Although strongly influenced by Greek thought, Islamic philosophers also developed an original philosophical culture of their own which flourished from the ninth through the fourteenth century. This volume offers new translations of philosophical writings by Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ghazali, Ibn Tufayl, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). A historical and philosophical introduction sets the writings in context and traces their preoccupations and their achievements.

Although strongly influenced by Greek thought, Islamic philosophers also developed an original philosophical culture of their own which flourished from the ninth through the fourteenth century. This volume offers new translations of philosophical writings by Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ghazali, Ibn Tufayl, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). A historical and philosophical introduction sets the writings in context and traces their preoccupations and their achievements.

The notion of 'natural kinds' has been central to contemporary discussions of metaphysics and philosophy of science. Although explicitly articulated by nineteenth-century philosophers like Mill, Whewell and Venn, it has a much older history dating back to Plato and Aristotle. In recent years, essentialism has been the dominant account of natural kinds among philosophers, but the essentialist view has encountered resistance, especially among naturalist metaphysicians and philosophers of science. Informed by detailed examination of classification in the natural and social sciences, this book...