Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T16:19:08.965Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

16 - Metaphysics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2006

Peter Adamson
Affiliation:
King's College London
Richard C. Taylor
Affiliation:
Marquette University, Wisconsin
Get access

Summary

Metaphysics, first philosophy, or divine science has always been a subject of controversy. Too often medieval Arabic metaphysics is regarded as either simply a paraphrase of or a commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, or a curious and rather unsuccessful blend of Aristotelian metaphysics and Neoplatonism. Cristina D'Ancona has shown the superficiality of this latter approach by highlighting how carefully and creatively the “falāsifa” or Hellenizing philosophers used the various Greek sources, such as the works of Aristotle, the Plotiniana Arabica (a group of texts based on Plotinus and including the so-called Aristotle’s Theology derived from Enneads IV-VI), and the Liber de Causis, adapted from Proclus' Theology and known in Arabic as The Book of the Pure Good. Yet Greek sources are not enough to explain some developments. In 1979 Richard Frank argued that falsafa (the Arabic transliteration of the Greek term for philosophy, highlighting its foreign origin) is not immune to the influence of kalāmor Islamic theology, which had elaborated an ontology of its own. More recently, though controversially, he has argued that even al-Ghazālī, the famous author of the Incoherence of the Philosophers and the staunch protector of orthodox Sunni Islam, is himself deeply influenced by Avicenna.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×