Compare And Contrast Descartes And Alkindi

Alikindi and Descartes are two authors and philosophers who worked very hard to find a way to attain knowledge. The knowledge they sought is a justified true belief. Though their methods are very well developed, there are big differences between Alkindi’s method and Descartes’s method. Alkindi was a devoted Muslim. He worked for the Khalfia Al Mo'tassem Bellah in the translation of books that was written in Greek and other languages. Alkindi uses the method of false contradiction to get to the knowledge he is seeking. He believed that we should attain the truth from wherever it comes and whoever said it. He was one of the Muslim pioneers in term of using philosophy to attain knowledge. Alkindi defined knowledge as “knowledge of the true nature

of things” According to Alkindi’s philosophy; you can attain true knowledge by understanding its cause. For the knowledge of cause is more noble than knowledge of effect”(Alkindi, 1974. p. 56). Alkindi defined first philosophy as “the knowledge of the first truth that is the cause of all truth”. In order to obtain the full knowledge of something, we need to know its matter, form, and final cause. We can answer the question of what, whether, why if we know the previous four elements (Alkindi). There are two kinds of perception as Alkindi thinks; one that senses are used to obtain it. This type of perception is “far from nature” and it is common to all genus. This way of perception is not reliable as it is subjected to changes in every case. Another kind of perception is the one that is “far from us and close to nature”. This is based on the intellect and it is a characteristic of the human soul. Everything that is material can be “represented in the soul by the sense receptions”.