Jewish and Islamic philosophy : crosspollinations in the classic age / Lenn E. Goodman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goodman, Lenn Evan, 1944-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jewish philosophy.

Islamic philosophy.

Philosophy, Medieval.

Physical Description:

xv, 256 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, 1999.

Summary:

For centuries, Islamic and Jewish philosophies have blossomed side by side in a symbiosis that has produced some of the world's greatest thinkers and ideas. Lenn E. Goodman, one of the major luminaries in the field, focuses on a series of core issues common to the two intertwined philosophical traditions - freedom and determinism, the basis of ethical values, the relationship between faith and reason, the governance of God, the basis of friendship, and the meaning of history - to examine the rich and varied interactions of two traditions that have carried on a written conversation spanning the centuries. In accessible and elegant prose, Goodman analyzes the latent dialogues between dozens of influential Jewish and Islamic thinkers, including Muhammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi, Saadiah Gaon, Bahya ibn Paquda, Avicenna, Maimonides, Ibn Khaldun, and Baruch Spinoza, among many others.

The object of Goodman's discussion is not to find the "sources" of religious ideas (as if to credit the philosophical originality of one tradition or cast aspersions on the philosophical dependency of another), but rather to explicate, connect, and demonstrate the commonalities of these two competing yet inextricably linked religious and philosophical traditions.

Providing a detailed examination of both primary and secondary sources, Jewish and Islamic Philosophy offers readers a sophisticated analysis and evaluation of seminal thinkers from both traditions. It is sure to become a key text for all students in religious studies, Jewish and Islamic studies, and philosophy.

Contents:

1 Crosspollinations 1

1. Hearing God's voice in words 3

2. "He who knows himself knows his Lord" 15

3. God's act in history 24

2 Razi and Epicurus 35

1. Perception and sensation 36

2. Pleasure and pain 38

3. Desire, motivation, and free will 40

4. Razi's Ethics and the ethical transparency of hedonism 43

3 Bahya and Kant 68

1. The antinomy 68

2. Bahya's response 70

3. The philosophical impact of Bahya's approach 78

4 Maimonides and the Philosophers of Islam 89

1. Creation 92

2. Theophany 102

5 Friendship 119

1. Friendship as reciprocated virtue 119

2. Biblical, Rabbinic, Maimonidean and Qur'anic fellowship 126

3. Miskawayh on friendship 131

4. Friendship in al-Ghazali 134

6 Determinism and freedom in Spinoza, Maimonides and Aristotle 146

1. Aristotle's determinism 147

2. Maimonides' determinism 150

3. Spinoza's determinism 153

4. Spinoza's defence of human freedom 156

5. Maimonides on character and freedom 178

6. Freedom and akrasia 184

7 Ibn Khaldun and Thucydides 201

1. A science of history and civilisation 201

2. Governance in history 219.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 240-244) and index.

ISBN:

0813527600

OCLC:

41156505