epistle of Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi on the Device for Dispelling Sorrows,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 29: 121–135. ➤
Lindberg, D.C., 1971, “Alkindi’s Critique of Euclid’s Theory of Vision,” Isis, 62: 469–89. ➤
McCarthy, R., 1964, “Al-Kindi’s Treatise on the Intellect,” Islamic Studies, 3: 119–49. ➤
Pines, S., 1974, “The Arabic Recension of Parva Naturalia and the Philosophical Doctrine Concerning Veridical Dreams According to al-Risala al-Manamiyya and Other Sources,” Israel Oriental Studies, 4: 104–53. ➤
Rescher, N., 1968, “Al-Kindi’s Treatise on the Platonic Solids,” in N. Rescher, Studies in Arabic Philosophy, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press, 15–37. ➤
Schöck, C., 2012, “The Controversy between al-Kindi and Yahya b. ʿAdi on the Trinity: a revival of the Controversy Between Eunomius and the Cappadocian Fathers,” Orientalia, 40: 1–50. ➤
Staley, K., 1989, “Al-Kindi on Creation: Aristotle’s Challenge to Islam,” Journal of the History of Ideas, 50: 355–70. ➤
Travaglia, P., 1999, Magic, Causality, and Intentionality. The Doctrine of Rays in al-Kindi, Turnhout: Micrologus. ➤
