Self-awareness in Islamic philosophy : Avicenna and beyond / Jari Kaukua.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaukua, Jari, 1975- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self (Philosophy).

Self-consciousness (Awareness).

Islamic philosophy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 257 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This important book investigates the emergence and development of a distinct concept of self-awareness in post-classical, pre-modern Islamic philosophy. Jari Kaukua presents the first extended analysis of Avicenna's arguments on self-awareness - including the flying man, the argument from the unity of experience, the argument against reflection models of self-awareness and the argument from personal identity - arguing that all these arguments hinge on a clearly definable concept of self-awareness as pure first-personality. He substantiates his interpretation with an analysis of Suhrawardī's use of Avicenna's concept and Mullā Sadrā's revision of the underlying concept of selfhood. The study explores evidence for a sustained, pre-modern and non-Western discussion of selfhood and self-awareness, challenging the idea that these concepts are distinctly modern, European concerns. The book will be of interest to a range of readers in history of philosophy, history of ideas, Islamic studies and philosophy of mind.

Contents:

Introduction

1. Preliminary observations: self-cognition and Avicennian psychology

2. Avicenna and the phenomenon of self-awareness: the experiential basis of the flying man

3. Self-awareness as existence: Avicenna on the individuality of an incorporeal substance

4. In the first person: Avicenna's concept of self-awareness reconstructed

5. Self-awareness without substance: from Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī to Suhrawardī

6. Self-awareness, presence, appearance: the ishrāqī context

7. Mullā Sadrā on self-awareness

8. The self reconsidered: Sadrian revisions to the Avicennian concept

Conclusion: who is the I?

Appendix: Arabic terminology related to self-awareness

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-316-19191-5

1-316-21226-2

1-316-19008-0

1-316-21043-X

1-316-20671-8

1-316-20857-5

1-107-46080-8

1-316-10523-7

1-316-20491-X

1-316-20307-7