Philosophy in the Islamic World (Handbook of Oriental Studies, 115)

864 Pages·2016·3.575 MB·English

by  Ulrich Rudolph

Philosophy in the Islamic World
Ulrich Rudolph, Rotraud Hansberger, und Peter Adamson - 978-90-04-49254-7
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Handbook of Oriental Studies
Handbuch der Orientalistik
section one
The Near and Middle East
Edited by
Maribel Fierro (Madrid)
M. Şükrü Hanioğlu (Princeton)
Renata Holod (University of Pennsylvania)
Florian Schwarz (Vienna)
Volume 115/1
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ho1
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Philosophy in the Islamic World
Volume 1: 8th–10th Centuries
Edited by
Ulrich Rudolph, Rotraud Hansberger, and Peter Adamson
English translation by
Rotraud Hansberger
LEIDEN | BOSTON
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This volume is an English version of Philosophie in der islamischen Welt. Band 1: 8.–10. Jahrhundert
(ed. by Ulrich Rudolph with the assistance of Renate Würsch, Schwabe, Basel, 2012), which is part of
the series Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie founded by Friedrich Ueberweg.
Cover illustration: Abbasid Caliph al-Maʾmūn sends an envoy to Byzantine Emperor Theophilus. Source:
History of John Skylitzes (Skyllitzes Matritensis, Biblioteca Nacional de España).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rudolph, Ulrich, editor.
Title: Philosophy in the Islamic world / edited by Ulrich Rudolph, Rotraud
 Hansberger, and Peter Adamson ; English translation by Rotraud Hansberger.
Other titles: Philosophie in der Islamischen Welt. English
Description: Leiden : Boston : Brill, 2017– | Series: Handbook of oriental
 studies = Handbuch der Orientalistik. Section 1, The Near and Middle East,
 ISSN 0169-9423 ; Volume 115/1 Contents: Volume 1. 8th–10th centuries. |
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifijiers: LCCN 2016046750 | ISBN 9789004323162 (volume 1 : hardback : alk.
 paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Islamic philosophy.
Classifijication: LCC B741 .P4413 2017 | DDC 181/.07—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016046750
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 0169-9423
isbn 978-90-04-32316-2 (hardback)
Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Contents
Preface to the English Edition  ix
..............................................................................................................
Preface to the German Edition  xi
............................................................................................................
Introduction  1
..................................................................................................................................................................
Ulrich Rudolph
1 Stages of the History of Research  1
................................................................................................
2 Principles of Presentation  11
.....................................................................................................................
3 Characteristics of the First Volume: Philosophy from the
8th to the 10th Century  16
..............................................................................................................................
4 Secondary Literature  21
....................................................................................................................................
1 The Late Ancient Background  29
..............................................................................................................
Ulrich Rudolph
1 Principal Features of Late Ancient Philosophy  29
........................................................
2 The School of Athens  36
.................................................................................................................................
3 The School of Alexandria  40
......................................................................................................................
4 Philosophy and the Sciences  48
............................................................................................................
5 Channels of Transmission  51
....................................................................................................................
6 Secondary Literature  64
...................................................................................................................................
2 The Syriac Tradition in the Early Islamic Era  74
..................................................................
Hans Daiber
1 Primary Sources  74
.................................................................................................................................................
2 Introduction  77
...........................................................................................................................................................
3 Jacobite Authors  78
...............................................................................................................................................
4 Nestorian Authors  83
...........................................................................................................................................
5 A Maronite Author: Theophilus of Edessa  87
......................................................................
6 Secondary Literature  88
...................................................................................................................................
3 The Rebirth of Philosophy and the Translations into Arabic  95
....................
Dimitri Gutas
1 Primary Sources  95
.................................................................................................................................................
2 The Historical Causes of the Graeco-Arabic
Translation Movement  97
.............................................................................................................................
3 Method, Phases, and Signifijicance of the Translations  104
....................................
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vi contents
4 The Beginnings of Philosophical Literature in Arabic and
the Rebirth of Philosophy  108
.....................................................................................................................
5 Greek Philosophical Texts in Arabic Translation  121
...................................................
6 Secondary Literature  135
...................................................................................................................................
4 Abū Yūsuf al-Kindī  143
...............................................................................................................................................
Gerhard Endress and Peter Adamson
1 Primary Sources  143
.................................................................................................................................................
2 Life and Influence  152
...........................................................................................................................................
3 Translations Available in al-Kindī’s Time  155
.........................................................................
4 Works  158
.............................................................................................................................................................................
5 Doctrine  189
.......................................................................................................................................................................
6 Secondary Literature  202
...................................................................................................................................
5 The Beginnings of Islamic Philosophy in the Tradition
of al-Kindī  221
........................................................................................................................................................................
Hans Hinrich Biesterfeldt, Elvira Wakelnig,
Gerhard Endress, and Cleophea Ferrari
1 Al-Kindī’s School: From Baghdad to Transoxania  221
.................................................
2 Neoplatonic Developments  250
...............................................................................................................
3 The Integration of Philosophical Traditions in Islamic
Society in the 4th/10th Century: al-Tawḥīdī and al-Siǧistānī  272
..................
4 Ancient Ethical Traditions for Islamic Society:
Abū ʿAlī Miskawayh  304
......................................................................................................................................
5 Bridging the Gap between the Kindian Tradition and
the Baghdad School: Ibn Hindū  344
....................................................................................................
6 Secondary Literature  350
...................................................................................................................................
6 Abū Bakr al-Rāzī  381
......................................................................................................................................................
Hans Daiber
1 Primary Sources  381
.................................................................................................................................................
2 Translations Available in al-Rāzī’s Time  384
............................................................................
3 Life  386
.....................................................................................................................................................................................
4 Works  389
.............................................................................................................................................................................
5 Doctrine  401
.......................................................................................................................................................................
6 Secondary Literature  413
...................................................................................................................................
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Contents vii
7 The Baghdad Aristotelians  421
........................................................................................................................
Gerhard Endress and Cleophea Ferrari
1 The Arabic Aristotle and the Transmission of Aristotelian
Philosophy in Baghdad: Abū Bišr Mattā b. Yūnus  421
..................................................
2 Yaḥyā Ibn ʿAdī  434
.......................................................................................................................................................
3 ʿĪsā Ibn Zurʿa  468
..........................................................................................................................................................
4 Ibn al-Ḫammār  480
...................................................................................................................................................
5 Ibn al-Samḥ  490
.............................................................................................................................................................
6 Abū l-Faraǧ Ibn al-Ṭayyib  496
.......................................................................................................................
7 Secondary Literature  506
...................................................................................................................................
8 Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī  526
................................................................................................................................................
Ulrich Rudolph
1 Primary Sources  526
.................................................................................................................................................
2 Life and Influence  536
...........................................................................................................................................
3 Works  545
.............................................................................................................................................................................
4 Doctrine  594
.......................................................................................................................................................................
5 Secondary Literature  636
...................................................................................................................................
9 The Dissemination of Philosophical Thought  655
...............................................................
Dimitri Gutas, Paraskevi Kotzia †, Eva Orthmann, and
Daniel De Smet
1 Popular Ethics, Practical Politics  655
.................................................................................................
2 Scholars as Transmitters of Philosophical Thought  680
............................................
3 Philosophy and Natural Science  727
..................................................................................................
4 The Religious Application of Philosophical Ideas  733
................................................
5 Secondary Literature  759
...................................................................................................................................
Index of Arabic Words  787
....................................................................................................................................
Index of Subjects  796
....................................................................................................................................................
Index of Names  834
.........................................................................................................................................................
Ulrich Rudolph, Rotraud Hansberger, und Peter Adamson - 978-90-04-49254-7
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Preface to the English Edition
This volume is an English version of a book that originally appeared as
Philosophie in der islamischen Welt. Band I: 8.–10. Jahrhundert (ed. by Ulrich
Rudolph with assistance from Renate Würsch, Basel 2012). Both versions con-
tribute to a wider project whose goal is to chart the history of philosophy in
the Islamic world from its beginnings to the present day. This endeavour is
described in detail in the original preface (see below, pp. xi–xiii). As explained
there, four volumes are envisioned, which will follow one another in chrono-
logical sequence, stretching from the 8th to the 20th century, offfering extensive
information on authors from all periods, divided into biography, descriptions
of individual works, doctrines, and influence.
It is planned that all four volumes should appear in both German and
English. The German version forms part of a series of comprehensive reference
works, the Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie (Ueberweg); the English
version is intended to reach a wider audience in Europe and beyond, including
especially the Islamic world itself. While the German volumes are appearing
with the publisher Schwabe, the English series will be published by E. J. Brill,
whose series ‘Handbuch der Orientalistik’ (‘Handbook of Oriental Studies’)
offfers an appropriate forum for a project of this all-embracing nature. We are
grateful to both publishers for agreeing to this arrangement and for their readi-
ness to cooperate with one another.
The publication of this English translation was made possible by the per-
sonal dedication of several people. Rotraud Hansberger expended consider-
able personal efffort to translate the entire book—except where the German
version was based on an English original—combining linguistic fluency with a
keen sense of judgement and enormous knowledge of the thematic fijield. Peter
Adamson edited and proofread the translation with care and expertise. Peter
Tarras and Hanif Amin Beidokhti contributed greatly to the production of the
manuscript, tracking down additional information and helping with crucial
aspects of the copy-editing process. All three editors have gone through the
entire manuscript and are responsible for the fijinal redaction. The authors of
the original German chapters have also been involved in the production of this
new version, and have helped with the addition of new references to litera-
ture that appeared since 2012. In this respect, the English version actually adds
new information and offfers an updated picture of the state of research. One
section, however, could not be revised by its author, since our cherished col-
league Paraskevi Kotzia sadly passed away since the appearance of the German
version.
Ulrich Rudolph, Rotraud Hansberger, und Peter Adamson - 978-90-04-49254-7
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x preface to the english edition
The translation has been funded by Brill, the Ludwig-Maximilians-
Universität in Munich, and the Leverhulme Foundation. We are especially
grateful to Joed Elich and Kathy van Vliet, who have overseen our project at
Brill since its inception. Their engagement and enthusiasm have been essential
to the production of the volume in its fijinal form.
Ulrich Rudolph
Zurich, June 2016
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