1. Philosophy from al-Andalus Ibn Rushd & Ibn Maymūn
March 20, 2017
CVSP 202 Common Lecture
Hani Hassan

3. Al-Ghazālī: the defeat of philosophy in the East?

5. Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn Rushd
Born 1126, Córdoba - Spain
Studied: Maliki law and Ahs’ari Kalam, philosophy,
medicine…
Met Ibn Tufayl in Marakesh in 1153, and
Abū Ya’qūb Yūsuf 1169, and was commissioned by
the latter to write commentaries on Aristotle
Judge of Seville: ; Chief judge of Cordoba: ; physician to the royal court as of 1182
Wrote profusely on Aristotle, as well as on philosophy, medicine, Law…
1195: fell from grace and exiled
Died: 1198, Marakesh

6. Abū ʿImrān Mūsā Ibn Maimūn
Born 1135, in Córdoba – Spain
Following the abolishment of dhimmi status in Córdoba in 1148, he moved around mostly in southern Spain and then settled in Morocco, where he studied at Jami’at al Qarawiyyin and wrote his first major work, the commentary on the Mishnah
1168, moved with his family and settled in Fostat - Egypt
One of the most influential physicians of his time, eventually official doctor to Saladin
1171, appointed Najid or leader of the Egyptian Jewish community
Died: 1204, Egypt

7. Decisive Treatise Determining the Nature of the Connection
between Religion and Philosophy
Copy of Ibn Rushd's commentary on
Ibn Sīnā’s Poem on Medicine

8. “If the activity of philosophy is nothing more than study of existing beings and reflection upon them as indications of the Artisan… and if the Law has encouraged and urged reflection on beings, then it is clear that what this name signifies is either obligatory or recommended by law.”

9. “Reflect you have vision” (59:2)
“Have they not studied the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and whatever things God has created?” (7:184)

10. “reflection is nothing more than inference and drawing out the unknown from the known, and since this is reasoning or at any rate done by reasoning, therefore we are under an obligation to carry our study of beings by intellectual reasoning.” (p. 2)

11. Summary of the argument:
The Law obliges us to study beings and reflect on them.
Reflection is only possible through intellectual reasoning, the highest of which is demonstration.
This means one has to study the rules and principles of reasoning, various types of arguments, etc…
This means that one has to study the works of those before us who have done work in these matters…
Having gained the skill, one has to now study beings and reflect upon them (back to 1)
This means one has to study what those before us have done in this field (the study of beings) just like with any other field..
As such: the Law obliges us to study philosophy.

12. “whoever forbids the study of them to anyone who is fit to study them, i.e. anyone who unites two qualities, (1) natural intelligence and (2) religious integrity and moral virtue, is blocking people from the door by which the Law summons them to the knowledge of God… and such an act is the extreme of ignorance and estrangement from God the Exalted” (p. 4)

13. “our soul is in the utmost sorrow and pain by reason of the evil fancies and perverted beliefs which have infiltrated religion, and particularly such afflictions as have happened to it at the hands of people who claim an affinity with philosophy… Injuries from people related to philosophy are the severest [to religion]… It (i.e. religion) has also been hurt by a host of ignorant friends who claim an affinity with it: these are the sects which exist within it.” (p. 18)

14. The Guide for the Perplexed
Draft of Maimonides’ Dalalat-al-Ha’irin
Arabic in Hebrew characters

15. “My primary object in this work is to explain certain words occurring in the prophetic books […] It is not here intended to explain all these expressions to the unlettered or to mere tyros, a previous knowledge of Logic and Natural Philosophy being indispensable, or to those who confine their attention to the study of our holy Law, I mean the study of the canonical law alone; for the true knowledge of the Torah is the special aim of this and similar works.”
(Guide for the Perplexed, Prefatory Remarks)

16. “The object of this treatise is to enlighten a religious man who has been trained to believe in the truth of our holy Law, who conscientiously fulfils his moral and religious duties, and at the same time has been successful in his philosophical studies. Human reason has attracted him to abide within its sphere; and he finds it difficult to accept as correct the teaching based on the literal interpretation of the Law, and especially that which he himself or others derived from those homonymous, metaphorical, or hybrid expressions. Hence he is lost in perplexity and anxiety […]
(Guide for the Perplexed, Prefatory Remarks)

17. “This work has also a second object in view
“This work has also a second object in view. It seeks to explain certain obscure figures which occur in the Prophets, and are not distinctly characterized as being figures. Ignorant and superficial readers take them in a literal, not in a figurative sense. Even well informed persons are bewildered if they understand these passages in their literal signification, but they are entirely relieved of their perplexity when we explain the figure, or merely suggest that the terms are figurative. For this reason I have called this book Guide for the Perplexed.”
(Guide for the Perplexed, Prefatory Remarks)

18. The Guide for the Perplexed (dedicated to his student Joseph Ibn Aknin) is set down in three parts:
Part I comprising 76 chapters (and from which you’re covering chapters 51 through 60) – mostly presents a discussion on homonyms encountered in words and terms referencing God and his attributes, as well as philosophical and geometric terms such as form, figure, space… etc. The most pertinent discussion, covered in the selections you're reading, concern attribution of qualities to God and the ‘names’ of God. This part ends with a rejection of the key principles and arguments of traditional kalam theology
Part II comprising 26 philosophical propositions and 48 chapters – herein is centrally presented the proofs for the existence of the One Incorporeal Primal Cause, the eternity of the universe, creation, prophecy (in relation to a theory on intellect and cosmology)
Part III comprising an Introduction and 54 chapters – presents a reading of a key biblical text referencing (Ezekiel’s chariot), a discussion on the nature of evil, providence and omniscience, and a guide to the proper worship of God

19. “There cannot be any belief in the unity of God except by admitting that He is one simple substance, without any composition or plurality of elements: one from whatever side you view it, and by whatever test you examine it: not divisible into two parts in any way and by any cause, nor capable of any form of plurality either objectively or subjectively, as will be proved in this treatise.”
(Chapter 51, pages 1-2)

20. “Every description of an object by an affirmative attribute, which includes the assertion that an object is of a certain kind, must be made in one of the following five ways”
(Chapter 52, page 2)

21. First: Description by definition, i. e
First: Description by definition, i.e. explanation of a name containing the true essence of the object.
“All agree that this kind of description cannot be given of God: for there are no previous causes to His existence, by which He could be defined”
(Chapter 52, page 2)

22. Second: Description by part of its definition.
“All agree that this kind of description is inappropriate in reference to God; for if we were to speak of a portion of His essence, we should consider His essence to be a compound.”
(Chapter 52, page 2)

23. Third: Described by something different from its true essence, and such a description relates to quality, and this is then a description in reference to accident.

24. “Hence it follows that no attribute coming under the head of quality in its widest sense, can be predicated of God. Consequently, these three classes of attributes, describing the essence of a thing, or part of the essence, or a quality of it, are clearly inadmissible in reference to God.”
(Chapter 52, page 3)

25. Fourth: Description by the thing’s or person’s relation to another thing. Example: We are in West Hall; I am Naya’s Father, etc…

26. Fifth manner to describe a thing is by its action, i. e
Fifth manner to describe a thing is by its action, i.e. actions performed by it. Example: Maimonides who wrote the Guide to the Perplexed.

27. “In short, it is necessary to demonstrate by proof that nothing can be predicated of God that implies any of the following four things: corporeality, emotion or change, nonexistence… In this respect our knowledge of God is aided by the study of Natural Science. For he who is ignorant of the latter cannot understand the defect implied in emotions, the difference between potentiality and reality, the non-existence implied in all potentiality… He who knows these things, but without their proofs, does not know the details which logically result from these general propositions: and therefore he cannot prove that God exists, or that the [four] things mentioned above are inadmissible in reference to God.”
(Chapter 54, page 10)

28. “Know that the negative attributes of God are the true attributes: they do not include any incorrect notions or any deficiency whatever in reference to God, while positive attributes imply polytheism, and are inadequate, as we have already shown.”
(Chapter 58, page 12)

29. Philosophy from al-Andalus
Thank you…