Hayy ibn Yaqzan

Ibn Tufayl, an Andalusian physician and philosopher (d. 1185), wrote this tale at the Almohad court. Its hero, Hayy, grows up on an uninhabited island, nursed by a gazelle, and learns by observation and thought alone.

The central idea

Can reason alone lead to knowledge of the world and its creator? The story follows Hayy's growth from the senses to philosophical contemplation.

Its influence in Europe

The book was translated into Latin in 1671 as Philosophus Autodidactus, then into several European languages, and was read by thinkers of the Enlightenment.