Epistemology from a Peripatetic Point of View

Muslim philosophers all affirm reality of the external world. Farabi in his works, including Enumeration of the Sciences, Treatise on Intellect, Book of Letters, and Remarks on the Way of the felicity, which are the most famous works of him about epistemology, advances a detailed discussion on knowing and intellect, and in which he is influenced by Greeks philosophers. Farabi claims that the faculty of intellect has four hypostasis including Potential intellect, intellect in habitu, actual intellect, and acquired intellect. Some scholars think that Farabi develops this distinction on a neo-Platonic ground, especially on Alexander of Aphrodisias’ commentary. Similarly, Ibn Sina bring forward some definition of intellect in his writings which are every intellection is a kind of grasping intelligible forms in some certain ways; or, intellection is receiving the intelligible notions by cognitive faculty. For Avicenna, intellection and apprehension works through sensible and intellectual apprehension; i.e., receiving the notion or idea of what is conceived. Nonetheless, he thinks improving the existence of external world is not possible by sensible apprehension alone, thus the intellection is needed for this goal. In this essay, epistemology of two Muslim philosophers, Farabi and Ibn Sina, is discussed, which is essential to understand Islamic epistemology.