An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 2

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 2
Author: S. H. Nasr
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2008-09-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0857710427

The tradition of philosophy in the Persian-speaking world is extraordinarily rich, creative and diverse. This anthology, which is divided into three volumes, aims to communicate something of that richness and diversity. The term 'philosophy' is understood to in its widest sense to include theological debate, philosophical Sufism and philosophical hermeneutics (ta'wil). Extending over a period of more than two millennia, and showcasing translations by well-established scholars, the anthology offers full bibliographical references throughout. For anyone interested in exploring, in all their varied manifestations, the fascinating philosophical traditions of Persia, such a wide-ranging and ambitious work will be an indispensable resource. Volume 2 covers five centuries of Ismaili philosophy, and includes extracts from outstanding Ismaili works including the "Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa" ("Treatises of the Brethren of Purity") and the philosophical odes of Nasir Khusraw. It is of great siginificance that, in the early centuries of Islam, philosophers were influenced by Pythagorean and Hermetic ideas, which are usually associated with Shi'i thought in general and Ismailism in particular. Ismaili philosophy at this time was able to integrate strands of Greco-Alexandrian thought such as Hermeticism and Neo-Pythagoreanism, as well as aspects of Mazdaeism and Manichaeism. It also showed marked interest in Neo-platonism.

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 3

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 3
Author: S. H. Nasr
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 489
Release: 2009-12-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0857710435

The tradition of philosophy in the Persian-speaking world is extraordinarily rich, creative and diverse. This anthology, which is divided into three volumes, aims to communicate something of that richness and diversity. The term 'philosophy' is understood to in its widest sense to include theological debate, philosophical Sufism and philosophical hermeneutics (ta'wil). Extending over a period of more than two millennia, and showcasing translations by well-established scholars, the anthology offers full bibliographical references throughout. For anyone interested in exploring, in all their varied manifestations, the fascinating philosophical traditions of Persia, such a wide-ranging and ambitious work will be an indispensable resource.

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 2

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 2
Author: Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Publisher:
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2008
Genre: Philosophy, Iranian
ISBN: 9780755610068

"The tradition of philosophy in the Persian-speaking world is extraordinarily rich, creative and diverse. This anthology, which is divided into three volumes, aims to communicate something of that richness and diversity. The term 'philosophy' is understood to in its widest sense to include theological debate, philosophical Sufism and philosophical hermeneutics (ta'wil). Extending over a period of more than two millennia, and showcasing translations by well-established scholars, the anthology offers full bibliographical references throughout. For anyone interested in exploring, in all their varied manifestations, the fascinating philosophical traditions of Persia, such a wide-ranging and ambitious work will be an indispensable resource. Volume 2 covers five centuries of Ismaili philosophy, and includes extracts from outstanding Ismaili works including the "Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa" ("Treatises of the Brethren of Purity") and the philosophical odes of Nasir Khusraw. It is of great siginificance that, in the early centuries of Islam, philosophers were influenced by Pythagorean and Hermetic ideas, which are usually associated with Shi'i thought in general and Ismailism in particular. Ismaili philosophy at this time was able to integrate strands of Greco-Alexandrian thought such as Hermeticism and Neo-Pythagoreanism, as well as aspects of Mazdaeism and Manichaeism. It also showed marked interest in Neo-platonism."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 5

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 5
Author: S. H. Nasr
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 565
Release: 2014-11-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786739925

Persia is home to one of the few civilizations in the world that has had a continuous tradition of philosophical thought lasting more than two and a half millennia. From the time Zoroaster brought the Gathas, the sacred scripture of Zoroastrianism, until today, it has had a philosophical tradition comprising diverse schools and various languages including Avestan and Pahlavi as well as Arabic and Persian. The West has seen surveys of Persian art and anthologies of Persian literature, but this work is the first to present a millennial tradition of philosophy in Persia in the form of translated selections and introductory sections for each period and figure. Existing translations have been used where possible but most of the selections have been newly translated for this work which, with the help of the explanatory introductions, makes possible an intellectual journey into a philosophical continent much of which has been uncharted for Westerners until now. The fifth and final volume of An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia deals with some seven centuries of Islamic thought stretching from the era following the Mongol invasion to the end of the Qajar period. Organized around the cities which became the main centres of philosophical activity during this long period, the volume is divided into three parts: 'The School of Shiraz', whose importance not only for Persia but also for Ottoman Turkey and Muslim India is only now being recognized; 'The School of Isfahan', which marks the integration of some eight centuries of Islamic thought and culminates with Mulla Sadra; and finally 'The School of Tehran', where traditional philosophy first encountered modern thought in Persia, bringing this series into present times.

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 4

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 4
Author: Mehdi Aminrazavi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 853
Release: 2012-12-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0857733427

The fourth volume of the Anthology of Philosophy in Persia deals with one of the richest and yet least known periods of philosophical life in Persia, the centuries between the seventh/thirteenth century, that saw the eclipse of the school of Khorosan, and the tenth/sixteenth century that coincided with the rise of the Safavids. The main schools dealt with in this volume are the Peripatetic (mashsha'i) School, the School of Illumination (ishraq) of Suhrawardi, and various forms of philosophical Sufism, especially the school of Ibn 'Arabi, that had its origins in the works of Ghazzali and 'Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani. This period was also notable for the philosopher-scientists such as Nasir al-Din Tusi and Qutb al-Din Shirazi.

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 1

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 1
Author: S. H. Nasr
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2007-11-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0857710419

The tradition of philosophy in the Persian-speaking world is extraordinarily rich, creative and diverse. This anthology, which is divided into three volumes, aims to communicate something of that richness and diversity.The term 'philosophy' is understood to in its widest sense to include theological debate, philosophical Sufism and philosophical hermeneutics (ta'wil). Extending over a period of more than two millennia, and showcasing translations by well-established scholars, the anthology offers complete bibliographical references throughout. For anyone interested in exploring, in all their varied manifestations, the fascinating

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia

An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia
Author: Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1999
Genre: Islamic philosophy
ISBN: 9780195127003

This is the second volume in a projected five-volume work covering the full expanse of Persian philosophical thought from the Zoroastrianism of the pre-Christian era up to the present day. Volume II is devoted entirely to the work of the Isma'ili and Hermetic-Pythagorean philosophers.

Walāyah in the Fāṭimid Ismāʿīlī Tradition

Walāyah in the Fāṭimid Ismāʿīlī Tradition
Author: Elizabeth R. Alexandrin
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2017-07-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1438466285

In this original study, Elizabeth R. Alexandrin examines the complex relationships that can be inscribed between medieval Ismā'īlī thought as an intellectual tradition with a devotional practice of reliance on the imām, and as a politico-esoteric system that redefined governance during the Fāṭimid caliphate in the eleventh century. Alexandrin's work is a departure from recent Western scholarship that focuses on similarities among early Islamic traditions. She argues instead that, under the guidance of the Fāṭimid Ismā'īlī chief missionary al-Mu'ayyad fī al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī (d. 1078 CE), the concept of walāyah (divine guidance) became closely associated with religio-political authority, on the one hand, and the perfection of the individual human being, on the other. By signaling and affirming how the Fāṭimid caliph-imāms were the heirs of walāyah and by proposing new definitions of the "seal of God's friends" (khātim al-awliyā' Allāh), al- Mu'ayyad broadened the contexts of making esoteric knowledge public and shifted the apocalyptic frameworks of Islamic messianism.

Unsaying God

Unsaying God
Author: Aydogan Kars
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2019-04-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0190942479

What cannot be said about God, and how can we speak about God by negating what we say? Traveling across prominent negators, denialists, ineffectualists, paradoxographers, naysayers, ignorance-pretenders, unknowers, I-don't-knowers, and taciturns, Unsaying God: Negative Theology in Medieval Islam delves into the negative theological movements that flourished in the first seven centuries of Islam. Aydogan Kars argues that there were multiple, and often competing, strategies for self-negating speech in the vast field of theology. By focusing on Arabic and Persian textual sources, the book defines four distinct yet interconnected paths of negative speech formations on the nature of God that circulated in medieval Islamic world. Expanding its scope to Jewish intellectuals, Unsaying God also demonstrates that religious boundaries were easily transgressed as scholars from diverse sectarian or religious backgrounds could adopt similar paths of negative speech on God. This is the first book-length study of negative theology in Islam. It encompasses many fields of scholarship, and diverse intellectual schools and figures. Throughout, Kars demonstrates how seemingly different genres should be read in a more connected way in light of the cultural and intellectual history of Islam rather than as different opposing sets of orthodoxies and heterodoxies.

World of Image in Islamic Philosophy

World of Image in Islamic Philosophy
Author: van Lit L. W. C. van Lit
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2017-04-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1474415873

One of the most controversial issues that divided Islamic philosophers and theologians during the Middle Ages was whether human beings would have a spiritual or bodily existence after death. The idea of a world of image was conceived as a solution, suggesting that there exists a world of non-physical (imagined) bodies, beyond our earthly existence. This world may be reached in sleep, in meditation or after death.From the embryonic conception by Ibn Sina, to the radical rethinking by Suhrawardi and Shahrazuri into a sophisticated system, L. W. C. van Lit unravels the history of this idea. Using a distant reading approach for measuring the transmission, he further shows how the idea remained relevant for Muslim thinkers through the centuries, up until today.