Q0583

“Solitude became for him a ladder: withdrawing from the senses, he turned…” — Ibn Tufayl (Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (Goodman))

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (Goodman). Theme: truth.

English

Solitude became for him a ladder: withdrawing from the senses, he turned inward toward the Truth.
Thinker Ibn Tufayl
School Islamic Philosophy
Source Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (Goodman)
Theme Truth
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (Goodman) and files it under Islamic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Ibn Tufayl

Ibn Ṭufayl (c. 1105–1185) was an Andalusian physician and vizier best known for the philosophical romance Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān.

How to read this passage

Correspondence, coherence, pragmatist, and deflationary theories compete. Ethics and politics ask who gets to define truth in public life. This passage enters that discussion through truth.

Concepts in this quote

Truth
Truth is among philosophy’s oldest problems: what it is for a claim to be true, and how truth relates to belief, language, and power.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Ibn Tufayl. (n.d.). Solitude became for him a ladder: withdrawing from the senses, he turned inward toward the Truth. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0583

MLA: Ibn Tufayl. “Solitude became for him a ladder: withdrawing from….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0583.

Chicago: Ibn Tufayl. “Solitude became for him a ladder: withdrawing from….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0583.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “Solitude became for him a ladder: withdrawing from…”?

The passage is attributed to Ibn Tufayl, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (Goodman). The archive attributes this English wording to Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (Goodman) and files it under Islamic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Ibn Tufayl mean by truth?

Correspondence, coherence, pragmatist, and deflationary theories compete. Ethics and politics ask who gets to define truth in public life. This passage enters that discussion through truth.

Same thinker

More from Ibn Tufayl

  1. By unaided reason Hayy rose to knowledge of the Necessary Existent, before any human teacher reached him.
  2. What revelation teaches by symbols, the philosopher may reach by demonstration; the two agree in substance for those who understand.
  3. Most people cling to the outer forms of worship; to strip those forms away suddenly only harms them.

All quotations by Ibn Tufayl

Same theme

More on truth

  1. It is through wonder that people both now begin and first began to philosophize.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. What is opposed brings together; from what differs comes the finest harmony.
  4. Death is nothing to us: for what has been dissolved has no sensation, and what has no sensation is nothing to us.
  5. Pleasure is the beginning and end of the happy life — not the pleasures of profligates, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul.

Browse the truth theme