Philosophy in the Islamic World PB

Peter Adamson

Paperback

9780198818618

This work presents the first full history of philosophy in the Islamic world for a broad readership. 

The book is divided into three sections, with the first looking at the first blossoming of Islamic theology and responses to the Greek philosophical tradition in the world of Arabic learning. This 'formative period' culminates with the work of Avicenna, the pivotal figure to whom most later thinkers feel they must respond. The second part of the book discusses philosophy in Muslim Spain (Andalusia), where Jewish philosophers come to the fore, though this is also the setting for such thinkers as Averroes and Ibn Arabi. Finally, a third section looks in unusual detail at later developments, touching on philosophy in the Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid empires and showing how thinkers in the nineteenth to the twentieth century were still concerned to respond to the ideas that had animated philosophy in the Islamic world for centuries, while also responding to political and intellectual challenges from the European colonial powers.

Contents:

Part I. The Formative Period

1. The Straight Path - Philosophy and Islam

2. All for One -  The Mu'tazilites

3. Founded in Translation - From Greek to Syriac to Arabic

4. Philosopher of the Arabs - al-Kindi

5. The Chosen Ones - Philosophy and Judaism

6. Reasoned Belief - Saadia Gaon

7. High Five - al-Razi

8. Aristotelian Society - The Baghdad School

9. The Second Master - al-Farabi

10. State of Mind - al-Farabi on Religion and Politics

11. Eye of the Beholder - Theories of Vision

12. Strings Attached - Music and Philosophy

13. Balancing Acts - Arabic Ethical Literature

14. Undercover Brothers - Philosophy and the Buyid Age

15. God Willing - The Ash'arites

16. The Self-Made Man - Avicenna's Life and Works

17. By the Time I Get to Phoenix - Avicenna on Existence

18. By All Means Necessary - Avicenna on God

19. Into Thin Air - Avicenna on the Soul

20. Special Delivery - al-Ghazali

21. Miracle Worker - al-Ghazali against the Philosophers

Part II. Andalusia

22. Philosophy's Reign in Spain - Andalusia

23. Laying Down the Law - Ibn Hazm and Islamic Legal Theory

24. Fantasy Island - Ibn Bajja and Ibn Tufayl

25. Back to Basics - Averroes on Reason and Religion

26. Single Minded - Averroes on the Intellect

27. A Matter of Taste - Ibn 'Arabi and Sufism

28. Team Spirit - Ibn Khaldun

29. Matter over Mind - Ibn Gabirol

30. Choosing My Religion - Judah Hallevi

31. Born Under a Bad Sign - Freedom and Astrology in Jewish Philosophy

32. With All Your Heart - Ethics and Judaism

33. The Great Eagle - Maimonides

34. He Moves in Mysterious Ways - Maimonides on Eternity

35. Burnt Offerings. - The Maimonidean Controversy

36. Man and Superman - Gersonides and the Jewish Reception of Averroes

37. Neither the Time nor the Place - Hasdai Crescas

38. When Bad Things Happen to Good People - Suffering in Jewish Philosophy

39. Chariot of Fire - Kabbalah

40. A Matter of Principles - Joseph Also and Isaac Abravanel

Part III. The Later Traditions

41. Golden Ages - The Later Traditions

42. All Things Considered - Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi

43. For the Sake of Argument -  Fakhr al-Din al-Razi

44. Let There Be Light - Suhrawardi

45. Bright Ideas - Illuminationism

46. A Man for All Seasons - Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

47. To Be or Not To Be - Debating Avicenna's Metaphysics

48. Eyes Wide Shut - Rumi and Philosophical Sufism

49. Proof Positive - The Logical Tradition

50. By the Book - Ibn Taymiyya

51. Aftermath - Philosophy and Science in the Mongol Age

52. Family Feud - Philosophy at Shiraz

53. Follow the Leader - Philosophy under the Safavids

54. To Be, Continued - Mulla Sadra on Existence

55. Return to Sender - Mulla Sadra on Motion and Knowledge

56. Subcontinental Drift - Philosophy in Islamic India

57. Turkish Delights - Philosophy under the Ottomans

58. Blind Alley - Taqlid, Sufism, and Philosophy

59. The Young Ones - Encounters with European Thought

60. The Stronger Sex - Women Scholars in the Islamic World

61. All for One and One for All - Muhammad 'Abduh and Muhammad Iqbal

62. Iran So Far - The Heirs of Mulla Sadra