The course will consist of 20 seminars, 10 in Term 1 and 10 in Term 2. Each seminar will last for two hours, and combine lecture with discussions devoted to a close reading of a text (in English translation).
Course Aims
To give students an understanding of the historical development and philosophical interest of philosophy produced in the Arabic-speaking world, focusing on the time period from al-Kindî (9th century) to Averroes (12th century), which one might call the "classical" period of Arabic thought.
Course Objectives
Students who complete the course should have developed an understanding of the following issues in classical Arabic philosophy:
• Philosophy of mind (i.e. theory of soul and intellect);
• The relation between philosophy and religion;
• The attitude taken towards Greek philosophical texts, especially Aristotle, by Muslim philosophers;
• The problem of divine attributes;
• The nature of God as cause;
• The problem of free will.
• Students will also gain an awareness of some developments in the post-classical era, though this will not be the main focus of the course.
Reading is indicated below in the syllabus and will be available in the library. Some articles will be available on reserve in the xerox library at KCL Philosophy Dept. These are marked with an asterisk. Other articles are available from me on request.
Some general reading useful for the entire course is available at the library:
M. Fakhry, A History of Islamic Philosophy, (Columbia University Press, 1983).
History of Islamic philosophy edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman (Routledge, 1995). See also entries for specific philosophers in the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (London: Routledge, 1998).
Course of Lectures: Semester One
Term One: al-Kindî and the Transmission of Greek Thought
1 (Oct 3). Arabic philosophy: an overview of the tradition.
Suggested reading: *G. Endress, "The Defense of Reason: the Plea for Philosophy in the Religious Community," Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamische Wissenschaften 6 (1990), 1-49. For a combative view see D. Gutas, "The Study of Arabic Philosophy in the Twentieth Century," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 29 (2002), 5-25.
2 (Oct 10). The translation movement and al-Kindî’s circle.
Discussion text: Excerpts from Arabic translations of Neoplatonic texts.
Suggested reading: *R. Taylor, "Aquinas, the Plotiniana Arabica and the Metaphysics of Being and Actuality," Journal of the History of Ideas 59 (1998), 241-264. *C. D’Ancona, "Divine and Human Knowledge in the Plotiniana Arabica," The Perennial Tradition of Neoplatonism, edited by J.L. Cleary (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1997), 419-442. P. Adamson, The Arabic Plotinus (London: 2002), ch.5. If you can read French you might take a look at C. D’Ancona Costa, Recherches sur le Liber de Causis (Paris: 1995).
3 (Oct 17). Al-Kindî on God.
Discussion text: al-Kindî, On the True Agent.
Suggested reading: *P. Adamson, "Before Essence and Existence: al-Kindî’s Conception of Being,"; *P. Adamson, "Al-Kindî and the Mu‘tazila: Divine Attributes, Creation and Freedom".
4 (Oct 24). Al-Kindî on intellect and the soul.
Discussion text: al-Kindî, On Incorporeal Substances.
Suggested reading: *P. Adamson, "Two Early Arabic Doxographies on the Soul"; J. Jolivet, L’intellect selon Kindi (Leiden: 1971).
5 (Oct 31). Al-Kindî on the eternity of the world.
Discussion text: al-Kindî, On the Oneness of God and the Finity of the World.
Suggested reading: see the commentary in A. Ivry, Al-Kindi’s Metaphysics (Albany: 1974); H.A. Davidson, "John Philoponus as a Source of Medieval, Islamic and Jewish Proofs of Creation," Journal of the American Oriental Society 89 (1969), 357-391; also my article "Al-Kindî and the Mu‘tazila" mentioned above.
Term Two: al-Fârâbî and Tenth Century Philosophy
6 (Nov 14). Logic and language in the tenth century.
Discussion text: excerpt from al-Fârâbî’s Commentary on On Interpretation.
Suggested reading: F.W. Zimmermann, Al-Farabi’s Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle’s De Interpretatione (Oxford: 1981). D.S. Margouliath, "The Discussion between Abu Bishr Matta and Abu Sa‘id al-Sirafi on the Merits of Logic and Grammar," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1905), 79-129. M. Mahdi, "Language and Logic in Classical Islam," Logic in Classical Islamic Culture, ed. G.E. von Grunebaum (Wiesbaden, 1970), 51-83. On al-Fârâbî generally, see *"Al-Farabi," in Encyclopaedia Iranica.
7 (Nov 21). Al-Fârâbî on the Greek tradition, and his classification of sciences.
Discussion text: excerpt from al-Fârâbî, On the Harmony of the Two Sages.
Suggested reading: *J. Lameer, "The Philosopher and the Prophet: Greek Parallels to al-Fârâbî’s Theory of Philosophy and Religion in the State," Perspectives arabes et médiévales sur la tradition scientifique et philosophique grecque (1997), 609-622. D. Gutas, "Paul the Persian on the Classification of the Parts of Aristotle’s Philosophy: a Milestone Between Alexandria and Baghdad," Der Islam 60 (1983), 231-267. M. Mahdi, Alfarabi’s Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle (Ithaca: 1969, reprinted 2003).
8 (Nov 28). Al-Fârâbî’s metaphysical cosmology.
Discussion text: excerpt from al-Fârâbî, The Perfect State.
Suggested reading: *T.-A. Druart, "Al-Farabi and Emanationism," Studies in Medieval Philosophy, ed. J.F. Wippel (Washington DC: 1987), 23-43.
9 (Dec 5). Al-Fârâbî’s epistemology.
Discussion text: excerpt from al-Fârâbî, ThePerfect State.
Suggested reading: H. Davidson, Alfarabi, Avicenna and Averroes on Intellect (Oxford: 1992); M. Geoffrey, "La tradition arabe du Peri Nou d’Alexandre d’Aphrodise et les origines de la théorie farabienne des quatre degrés de l’intellect," Aristotele e Alessandro di Afrodisia nella Tradizione Araba (Padua: 2002), 191-231.
10 (Dec 12). Al-Fârâbî on religion and philosophy.
Discussion text: excerpt from al-Fârâbî, Book of Religion.
Suggested reading: *T.-A. Druart, "Al-Farabi, Ethics and First Intelligibles," Documenti e studi sulla tradizione filosofica medievale 7 (1996), 403-423; *E.I.J. Rosenthal, "The Place of Politics in the Philosophy of al-Farabi," Islamic Culture 29 (1955), 157-178, reprinted in his Studia Semitica vol.2. M. Mahdi, Alfarabi and the Foundations of Islamic Political Philosophy (Chicago: 2001) sums up the Straussian approach. See also the Lameer article noted above.
Course of Lectures: Semester Two
Term One: Avicenna
11 (Jan 16). Avicenna’s views on modality, essence and existence.
Discussion text: excerpt from Avicenna, The Healing.
Suggested reading: *F. Rahman, "Essence and Existence in Avicenna" Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies 4 (1958); M. Marmura, "Avicenna on Causal Priority," in Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism, ed. P. Morewedge (Delmar: 1981), 65-83; M. Marmura, "The Metaphysics of Efficient Causality in Avicenna," in Islamic Theology and Philosophy, ed. M. Marmura (Albany: 1984), 172-187.
12 (Jan 23). Avicenna’s proof of God’s existence.
Discussion text: excerpt from Avicenna, The Healing.
Suggested reading: *T. Mayer, "Avicenna’s Burhân al-Siddiqîn," Journal of Islamic Studies 12 (2001), 18-39; *M. Marmura, "Avicenna’s Proof from Contingency for God’s Existence in the Metaphysics of the Shifâ’," Medieval Studies 42 (1980).
13 (Jan 30). Avicenna’s epistemology.
Discussion text: excerpt from Avicenna, The Salvation.
Suggested reading: *D. Gutas on intuition, from his Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition (Leiden: 1988); D. Hasse, "Avicenna on Abstraction," in Aspects of Avicenna, ed. R. Wisnovksy, (Princeton: Markus Wiener, 2001), 39-72.
14 (Feb 6). Avicenna’s psychology.
Discussion text: excerpt from Avicenna, The Salvation.
Suggested reading: *M. Marmura, "Avicenna’s ‘Flying Man’ in Context," Monist 69 (1986); * T.-A. Druart, ""The Human Soul’s Individuation and its Survival After the Body’s Death: Avicenna on the Causal Relation Between Body and Soul," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 10 (2000), 259-273; P. Adamson, "Correcting Plotinus: Soul’s Relationship to Body in Avicenna’s Commentary on the Theology of Aristotle" (forthcoming); D. Hasse, Avicenna’s De Anima in the Latin West (London: 2000).
15 (Feb 13). Avicenna’s physics.
Discussion text: excerpt from Avicenna, The Healing.
Suggested reading: J. McGinnis, "Avicenna on the Now," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 73 (1999), 73-106; A. Hasnawi, "La définition du movement dans la Physique du Shifâ’ d’Avicenna," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 11 (2001), 219-255.
Term Two: Averroes
16 (Feb 20). Averroes on religion and philosophy.
Discussion text: Averroes, The Decisive Treatise.
Suggested reading: *R. Taylor, "Truth Does Not Contradict Truth: Averroes and the Unity of Truth" Topoi 19 (2000), 3-16; R. Taylor, "Averroes on the Status of Religious Propositions," in Was ist Philosophie in Mittelalter?, ed. A. Speer and J.A. Aertsen (Berlin: 1998), 889-894.
17 (Feb 27). Averroes against Ghazâlî, part one: eternity of the world.
Discussion text: excerpt from Averroes, Incoherence of the Incoherence.
Suggested reading: Al-Ghazâlî, The Incoherence of the Philosophers, translated by M. Marmura (Provo: 1997); *T. Kukkonen, "Possible Worlds in the Tahâfut al-Tahâfut : Averroes on Plenitude and Possibility," and "Possible Worlds in the Tahâfut al-Falâsifa: al-Ghazâlî on Creation and Contingency," Journal of the History of Philosophy 38 (2000), 329-348 and 479-502; B. Kogan, "Eternity and Origination: Averroes’ Discourse on the Manner of the World’s Existence," in Islamic Theology and Philosophy, ed. M. Marmura (Albany: 1984), 203-235.
18 (Mar 5). Averroes against Ghazâlî, part two: on causation.
Discussion text: excerpt from Averroes, Incoherence of the Incoherence.
Suggested reading: *B. Dutton, "Al-Ghazâlî on Possibility and the Critique of Causality," Medieval Philosophy and Theology 10 (2001), 23-46; *B. Kogan, "The Philosophers al-Ghazâlî and Averroes on Necessary Connection and the Problem of the Miraculous," in Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism, ed. P. Morewedge (Delmar: 1981), 113-132. For the anti-occasionalist view see R.M. Frank, Al-Ghazâlî and the Ash‘arite School (Durham: 1994), with response by Marmurain his review, "Ghazalian Causes and Intermediaries," Journal of the American Oriental Society 115 (1995), 89-100.
19 (Mar 12). Averroes on psychology.
Discussion text: excerpt from Averroes, Long Commentary on the De Anima.
Suggested reading: *D. Black, "Conjunction and the Identity of Knower and Known in Averroes," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 73 (1999), 159-184; *R. Taylor, "Averroes on Psychology and the Principles of Metaphysics," Journal of the History of Philosophy 36 (1998), 507-523; A. Ivry, "Averroes on Intellection and Conjunction," JAOS 86 (1986), 76-85.
20 (Mar 19). Averroes on metaphysics and theology.
Discussion text: excerpt from Averroes, Long Commentary on the Metaphysics.
Suggested reading: C. Genequand, Ibn Rushd’s Metaphysics (Leiden: 1984); B. Kogan, Averroes and the Metaphysics of Causation (Albany: 1985).