' philosophical quatterly published by the Department of Philosophy of Boston University VOLUME IV. No.1 FALL 1972 (New Series) Editors’ Note ARTICLES Alfarabi on Philosophy and Religion, Muhsin Mahdi Razi's Psychology, Lenn Evan Goodman . Ibn Sina’s Concept of the Self, Parviz Morewedge Ibn Sind on Necessary and Possible Existence, George F. Hourani Towards a Unified View of Averroes’ Philosophy, Alfred L. Ivry For the Concept of Irano-Islamic Philosophy, Henry Corbin Craton andthe Timeless Order of Things A Study i the Mya Philosophy of “Ayn Al-Qudat, Toshihiko Tautsu . Mulla Sadra’s Theory of Knowledge, Faziur Rahman ‘Mulla Sadrd and the Doctrine of the Unity of Being, Seyyed Hossein Nasr rae © 1973, The Philosophical Forum “9 4 87 14 124 141 153Editors’ Note 1 is part of the parochialism, if not the chauvinism, of the “History of ‘Western Philosophy” that in its ordinary presentations, it traces a course which all but eliminates the Islamic and Jewish contributions to philosophy. Indeed, in its furthest reaches, and in its origins, modern history of phi- losophy, though it took the Greeks and Romans seriously, marked them ff ay “Pagan philosophy,” and beginning with the early histories (eg. by Hegel, and by Feuerbach) established a distinctly “Christian” framework for Western thought. The “History of Philosophy” is no historical accident, ‘of course. A proper historiography and sociology of philosophy would seek to understand the shifting currents and emphases as themselves his- torical developments, and this work is hardly begun. Yet it is useful, we think, as part of this task, to encourage the publication of studies in those rich areas of philosophy which have been left outside the accepted main- stream. Such an area is Islamic philosophy. Though such names as Aver- oes, Avicenna and Alfarabi are part of the traditional curriculum in Medieval philosophy (as are, among the Jewish medieval philosophers, such names as Ibn Gabirol or Maimonides), they are more often than not encountered as transitional or contributary figures: transitional in the transmission of the Greek philosophical heritage to the Latin West; con- tributary in what they offered as grist for the mill of “Western thought ‘The distinctive contexts of their thought; its autonomy; its peculiar enrich- ‘ment and claboration in cultures often quite different from that of Catholi or later, Protestant Europe—all these features are most often glossed. In part the problem is linguistic. In part, however, it is cultural and even political, even where it is no longer a religious problem. A small contribu- tion to deparochialization may be made in making available the work of scholars in Islamic philosophy to a wider audience. The Philosophical Forum has, from time to time, published both articles about and trans- lations of Islamic philosophy. In this issue, with the cooperation of a group of scholars in Istamic philosophy, we have focused on one part of the wider spectrum. The range of articles here covers a large historical period, as well as a wide variety of geographical and cultural centers. The ‘emphasis is on the concepts of Being and of the Self in Islamic philosophy, ‘but the modes vary from the theological-metaphysical to the analytic- logical. In philosophical content, the contributions range from discussions of such classical metaphysical concepts as Being, Creation, the nature of Universals: to such epistemological questions as the relation between reason and other modes of knowing, knowledge of the self, and the relation of philosophy to religion, in modes of discourse and demonstration; to psycho- logical theories—e.g. the atomist theory of perception—and ethical theories embedded in their metaphysical and epistemological contexts—e.g. Razl’s epicurean theory of pleasure and pain. The contributions are especially rich in the Islamic discussions of modality: of possibility, necessity, impos- sibulty, and in the interplay of rationalist and mystical modes of thought. So t00, there is displayed the acutely subtle methodological self-conscious- ness of the Islamic philosophers, in what we might characterize as the metaphilosophical discussion of the nature of philosophy itself, (eg. in the essay on Alfarabi), and of the concept of truth. Thus, for example, Prof. Ivry gives us a critical reassessment of Averroes’ so-called “double truth” concept, in the context of a unified view of his philosophy. At the borders of current research, several contributers (Profs. Corbin, Izutsu, Rahman, Nast) deal with Iranian sources of Islamic philosophy, and Prof. Corbin, in particular, offers a distinctive reconstruction of the con- tinuity between ancient Iranian thought and Zoroastrism, with later Islamic thought. All of this discussion is intrinsically interesting 10 the philosopher, and to the historian of ideas, touching as it does, in new and unique ways upon traditional and current philosophical, methodological and logical issues. But to read it only as a unique contribution to the Problematique of Western philosophy is not yet to understand this philosophical content in its own right. Several questions arise: What is distinctive in Islamic thought? How does it transform the classical Greek heritage? And what docs it bring that is new and unfamiliar to the West, or to the Greek tradi- tion? How are its different modes of philosophizing related to the contexts, of medieval Islamic cultures, to Islamic theology? How was philosophy done in the Islamic world, and by whom, and in what institutional and social structures? Only the fuller study of the Arabic, Iranian, and Indian contexts, and of the complex thousand-year history of this development ‘can yield even the beginning of an answer (o these questions. Still, it may be useful to point to the main feature of Islamic philosophy as an aid to reading the contributions to this special issue of The Philosophical Forum.Paradoxical as it may seem at first, Islamic philosophy is not “reli- gious” philosophy in the sense that most of us understand this expression. One is more likely to understand its spirit by contrasting it to, rather tha seeing it as the counterpart of, “Christian philosophy in the Middle Ages. For throughout its long history in Islam, philosophy was understood by those who practiced it as the science of the sciences that included the investigation and interpretation of religion (cevelation, prophecy, and the divine law) as a philosophic problem. None of the specifically Islamic religious sciences (such as theology or jurisprudence) was ever conceived by a Muslim philosopher as a worthy competitor of philosophy; instead, these religious sclences, too, were subjected ro philosophic investigation as to their framework, method, aim, and limitation. In the classical period ‘of Islamic philosophy. religion (including theology and jurisprudence) ‘were investigated within the framework provided by political philosophy. ‘This can be seen from the articles on Alfarabi and Razi; it was true of Avicenna and Averroes: and it continued to hold true for those Muslim philosophers in the post-clasical period who chose to remain faithful to the so-called Peripatetic tradition. This political framework was largely abandoned in the postclassial period (which is well represented in this issue by the last four articles) and replaced by a new framework pro- vided by Islamic mysticism (Sufism). The prophet was now seen primarily as the Perfect Man of the gnostic tradition rather than as the lawgiver who founds a new community. In the post-classical period, philosophy did in a certain sense become the handmaid of something that was thought to be higher than philosophy. Yet Islamic mysticism, and the “new wisdom” that emerged out ofthe integration of philosophy and mysticism, was by no means more “sectarian” than classical Islamic philosophy. Its investigations ranged widely through pre-Islamic and non-Islamic religious thought and experience. And it cannot be construed as an Islamic “reli- gious” science or as “religious” philosophy in this sense, Neither “Pagan philosophy” nor “Christian philosophy,” therefore, are adequate models for the study of the practice of philosophy in a religious community. One ‘must consider the possibility that religion and philosophy can be conceived and practiced as two radically diferent things which can coexist in a state ‘of permanent conflict and creative tension, ‘Marx W. Wartofsky, Muhsin S. Mahdi, Boston University Harvard University. Note: The editors thank Michele de Angelis of the Classics Department of Boston University for her assistance in preparing the text of this issue. Articles ALFARABI ON PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION * MUHSIN MAHDI Philosophy and religion are relative latecomers in the history of the Jhuman arts. Theit emergence presupposes the full development of the "The synopses and comments inched in thie article were orginally notes prepared for two sessions of a seminar on Alfarab's Book of Letters offered in the Spring Term, 1970. The following abbreviations are used [Altarabi) A: Philosophy of Aristole, ALFarabts Philotophy of Aristole (Falsofot ars- tials, ed. Mubsin Mahdi (Beirat: Dir Majllat Shi, 1961). Eaglish trans ‘of Aljarabl’s Philosophy of Plaio and Avisioile tc. Muhsin ihmaniyya, 1345 AH). English wanslation in Part | of Alfarabr’s Philos: ophy of Plato and Aristole, cited above. BL: Book of Lewes. BS: Enumeration of the Sclences. Ih Dar abFiral“Arabt, 1949). L: Summary of Plot's Laws. Alfarabius Compendium Legum Platonis (Talkhis Newamis ARitin), ed. F. Gabriel (London: The Warburg Insitute, 1952) Partial English translation in se. 4 of Medieval Political Philosophy: A Source book, ed. Ralph Lerner and Mubsin Mabdi (Ithaca, New York: Cornell Uni- versity Press [Cornell Paperbacks}, 1972). Ps Philorophy of Plato. Alforabius de Platonis Philosophia (Folsafat Alfatun ced, F, Rosenthal and R. Walzer (London: The Warburg Institue, 1943) English translation in Part Hof llerab’'s Philosophy of Plato and Avisote, cited above. PR: Political Regime. AL-Farabrs The Polteal Regime (a-Stydsa al-Madaniyya). 4, Fauzi Najar (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1964). Partial English trans lation in see. 2 of Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook, cited above Ri Rhotoric. alfarabe: Dewr owvrages inédits sur la réthorique, ed. 3. Langhade Ulam, ed. Osman Amine 24 ef; Cairo: 5 Received April, 1973