HAYY b. YAKZAN: İNSANLIK ADASINDA YALNIZ BiR HAKiKAT YOLCUSU

Ibn Tufail argues in his Hayy b. Yaqzan that the development of metaphysical knowledge, attained through deduction/reasoning (istidlaT), into absolute knowledge can only be achieved through insight/inner experience/personal witness (mushahadah). In this way, Ibn Tufail advocates a kind of an ishraqi method, which is based on the idea of moving to asceticism after deduction. So in telIing the story of Hayy, he aims to show that this method as a universal one is most appropriate for human nature and that one's grasp of the truth is the result of an individual procedure/development per se. Although the book is a fiction in terms of its genre, i.e., being a story fabricated by the author, the issues discussed in it are far away from being fabrication or mere symbolism. This is why the opinions of the author, as embedded within the main character, e.g. Hayy, are clearly discernible in the book. Accordingly, the one and only symbolism in it is the figure of Hayy, which, when read carefully, can be seen to refer to nothing but the author himself. So it is not wrong to say that Hayy b. Yaqzan, in fact, tells the story of a philosopher who is in search for truth.