Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam

In this monumental new work, Frank Griffel argues that what he calls the "post-classical" period of Islamic philosophy has been unjustly maligned and neglected by previous generations of scholars. The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam is a comprehensive study of the far-reaching changes that led to a re-shaping of the philosophical discourse in Islam during the twelfth century, when Muslim thinkers began to produce books in a new genre of philosophical literature they called "¿ikma."

List of contents

• Introduction


• Part One: Post-Classical Philosophy In Its Islamic Context


• First Chapter: Khorasan, the Birthplace of Post-Classical Philosophy: A Country in Decline?


• The madrasa System


• The Cities of Khorasan and Its Surrounding Provinces


• The First Half of the Sixth/Twelfth Century: Seljuq Rule


• The Second Half of the Sixth/Twelfth Century: Khwrazmshahs and Ghurids


• Other Patrons: Qarakhanids, the Caliphal Court in Baghdad, and the Ayyubids in Syria


• Second Chapter: The Death of as a Self-Description of Philosophy


• Falsafa as a Quasi-Religious Movement Established by Uncritical Emulation (taqlid)


• Falsafa As Part of the History of the World's Religions


• Three Different Concepts of Philosophy in Islam


• Hikma as the New Technical Term For


• Third Chapter: Philosophy and the Power of the Religious Law


• The Legal Background of al-Ghazali fatwa on the Last Page of His Tahfut al-falsifa


• Persecution of Philosophers in the Sixth/Twelfth century


• 'Ayn al-Qudat's Execution 525/1131 in Hamadan


• Shihbab al-Din Yahya al-Suhrawardi's Execution 587/1191 in Aleppo


• Was al-Ghazali's fatwa? Ever Applied?


• Part Two: Philosophers and Philosophies - A Biographical History of Philosophy in the Sixth/Twelfth Century Islamic East


• The Principal Sources for Sixth/Twelfth Century History of Philosophy in the Islamic East


• The Early Sixth/Twelfth Century: Avicennism Undisturbed


• Avicennism Contested: The Early Decades of the Sixth/Twelfth Century


• The Outsider as Innovator: Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi (d. c. 560/1165)


• Two Ghazalians of Transoxania: al-Mas' udi and Ibn Ghaylan al-Balkhi (d. c. 585/1190)


• Majd al-Din al-Jili - Teacher of Two Influential Philosophers Trained In Maragha


• Al-Suhrawardi (d. c. 587/1192), the Founder of the "School of Illumination"


• Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1210) - Post-Classical Philosophy Fully Developed


• Part Three: The Formation of ?ikma As a New Philosophical Genre


• First Chapter: Books and Their Teachings




• Al-Razi's "Philosophical Books" (kutub hikmiyya)


• What Books of hikma Do: Reporting Avicenna


• First Perspective: Teachings on Epistemology


• What Books in hikma Also Do: Doubting and Critizising Avicenna


• Knowledge as Relation: The Starting Point in al-Ghazali


• Knowledge as Relation: Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi's Key Contribution


• Knowledge as Relation: Developments in the Second Half


• of the Sixth/Twelfth Century


• Second Perspective: Teachings on Ontology and Theology


• A New Place for the Study of Metaphysics Within Philosophy


• Opposing Avicenna: God's Essence is Distinct From His Existence


• What Books of ?ikma Mostly Do: Endorsing and Correcting


• Avicennan Philosophy


• Second Chapter: Books and Their Genre


• The Eclectic Career of al-Ghazali's Doctrines of the Philosophers


• (Maqasid al-falasifa)


• Al-Ghazali as Clandestine faylasuf- Evaluating His Madnun Corpus


• The Madnun-Corpus and Forgery-Two Pseudo-Epigraphies Attached to al-Ghazali


• Between Neutral Report and Committed Investment: al-Mas 'udi's Commentary


• on Avicenna's Glistering Homily (al-Khutba al-gharra)


• Post-classical Philosophy and Tolerance For Ambiguity


• Third Chapter: Books and Their Method


• Dialectical Reasoning Replaces Demonstration: "Careful Consideration" (i'tibar)


• in Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi


• The Middle Way Between Avicennism and Ghazalism: How


• Fakhr al-Din al-Razi Describes His Philosophy


• Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's Method of "Probing and Dividing" (sabr wa-taqsim)


• A Case Study of the New Method: Al-Razi on God's Knowledge of Particulars


• The Method in Books of hikma: Implementing the Principle of Sufficient Reason


• The Method in Books of kalam: Limiting the Principle of Sufficient Reason


• Conclusions


• Bibliography


• Appendices

About the author

Frank Griffel is Professor of Islamic Studies at the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University. He is a Carnegie Scholar and a recipient of a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award of Germany's Humboldt Foundation, among others. He is author of Al-Ghazālī's Philosophical Theology.

Summary

Scholars have come to recognize the importance of classical Islamic philosophy both in its own right and in its preservation of and engagement with Greek philosophical ideas. At the same time, the period immediately following the so-called classical era has been considered a sort of dark age, in which Islamic thought entered a long decline. In this monumental new work, Frank Griffel seeks to overturn this conventional wisdom, arguing that what he calls the "post-classical" period has been unjustly maligned and neglected by previous generations of scholars.

The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam is a comprehensive study of the far-reaching changes that led to a re-shaping of the philosophical discourse in Islam during the twelfth century. Earlier Western scholars thought that Islam's engagement with the tradition of Greek philosophy ended during that century. More recent analyses suggest that Islamic thinkers instead integrated Greek thought into the genre of rationalist Muslim theology (kalām). Griffel argues that even this new view misses a key point. In addition to the integration of Greek ideas into kalām, Muslim theologians picked up the discourse of classical philosophy in Islam (falsafa) and began to produce books in the tradition of Plato, Aristotle, and Avicenna—a new and oft-misunderstood genre they called "ḥikma"—in which they left aside theological concerns. They wrote in both genres, kalām and ḥikma, and the same writers argued for opposing teachings on the nature of God, the world's creation, and the afterlife depending on the genre in which they were writing. Griffel shows how careful attention to genre demonstrates both the coherence and ambiguity of this new philosophical approach.

A work of extraordinary breadth and depth, The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam offers a detailed, insightful history of philosophy in Iraq, Iran, and Central Asia during the twelfth century. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of philosophy or the history of Islam.

Additional text

Griffel has provided us with the most comprehensive exploration to date for the periodhe considers. It is a must-read for specialists, while also offering a valuable deep-dive for nonspecialists who seek a broader understanding of philosophy in the Islamic world.

Product details

• Authors: Frank Griffel, Frank (Professor of Islamic Studies Griffel, Griffel Frank
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 07.10.2021
• EAN: 9780190886325
• ISBN: 978-0-19-088632-5
• No. of pages: 664
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Other religions; Islam, PHILOSOPHY / Religious, RELIGION / Islam / General, RELIGION / Philosophy, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Islamic Studies, RELIGION / Islam / Theology, Theology, Islamic Theology, Philosophy of religion, Islamic & Arabic philosophy, Islamic and Arab philosophy