Abu Bakr al-Razi

Abu Bakr al-Razi was a Persian physician, chemist and philosopher from Rayy, near modern Tehran, who directed hospitals in Rayy and Baghdad. Known in Latin Europe as Rhazes, he wrote major medical works, including the first clear account distinguishing smallpox from measles. In philosophy he was an independent thinker who held that five principles are eternal and is reported to have doubted the need for prophecy. His Spiritual Physick applies the method of medicine to the soul, teaching how reason can govern desire, anger, grief and the fear of death. He defended his own way of life as modelled on Socrates.

Key ideas

• Reason is God's greatest gift and should rule over desire and passion.
• Pleasure is the return to a natural state after a disturbance, so chasing pleasure without limit brings more pain.
• Five principles are eternal: the Creator, soul, matter, time and place.
• Moral faults such as envy, anger and excessive grief can be treated like illnesses, by diagnosis and rational regimen.
• The philosophical life imitates God through knowledge, justice and kindness, within moderate limits.

Major works

• The Spiritual Physick (early 10th century)
• The Philosophical Life (early 10th century)
• Doubts about Galen (early 10th century)
• On Smallpox and Measles (early 10th century)
• al-Ḥāwī, The Comprehensive Book on Medicine (compiled after his death, 10th century)

In the Book corner

• The Spiritual Physick early 10th century · Intermediate
  A short ethical treatise by the physician and philosopher Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, known in Latin as Rhazes, written for the governor of…

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