scholarly journals The Etymological Path to Moral Meaning: Adam and the Names

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Ghassan el Masri (غسان المصري)
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
Essential Nature ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
History Of ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Theology And Philosophy

Abstract This paper advances the claim that an investigation into the significance of Qurʾānic terms must consider the semantic etymology of the elements under investigation, especially terms that have developed into technical concepts in Islamic theology and philosophy like the ethical variety investigated in this volume. The present article will give some of the salient reason for this imperative and demonstrate the value of semantic etymology in understanding the anthropological dimensions of theological concepts. Semantic etymology, the practice of uncovering the ‘original’ imposition of a word-thing relation (aṣl al-waḍʿ) by deducing the meaning of a word from the meaning of other words sharing the same lexeme was more than a descriptive linguistic science in the Arab-Islamic tradition. In late antiquity the Greek and Latin science of etymologia, like the Arabic ishtiqāq al-maʿná (later ʿilm al-waḍʿ), was a fully-fledged instrument of conceptual analysis for the reader and a powerful tool of discursive authority for both author and reader. Semantic etymology offers an account, not only of the original word-thing relation, but also the essential nature of the object. In our current moment in the history of philosophy where ‘essences’ and ‘essential qualities’ have lost almost all currency, the article opens the door for a reconsideration of the worth of ‘etymologies’ as sound and useful anthropological and philosophical objects of analysis.

scholarly journals The Philosophical Proof for God’s Existence between Europe and the Islamic World: Reflections on an Entangled History of Philosophy and Its Contemporary Relevance

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Rudolph ◽  
Roman Seidel
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Cosmological Argument ◽  
The West ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Ontological Proof ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

AbstractThe Argument for God’s Existence is one of the major issues in the history of philosophy. It also constitutes an illuminating example of a shared philosophical problem in the entangled intellectual histories of Europe and the Islamic World. Drawing on Aristotle, various forms of the argument were appropriated by both rational Islamic Theology (kalām) and Islamic philosophers such as Avicenna. Whereas the argument, reshaped, refined and modified, has been intensively discussed throughout the entire post-classical era, particularly in the Islamic East, it has likewise been adopted in the West by thinkers such as the Hebrew Polymath Maimonides and the Medieval Latin Philosopher and Theologian Thomas Aquinas. However, these mutual reception-processes did not end in the middle ages. They can be witnessed in the twentieth century and even up until today: On the one hand, we see a Middle Eastern thinker like the Iranian philosopher Mahdī Ḥāʾirī Yazdī re-evaluating Kant’s fundamental critique of the classical philosophical arguments for God’s existence, in particular of the ontological proof, and refuting the critique. On the other hand, an argument from creation brought forward by the Islamic Theologian and critic of the peripatetic tradition al-Ghazāli has been adopted by a strand of Western philosophers who label their own version “The Kalām-cosmological Argument”. By discussing important cornerstones in the history of the philosophical proof for God’s existence we argue for a re-consideration of current Eurocentric narratives in the history of philosophy and suggest that such a transcultural perspective may also provide inspiration for current philosophical discourses between Europe, the Middle East and beyond.

Wisdom in the Qur’an and the Islamic Tradition

2021 ◽  
pp. 220-240
Author(s):  
U. Isra Yazicioglu
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
General Overview ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Existential Choice ◽  
Qur'anic Exegesis ◽  
Theology And Philosophy ◽  
Said Nursi

Wisdom is a crucial qur’anic concept that has been discussed in richly variegated ways in the Islamic tradition, including in qur’anic exegesis, Islamic theology and philosophy, Islamic law, and Islamic spirituality. This article offers a general overview of the role of wisdom in the Qur’an and an interpretive presentation of its meaning, with a specific focus on a number of significant Muslim scholars and sages in classical and contemporary eras, such as al-Ghazali, Rumi, Ibn al-’Arabi, and Said Nursi. The article is organized around three questions to the qur’anic text and Muslim sources: How is wisdom a special gift from God? Why is it so precious? Why does it require a certain existential choice? The Qur’an considers wisdom as a gift from God that is linked closely with revelation. Ultimately, in the qur’anic tradition, wisdom is about understanding how the reality points to transcendent beauty, life after death, and living accordingly, in gratitude, with balance and justice.

The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-235
Author(s):  
Sarah Klitenic Wear ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals The development of the Church of St Mary at Ephesos from late antiquity to the Dark Ages

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 175-194
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Karydis
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Design Patterns ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Dark Ages ◽  
Wall Structures ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

AbstractThe Church of St Mary is one of the most significant monuments of Ephesos, but also one of the most enigmatic. Its repeated modifications prior to its destruction created an amalgam of different phases that have proven difficult to decipher within the present remains. Written records and inscriptions suggest that this church was the venue of the riotous Ecumenical Council of AD 431, but the identification of the phase of the building that corresponds to this event is controversial. And, although the remains make it clear that at some point the church was transformed into a domed basilica, the latter’s form and date have not been established with certainty. The present article tries to fill these lacunae through a new survey of the remains of the church and a re-examination of the evidence from the archaeological excavations of the 20th century. This new investigation of wall structures and design patterns within the remains leads to new interpretations of the evidence, and sheds further light on the history of the Church of St Mary from its late antique origins to the Dark Ages.

scholarly journals Religious Knowledge of Abai

Turkology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (104) ◽  
pp. 106-119
Author(s):  
D. Kenzhetayev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Religious Knowledge ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
History Of Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Existentialist Philosophy ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Theology And Philosophy

Recognition of the heritage of Abai from the point of view of Islamic theology and philosophy, the Muslim and civilizational nature of the Kazakh people is a very urgent issue. It is important to reveal the place and role of Abai's heritage in order to give a scientific and historical assessment of the traces of modern Kazakh religious knowledge and religious experience. Therefore, a holistic consideration of the concepts and categorical complex in the works of Abai and its differentiation with systemic historical and philosophical forms make it possible to recognize his existential and religious and civilizational appearance. The article examines the opinion of mankind against those who want to explain the general views of Abai with the templates of existentialist philosophy, referring to well-known representatives of an important layer about being in the history of thought. In his review of the history of philosophy, as well as in the question of what essence is, Abai stressed the importance of the truth underlying the definition of love as a single meaning.

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