Carmela Baffioni – författare

The Ikhwan al-Safa' (Brethren of Purity), the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity based in Basra and Baghdad, hold an eminent position in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopaedia, the Rasa 'il Ikhwan al-Safa' (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This compendium contains fifty-two epistles offering synoptic accounts of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age; divided into four classificatory parts, it treats themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology, metaphysics, and theology, in addition to didactic fables. Epistles 39 and 40 return to the Aristotelian philosophy of certain earlier Epistles. Yet the topics taken up here are considered by the Ikhwan in light of theological issues, affording an occasion to refute eternalism. Epistle 39 explains movement and rest, the kinds of physical movement, and the species of moved beings, before introducing the divine Mover and the idea that when He ceases to move the world, it will end. The highly composite Epistle 40 addresses themes beyond the various types of causes and effects, including 'divine gifts', God's origination and organization of the world, emanation, and the frequently invoked analogy of numbers. Drawing heavily on al-Kindi's risala of the same name, the main section of Epistle 41: 'On the Definitions and Descriptions' conforms to the title, defining variously categorized phenomena; then follows a diverse range of chapters detailing colours, numbers, ratios, and geometry. The detailed survey of the world presented in these three Epistles concludes the penultimate section of the encyclopaedia, on soul and intellect.

The Risãla al-Jãmi'a ('The Comprehensive Epistle'), attributed to the anonymous Ikhwãn al-Safã?, is an important document in the history of philosophy, sciences, and religious thought in medieval Islamic civilization. Also known as 'The Crown of the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity', it represents the culmination of those 52 Epistles which constitute the oldest mediaeval encyclopaedia of sciences, thought to date from the 10th century. Yet, while following the main themes and four classificatory sections of the Rasã'il, the Jãmi'a distils rather than summarizes the content, delving further into esoteric topics and adopting a more distinctly Ismaili position. In support of their doctrine, the Ikhw?n marshal rational and textual evidence based on the Qur'an and scripture on the one hand and the works of Hellenic as well as Islamic philosophers on the other. The present volume consists of Chapters 1-63 of the first half of the Jãmi'a, covering mainly the first section of the Ras??il (Riyãiyya ta 'limiyya, Propaedeutical-mathematical sciences) and including also an extended discussion on good and evil. This new critical edition draws on 20 manuscripts to establish a more reliable edition of the Arabic text. Translated here for the first time into English and copiously annotated, the work is elucidated by technical and analytical introductions.

The Ikhwan al-Safa (Brethren of Purity), the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity based in Basra and Baghdad, hold an eminent position in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopaedia, the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This compendium contains fifty-two epistles offering synoptic accounts of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age; divided into four classificatory parts, it treats themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology, metaphysics, and theology, in addition to didactic fables. The Rasa'il constitutes a paradigmatic legacy in the canonization of philosophy and the sciences in mediaeval Islamic civilization, as well as having shown a permeating influence in Western culture.The present volume is the second of this definitive series, consisting of the very first critical edition of the Rasa'il in its original Arabic, complete with the first fully annotated English translation. Prepared by Professor Carmela Baffioni, Epistles 10-14 comprise the foundations of logic, which remained a fundamental component in pedagogy until the twentieth century. The Ikhwan treat the Isagoge and the larger part of the Organon, both of which were circulating through the Islamic world at that time, as they set about detailing the ten categories of existents, the five predicables, and other such commonplaces of Aristotelian logic, including his seminal method of syllogistic inference. With the claim that logic is the noblest of man's arts, and man the noblest of creatures, the Ikhwan cast Aristotelian tropes in a spiritual light.