mArabic / 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
• Selections from Avicenna. The Metaphysics of The Healing, M. E. Marmura, tr. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2005)
• Tariq Ramadan, What I Believe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
• Selections from other works chosen by the instructor
• Selections translated from Arabic by the instructor.
Secondary sources:
• *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: HERE) SEP
• 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
Recommended Secondary Sources:
• 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 28 class meetings
Class topics and assignments
1-2. Introduction to Islam and Philosophy: course overview; brief account of Islam and its early development; two 30 min. videos from the series, When the World Spoke Arabic.
3-4. Islamic Kalâm (philosophical theology).
Readings: (i) selections from al-cAshcari, cAbd al-Jabbar, and others provided by the instructor on reserve; (ii) CCCIT, Introduction and ch. 4 The Developed kalâmTradition; (iii) CAP Introduction; and (iv) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: “Islamic Theology” and “Ashcariyya and Muctazila.”
5-6. Greek into Arabic: the translation and transformation of Greek philosophy into the Arabic / Islamic intellectual and cultural setting; pseudo-Aristotelian works: the Theology of Aristotle and the Book of Causes.
Readings: selections from the Theology of Aristotle and the Book of Causes, provided by the instructor on reserve.
Recommended: Cristina D’Ancona, “Greek Sources in Arabic / Islamic Philosophy,” in SEP HERE; Peter Adamson, “The Theology of Aristotle” in SEP HERE.
7-8. al-Kindî (d. 870) and the equity of religion and philosophy in the human pursuit of the Divine; the First Cause and the True Agent; the human intellect. Readings: (i) two selections from al-Kindi’s Metaphysics provided by the instructor on reserve; (ii) CAP 16-35; (iii) CCAP ch. 3.
Recommended: SEP HERE.
9-10. al-Fârâbî (d. 950) and the primacy of philosophy over religion in the human pursuit of the Divine; intellectual thought; the nature of metaphysics. Readings: (i) selection from al-Farabi’s Book of Religion; (ii) CAP 63-119; (iii) CCAP ch. 4.
Recommended: “al-Farabi” in Alfred L. Ivry, “Arabic and Islamic Psychology and Philosophy of Mind,” in SEP HERE.
Short paper #1 on philosophy and religion, metaphysics and theology, in al-Kindî and al-Fârâbî.
11-12. Ibn Sînâ / Avicenna (d. 1037) and intellectual reasoning and the meaning of the mystical in the human pursuit of the Divine.
Readings: (i) CAP 146-156, 175-219; (ii) selection from Avicenna. The Metaphysics of The Healing, 22-34; (iii) CCAP ch. 6.
Recommended: “Avicenna” in Alfred L. Ivry, “Arabic and Islamic Psychology and Philosophy of Mind,” in SEP HERE.
13-14. al-Ghazâlî (d. 1111) and the critique of philosophy; the primacy of the religious in the human pursuit of the Divine. (i) CAP 238-265; (ii) Deliverance from Error, available HERE; (iii) CCAP ch.7.
Recommended: SEP: HERE.
15. Exam #1 in class.
16. Ibn Bâjja (d. 1139) and Aristotelian thought under the influence of Neoplatonism; the philosopher in society.
Readings: (i) CAP 266-283; (ii) selection from On the Governance of the Solitaryprovided by the instructor on reserve; CCAP ch. 8.
Recommended: SEP: HERE
17. Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185-6) and the natural worship of the enlightened philosopher.
Readings: CAP 284-293; CCAP ch. 8.
18-19. 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.
Readings: (i) CAP 309-330; (ii) selections on human knowing from the Long Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle translated by the instructor, provided by the instructor on reserve; (iii) selections on God from the Long Commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle, tr. Charles Genequand, provided by the instructor on reserve; (iv) CCAP ch. 9.
20. The Influence of Classical Arabic Philosophy in the Latin West: Arabic into Latin; phrases in the entrance of Arabic philosophy and condemnations in the Latin West; Thomas Aquinas and the Arabs.
Readings: (i) CCAP ch. 18; (ii) texts of Aquinas displaying the influence of the Arabic tradition on his conceptions of human knowing, the human soul, and the nature of God, translated by the instructor, provided by the instructor on reserve.
Recommended: “Influence of Arabic and Islamic Philosophy on the Latin West,” by Dag Hasse in SEP HERE
21. Philosophy as Islamic: Suhrawardî (d. 1191) and the Illuminationist tradition.
Readings: (i) David Burrell, “Creation,“ in CCCIT, ch. 7; CAP 367-379; CCAP ch. 10.
Recommended: “Suhrawardi” by R. Marcotte, in SEP HERE
22. Ibn cArabî (d. 1240) and Sufism (Islamic mysticism).
Readings: (i) selections from Futûhât al-makkiya available HERE; (ii) CCAP ch. 11.
Recommended: William Chittick, “Ibn Arabi,”in SEP HERE.
23. Mulla Sadrâ (d. 1631): wisdom and the holy life.
Readings: (i) selections from The Wisdom of the Throne, tr. James W. Morris, available HERE; (ii) CCAP ch. 11 & ch. 19.
Recommended: S. H. Nasr, Islamic Philosophy from its Origin to the Present. Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy (Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 2006), Chapters 13-15, pp.235-280.
24. Historical social and political movements in the development of social philosophy in the 19th century: Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897)
Readings: (i) Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, selections of Nikki Keddi, An Islamic Response to Imperialism: Political and Religious Writings of Sayyid Jamal al-Din “al-Afghani” (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), provided by the instructor on reserve; (ii) Ibrahim Kalin’s account HERE.
25. Historical social and political movements in the development of social philosophy in the 20th century: Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966). (i) selections (indicated at class) from Milestones available HERE; (ii) “Sayyid Qutb’s America,” HERE; (iii) Q. Wiktorowicz, “A Genealogy of Radical Islam,” Studies in Conflict & Terrrorism 28 (2005) 75-97, available HERE.
26. Historical social and political movements in the development of social philosophy in the 19th and 20th centuries: Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989) and modern Iran.
Readings: (i) selections from Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini, provided by the instructor on reserve; (ii) Abdolkarim Soursh, “The Goals of Iran’s Green Movement,” January 2010, available HERE 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.
27-28. Historical social and political movements in the development of social philosophy in the 21st century: Radicalism, Peace, the Future, and Reform.
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 HERE; (ii) “A Common Word,” abbreviated version at HERE; (iii) John L. Esposito, ”The Future of Islam,” one-hour video recording at HERE; (iv) Tariq Ramadan, What I Believe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Exam #2 during final exam period. Course paper due at final exam.