NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy (Fall 2015) MW 2-3:30 pm, (Lown 302)

NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy (Fall 2015) MW 2-3:30 pm, (Lown 302) Alnoor Dhanani Email: adhanani@post.harvard.edu Office: Lown 209 Office Hours: Monday 10-12 a.m. or by appointment Description: This course introduces the philosophical tradition in Arabic known as falsafa, and some aspects of the rival atomistic cosmological tradition known as kalām (commonly translated as Islamic theology). We will examine the formation of these traditions, the positions their major exponents held, the arguments and counter-arguments they adduced in support of these positions, and the objections they raised against the positions of their rivals. We will also discuss the social and intellectual contexts of these traditions, as well as contested intepretations in current scholarship. The time span covered in the course ranges from the eighth century beginnings of these traditions upto the sixteenth century School of Isfahan. The format will consist of both lectures and discussions based on selections from English translations of primary texts. Grading Class participation and attendence 10% Short analytical paper 25% Takehome midterm 25% Research paper 40% Class participation and attendence: Students are expected to be present for every class meeting and to participate in discussions. This will require completing the assigned reading before class. Short analytical paper: A 3-5 page analysis of the arguments, premises, objections, and counterarguments of a choice of primary texts (marked with an asterisk in the schedule of readings). Due November, 16 2015. Takehome midtern: Identification of persons and concepts, and short discussions of positions and arguments. Distributed on October 21, and due a week later on October 28, 2015. Research paper of 8-10 pages for undergraduate students, 16-18 pages for graduate students, on a topic that has been discussed with me and cleared by me before October 28, 2015. The research paper will be due on December 14, 2015. Late submission without an approved excuse will result in a half grade deduction for every day beyond the assigned date. Preparation time: Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.). Academic Integrity: You must complete all assignments alone. In your writing, you must follow rules of attribution, meaning that you must cite all sources consulted in preparing your papers. As stated in the Student Handbook, Every member of the University community is expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty. A student shall not receive credit for work that is not the product of the student s own effort. Examples of penalties for a student found responsible for an infringement of academic honesty are no credit for the work in question, failure in the course, and the traditional range of conduct sanctions from disciplinary warning through permanent dismissal from the University. Electronic devices: Students are permitted to use a laptop or ipad (or similar) device in class for two purposes only: consulting readings assigned for class and note-taking. Devices may not be used to access social media (e-mail, facebook, twitter, etc.) or other internet use. Cell-phones may not be used NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy Page 1 of 8

for any purpose. Recording of class in any format is not permitted without prior consent of the professor for the specific session. Under no circumstance may a recorded session or any portion thereof be shared or distributed. Students with documented disabilities: Students with disabilities certified by the Coordinator of Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs and First Year Services will be given reasonable accommodations to complete required assignments. Disabilities that are not documented and approved by the Office of Academic Affairs will not be given accommodations. Schedule of classes 8/31 Introduction to the course; What do we mean by Islamic Philosophy? 9/2 Islamic philosophy and its historical context 9/9, 9/10 Kalām, an alternative atomistic philosophy to the Neoplatonic Aristotelian falsafa 9/16 The translation movement, from Greek, Syriac, Pahlavi, Sanskrit into Arabic 9/21 Al-Kindi, the first Arab philosopher; cosmological argument for creation ex nihilo 9/29 Abū Bakr al-rāzī, Platonist? The Ethical Ideal; Views on Space, Time, and Matter 9/30, 10/5 Abū Naṣr al-fārābī; Epistemology, Cosmology, Political philosophy, Religion, Philosophy, and Prophecy 10/7 Ikhwān al-safā and their Epistles 10/12, 10/14, 10/19, 10/21 Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna); naturalization of falsafa; Emanation; Prophecy; Necessary and Possible Existence; Soul; the human soul; arguments against kalām atomism. TAKEHOME MIDTERM DISTRIBUTED ON 10/21 10/26 NO CLASS; WORK ON MIDTERM 10/28 MIDTERM DUE; RESEARCH PAPER PROPOSAL DUE 10/28, 11/2 al-ghazālī (Algazel); Reception of Ibn Sīnā; critique of falsafa 11/4 Falsafa in Andalusia I: Ibn Bājja (Avempace), Ibn Ṭufayl 11/9, 11/11 Falsafa in Andalusia II: Ibn Rushd (Averroes); Response to al-ghazālī; Juristic defense of falsafa; Political philosophy 11/16 SHORT ANALYTICAL PAPER DUE The Avicennization of kalām? Kalām responses to Avicenna s arguments against atomism 11/18 The Avicennization of kalām? Al-Ījī and his critique of Avicenna 11/23 Falsafa in Andalusia III: Maimonides and his critique of the mutakallimūn 11/30 The mystical turn? Suhrawardi and Illuminationism 12/2 The mystical turn? Ibn Arabī 12/7 Mullā Ṣadrā 12/9 Wrap-up 12/14 RESEARCH PAPER DUE NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy Page 2 of 8

Reading Assignments 9/2 Islamic philosophy and its historical context Primary Sources Aḍūd al-dīn al-ījī, Preliminaries in Stations in Kalām. (LATTE) Ibn Khaldun, The various sciences that exist in contemporary civilization, The various kinds of intellectual sciences, Muqaddima, tr. F. Rosenthal, (Princeton: Bollingen, 1958), 2:456-459, 3:111-118. (LATTE) Secondary Sources Peter Adamson and Richard Taylor, Introduction in The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, ed. by Peter Adamson and Richard Taylor, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 1-8. (Online access) L.B. Geiger, Christian Philosophy in New Catholic Encyclopedia, 538-542. (LATTE). Raphael Jospe, What is Jewish Philosophy? in the article on Philosophy, Jewish in Encyclopedia Judaica 2 nd Edition, 16: 68-71 (Online access). Brian Magee, An Introduction to Philosophy: Dialogue with Isaiah Berlin in Talking Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), 2-27. (LATTE) 9/9 Kalām, an alternative atomistic philosophy to the Neoplatonic Aristotelian falsafa Primary Sources Abd al-jabbār(?), First Principles, Divine Unicity in The five principles (Kitāb al-uṣūl al-khamsa) in Defenders of Reason in Islam, tr. by Richard Martin et al, (Oxford: Oneworld, 1997), 90-96. (LATTE; book on reserve) Ibn Khaldun, The science of speculative theology Muqaddima, 3:34-55. (LATTE) 9/10 Kalām, an alternative atomistic philosophy to the Neoplatonic Aristotelian falsafa Secondary Sources Alnoor Dhanani, Kalām Atomism, Unpublished, 1-19. (LATTE) Abdelhamid Sabra, The Simple Ontology of Kalām Atomism: An Outline, Early Science and Medicine, 14(2009), 68-78. (Online Access) 9/16 The translation movement, from Greek, Syriac, Pahlavi, Sanskrit into Arabic Dimitri Gutas, The Background to the Translation Movement, Al-Manṣūr, Epilogue in Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: the Graeco-Arabic translation movement in Baghdad and early ʻAbbāsid society (2nd-4th/8th-10th centuries), (Routledge: London, 1998), 11-60, 187-192. (Online access) George Saliba, Translations and translators, Islamic in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 11:127-133. (LATTE) 9/21 Al-Kindi, the first Arab philosopher; cosmological argument for creation ex nihilo *al-kindī, Selections from On first philosophy (fı falsafat al-ūlā) tr. by A. Ivry, (New York: New York University Press, 1974), 55-75. (LATTE) Peter Adamson, Al-Kindī and the Reception of Greek Philosophy in The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, 32-51. (Online access) William Rowe, Cosmological Arguments in A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, ed. by Philipp Quinn and Charles Taliaferro, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), 331-337. (Online access) NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy Page 3 of 8

9/29 Abū Bakr al-rāzī, Platonist? The Ethical Ideal; Views on Space, Time, and Matter Abū Bakr al-rāzī, The Philosopher s Way of Life, On the Five Eternals, Selections from Doubts Against Galen, in Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Texts, tr. by Jon McGinnis and David Reisman, (Indianapolis: Hacket, 2007), 36-44, 49-53. (LATTE; text on reserve) Selections from Abū Ḥātim al-rāzī, Proofs of Prophecy, tr. by T. Khalidi, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 2011). TBD (LATTE) Paul Walker, The Political Implications of al-rāzī s Philosophy in The Political Aspects of Islamic Philosophy, ed. by Charles Butterworth, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992), 61-94. (LATTE; text on reserve) 9/30 Abū Naṣr al-fārābī; Epistemology, Cosmology Political philosophy, Religion, Philosophy, and Prophecy al-fārābī, Letter Concerning the Intellect in Philosophy in the Middle Ages, ed. by Arthur Hyman and James Walsh, (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1977), 215-221. (LATTE; text on reserve) al-fārābī, The First Cause as the Origin of all Being, The World above the Moon, Sublunar Existents, Matter and Form in Al-Farabi on the Perfect State, ed. and tr. by Richard Walzer, (Oxford: Clarendon, 1985), 91-113. (LATTE. text on reserve) Michael Marmura, Fārābī, al- in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 5:9-11. (LATTE) 10/5 Abū Naṣr al-fārābī; Political philosophy, Religion, Philosophy, and Prophecy *al-fārābī, The Political Regime in Medieval Political Philosophy, ed. by Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi, (Toronto: Collier-Macmillan, 1963), 31-57. (LATTE; text on reserve) al-fārābī, Selections from Book of Religion in Charles Butterworth, Alfarabi, the political writings, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001), 93-101. (LATTE; text on reserve) M. Mahdi, The Virtuous City, Prophecy and Revelation in Alfarabi and the foundations of Islamic political philosophy, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 125-170. (LATTE; text on reserve) 10/7 Ikhwān al-safā and their Epistles Rasā il Ikhwān al-ṣafā, Selections from The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the King of Jinn, ed. and tr. by Lenn Goodman and Richard McGregor, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). 99-143, 307-316. (LATTE; text on reserve) Godefroid DeCallataÿ, Brethren of Purity, Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. (Online access) 10/12 Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna); naturalization of falsafa; Ibn Sīnā, Autobiography in Dimitri Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition, (Leiden: Brill, 1988), 22-30. (LATTE; text on reserve) Robert Wisnovsky, Avicenna and the Avicennan Tradition in The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, 92-136. (Online access) NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy Page 4 of 8

10/14 Ibn Sīnā; Soul, the human soul; Ibn Sīnā, The Vegetative Soul, The Animal Soul, Internal Senses, The Rational Soul, Concerning the Temporal Origin of the Soul, The Soul does not Die with the Death of the Body; it is Incorruptible Avicenna s Psychology, tr. by Fazlur Rahman (London: Oxford University Press, 1952), 24-33, 57-63. (LATTE; text on reserve) Ibn Sīnā, A selection from The Healing: On the Soul on 7. A pointer and reminder for establishing the existence of the soul belonging to us in Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources, 178-179. (LATTE; text on reserve) Michael Marmura, Avicenna s Flying Man in Context, Monist, 69(1986), 383 395. (Online access) 10/19 Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna); Emanation, Prophecy, Necessary and Possible Existence al-fārābī, The Aims of Aristotle s Metaphysics in Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources, 78-81. (LATTE; text on reserve), *Ibn Sīnā, Selections on establishing prophecy from Fı ithbāt al-nubuwa and Healing: Metaphysics X in Medieval Political Philosophy, 98-121. (LATTE; text on reserve) Ibn Sīnā, Selection on Necessary and Possible Existents from The Metaphysics of the Healing, tr. by Michael Marmura, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2005), 29-34. (LATTE; text on reserve) 10/21 Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna); arguments against kalām atomism Ibn Sīnā, Selection on Atomism from The Physics of the Healing, tr. by Jon McGinnis, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2009), 2:273-301. (LATTE; text on reserve) Alnoor Dhanani, Rocks in the Heavens?! The Encounter between Abd al-jabbār and Ibn Sīnā in David Reisman (ed.), Before and After Avicenna, (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 127-144. (Online access) Alnoor Dhanani, The Impact of Ibn Sīnā s critique of Atomism on Subsequent Kalām Discussions of Atomism, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 25(2015), 79-86. (Online access) 10/28 al-ghazālī (Algazel); Reception of Ibn Sīnā al-ghazālī, Autobiography (al-munqidh min al-ḍalāl) in Freedom and Fulfillment, tr. by Richard McCarthy, (Boston: Twayne, 1980), 61-114. (On reserve) Michael Marmura, al-ghazālī in The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, 137-154. (Online access) 11/2 al-ghazālī (Algazel); critique of falsafa; *al-ghazālī, Seventeenth Discussion in The Incoherence of the philosophers (Tahāfut al-falāsifa), tr. by Michael Marmura, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1997), 170-181. (LATTE; text on reserve) al-ghazālī, The Clear Criterion for distinguishing between Islam and Heresy (Fayṣal al-tafriqa bayn al-islām wa l-zandaqa) in Freedom and Fulfillment, 145-174. (On reserve) NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy Page 5 of 8

11/4 Falsafa in Andalusia I: Ibn Bājja (Avempace), Ibn Ṭufayl *Avempace (Ibn Bājja), The Governance of the Solitary in Medieval Political Philosophy, 122-133. (LATTE; text on reserve) Ibn Tufayl, Hayy, the Son of Yaqzan, in Medieval Political Philosophy, 134-162. (LATTE; text on reserve) Joseph Montada, Philosophy in Andalusia. Ibn Bājja and Ibn Ṭufayl, in Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, 155-179. (Online access) 11/9 Falsafa in Andalusia II: Ibn Rushd (Averroes); Juristic defense of falsafa; Political philosophy Averroes (Ibn Rushd), Decisive Treatise Determining what the Connection is between Religion and Philosophy in Medieval Political Philosophy, 163-185. (LATTE; text on reserve) Averroes, The Second Treatise in On Plato s Republic, tr. by Ralph Lerner, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), 71-103. (On reserve) Richard Taylor, Averroes: Religious Dialectic and Aristotelian philosophical thought, in Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, 180-200. (Online access) 11/11 Falsafa in Andalusia II: Ibn Rushd (Averroes); Response to al-ghazālī Averroes (Ibn Rushd), About the Natural Sciences in Tahafut al-tahafut (Incoherence of the Incoherence), tr. by Simon van den Bergh, 394-422. (available at http://www.newbanner.com/philosophy/ibnrushd/tahafut_al-tahafut_en.pdf) 11/16 The Avicennization of kalām? Kalām responses to Avicenna s arguments against atomism Alnoor Dhanani, The Impact of Ibn Sīnā s critique of Atomism on Subsequent Kalām Discussions of Atomism, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 25(2015), 79-104. (Online access) al-ījī, Arguments showing how body is composed [of parts}, in Abdelhamid Sabra, Kalām Atomism as an Alternative Philosophy to Hellenizing Falsafa in Arabic Theology, Arabic Philosophy. From the Many to the One: Essays in Celebration of Richard M. Frank, ed. by James Montgomery, (Leuven: Peeters, 2006), 265-271. (LATTE) 11/18 The Avicennization of kalām? Al-Ījī and his critique of Avicenna Alnoor Dhanani, Al-mawāqif fī ilm al-kalām by Aḍud al-dīn al-ījī and its commentaries. (LATTE) Abdelhamid Sabra, Science and Philosophy in Medieval Arabic Theology: The Evidence of the Fourteenth Century, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabische-Islamischen Wissenschaften, 9(1994), 1-42. (LATTE) Robert Wisnovsky, One Aspect of the Avicennan Turn in Theology, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 14(2004), 65-100. (Online access) 11/23 Falsafa in Andalusia III: Maimonides and his critique of the mutakallimūn Maimonides, Chapters 1:71 and 1:73 in Guide to the Perplexed, tr. by S. Pines, (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1963), 1:175-184, 1:194-214. (LATTE; text on reserve) Alnoor Dhanani, Revisiting Maimonides Critique of Kalām, unpublished paper. (LATTE) NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy Page 6 of 8

11/30 The mystical turn? Suhrawardi and Illuminationism; Suhrawardī, Part Two. The First Discourse: On light and its reality, the Light of Lights and that which was first generated from it in The Philosophy of Illumination, tr. by John Walbridge and Hossein Ziai, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1999) 76-89. (LATTE; text on reserve) John Walbridge, Suhrawardī and Illuminationism, in Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, 201-223. (Online access) 12/2 The mystical turn? Ibn Arabī William Chittick, 1. The Divine Presence, 5. Existence and non-existence in The Sufi Path to Knowledge, (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), 3-30, 79-96. (Online Access) Sajjad Rizvi, Mystical Philosophy: Ibn Arabī and Mullā Sadrā, in Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, 224-246. (Online access) 12/7 Mullā Ṣadrā Sajjād Rizvi, Reconsidering the Life of Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī (d. 1641), Iran, 40 (2002), 181-201. (Available online via JSTOR) NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy Page 7 of 8

Books on Reserve Abd al-jabbār(?), The five principles (Kitāb al-uṣūl al-khamsa) in Defenders of Reason in Islam, tr. by Richard Martin et al, (Oxford: Oneworld, 1997). Averroes, Averroes On Plato s Republic, tr. by Ralph Lerner, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974). Avicenna, The Metaphysics of the Healing, tr. by Michael Marmura, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2005). Peter Adamson and Richard Taylor (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). Charles Butterworth, Alfarabi, the political writings, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001). Charles Butterworth (ed.), The Political Aspects of Islamic Philosophy, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992). William Chittick, The Sufi Path to Knowledge, (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), Alnoor Dhanani, The Physical Theory of Kalām, (Leiden: Brill, 1994). al-ghazālī, Freedom and Fulfillment: Deliverance from error : an annotated translation of al-munqidh min al Dal⁸al and other relevant works of Al-Ghaz l, tr. by Richard McCarthy, (Boston: Twayne, 1980). Dimitri Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition, (Leiden: Brill, 1988). Arthur Hyman and James Walsh (eds), Philosophy in the Middle Ages, (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1977). M. Mahdi, Alfarabi and the foundations of Islamic political philosophy, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001). Maimonides, Guide to the Perplexed, tr. by S. Pines, (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1963). Jon McGinnis and David Reisman (trs.), Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Texts, (Indianapolis: Hacket, 2007). Fazlur Rahman (tr.), Avicenna s Psychology, (London: Oxford University Press, 1952). Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi (eds.), Medieval Political Philosophy, (Toronto: Collier-Macmillan, 1963). Rasā il Ikhwān al-ṣafā, The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the King of Jinn, ed. and tr. by Lenn Goodman and Richard McGregor, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). Suhrawardī, The Philosophy of Illumination, tr. by John Walbridge and Hossein Ziai, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1999). Richard Walzer (ed. and tr.), Al-Farabi on the Perfect State, (Oxford: Clarendon, 1985). NEJS 109b: Islamic Philosophy Page 8 of 8