The Incoherence of the Philosophers
11th-century Asharite critique of Avicennian philosophy.
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Al-Ghazali, a Muslim scholar from the 11th century, authored "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" to challenge the Avicennian school of Islamic thought.[1]
Quick Facts
- Author
- al-Ghazali
- Field
- Islamic theology and philosophy
- School
- Asharite
- Language
- Arabic
Facts from the source article.
Making and release
Al-Ghazali became professor of law at the Nizamiyya of Baghdad in July 1091 at the invitation of Nizam al-Mulk.[2] The college was intended partly to train scholars to counter Fatimid religious propaganda.[2] During his tenure, al-Ghazali wrote a series of four theological works.[1] The first was Maqāsid al-Falāsifa, a summary of philosophical thought following Avicenna's doctrine.[1]
Al-Ghazali stated that Maqāsid was an introduction to Tahāfut and that one must know the philosophers' ideas before refuting them.[1] The last work was Al-Iqtisād fī al-iʿtiqad, an exposition of Asharite theology.[2] This series of four theological works, written while al-Ghazali held a professorship in law at the Nizamiyya, had Tahāfut al-Falāsifa as its second installment.[1][2] Across twenty chapters, al-Ghazali aims to disprove the teachings of Avicenna.[1]
What the cited sources add
The "Avicenna" source notes that al-Ghazali wrote a summary of Avicenna's philosophy to present the philosophers' intentions.[3] He then wrote a refutation of Avicenna's doctrines to show the philosophers' incoherence.[3] Later philosophers in the Islamic West perceived that Avicenna's success came at the expense of philosophy's integrity by concessions to theology.[3] This created a hybrid mixture that exposed philosophy to attacks by men like al-Ghazali.[3]
Al-Ghazali's popularity with non-philosophers was matched by opposition from fellow philosophers to his temper and writing.[3]
References
- Wikipedia, "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Avicenna" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ghazālī, "The Incoherence of The Philosophers (Tahāfut al-Falāsifah): A Parallel English-Arabic Text", Brigham Young University Press, 2000 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Avicenna". facts only, no text reused. iranicaonline.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article The Incoherence of the Philosophers (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: The Incoherence of the Philosophers (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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