A History of GodIslamic Philosophy

Chapter 6The God of the Philosophers

Early Islamic Philosophy• In early Islamic thought,

which refers to philosophy during the "Islamic Golden Age," traditionally dated between the 8th and 12th centuries, two main currents may be distinguished.

• The first is Kalam, that mainly dealt with Islamic theological questions, and the other is Falsafa, that was founded on interpretations of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism.

• Abbasid Empire: 750-1258

Kalam• Kalām is the

Islamic philosophy of seeking Islamic theological principles through rational thought.

The Kalam Cosmological Argument

• The kalam cosmological argument dates back to medieval Muslim philosophers such as al-Kindi and al-Ghazali.

• What distinguishes the kalam cosmological argument from other forms of cosmological argument is that it rests on the idea that the universe has a beginning in time.

The Kalam Cosmological Argument

• This argument has the following logical structure:

• (1) Everything that has a beginning of its existence has a cause of its existence.(2) The universe has a beginning of its existence.Therefore:(3) The universe has a cause of its existence.(4) If the universe has a cause of its existence then that cause is God.Therefore:(5) God exists.

Mutazilah• The term applies primarily to

members of a theological school that flourished in Basra and Baghdad in the 8th–10th century.

• These Mutazilah were the first Muslims to employ systematically the categories and methods of Hellenistic [Greek] philosophy to derive their dogma.

Mutazilah

• The tenets of Mutazilah • belief in the oneness of

God• human free will (the

ability to choose between good and evil)

• belief in God's fairness (i.e., God will punish only those deserving of punishment).

al-Ashari• al-Ash'arī (874 – 936) was a

Muslim Arab theologian and the founder of the Ash'ari school of early Islamic philosophy.

• No human act could occur if God does not will it, and that God's knowledge encompass-es all that was, is, or will be.

• It is God's will to create the power in humans to make free choices.

• God is therefore just to hold humans accountable for their actions.

Falsafa• Falsafa (Arab., falsafa,

from Gk. philosophia), the pursuit of philosophy in Islam.

• The Muslim delight in philosophy rests on a confidence that God is the creator of all things, and that knowledge (ilm) leads to a deeper understanding of him and of his works.

Abu Ali ibn Sina• Avicenna (980-1037), Iranian

Islamic philosopher and physician.

• Avicenna's best-known philosophical work is Kitab ash-Shifa (Book of Healing), a collection of treatises on Aristotelian logic, metaphysics, psychology, the natural sciences, and other subjects.

Abu Ali ibn Sina• Avicenna's own philosophy was

based on a combination of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism.

• Contrary to orthodox Islamic thought, Avicenna denied personal immortality, God's interest in individuals, and the creation of the world in time.

• Because of his views, Avicenna became the main target of an attack on such philosophy by the Islamic philosopher al-Ghazali.

• Nevertheless, Avicenna's philosophy remained influential throughout the Middle Ages.

Averroes• In Arabic, Abu al-Walid ibn

Muhammad ibn Rushd (1126-98), Spanish-Arab Islamic philosopher, jurist, and physician.

• Averroës held that metaphysical truths can be expressed in two ways:

A. through philosophy as represented by the views of Aristotle

B. through religion, which is truth presented in a form that the ordinary person can understand.

Maimonides• Maimonides (1135-1204), Jewish

philosopher and physician, born in Córdoba, Spain.

• Following the capture of Córdoba in 1148 by the Almohads, who imposed Islam on Christians and Jews alike, Maimonides's family decided to emigrate.

• After years of wandering they finally settled in Cairo.

• There Maimonides eventually became the chief rabbi of Cairo and physician to Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria.

Maimonides• He is regarded also as the

outstanding Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages.

• In the Guide for the Perplexed, written in Arabic (circa 1190), Maimonides sought to harmonize faith and reason by reconciling the tenets of rabbinic Judaism with the rationalism of Aristotelian philosophy in its modified Arabic form, which includes elements of Neoplatonism.

Maimonides• He considers the nature of God and

creation, free will, and the problem of good and evil; he profoundly influenced such Christian philosophers as St. Thomas Aquinas.

• His use of an allegorical method of biblical interpretation, which minimized anthropomorphism, was opposed for several centuries by many Orthodox rabbis.

• He also produced writings on astronomy, logic, and mathematics.