REL 137g 1st Edition Lecture 13 Current LecturePhilosophy“Falsafah” – love of wisdomUsed both generally and specificallyA number of systems, not just one Leading constructs in modern western civilizationScience PhilosophyBoth can be used as a means of assessing other civilizations Falsafah was ultimate rejected and expunged from intellectual traditions of Islam Easy to believe that Islam is opposed to philosophyBecause philosophy is about reason whereas religion is about revelation But just as there are modes of reason, there are also modes of philosophy Many schools of philosophyFalsafah is one of those schools (not is philosophy in general)Islamic problems with falsafahEternity of the worldIt equals an attempt to Islamicize Neo-Platonism (philosophy based on the Greeks, Plato)For the Greeks, existence of God was not a problem but the issue of creationism was God did not create the world or the universeThey came into being by virtue of emanations from God Various degrees of reflection of divine intelligenceProduces offspring not by God’s will but by God’s nature. Material world is the one thing God is not He is pure, perfect thought and reason Entails a number of conclusionsIf it is the nature of God that creates the world, then the world must exist as long as God exists and has always existed Problem, no creation and no creator Denial of resurrectionResurrection Too materialPrefers unity of the soul; immaterial intellect Knows no particularsFalsafah does reemerge in Shiism but would never again emerge based on the above conflictsSuni Islam ends up with a negative predisposition towards falsafah Explains why there are not modern schools of falsafahHuge translation movement in 9th century CEFrom Greek into ArabicChampioned by Arabacized Christians in Muslim landFalsafah took place before translation effort By al-Kindi, an Arabian Only accepted certain apects that he could reconcile with IslamSuch as the idea that God was not subject to change, that God was simple. A single substance, sui generis (no attributes could be applied to God)The world was created and would come to an
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