Philosophical Journey: From Aristotle pdf

Abd al-Latif constantly held authors defined by him as “the moderns”distinct from the Ancients and he unleashed a harsh polemic attackagainst the works of the former. His privileged targets were Avicenna andFabr al-Din al-Rأ¤zi. The writings of these authors in fact, if compared withthose of the Ancients on similar themes, reveal their low scientific level,are confused, and lack detailed analysis, as can be seen in the criticismsof Avicenna’s logical writings. ‘Abd al-Latif maintained the need, there-fore, to return to the books of the Ancients, and in particular, those ofHippocrates and Galen in medicine and those of Aristotle, Alexander ofAphrodisias and al-Fأ¤rأ¤bi in philosophy.As far as medicine is concerned, Abd al-Latif criticizes Avicenna andFabr al-Din al-Rأ¤zi and wishes for a return to Hippocrates and Galen. Hewas an active promoter of this return: from the list of his works he seemsto have commented on or summarised many of Hippocrates’ and Galen’swritings. Nevertheless, he was not a sterile compiler of the medical works