Background
Israeli was born c. 832 into a Jewish family in Egypt.
(The book contains references to the editions of the philo...)
The book contains references to the editions of the philosophical treatises, the English translation, with commentary, of the philosophical treatises, and a systematic exposition of Israeli’s philosophy.
https://www.amazon.com/Isaac-Israeli-Neoplatonic-Philosopher-Century/dp/B0014MVH3M/?tag=2022091-20
1958
Israeli was born c. 832 into a Jewish family in Egypt.
Between the years 905-907 Israeli travelled to Kairouan where he studied general medicine under Ishak ibn Amran al-Baghdadi.
Israeli lived the first half of his life in Cairo where he gained a reputation as a skillful oculist. He immigrated to Ifriqiya (now Tunisia) sometime after 900. In about 904 Israeli was nominated court physician to the last Aghlabid prince, Ziyadat Allah III. Later he served as a doctor to the founder of the Fatimid Dynasty of North Africa, 'Ubaid Allah al-Mahdi, who reigned from 910-934. The caliph enjoyed the company of his Jewish physician on account of the latter's wit and of the repartees in which he succeeded in confounding the Greek al-Hubaish when pitted against him. In Kairouan his fame became widely extended, the works which he wrote in Arabic being considered by the Muslim physicians as "more valuable than gems." His lectures attracted many pupils, of whom the two most prominent were Abu Ja'far ibn al-Jazzar, a Muslim, and Dunash ibn Tamim. Israeli studied natural history, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and other scientific topics; he was reputed to be one who knew all the "seven sciences." Of his medical works, the Book on Fevers and the Book on Urine were highly regarded textbooks.
(The book contains references to the editions of the philo...)
1958Israeli’s philosophy, purely Neoplatonic in character, is mainly based on a treatise in Arabic that, like other similar texts, was attributed to Aristotle, and on the writings of the Muslim philosopher al-Kindi. His themes were the process of emanation, the elements, and the soul and its return to the upper world. He wrote a number of short treatises on philosophy, of which the Book of Definitions and Descriptions, largely based on al-Kindi, was widely used by the Schoolmen in a Latin version by the twelfth-century translator Gerard of Cremona. Whereas the Book of Substances, of which only part is extant, is a kind of commentary on the pseudo-Aristotelian text, the Book on Spirit and Soul supports its doctrines with biblical quotations. In addition, there is a treatise called Chapter on the Elements, extant only in the Hebrew version, and a lengthier Book on the Elements, which exists in Latin and Hebrew editions, the former by Gerard of Cremona.
Historians state that Israeli never married or fathered children.