Aristotelian Elements In the Thinking of Ibn al-'Arabí and the Young Martin Heidegger

369 Pages·2012·2.99 MB·English

by  Mikko Telaranta

Aristotelian Elements
In the Thinking of Ibn al-’Arabí and the Young
Martin Heidegger
Mikko Telaranta
2012
Univ er s ity of H els inki

Aristotelian Elements
In the Thinking of Ibn al-‘Arabí and the Young
Martin Heidegger
by
Mikko Telaranta

Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Theology at
the University of Helsinki in Auditorium Arppeanum on the 11th of May 2012 at 12.00
Acknowledgements

This study has both a long academic and non-academic history. Its beginning goes back to my
post-graduate four years in the early 1980’s in Cairo. There my decisive contacts came through the
Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies, IDEO, dedicated to bridging together Islam and the West,
headed by the late Georges C.Anawati, O.P. (1905–1994). While studying during the day-time
Arabic language and the foundations of religion (usûlu’d-Dîn) at the University of Al-Azhar,
during the evenings I had at my disposal the excellent library of the Institute, the vast knowledge
of its director on medieval philosophy and the possibility of meeting scholars from around the
world. There I also made the acquaintance of Professor Osman Yahia from the Sorbonne who
patiently introduced me to the overall structure of the Futuhât al-Makkîyya. Both great scholars
made a lasting impression. In Cairo I also met Charles Le Gai Eaton, the author of profound and
beautifully written books on Islam, with whom I could discuss on a cordial personal level
questions of Islam in the contemporary world and the genuine questions of human spirituality in
our correspondence, continuing till the last years before his death in February last year.
However, a scholarly career was not to become my destiny. My interests remained, but my daily
occupation was in cultural administrative work with plenty of interesting artistic and scholarly
contacts. Thus, in 1995 I had the chance to invite Professors William C. Chittick and Sachiko
Murata, perhaps the two most brilliant scholars on Ibn al-‘Arabí, as guests to Finland.
By the turn of the millennium I decided to return to the infatuation of my youth and started
working again on Ibn al-‘Arabí. This rework was first acknowledged by the mentor of this
dissertation, Pauli Annala, who encouraged me to join a group of scholars working on the theme of
Apophatic Theology at the University of Helsinki. Ever since, Pauli has been a wonderful collegial
mentor and support. This project was financed by the Academy of Finland. And now, during
2007–08 I finally had the chance to fully commit myself to preparing an academic dissertation in
the stimulating company of Mira Helimäki, Jari Kaukua and Ari Ojell and the two directors of the
project, Professors Pauli Annala and Taneli Kukkonen. To Taneli, the other mentor of this work,
whose great personal energy and expertise in Islamic studies has been a major support, I also owe
my special thanks for inviting me for a further six months in his SSALT project (Self and
Subjectivity in Arabic and Latin Tradition) at the University of Jyväskylä. I express my warmest
thanks for all these forms of material, scholarly and intellectual support.
Finally I want to thank all my friends, especially Professor Juha Varto, for our long discussions on
philosophy during my formative decades of thought. Likewise, the master gardener and teacher,
Fredrik Lagus, has been a life-time support and a constant friend.
Above all, I thank my wife, Jaana-Mirjam Mustavuori for her enduring support and patience. She
has had to put up not only with me but also with Aristotle, Ibn al-‘Arabí and Herr Heidegger as
regular family guests. Furthermore, I want to thank my parents-in-law, Meeri and Petter, as
excellent hosts and welcome guests in our house, for their encouraging support during our frequent
family gatherings.

I dedicate this work to the memory of my dear father, whose own long life as a scholar taught me
the lasting values of commitment and dedication.

Helsinki 11th of May, 2012
Mikko Telaranta
Tiivistelmä

Väitöskirjassa analysoidaan aristoteelisen ajattelun peruskäsitteitä kahdessa hyvin erilaisessa
viitekehyksessä: oman aikamme filosofin, Martin Heideggerin ajattelussa, sekä islamilaisen maailman ehkä
tunnetuimman mystikon, Ibn al-‘Arabín (1165–1240) ajattelussa. Nämä kaksi erilaista aristoteelisen
filosofian reseptiota korostavat työni yleisempää perusluonnetta nimenomaan uskontofilosofian
fenomenologisena tutkimuksena. Tässä yhteydessä fenomenologia viittaa varsinaisen filosofisen
kysymyksenasettelun perennaaliseen luonteeseen. Fenomenologian peruslause Zur Sachen Selbst on yhtä
relevantti niin Aristoteleen, Martin Heideggerin kuin Ibn al-‘Arabín ajattelussa. Siksi työ jakautuu kolmeen
luontevaan osaan: ensimmäinen osa tarkastelee aristoteelista ajattelua sen omassa kontekstissaan kahden
modernin Aristoteles-tutkijan analyysien perusteella. Näistä Monte Johnson (2005) tarkastelee Aristoteleen
teleologiaa ja Heinz Happ (1971) aristoteelisen filosofian materiaalista peruskäsitettä hylê. Näiden kahden
alustavan tutkielman tarkoituksena on hahmottaa aristoteelisen ajattelun perusluonnetta taustaksi
myöhemmälle islamilaisen maailman keskiaikaiselle sekä oman aikamme Heideggerin tulkinnoille. Työni
pyrkii osoittamaan aristoteelisen ajattelun monipuolisia soveltamisen mahdollisuuksia niin mystiikan kuin
uusien ja tuoreiden filosofisten avausten suuntaan, mikäli sitä luetaan aidon filosofisena eikä vain
länsimaisen metafysiikan tai “onto-teologian” historiallisena kivijalkana.
Työn toinen osa paneutuu tarkemmin nuoren Heideggerin filosofiseen projektiin ennen hänen pääteoksensa
Oleminen ja Aika julkaisemista vuonna 1927. Hänen alkuperäisenä motiivinaan oli aristoteelisen
skolastisen tradition purkaminen, mutta syvällinen perehtyminen Aristoteleen ajatteluun johdattikin
”Antiikin ontologian radikalisointiin” ja kokonaan uuden ja mielekkään tulokulman avautumiseen
Aristoteleen ajatteluun ilman kristillisen skolastiikan painolastia.
Kolmas ja laajin tutkimuksen osa tarkastelee aristoteelista perinnettä islamilaisessa maailmassa. Tässä
osoitetaan, että varhaisin ja merkittävin väylä aristoteelisen filosofian leviämiselle oli antiikin peri physeôs
-traditio ja sen välittyminen Aristoteleen Syntymisestä ja häviämisestä, Taivaasta sekä Meteorologia
teosten käännösten kautta. Tässä osassa aristoteelisen fysiikan keskeisyys tulee ilmi Ibn al-‘Arabín
kosmologian sekä yleisemmin islamilaisen luonnontieteen perustana. Tutkimus päättyy filosofian ja
mystiikan kohtaamiseen osoittaen näiden kahden inhimillisen perussuuntautumisen yhtäläisyyksiä ja eroja
ihmisen perimmäisten päämäärien tarkastelussa.
Avainkäsitteet: hylê/hayûlâ, materia; dúnamis/quwwa, voima, mahdollisuus; energeia/bi’l-fa’el,
aktuaalisuus; tò tí ên eînai, quod quid erat esse, se mikä oli oleva; entelekheia, toteutuneisuus, al-nashâ’
al-insânîya, ihmisen ulottuvuus, Dasein, täälläolo; stoikheia, al-ustuqussât, elementit.
Abstract

This dissertation analyses basic Aristotelian notions in two quite different contexts: in the modern Western
philosophy of Martin Heidegger and in the mystical thought of perhaps the greatest Islamic medieval
mystic Ibn al-‘Arabí (1165–1240CE). These two widely separated receptions of Aristotelian philosophy are
intended to emphasize the main approach of the dissertation as phenomenological studies in the philosophy
of religion. Phenomenology stands here for the perennial nature of genuine philosophical questioning: the
demand of Zur Sachen Selbst is equally pertinent in the framework Aristotelian, Ibn al-‘Arabian and
Heideggerian frames of reference. Thus the work is divided into three main sections: the first part tends to
give an overall picture of Aristotelian thinking in its own context through the analysis of two modern
scholars on Aristotle. These two are Monte Johnson (2005) on Aristotelian teleology and Heinz Happ
(1971) on the Aristotelian concept of matter, hylê. These two studies serve as the general foundation of
Aristotelian thinking to provide background for the later interpretations in the medieval Islamic and modern
European frames of reference.
The second part takes a closer look at the project of the young Heidegger on Aristotelian philosophy before
the publication of his major work, Being and Time in 1927. Although his primary motive was to attack the
Aristotelian scholastic tradition, these early years of thorough Aristotelian investigations brought him to a
“Radicalizing of Ancient Ontology,” meaning a new and relevant entry into Aristotelian philosophy without
the heavy baggage of Christian scholastic tradition. This study aims to show that if Aristotle is understood
in a genuine philosophical sense and not through the western metaphysical or “onto-theological” tradition,
his basic ideas are highly applicable to both genuine mystical ideas and provide an opportunity for a new
and fresh entry into philosophical questions as such.
The third and largest part of this work deals with the Aristotelian legacy in the Islamic world. Here we see
how the earliest and decisive channel of influences came through the Aristotelian and the earlier Greek peri
physeôs tradition through the early translation of On Generation and Corruption, On the Heavens, and the
Meteorology of Aristotle. Here I want to show the direct influence of Aristotelian physics in the
cosmological teachings of Ibn al-‘Arabí and the Islamic tradition on the whole. The study ends in a meeting
between philosophy and mysticism to show the similarities and differences of these two basic human
approaches on ultimate human ends.
Key-concepts: hylê/hayûlâ matter; dúnamis/quwwa, force, possibility; energeia/bi’l-fa’el, actuality; tò tí ên
eînai, quod quid erat esse, the what it was to be, entelekheia, having-come-to-the-end, al-nashâ’ al-
insânîya, the human level, Dasein, being-there; stoikheia, al-ustuqussât, the elements.
Acknowledgements
Tiivistelmä
Abstract
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 7
Part I A: Aristotle's primary teleological concepts .............................................................. 14
I. A. 1. Knowledge of nature through the four causes .............................................................. 14
I.A. 2. The soul as cause and starting point of the living thing ................................................. 17
I.A.3. The Function of each thing is its end ............................................................................. 21
I. A. 4. Human ends .................................................................................................................. 23
Part I B An ontological approach to basic Aristotelian notions ................................................ 28
I.B.1. Aristotle's material principle in the tradition of Plato’s Academy .................................. 28
I. B. 2. The underlying hylê of contrary opposites .................................................................... 31
I. B. 3. Three definitions of hylê ........................................................................................ 35
I. B. 4. Materia prima as the inseparable possibility for being ................................................. 36
I. B. 5. Hylê and knowledge: Aristotelian abstraction ............................................................. 38
I.B. 6. Hylê as a universal principle of being ............................................................................ 42
I. B. 7. Necessity (anankê) and teleology ................................................................................. 44
Part II Heidegger on Aristotle ............................................................................................... 50
Radicalizing Ancient Ontology ................................................................................................. 50
II.1. Early contacts with Aristotle, Franz Brentano and Carl Braig .......................................... 50
II.2. Categories, ancient, medieval and modern ........................................................................ 63
II.2.1. Categorial intuition ......................................................................................................... 80
II. 3. Original Christianity ......................................................................................................... 86
II.3.1. Summer semester 1921: Augustine and the Hellenization of Christianity .................... 95
II.3.2. Curare—living in facticity ............................................................................................. 97
II.3.3. Greek axiology in Christianity ....................................................................................... 99
II.3.4. Genuine mysticism ....................................................................................................... 101
II.4. Phenomenological Interpretations with Respect to Aristotle (PIA) ................................ 108
II.5. The hidden foundational book of Western philosophy ................................................... 124
PART III: Ibn al-‘Arabí between Philosophy and Mysticism ......................................... 132
III. 1. Ways of Ibn al-‘Arabi ................................................................................................... 132
III.1.1. How to situate Ibn al-‘Arabí in the Islamic tradition? ................................................ 137
III. 2. Towards a Science of Balance: peri physeôs tradition in Islam ................................... 148
III.2.1. Hermetic tradition and the Jabirean problem .............................................................. 160
III.2.2. Morphology of Letters and Natures ............................................................................ 166
III. 2.3. On Aristotelian cosmos: principles, elements, and qualities ..................................... 178
III.2.4. The lowly Mothers and the high Fathers .................................................................... 202
III.2.5. Elemental qualities (tabâ’î’), primordial matter (hâyûlâ) and substance (jawhar)...... 216
III.2.6 The fifth element as substance ..................................................................................... 222
III.2.7 Conclusion of the science of balance as peri physeôs –tardition in Islam ................... 226
III.3. Sun Rising from the West ........................................................................................... 232
III.3.1. Fabulous Gryphon, or Prime Matter ........................................................................... 241
III. 3.2. The human possibility as God’s vicegerent ............................................................... 252
III.3.2.1. Journey to the heart of existence .............................................................................. 252
III.3.2.2. First in intention but last in actuality ....................................................................... 255
III. 3.3. Manifest and hidden worlds ....................................................................................... 268
III.3.4 The Third Thing – the matrix ....................................................................................... 286
III.3.4.2. Matrix or Mother of all existents ............................................................................. 290
III.5. Between philosophy and mysticism: highest human possibilities ................................. 293
III.5.1. The first meeting of Ibn Rush and Ibn al-‘Arabí .................................................. 293
III.5.2. Between rational consideration and illumination: what made Ibn Rushd tremble? ... 296
III.5.3. The question in Aristotelian terms of De Anima ......................................................... 301
III.5.4. Meeting of the Two Seas: the role of phantasia—khajâl ............................................ 310
III.5.5. Healer of Wounds ....................................................................................................... 313
Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 323
Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... 340
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 345
I: Primary sources ................................................................................................................... 345
Aristotle, works cited (alphabetical order) ............................................................................. 345
Martin Heidegger, relevant works .......................................................................................... 346
IBN AL-‘ARABÎ, works cited. ............................................................................................... 352
I: Secondary sources ............................................................................................................... 353
Aristotelian Elements in the Thinking of
Ibn al-’Arabí and the Young Martin Heidegger