Aesthetics and Mysticism in “El filósofo autodidacto by Ibn Tufayl

Abstract

In this work, we aim to develop a brief analysis of the aesthetic and philosophical ideas that Ibn Tufayl maintains in his novel El filósofo autodidacto. This study would allow us to properly situate the philosophy of this andalusí thinker within the framework of the history of aesthetics. Throughout the pages of his work, Ibn Tufayl not only links aesthetics and mysticism but also gives a prominent place to ascetic practice as a possibility for grasping “Beauty”. In this sense, in some passages of the book, the author describes natural elements, especially the planets, using the predicate “beautiful”. This would allow us to assert that the aesthetic realm in El filósofo autodidacto exists not only in the realm of divinity but also in the world.