Women's Contemporary Readings of Medieval (and Modern) Arabic Philosophy (Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning, 28)

This book explores a large variety of topics involved in Arabic philosophy. It examines concepts and issues relating to logic and mathematics, as well as metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics. These topics are all studied by different Arabic philosophers and scientists from different periods ranging from the 9 th century to the 20 th century, and are representative of the Arabic tradition. This is the first book dealing with the Arabic thought and philosophy and written only by women. The book brings together the work and contributions of an international group of female scholars and researchers specialized in the history of Arabic logic, philosophy and mathematics. Although all authors are women, the book does not enter into any kind of feminist trend. It simply highlights the contributions of female scholars in order to make them available to the large community of researchers interested in Arabic philosophy and to bring to the forethe presence and representativeness of female scholars in the field. Acknowledgments Contents Contributors Chapter 1: Introduction Part I: Logic and Mathematics Chapter 2: The Hypothetical Logic in the Arabic Tradition 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The Different Kinds of Hypothetical Propositions 2.3 The Basic Moods and Their Variants in al-Fārābī ́s Frame 2.4 The Systems of Avicenna 2.4.1 The Istithnā ́ī (Exceptive) Syllogisms 2.4.2 The Iqtirānī (Connected) Syllogisms 2.4.2.1 The Iqtirānī Syllogisms with Conditional Propositions 2.4.2.2 The Iqtirānī Syllogisms with Conditional and Disjunctive Propositions 2.4.2.3 The Iqtirānī Syllogisms with Conditional, Disjunctive and Categorical Propositions 2.5 Further Developments, al-Khunajī, Ibn ʿArafa and al-Sanusī 2.5.1 Further Developments: Afal al-Dīn al-Khunajī (d. 1286) 2.5.2 Further Developments, Ibn Arafa and Muhammed b. Yusuf al-Sanusi 2.6 Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 3: Mullā adrā Shīrāzī and the Meta-Theory of Logic 3.1 Introduction to the Philosopher and His Works on Logic 3.2 The Place of Logic Among Sciences and Its Subject Matter 3.3 The Status of Assent: Reinterpreting Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī and Suhrawardī 3.4 Mullā adrā on Modalities: More Engagement with Suhrawardī 3.5 Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 4: Algorithms in Takmilat al-`Uyun of al-Ifahāni: Sources and Validation 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Algorithms for Solving Equations 4.3 Algorithms and Validation 4.3.1 Quadratic Equations: Al-Khawārizmī and His Successors 4.3.2 Cubic Equations: ʿUmar al-Khayyām and Sharaf al-Dīn al-usī 4.3.2.1 ʿUmar Al Khayyām 4.3.2.2 Sharaf-al-Dīn al-usī 4.3.3 Cubic Equation: Astronomers and Arithmetician Algebraists, al-Kāshī, al-Yazdī, al-Ifahānī 4.4 Conclusion Bibliography Part II: Metaphysics, Ethics and Aesthetics Chapter 5: Some Observations on Prudence (gr. φρνησι, ar. taʿaqqul) in Book VI of Averroes ́ Middle Commentary on the Nicomache... 5.1 The Chapter Devoted to Prudence: Averroes ad NE VI 5, 1140a 24-30 5.2 Prudence Is Not the Highest Knowledge; Distinctions Between Wisdom (gr. σφα) and Prudence, Which Has Several Forms: Averro... 5.3 Prudence and Its Relation to Deliberation and Politics: Averroes ad EN VI 7-8, 1141b 8-1142a30 5.4 The Relation of Prudence to Other Virtues of Thought: Averroes ad EN VI 11-13, 1143a 25-1145a 11 5.5 Conclusion Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 6: Ethics and Aesthetics: Theorizing Simile in Ibn Sīnā ́s Risālat al-ayr and ayy ibn Yaqān 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Discrete Similes in Risalat al-tayr and Risālat ayy ibn Yaqān 6.3 The Soul ́s Yielding to Imagery 6.4 The Imagination and the Intellect Bibliography Chapter 7: Toward Another Understanding of the Notion of fira in the Avicennian Ontology of the Rational Soul 7.1 Introduction 7.2 A Problematic Doctrine of the Rational Soul 7.2.1 The Operative Powers of the Human Soul as Accidents of Its Essence 7.3 The fira: What It Is, What It Is Not References Primary Sources Avicenna Bahmanyār Ibn al-Marzubān Studies Chapter 8: Primacy of Existence Versus Primacy of Essence - What Is the Debate About? 8.1 Introduction 8.2 A Brief Historical Remark 8.3 The Problem of jaʿl 8.4 Existence as Predicate 8.5 Concluding Remarks Bibliography Chapter 9: ``Superstition ́ ́ or ``Crown of Science ́ ́? Zaki Naguib Mahmoud, Youssef Karam, and Yumna Tarief El-Kholy on Metaphys... 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Zaki Naguib Mahmoud ́s Blunt Rejection of Metaphysics on the Basis of Logic 9.2.1 Metaphysical Sentences 9.2.2 Reality Is What Can Be Experienced 9.2.3 The Rejection of Metaphysics and Its Metaphysical Foundation 9.3 Youssef Karam ́s Assertion of Metaphysics Containing Theology 9.3.1 Asserting the Existence of the Immaterial 9.3.2 Truth as Correspondence and Truth as Being 9.3.3 Metaphysics of Being and Metaphysics of the Being 9.4 Yumna Tarief El-Kholy ́s Metaphysical System Based on Scientific Knowledge 9.4.1 The Idea of the Undetermined Reality 9.4.2 Truth in Epistemological and Ontological Terms 9.4.3 From Science to Metaphysics 9.5 Concluding Remarks Bibliography This book explores a large variety of topics involved in Arabic philosophy. It examines concepts and issues relating to logic and mathematics, as well as metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics. These topics are all studied by different Arabic philosophers and scientists from different periods ranging from the 9th century to the 20th century, and are representative of the Arabic tradition. This is the first book dealing with the Arabic thought and philosophy and written only by women. The book brings together the work and contributions of an international group of female scholars and researchers specialized in the history of Arabic logic, philosophy and mathematics. Although all authors are women, the book does not enter into any kind of feminist trend. It simply highlights the contributions of female scholars in order to make them available to the large community of researchers interested in Arabic philosophy and to bring to the fore the presence and representativeness of female scholars in the field