Chapter 13 Ibn Ṭufayl’s Use and Misuse of His Predecessors
In: Received Opinions: Doxography in Antiquity and the Islamic WorldSearch for other papers by Bethany Somma in
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Abstract
At the beginning of his Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān, Ibn Ṭufayl offers an overview and appraisal of his predecessors. Though this overview is clearly important, its internal logic is unclear. The prologue is vaguely doxographic, but it seems to fall short of what is demanded of a true doxography. I argue for a liminal understanding of Ibn Ṭufayl’s doxography. First, the nature of the doxography’s subject matter requires him to remain on the verge of a proper doxography, for since the topic is properly speaking ineffable, it restricts him to saying only what he is not saying. Second, his remarks are also geographically organized, as he restricts himself to examining two distinct lines of Aristotelians arranged from west to east to west. This organization allows Ibn Ṭufayl to present an Andalusī intellectual history within which he stands at the summit. As a result, Ibn Ṭufayl’s doxography is doubly liminal, its subject matter on the verge of expression and its author on the verge of historical, intellectual fulfillment.