PHILOSOPHER

Ibn Tufail

1110 - 1185

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Ibn Ṭufayl (full Arabic name: أبو بكر محمد بن عبد الملك بن محمد بن طفيل القيسي الأندلسي ʾAbū Bakr Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Malik bin Muḥammad bin Ṭufayl al-Qaysiyy al-ʾAndalusiyy; Latinized form: Abubacer Aben Tofail; Anglicized form: Abubekar or Abu Jaafar Ebn Tophail; c. 1105 – 1185) was an Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath: a writer, Islamic philosopher, Islamic theologian, physician, astronomer, and vizier. As a philosopher and novelist, he is most famous for writing the first philosophical novel, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (The Living Son of the Vigilant), considered a major work of Arabic literature emerging from Al-Andalus. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ibn Tufail has received more than 358,887 page views. His biography is available in 44 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 42 in 2019). Ibn Tufail is the 187th most popular philosopher (up from 212th in 2019), the 93rd most popular biography from Spain (up from 117th in 2019) and the 6th most popular Spanish Philosopher.

Ibn Tufail is most famous for his philosophical novel, "Hayy ibn Yaqzan" (meaning "Alive, son of Awake"). The book, written in Arabic, tells the story of a man who is raised in isolation on an island and discovers the world through his own observations and reasoning. The book was an early example of philosophical fiction and had a major influence on later European thinkers, including Gottfried Leibniz, Baruch Spinoza, and George Berkeley.

Memorability Metrics

  • 360k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 69.07

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 44

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 9.16

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.63

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Ibn Tufail ranks 187 out of 1,267. Before him are José Ortega y Gasset, Julien Offray de La Mettrie, Marquis de Condorcet, Apollonius of Tyana, Moses Mendelssohn, and Bernard Bolzano. After him are Nicolas Malebranche, Jakob Böhme, Emmanuel Levinas, Pierre Gassendi, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Baltasar Gracián.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1110, Ibn Tufail ranks 2. Before him is Pope Lucius III. After him are John of Salisbury, Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia, John Tzetzes, García Ramírez of Navarre, Euphrosyne of Polotsk, Kaykaus I, Robert de Boron, Boril of Bulgaria, Antipope Paschal III, and Rostislav I of Kiev. Among people deceased in 1185, Ibn Tufail ranks 5. Before him are Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, Pope Lucius III, Afonso I of Portugal, and Chrétien de Troyes. After him are Bhāskara II, Andronikos I Komnenos, Agnes of Courtenay, Emperor Antoku, Richeza of Poland, Queen of Castile, John Kinnamos, and Beatrice of Rethel.

Others Born in 1110

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Others Deceased in 1185

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In Spain

Among people born in Spain, Ibn Tufail ranks 93 out of 3,355. Before him are Magnus Maximus (335), Isaac Albéniz (1860), Pablo Casals (1876), Peter III of Aragon (1239), José Ortega y Gasset (1883), and Avempace (1080). After him are Dolores Ibárruri (1895), Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain (1549), Blanche of Castile (1188), Vincent of Saragossa (300), Baltasar Gracián (1601), and Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress (1528).

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Among PHILOSOPHERS In Spain

Among philosophers born in Spain, Ibn Tufail ranks 6. Before him are Seneca the Younger (-4), Averroes (1126), Ibn Arabi (1165), Ramon Llull (1232), and José Ortega y Gasset (1883). After him are Baltasar Gracián (1601), Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021), Miguel de Unamuno (1864), Abraham ibn Ezra (1089), Francisco Suárez (1548), and Arnaldus de Villa Nova (1240).

Spanish born Philosophers

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