Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition PDF
Preview Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY AND THE CLASSICAL TRADITION MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY AND THE CLASSICAL TRADITION In Islam, Judaism and Christianity Edited by John Inglis LONDON AND NEW YORK First Published in 2002 by Curzon Press Transferred to Digital Printing 2003 by RoutledgeCurzon 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE Editorial Matter © 2002 John Inglis RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-98875-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-7007-1469-3 (Print Edition) Contents Notes on Contributors vii Acknowledgments x Introduction: Towards a Balanced Historiography of Medieval 1 Philosophy John Inglis 16 Section One: Historical Context 1 Medieval Islamic Philosophy and the Classical Tradition 17 Michael E.Marmura 29 Section Two: Philosophy 2 A Philosophical Odyssey: Ghazzâlî’s Intentions of the Philosophers 30 Gabriel Said Reynolds 3 The Relationship between Averroes and al-Ghazālī: as it presents itself 42 in Averroes’ Early Writings, especially in his Commentary on al- Ghazālī’s Frank Griffel 4 Al-Ghazali and Halevi on Philosophy and the Philosophers 54 Barry S.Kogan 69 Section Three: Neoplatonism 5 Projection and Time in Proclus 70 D.Gregory MacIsaac 6 Forms of Knowledge in the Arabic Plotinus 90 Peter Adamson 7 Secundum rei vim vel secundum cognoscentium facultatem: Knower and 107 Known in the Consolation of Philosophy of Boethius and the Proslogion of Anselm Wayne J.Hankey 8 Proclean ‘Remaining’ and Avicenna on Existence as Accident: 128 Neoplatonic Methodology and a Defense of ‘Pre-Existing’ Essences Sarah Pessin 9 Augustine vs Plotinus: The Uniqueness of the Vision at Ostia 143 Thomas Williams 153 Section Four: Creation 10 Infinite Power and Plenitude: Two Traditions on the Necessity of the 154 Eternal Taneli Kukkonen 11 The Challenge to Medieval Christian Philosophy: Relating Creator to 170 Creatures David B.Burrell, C.S.C. 181 Section Five: Virtue 12 Three Kinds of Objectivity 182 Jonathan Jacobs 13 On Defining Maimonides’ Aristotelianism 194 Daniel H.Frank 14 Porphyry, Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas: A Neoplatonic Hierarchy 206 of Virtues and Two Christian Appropriations Joshua P.Hochschild 220 Section Six: The Latin Reception 15 William of Auvergne and the Aristotelians: The Nature of a Servant 221 Michael Miller 16 Is God a “What”? Avicenna, William of Auvergne, and Aquinas on the 233 Divine Essence John P.Rosheger 17 Maimonides and Roger Bacon: Did Roger Bacon Read Maimonides? 250 Jeremiah Hackett Index 261 Notes on Contributors Peter Adamson (King’s College London) works on ancient and medieval philosophy with a focus on early Arabic Philosophy. His publications include “Aristotelianism and the Soul in the Arabic Plotinus” and “Two Early Arabic Doxographies on the Soul: al-Kindi and the Arabic Plotinus.” His book on the Arabic Plotinus will appear in 2002. David B.Burrell, C.S.C. (University of Notre Dame) works mainly on comparative issues in philosophical theology in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. His publications include Knowing the Unknowable God: Ibn-Sina, Maimonides, Aquinas (1986) and Freedom and Creation in Three Traditions (1993), and two translations of al-Ghazali: Al-Ghazali on the Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God (1993) and Al-Ghazali on Faith in Divine Unity and Trust in Divine Providence [Book 35 of his Ihya Ulum ad- Din] (2001). With Elena Malits he co-authored Original Peace (1998). Daniel H.Frank (University of Kentucky) focuses in his research on Greek philosophy and medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy. Recent and forthcoming publications include History of Jewish Philosophy (1997), The Jewish Philosophy Reader (2000), The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy (forthcoming), Moses Maimonides (forthcoming), and Plato: Metaphysical Moralist (forthcoming). Frank Griffel (Yale University) works on the relationship between Muslim theology and the peripatetic tradition in Islam. His publications include Apostasie und Toleranz im Islam. Die Entwicklung zu Urteil gegen die Philosophic und die Reaktionen der Philosophen (2000) and a German translation of al-Ghazālī’s al-tafriqa bayna l-Islam wa-z-zandaqa (1998). Jeremiah Hackett (University of South Carolina) works on medieval Latin philosophy and in particular on Roger Bacon. His publications include numerous articles and the volumes: Roger Bacon and the sciences: commemorative essays (1997), Medieval philosophers (1992), and A Straight path: studies in medieval philosophy and culture: essays in honor of Arthur Hyman (1988). Wayne Hankey (King’s College and Dalhousie University, Halifax) is a specialist on the history of Neoplatonism. Working especially on the meeting of Augustine and the Pseudo-Dionysius in the Latin tradition, he has published extensively on ancient, medieval, early modern and contemporary Neoplatonism. His books include God in Himself: Aquinas’ doctrine of God as expounded in the Summa theologiae (1987). At present he is working on two books which sum up most of his recent research: French Neoplatonism in the Twentieth Century and From Augustine to Descartes: Steps in the Formation of Western Subjectivity. Joshua P.Hochschild (Wheaton College) works on ancient and medieval philosophy, with a special interest in medieval logic and metaphysics. His current project is the semantics of analogy according to Thomas de Vio. John Inglis (University of Dayton) works on the historiography of medieval philosophy and the Dominican thought of the 13th century with a focus on Aquinas. His publications include Spheres of Philosophical Inquiry and the Historiography of Medieval Philosophy (1998), On Aquinas (2002), and On Medieval Philosophy (forthcoming). Jonathan Jacobs (Colgate University) writes on ethics, moral psychology, and metaphysics. His most recent books are A Philosopher’s Compass (2001), Practical Realism and Moral Psychology (1995), and Choosing Character: Responsibility for Virtue and Vice (2001). Barry S.Kogan (Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati) has published widely on medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy. He is the author of Averroes and the Metaphysics of Causation (1985) “Averroes and the Theory of Emanation,” and “Eternity and Origination: Averroes’ Discourse on the Manner of the World’s Existence,” and editor of Spinoza: A Tercentenary Perspective (1979). He is preparing a new English translation of Judah Halevi’s Kuzari, begun by the late Lawrence V.Berman. Taneli Kukkonen (University of Helsinki) specializes in Averroes’ systematization of Aristotelian natural philosophy. His publications in English include “Proclus on Plenitude,” “Possible Worlds in the Tahâfut al-falâsifa. Al-Ghazâlî on Creation and Contingency,” “Possible Worlds in the Tahâfut al-tahâfut. Averroes on Plenitude and Possibility,” and “Plenitude, Possibility and the Limits of Reason. An Arabic Debate on the Metaphysics of Nature,” as well as a Finnish translation of al-Gazâlî’s al- Munqidh min al-dalâl (2001). D.Gregory MacIsaac (Carleton University, Ottawa) works mainly on Neoplatonic epistemology. His publications include a translation of the final part of Proclus’ Commentary on the Parmenides from a reconstructed Greek version. Michael E.Marmura (University of Toronto) works on Islamic philosophy. He has published medieval Arabic philosophical texts and translations, and numerous articles on Islamic philosophy. His publications include a parallel Arabic text and an annotated translation of Al-Ghazali’s Incoherence of the Philosophers (1997) and a similar edition of Avicenna’s Metaphysics of the Healing (forthcoming). Michael Miller (Trinity College, Washington, D.C.) works on freedom and casuality with a focus on Avicenna, William of Auvergne, and Aquinas. His publications include “Willam of Auvergne on Primary and Secondary Causality” and “Transcendence and Divine Causality.” Sarah Pessin (University of Chicago/American Academy for Jewish Research) works primarily on medieval Neoplatonism and in particular on Solomon ibn Gabirol’s Fons Vitae. Her publications include “Hebdomads: Boethius Meets the Neoplatonists” (1999) and “Jewish Neoplatonism” for The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy (forthcoming). Gabriel Said Reynolds (Yale University) specializes in his research on the medieval interaction and polemic between Muslims and Christians. His publications include “The Ends of al-Radd al-Jamîl and Its Portrayal of Christian Sects,” “The Sufi Meal: A Case Study of Adab,” (with Suleiman Mourad) “The Islamic Threat: Thoughts from a Muslim and a Christian,” and “Where Islam and Christianity Meet.” John P.Rosheger (Hope College) works on Neoplatonism and the philosophical theology of Islam and Christianity. His publications include “Augustine and Divine Simplicity” and “A Note on Avicenna and the Divine Attributes.” Thomas Williams (University of Iowa) works on Latin medieval philosophy. He has published articles on John Duns Scotus and translations of Augustine’s On Free Choice of the Will (1994) and Anselm’s Monologion and Proslogion (1996). He is currently editing The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus and The Cambridge Translations of Medieval Philosophical Texts: Volume 5—Philosophical Theology.
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