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The Life and Afterlife of the Rational Soul: Chapters VIII-X of Ibn Sina's Pointers and Reminders and Their Commentaries.

Record Type:	Electronic resources : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	The Life and Afterlife of the Rational Soul: Chapters VIII-X of Ibn Sina's Pointers and Reminders and Their Commentaries./
Author:	Rapoport, Michael A.
Published:	Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, : 2018,
Description:	511 p.
Notes:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 80-02, Section: A.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International80-02A.
Subject:	Islamic Studies. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=10927880
ISBN:	9780438194502

The Life and Afterlife of the Rational Soul: Chapters VIII-X of Ibn Sina's Pointers and Reminders and Their Commentaries.
Rapoport, Michael A.

The Life and Afterlife of the Rational Soul: Chapters VIII-X of Ibn Sina's Pointers and Reminders and Their Commentaries. - Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2018 - 511 p.

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 80-02, Section: A.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Yale University, 2018.

This item must not be added to any third party search indexes.

Ibn Sina's (d. 428/1037) final presentation of his philosophical system - the Pointers and Reminders (al-Isˇarat wa-l-tanbihat) - was one of the most influential philosophical texts in the postclassical era of scholarship in the Muslim world (ca. 12001800 CE). The standard narrative of Islamic intellectual history suggests a civilizational decline in Muslim societies after the 12 th century CE, marking the beginning of the postclassical era. The decline narrative posits dogmatic theology triumphing over science and philosophy, characterizing Muslim theologians and philosophers as natural antagonists. It highlights the theologian Abu Hamid al-Gazali's (d. 505/1111) Precipitance of the Philosophers ( Tahafut al falasifa) as the blow from which philosophy never recovered, despite the best efforts by the philosopher Ibn Rusd (d. 595/1198) in his Precipitance of the Precipitance (Tahafut al-tahafut). Scholars have commonly interpreted the Pointers's commentary tradition in the light of this narrative, seeing Fakr al-Din al- Razi (d. 606/1210) and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 672/1274) as reprising the roles of Gazali and Ibn Rusd, respectively. There have been few critical studies on the Pointers. Even fewer specifically address its final three chapters, which scholars have frequently cited as evidence that Ibn Sina experimented with mysticism. This study argues that in order to understand the postclassical era, we must first properly understand Ibn Sina's Pointers and Reminders . It interrogates associations of Ibn Sina with mysticism by analyzing the content of Chapters VIII-X of the Pointers in relation to the rest of Ibn Sina's corpus. It then places the Pointers's commentary tradition in the context of postclassical Islamic intellectual history through an analysis of four commentaries on these chapters. The introductory chapter situates the pre-modern reception of the Pointers in the context of scholarship on the postclassical era of Islamic scholarship. It then lays out the Pointers's modern reception in the context of the debate on Ibn Sina's mysticism. Chapters 2-4 present a close reading of Chapters VIII-X of the Pointers, analyzing their language and content in the context of Ibn Sina's broader corpus. By clarifying the abundant connections between the Pointers and Ibn Sina's other works - works that scholars do not associate with Sufism- the analysis in these chapters invalidates arguments connecting this work with mysticism. Scholars who associate Ibn Sina with mysticism rely on his use of Sufi terminology. Chapter 5 analyzes key technical vocabulary, especially terms Ibn Sina borrows from Sufism. I compare the use of these terms in the Pointers to their use in other works by Ibn Sina. I also contrast them with Qusayri's (d. 465/1072) Epistle (al-Risala) - a contemporaneous benchmark of Sufi thought - to highlight the discordance between Ibn Sina's thought and Sufism. Chapters 6-7 examine commentaries on the Pointers by Fakr al-Din al-Razi, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Badr al-Din al-Tahtani (d. 732/1332), and Qutb al-Din al-Tahtani (d. 766/1364-5). Razi, relying on a willful misrepresentation of Ibn Sina's thought, stridently criticized Ibn Sina's theories of human cognition and the afterlife. These theories contradicted positions on God's knowledge and agency held by adherents to the As ari school of Sunni theology (of which Razi was a preeminent member). Tusi defended Ibn Sina from Razi's criticisms. Tustari and Tahtani followed Tusi's lead. Chapter 6 addresses epistemology (human cognition and intellectual pleasure), while Chapter 7 focuses on eschatology (reward and punishment in the afterlife). The concluding chapter re-evaluates the decline narrative and counter-narratives based on my analysis of the commentaries. It argues that Razi distorts Ibn Sina to make certain aspects of his thought palatable to As ari scholars while distancing those aspects that were fundamentally and irreparably anathema to them. Tusi, on the other hand, defends Ibn Sina from Razi'¯s manipulations, all the while engaging in his own distortions in order to create a Twelver version of Avicennism. Tustari and Tahtani play the role of propagandists, putting Tusi on a pedestal as the philosopher par excellence, while making Razi out to look like a fool. No party is interested in explaining Ibn Sina's philosophy so much as he is in capturing the aura of his philosophical authority. They do this to shape philosophy in a way that is most amenable to their school of thought: an Asar`i-friendly Avicennism for Razi, a Twelver Si`i-friendly one for Tusi, and a Tusi-inflected Avicennism for Tustari and Tahtani. Taking a broader view of what is happening here, what we have is a Sunni-Si`i conflict playing out in the realm of intellectual debate by means of presenting a distorted version of Ibn Sina's thought as the one true philosophy.

ISBN: 9780438194502Subjects--Topical Terms:

1669733
Islamic Studies.

The Life and Afterlife of the Rational Soul: Chapters VIII-X of Ibn Sina's Pointers and Reminders and Their Commentaries.
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520 $a Ibn Sina's (d. 428/1037) final presentation of his philosophical system - the Pointers and Reminders (al-Isˇarat wa-l-tanbihat) - was one of the most influential philosophical texts in the postclassical era of scholarship in the Muslim world (ca. 12001800 CE). The standard narrative of Islamic intellectual history suggests a civilizational decline in Muslim societies after the 12 th century CE, marking the beginning of the postclassical era. The decline narrative posits dogmatic theology triumphing over science and philosophy, characterizing Muslim theologians and philosophers as natural antagonists. It highlights the theologian Abu Hamid al-Gazali's (d. 505/1111) Precipitance of the Philosophers ( Tahafut al falasifa) as the blow from which philosophy never recovered, despite the best efforts by the philosopher Ibn Rusd (d. 595/1198) in his Precipitance of the Precipitance (Tahafut al-tahafut). Scholars have commonly interpreted the Pointers's commentary tradition in the light of this narrative, seeing Fakr al-Din al- Razi (d. 606/1210) and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 672/1274) as reprising the roles of Gazali and Ibn Rusd, respectively. There have been few critical studies on the Pointers. Even fewer specifically address its final three chapters, which scholars have frequently cited as evidence that Ibn Sina experimented with mysticism. This study argues that in order to understand the postclassical era, we must first properly understand Ibn Sina's Pointers and Reminders . It interrogates associations of Ibn Sina with mysticism by analyzing the content of Chapters VIII-X of the Pointers in relation to the rest of Ibn Sina's corpus. It then places the Pointers's commentary tradition in the context of postclassical Islamic intellectual history through an analysis of four commentaries on these chapters. The introductory chapter situates the pre-modern reception of the Pointers in the context of scholarship on the postclassical era of Islamic scholarship. It then lays out the Pointers's modern reception in the context of the debate on Ibn Sina's mysticism. Chapters 2-4 present a close reading of Chapters VIII-X of the Pointers, analyzing their language and content in the context of Ibn Sina's broader corpus. By clarifying the abundant connections between the Pointers and Ibn Sina's other works - works that scholars do not associate with Sufism- the analysis in these chapters invalidates arguments connecting this work with mysticism. Scholars who associate Ibn Sina with mysticism rely on his use of Sufi terminology. Chapter 5 analyzes key technical vocabulary, especially terms Ibn Sina borrows from Sufism. I compare the use of these terms in the Pointers to their use in other works by Ibn Sina. I also contrast them with Qusayri's (d. 465/1072) Epistle (al-Risala) - a contemporaneous benchmark of Sufi thought - to highlight the discordance between Ibn Sina's thought and Sufism. Chapters 6-7 examine commentaries on the Pointers by Fakr al-Din al-Razi, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Badr al-Din al-Tahtani (d. 732/1332), and Qutb al-Din al-Tahtani (d. 766/1364-5). Razi, relying on a willful misrepresentation of Ibn Sina's thought, stridently criticized Ibn Sina's theories of human cognition and the afterlife. These theories contradicted positions on God's knowledge and agency held by adherents to the As ari school of Sunni theology (of which Razi was a preeminent member). Tusi defended Ibn Sina from Razi's criticisms. Tustari and Tahtani followed Tusi's lead. Chapter 6 addresses epistemology (human cognition and intellectual pleasure), while Chapter 7 focuses on eschatology (reward and punishment in the afterlife). The concluding chapter re-evaluates the decline narrative and counter-narratives based on my analysis of the commentaries. It argues that Razi distorts Ibn Sina to make certain aspects of his thought palatable to As ari scholars while distancing those aspects that were fundamentally and irreparably anathema to them. Tusi, on the other hand, defends Ibn Sina from Razi'¯s manipulations, all the while engaging in his own distortions in order to create a Twelver version of Avicennism. Tustari and Tahtani play the role of propagandists, putting Tusi on a pedestal as the philosopher par excellence, while making Razi out to look like a fool. No party is interested in explaining Ibn Sina's philosophy so much as he is in capturing the aura of his philosophical authority. They do this to shape philosophy in a way that is most amenable to their school of thought: an Asar`i-friendly Avicennism for Razi, a Twelver Si`i-friendly one for Tusi, and a Tusi-inflected Avicennism for Tustari and Tahtani. Taking a broader view of what is happening here, what we have is a Sunni-Si`i conflict playing out in the realm of intellectual debate by means of presenting a distorted version of Ibn Sina's thought as the one true philosophy.
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