Una posible influencia: la Epístola de la Contemplación (Risālat al-iʿtibār) de Ibn Masarra (m. 931) y Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (Risālat Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān) de Ibn Ṭufayl’s (m. 1185)

Raissa von Doetinchem de Rande

doi:10.3989/alqantara.2023.002

Authors

Raissa von Doetinchem de Rande Rhodes College https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6492-1667

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2023.002

Keywords:

Ibn Masarra, Epistle of Contemplation (Risālat al-iʿtibār), philosophy in al-Andalus, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān, Ibn Ṭufayl

Abstract

This article makes the case for considering Ibn Masarra’s Epistle of Contemplation (Risālat al-iʿtibār) another possible influence on Ibn Ṭufayl’s famous philosophical tale, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān. The overlap in the basic arguments the two works make regarding the compatibility of reason and revelation as the two paths of attaining knowledge and the works’ similar epistemological uses of the concept of fiṭra as basic to the rational ascent they both discuss suggest that Ibn Masarra’s epistle provided some inspiration for Ibn Ṭufayl’s tale. However, a comparison of the two works also demonstrates important differences in their respective conceptions of the end of contemplation and of fiṭra and, relatedly, their takes on the parity of reason and revelation. Weighing both the significant overlaps and the important differences, this article makes the case for a meaningful connection between the two Andalusian texts. Given the relative scarcity of historical data on the two authors, the article does not make any arguments regarding the material history of either text or the historical circumstances of their authors. Instead, it concludes that in spite of the divergent nuances between the two works, their parallels justify considering Ibn Masarra’s epistle another potential influence on the structure and overall aims of Ibn Ṭufayl’s tale.

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