Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl’s Hayy ibn Yaqzan (sometimes translated as “Alive, son of Awake”—though the title is the main character’s name) is a curious philosophical thought experiment from twelfth-century al-Andalus (which is today southern Spain). Hayy grows up on a paradisiacal island where he is the only human, and through his increasing powers of observation and rational thinking he manages to reinvent both philosophy and religion. Chris and Suzanne explore this tantalizing, almost science-fictional work, talk about how it places Hayy in relation to animals, stars, and the divine, and ask what it tells us about the relationship of philosophy and literature.

Content warning: violence towards animals.