Al-Ghazali intended to demonstrate that he had mastered the philosophers' arguments before attempting to refute them. European Reception:
This is the largest section. Ghazali famously argued that the philosophers' logical tools (categories, syllogisms, propositions) are neutral. He believed that if the Greeks could develop a valid theory of logic, Muslims could use it to defend orthodoxy. This section covers: maqasid al-falasifa pdf
The book is divided into three classical sections (logic, metaphysics, and physics). However, the trap lies in its intention. Al-Ghazali wrote this "neutral" summary as the first part of a two-part project. The second part is his legendary Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers). In Tahafut , he uses the very terminology and arguments laid out in Maqasid to dismantle the philosophers' claims about eternity, resurrection, and God's knowledge. Al-Ghazali intended to demonstrate that he had mastered
Do not read it in isolation. Read it with Tahafut open on your left and Avicenna's Najah on your right. Only then will you understand the "Aims of the Philosophers" and why, for Al-Ghazali, those aims ultimately fell short of revelation. He believed that if the Greeks could develop
The Maqasid is unique because it contains almost no original Al-Ghazalian critique. Instead, it is a masterfully clear exposition of the philosophical sciences of his day. In his introduction, Al-Ghazali explicitly states that he wrote this book as a prerequisite for his more famous polemic, The Incoherence of the Philosophers ( Tahafut al-Falasifa ). By presenting the "intentions" of the philosophers so accurately, he gained the intellectual credibility to criticize them. Ironically, the book was so well-written that when it was later translated into Latin as Summa Philosophorum , many European scholars mistakenly believed Al-Ghazali was a devoted follower of Avicenna rather than his critic.
Despite its critical framing, the book became a popular and clear summary of philosophy in both the Islamic world and medieval Europe. ghazali.org PDF Resources & Translations