Course Syllabus

 


Arabic / Islamic Philosophy

Prof. Richard C. Taylor


Course Syllabus:

Texts required for purchase by all students indicated by asterisk*.


Primary sources:

• *Classical Arabic Philosophy. An Anthology of Sources, Jon McGinnis and David C. Reisman, tr. (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2007) CAP

  1. •Other materials in translation provided by the instructor : click on this link public.me.com/mistertea and then open the folder “KUL Arabic : Islamic Philosophy.”


Recommended secondary sources on the history of Arabic / Islamic philosophy:

• *The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, Peter Adamson and Richard C. Taylor, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005) CCAP

• The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology, Tim Winter, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). CCCIT

• Selected articles in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (on-line resource: http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html) SEP. But click here.

• Selected articles from the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy REP

• Selected articles from History of Islamic Philosophy, Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman, ed. London & New York: Routledge, 1996. HIP

• Massimo Campanini, An Introduction to Islamic Philosophy (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008)

• Dimitri Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture (London; NY: Routledge, 1998).

Other valuable sources will be mentioned in class and indicated on the course website.


Detailed Syllabus for 13 class meetings of two hours

(14.02.2011 - 30.05.2011)


Class topics and assignments


1. (14.02.2011) Introduction to Islam and Philosophy: course overview; brief account of the Qur’an, Islam and early developmental issues.

1.1.1. Course overview and resources

1.1.2. A brief account of Islam: Qur’an, Hadith, Sura, the Rashidun caliphs, more.

1.2.1. Islamic Kalâm (philosophical theology) & Primary Causality

Suggested readings:

On Islam:

  1. (i)http://islam101.net/introductory-mainmenu-33/13-introductory/12-islam-a-brief-introduction.html;

  2. (ii) http://islam101.net/introductory-mainmenu-33/13-introductory/13-islam-an-historic-perspective.html

  3. (iii)On the philosophical context for those not familiar with Ancient philosophy, I recommend “Greek Background to Medieval Philosophy” available as a PDF at public.me.com/mistertea and open the folder “KUL Arabic / Islamic Philosophy”.

(iv) For a recent overview of Islamic philosophy (mostly of the classical era) see “Philosophy” in the New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 4, Robert Irwin, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pp. 532-63, 825-30. This is available at GBIB: Godgeleerdheid Shelf number: B297 NEW

On Islamic Kalâm (philosophical theology):

(i) selections from al-cAshcari & cAbd al-Jabbar, by the instructor via the link public.me.com/mistertea;

  1. (ii)CCCIT, Introduction and ch. 4 The Developed kalâm Tradition;

  2. (iii) CAP Introduction; and

  3. (iv) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy REP: “Islamic Theology” and “Ashcariyya and Muctazila.”


  1. 2.(21.02.2011) Greek into Arabic: the Foundations of Arabic / Islamic Philosophy

2.1. The translation and transformation of Greek philosophy into the Arabic / Islamic intellectual and cultural setting;

2.2. Pseudo-Aristotelian works: the Theology of Aristotle and the Book of Causes.

Required readings:

  1. (i)Cristina D’Ancona, “Greek Sources in Arabic / Islamic Philosophy,” in SEP http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-greek/ 

  2. (ii) selections from the Theology of Aristotle and the Book of Causes, provided by the instructor.

Recommended:

(i) Cristina D’Ancona, “The Origins of Islamic Philosophy,” in The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity, L. P. Gerson, ed., v. 2 (Cambridge 2010), pp. 869-893 & 1170-1178.  FDWM: Antieke en middeleeuwse filosofie.  Shelf number: Ca 99.47

(ii) “The Theology of Aristotle,” http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/theology-aristotle/


  1. 3.(28.02.2011) al-Kindî (d. 870): the equity of religion and philosophy in the human pursuit of the Divine; tawhid; the First Cause and the True Agent; the human intellect; ethics.

Required readings:

  1. (i)selections from al-Kindi’s Metaphysics provided by the instructor;

  2. (ii) CAP 1-35;

  3. (iii) CCAP ch. 3.

Recommended: SEP http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/al-kindi/.


  1. 4.(07.03.2011) al-Fârâbî (d. 950) and the primacy of philosophy over religion in the human pursuit of the Divine; intellectual thought; the nature of metaphysics; political philosophy and ethics.

Required readings:

  1. (i)selection from al-Farabi’s Book of Religion;

  2. (ii) CAP 63-119;

  3. (iii) CCAP ch. 4.

Recommended: “al-Farabi” in Alfred L. Ivry, “Arabic and Islamic Psychology and Philosophy of Mind,” in SEP  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-mind/#AlFar.


5. (14.03.2011) Ibn Sînâ / Avicenna (d. 1037): logic and demonstration; intellectual reasoning in the human pursuit of the Divine: metaphysics.

Required readings:

  1. (i)CAP 146-156. Note a change in the assigned reading.

  2. (ii) selections on metaphysics from Avicenna. The Metaphysics of The Healing, Bks. 1 & 8, Marmura, tr. provided by the instructor on TOLEDO;

  3. (iii) CCAP ch. 6.


6. (21.03.2011) Ibn Sînâ / Avicenna, continued: the nature of the human soul; an interpretation of Aristotelian epistemology.

Required readings:

  1. (i)CAP 175-209;

  2. (ii) selected readings on epistemology provided by the instructor;

  3. (iii) Michael Marmura, “Avicenna's 'Flying Man' in Context,” Monist 69 (1986), 383 -95

Recommended:

“Avicenna” in Alfred L. Ivry, “Arabic and Islamic Psychology and Philosophy of Mind,” in SEP  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-mind/#Avi


7. (28.03.2011) al-Ghazâlî (d. 1111): the primacy of the religious in the human pursuit of the Divine; and the critique of philosophy.

Required Readings:

  1. (i)Deliverance from Error, available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/1100ghazali-truth.html;

  2. (ii) CAP 241-254;

  3. (iii) CCAP ch.7.

Recommended: SEP: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/al-ghazali/.


8.1. ( 02.05.2011) Ibn Bâjja (d. 1139) and Aristotelian thought under the influence of Neoplatonism; the philosopher in society.

Required readings:

  1. (i)CAP 266-283;

  2. (ii) selection from On the Governance of the Solitary provided by the instructor;

  3. (iii) CCAP ch. 8.

Recommended: SEP: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ibn-bajja/

8.2. Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185-6) and the natural worship of the enlightened philosopher.

Required readings: CAP 284-293; CCAP ch. 8.


9. (09.05.2011) Ibn Rushd / Averroes (d. 1198) and the culmination of Classical Rationalism in the Arabic / Islamic milieu: religion and philosophy; human knowing; the philosophical conception of God.

Required readings:

  1. (i)CAP 309-330;

  2. (ii) CCAP ch. 9.


10. (16.05.2011) The Influence of Classical Arabic Philosophy on Latin Europe: Arabic into Latin; phases in the entrance of Arabic philosophy and condemnations in the Latin West; Thomas Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’.

Required readings:

(i) CCAP ch. 18;

  1. (ii)Text of Aquinas displaying the influence of the Arabic tradition on his conception of the Christian notion of beatitude: available at:

http://web.me.com/mistertea/Aquinas_and_the_Arabs_Project__Translations/60_In_4_Sent._D._49,_Q.2,_A.1.html

Recommended: “Influence of Arabic and Islamic Philosophy on the Latin West,” by Dag Hasse in SEP at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-influence/


11. (23.05.2011) Philosophy as Islamic: Suhrawardî (d. 1191) and the Illuminationist tradition; Ibn cArabî (d. 1240) and Sufism (Islamic mysticism); and Mulla Sadrâ (d. 1631): wisdom and the holy life.

Required readings: Suhrawardi selections on illumination available at https://public.me.com/mistertea

Also at SEP: (i) Mysticism in Arabic and Islamic Philosophy; (ii) Suhrawardi; (iii) Ibn Arabi; and (iv) Mulla Sadra.


12. (30.05.2011) Historical, social and political movements in the development of social philosophy in the 19th & 20th centuries:  Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897); Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966); Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989) and modern Iran; Radicalism, Peace, the Future, and Reform. Viewing of “The Rise of Intellectual Reform in the Islamic World,” via   http://www.drsoroush.com/English/Interviews/E-INT-20110109-TheRiseOfIntellectualReformInTheIslamicWorld.html

Readings:

(i) Q. Wiktorowicz and J. Kaltner, “Killing in the Name of Islam: al-Qaeda’s Justification for September 11,” Middle East Policy Council X (2003), available at http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vp01.cfm?outfit=pmt&folder=10&paper=540; 

(ii) “A Common Word,” abbreviated version at http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=option1;

  1. (iii) John L. Esposito, ”The Future of Islam,” one-hour video recording at http://www.cceia.org/resources/video/data/000294.

Recommended:

  1. (i)Abdolkarim Soursh, “The Goals of Iran’s Green Movement,” January 2010, available at http://www.drsoroush.com/English/Interviews/E-INT-20100109-GreenMovementsGoals.html and “The Social Sciences have been Iran’s Most Bloodied Martyr over the past 30 Years. Interview with Abdulkarim Soroush,” by Farid Abid-Hashemi, January 2010 at http://www.drsoroush.com/English/Interviews/E-INT-20100129-TheSocialScience.html;

  2. (ii) Tariq Ramadan, What I Believe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).