The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy

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One of the great philosophical traditions - Rated
It is a little known fact in the history of philosophy and ideas that many of the writings and principles that we have and consider as standard 'Western' products came to us through the Arabic traditions. In some cases, this was preservation of earlier materials (Aristotle is but the most famous example of this), but in others, the original product of the Arabic philosophers influenced mathematics, science, art, theology, and philosophy in the West in ways still being discovered.

This volume, edited by Peter Adamson and Richard Taylor, is an important contribution to re-establishing this connection and recovering lesser known traditions, as well as holding up the history of Arabic philosophy in its own right. The tradition of Arabic philosophy is almost as old as Islam itself, which established in its early days bright centres of learning and international communications that inspired a blossoming of ecumenical philosophical traditions cutting across Christian, Jewish and Muslim lines.

During the formative stage, the figure of Avicenna looms large, with his synthesis of falsafa (philosophy both Aristotelian and Neoplatonic) and kalam (Islamic doctrinal theology). The classical age of Arabic philosophy, in the ninth to twelfth centuries C.E., took advantage of their Aristotelian inheritance, preserved and commented upon by Averroes (Ibn Rushd), an Andalusian philosopher (think Spain). Other strands of thought, both more 'practical' and more mystical, are explored by the authors. Some chapters concentrate on particular time periods or historic figures, and others look more generally at topics in philosophy (logic, ethics, metaphysics, etc.) across the broader range of Islamic history.

There are also chapters on the relationship of Islamic philosophy with Jewish philosophy, with the translation (linguistic, political, theological and philosophical) into Latin, and modern trends in Islamic thought. Contributor Steven Harvey writes, 'It is not a coincidence that philosophy emerges in Islam and Judaism in the same period and in the same lands.' Many of the Jewish communities of the time were in Muslim lands; there was a large Jewish community still in Baghdad, one in Alexandria, and a growing community in Muslim-ruled Spain. Latin rulers in Europe occasionally encouraged multi-cultural connections, and in many places and times Arabic rather than Latin or Greek was the preferred 'intellectual' language, described by Charles Burnett. Finally, Hossein Ziai explores Arabic and Persian trends into philosophical development, avoiding such terms as 'mystical', 'theosophical', and 'Oriental'. He writes, 'From the sixteenth century to the present, Islamic philosophy has been dominated by a scholastic tradition that continues in its interpretation of the ideals of classical Arabic philosophy,a nd leads to the final acceptance of philosophy by religion.' Ziai writes that far from being an exclusively mystical or theologically oriented task, there is much 'genuine philosophy' being done in the tradition today.

As broad a text as this is, it is in fact just a taste of the larger body of work in Arabic philosophy. Generous bibliographic and end-notation information is provided for further research, both generally and topic-specific. There is a useful index, although one might be a bit confused at time until getting accustomed to the transliteration (theirs is a fairly comprehensible style, but still takes some adjustment to those used to other forms - they do make the concession to Western readers and leave the names of Avicenna and Averroes in their more familiar forms).

This is a fascinating text, good for the student or scholar of philosophy and the history of ideas.