John Walbridge - Böcker

This book investigates the central role of reason in Islamic intellectual life. Despite widespread characterization of Islam as a system of belief based only on revelation, John Walbridge argues that rational methods, not fundamentalism, have characterized Islamic law, philosophy and education since the medieval period. His research demonstrates that this medieval Islamic rational tradition was opposed by both modernists and fundamentalists, resulting in a general collapse of traditional Islamic intellectual life and its replacement by more modern but far shallower forms of thought. However, the resources of this Islamic scholarly tradition remain an integral part of the Islamic intellectual tradition and will prove vital to its revival. The future of Islam, Walbridge argues, will be marked by a return to rationalism.

Provides an account of Islamic philosopher Suhrawardi's revival of Neoplatonism.The twelfth-century Persian philosopher Suhrawardī was the key figure in the transition of Islamic philosophy from the neo-Aristotelianism of Avicenna to the mystically oriented Islamic philosophy of later centuries. Suhrawardī's "Illuminationist" philosophy was a vigorous reassertion of Neoplatonism at a time when Sufism was becoming a major presence in Islamic thought and society.This book traces the intellectual background of Suhrawardī's thought and of the Greek roots of non-Aristotelian philosophy in the Islamic world. Suhrawardī placed himself in an intellectual tradition that sprang from the "Ancients," the philosophical and mystical tradition of Hermes Trismegistus and his successors in both Greece and the Orient. The author argues that Suhrawardī typifies an approach to philosophy characteristic of Neoplatonism, in which Pythagoras is the key pre-Socratic, Plato is the central figure in the history of philosophy, Aristotle is respected but corrected by reference to Pythagoras and Plato, and philosophy is ultimately an eclectic revelation known symbolically by different nations. Mystical intuition is a key philosophical tool and symbolism is of particular importance.The Leaven of the Ancients provides a translation of Suhrawardī's famous dream, in which Aristotle reveals the epistemological foundations of Suhrawardī's Illuminationist system. The book also analyzes the role played by Suhrawardī and his approach to philosophy in turning Islamic civilization away from physical science toward a subtle mystical psychology, thus offering a new explanation for the decline of science in Islam.

An expert on the thought of medieval Islamic philosopher Suhrawardi argues that philosophers have romanticized this work as a revival of "oriental" wisdom.Twelfth-century Islamic philosopher Suhrawardī attempted to revive Platonism in an era of Avicennan Aristotelianism. Modern scholars have portrayed Suhrawardī as wishing to revive an "oriental" wisdom and associate him with ancient Persia. In this book, John Walbridge uses Suhrawardī as a vehicle to explore the tendency of Platonic philosophers to romanticize oriental wisdom.The work presents Suhrawardī and defines the problem of Platonic orientalism, both in general and in relation to Suhrawardī. Egypt and the Hermetic tradition, ancient Persia and the notion of metaphysical light, and India, Buddhism, and the transmigration of souls are all covered in terms of their influence or lack of influence in Suhrawardī's thought. The book also explores the role of Platonic and Suhrawardian orientalism in various cultures over the years.