The Teleological Ethics of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science)

289 Pages·2006·1.34 MB·English

by  Ayman Shihadeh

THE TELEOLOGICAL ETHICS OF FAKHR AL-D^N AL-R$Z^
ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY
THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE
Texts and Studies
EDITED BY
H. DAIBER and D. PINGREE
VOLUME LXIV
THE TELEOLOGICAL ETHICS OF
FAKHR AL-D^N AL R$Z^
-
BY
AYMAN SHIHADEH
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2006
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISSN 0169-8729
ISBN 90 04 14991 0
© Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
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contents v
CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
General Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Al-R§zÊ’s Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Development of al-R§zÊ’s Thought and the
Chronology of his Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Chapter One. Al-R§zÊ’s Theory of Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Theory of Human Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Destiny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Theme of the Creation of Human Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter Two. Al-R§zÊ on the Ethics of Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Ethical Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Revealed Law and Ethical Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Moral Obligation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Objections to Mu#tazilÊ Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
God and Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Chapter Three. Al-R§zÊ’s Perfectionist Theory of Virtue . . . . . . 109
Perfectionism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Human Perfection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Chapter Four. Al-R§zÊ’s Later Pessimism:
Commentary on Ris§lat Dhamm al-ladhdh§t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
The Nature and Extent of Sensory Pleasure and Pain . . . . . . 156
Socio-Political Pessimism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Epistemological Pessimism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Appendix: Al-R§zÊ’sRis§lat Dhamm ladhdh§t al-duny§ . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Index of Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Index of Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
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vi contents
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contents vii
PREFACE
The present study aspires, first and foremost, to make a contribution
to two main areas of interest in Islamic intellectual history, namely
ethical philosophy and the thought of Fakhr al-DÊn al-R§zÊ. I hope
to have demonstrated that al-R§zÊ is one of the most important
ethicists in Muslim history, and to have produced some stimuli for
further research on his thought, as he remains one of the most
influential, yet sorely understudied, medieval thinkers.
The present monograph is based, often remotely, on a doctoral
thesis that I submitted in 2002 to the faculty of Oriental Studies,
Oxford University, under the supervision of Professor Yahya Michot
and Dr Fritz Zimmermann. I would like to express my gratitude
to both my supervisors, from whom my research has benefited in
numerous ways. I am indebted to Professor Michot for more recent
exchanges of ideas, many of which are relevant to questions tackled
in this thoroughly revised version.
I would like also to extend my sincere thanks to Professor Wilferd
Madelung, Professor Hans Daiber and Dr Tony Street, who provided
me with valuable comments on this study, to Professor Yahya Ibn
Junaid and Dr Nizam Yaquby, who both assisted me in acquiring
copies of some manuscripts, and to Sobia Syyed for reading the
monograph and suggesting some corrections in style. Needless to
say, I alone am responsible for its present form.
Finally, I am truly grateful to the following institutions: to the
Muslim Academic Trust, Cambridge, for generously funding my
graduate study; to Oxford University for funding provided during
my doctoral study; to the British, Berlin State, Mar#ashÊ-NajafÊ and
Princeton University Libraries, for facilitating access to manuscripts
of Ris§lat Dhamm ladhdh§t al-duny§, allowing me to produce a critical
edition thereof; and to Brill for undertaking this publication.
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viii contents
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introduction 1
INTRODUCTION
General Introduction
The first centuries of Islam witnessed the emergence of different
traditions of ethical thinking, within which several distinct ethical
theories were propounded. The most sophisticated philosophical
theories were developed within the two largely independent tradi-
tions of kal§m and falsafa, which clashed at the level of ethics and
in other related areas, including metaphysics, cosmology, psychology
and epistemology.
The main ethical concern of the classical mutakallimån was to
investigate the nature of God’s justice and the goodness of His acts
generally, which they approached through analytical discussions of
ethical language, metaphysics and epistemology. Similar discussions,
likewise with an emphasis on action, can also be found in ußål al-fiqh,
and concern the establishment of general normative principles for
human conduct. The fal§sifa, on the other hand, were chiefly, but by
no means solely, interested in the development of human character,
primarily by engendering virtues, which are essentially dispositions
internal to the individual.
The gap separating the two traditions was initially so wide that
many notions central to one tradition of ethical theory were completely
alien to the other, in which they would normally be dismissed in toto,
without engagement in any proper dialogue. Yet there then emerged
signs of increasing, and more positive, interaction between kal§m
and falsafa, culminating in the efforts of al-Ghaz§lÊ (d. 505/1111),
who was both a severe critic of the fal§sifa and deeply influenced by
them in many respects. A century later, Fakhr al-DÊn al-R§zÊ was
to open the gates widely, allowing a more liberal exchange of ideas,
a ‘synthesis’ even, between kal§m and falsafa. This feature manifests
no less in his ethics than in other areas of his thought.
The present study is thus, at once, both a comprehensive analysis
of one major facet of al-R§zÊ’s thought, viz. his ethical theory, and an
exploration of the main trends and debates in its wider intellectual
background. It shows that he sets forth a sophisticated and original
ethical theory, which is both eclectic and highly consistent internally.
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