Book Reviews

doi: 10.21464/sp31218 tions and makes the importance of the task undertaken by himself and involved con- Ali Paya (ed.) tributors more evident. All the papers in this volume deal with issues which are of great importance nowadays and all the contribu- The Misty Land of Ideas and tors in this anthology have a deep belief that the Light of Dialogue dialogue can transcend the borders of ethnic- ity, religion, and ideology, and that it is cer- An Anthology of Comparative tainly the best and surest method to achieve Philosophy: Western & Islamic a peaceful solution for any problem – since it includes a continuous discussion among phi- Islamic College for Advanced losophers-comparativists, as the interpreters, Studies Press, London 2013 the commentators, the educators, the commu- nicators, the interlocutors – and to understand the position of the other, representing various Ali Paya is an editor of a new anthology of cultural, educational, and religious positions. comparative philosophy, which deals with This is why this book starts with a statement topics in Western and Eastern/Islamic phi- about the ‘comparativists’ (i.e. practitioners losophies. This project gathered together distinguished scholars such as David Bur- of comparative philosophy, those involved in rell, Lenn E. Goodman, Roy Jackson, Mu- the intellectual enterprise of comparing views hammad Kamal, Mahmoud Khatami, Oliver and ideas from two different philosophical Leaman, Hajj Muhammad Legenhausen, Sari traditions, those getting engaged in the task of Nusseibeh, Latimah-Parvin Peerwani and W. critical comparison of philosophers), who can Craig Streetman, with their own contribu- agree and sign with both their hands some- tions from rather long gestation period from thing as a maxim: the more diverse and differ- the very idea of producing a volume in com- ent the interlocutors’ intellectual frameworks, parative philosophy until its realization. The the higher the probability of fruitfulness of Islamic College for Advanced Studies (ICAS) their ‘dialogue’. Press publication should be applauded in this As it is clearly expressed in the introductory cacophony in the post-9/11 world with the rise chapter of this book, this set of essays gathers of interest in Islam and Islamic matters across the best papers from a large number of papers the globe, necessitating an explanation of the submitted for the previously planned two- authentic teaching of Islamic philosophical volume collection of essays. In addition, this tradition anew in light of the challenges of the book represents a collaborative effort toward present-day situation. achieving this end and, as a matter of fact, it Comparing different views within their own tells about the dialogue between civilizations tradition or in cross-cultural fashion as Ali concerning globalization and cultural plural- Paya underwent through his whole project, ism versus falling into a trap of epistemologi- according to one of the “patriarchs” of com- cal relativism. Ali Paya’s own research and parative philosophy, P. T. Raju, author of views in this anthology focus on vital aspects Introduction to Comparative Philosophy, of dialogue culture and peace culture, as well means that “this need to understand is no as on the reforms these contributors offer to longer a matter of mere intellectual curios- the modern world – through the process of ity but of survival”. Also, P. T. Raju under- dialogue and more than meticulous textual lined in his above mentioned book the fact analysis, namely, interpersonal and intercul- that no separate section is allotted to Islamic tural exchanges based on respect of differ- philosophy, which gives more importance to ences, openness and tolerance, which started Ali Paya’s and similar editions and publica- in Islamic tradition with philosophers like SYNTHESIS PHILOSOPHICA Book Reviews 62 (2/2016) pp. (461–469) 462

Suhrawardi and many others and has contin- existence in the works of two giants of spirit ued up until now. from distant epochs, suggesting how Mulla It is crucial to mention that the function of the Sadra’s development becomes relevant to dialogue is not only in search of sameness or contemporary philosophy and especially to uniformity, but it is also an enriching way to philosophy of religion. This search of attain- learn how to be human. Namely, through dia- ing the requisite “metaphysical standpoint” is logue we cultivate the art of listening, the eth- also evident in Majid Fakhry’s paper “Aver- ics of caring, and the feeling of self-discovery roes, Aquinas and the Rediscovery of Aristo- through the meeting of various lifestyles. We tle in Western Europe” (CMCU, Georgetown are all the children of Enlightenment and this University, Washington, D. C., 1997) and a fact is especially important in inventing a new large number of similar projects conducted paradigm of thinking in international rela- in the meantime, which bear witness to the tions, as well as inventing new vision for the establishing of constructive engagement of rising world order of harmonic coexistence, Islamic and Western philosophy: a contempo- since it is obvious that we must redirect the rary trend toward world philosophy – to para- modern world to liberate it from its obsession phrase a famous project by Bo Mou as an edi- with progress and individualism. Needless tor of the journal Comparative Philosophy. to say, based on an extensive bibliographic Lenn Goodman, in “Ghazzali and the Phi- research, field studies, and contributions by losophers: The Defence of Causality”, ex- the editor and included scholars, this book plains Ghazali’s critique of causality with provides a rare and useful overall updated re- that of Hume, while Ghazali’s rejection of the view of the state of Islamic matters in Western logical necessity between cause and effect is academia and the international higher educa- similar to the project in Mahmoud Zakzouk’s tion landscape as ways of knowing Islam. doctoral thesis on Al-Ghazalis Philosophie im Opposed to this intention is Huntington’s di- Vergleich mit Descartes (Comparison of Al- chotomy “West and the rest”, which includes Ghazali’s Philosophy with that of Descartes, ethnocentrism, chauvinistic nationalism, cul- Frankfurt/M., 1992), another testimony of tural imperialism, expansionism, and religious emerging networking, regardless of what fundamentalism. If there is an imminent dan- one may think of the two men’s conflicting ger of civilizational clash, the promotion of views. dialogue among civilizations is an imperative In his paper “Averroes’ Aristotelian Soul” and an urgent necessity – to paraphrase P. T. Roy Jackson deals with the nature of soul and Raju’s words once again. Also, here we reach Ibn Rushd’s striving to equate an Aristotelian the insight that an original understanding of concept of the soul with the Qur’ānic view cultural diversity demands the art of listening, – a strategy for producing an account which, the cultivation of which might require years. while remaining true to canons of rationality This is the first step towards the realization of of Aristotelian philosophy, does not offend a true dialogue and the building of a culture of traditional views of Muslim orthodoxy. Few peace in the present radically complex world philosophers are as capable of producing such of conflicting hatreds, contradictory interests, sustained and brief theses as Averroes’ and this and conflicts. This is an important question is quite a good reason with which he makes for the development of a cultural pluralism his points that continue to attract the respect hic et nunc to stand against the prevailing of philosophers many centuries after his death tunnel images of the world and the parochial and for him to stand shoulder to shoulder with consciousness of small-town philosophy or Aquinas and Maimonides giving the answer the philosophy of a Muslim residential alley. to the question simultaneously: “What has David Burrell, in his essay on “Aquinas and Athens to do with Mecca?” Mulla Sadra on the Primacy of Existing”, In his first paper Muhammad Kamal discusses provides a link to Thomas Aquinas for which the philosophical turn advocated by Mulla we find similar efforts in Alparslan Açıkgenç, Sadra Shirazi and Martin Heidegger (“Mulla who, more than twenty years before Burrell, Sadra and Martin Heidegger: A Philosophical in his doctoral thesis Being and Existence Turn”). Sadrian philosophy and certain other in Sadra and Heidegger: A Comparative principles of Sadrian teachings as the synthe- Ontology (International Institute of Islamic sis of previous schools of thought and modes Thoughts and Civilization, Kuala Lumpur, of knowing are compared with Heidegger’s 1992), made a link with Martin Heidegger, by other authors as well (his grand philo- which is a fascinating comparative case study sophical system which he calls “transcendent of both philosophers demonstrating how they wisdom” – al-hikmah al-muta’aliya). In his both base their philosophies on the concept of second paper Kamal broadens his explora- existence. In Burrell’s exploration we have, tion of Mulla Sadra’s treatment from a new once again, testimony of the centrality of angle, i.e. by comparing it with Parmenides SYNTHESIS PHILOSOPHICA Book Reviews 62 (2/2016) pp. (461–469) 463 in a comparative analysis of the philosophi- notion of the possible, in his paper “The Pos- cal views of both thinkers (“Parmenides and sible Worlds of Avicenna and Leibniz” Sari Mulla Sadra: The Mystical Journey to Be- Nusseibeh expresses his thankfulness to the ing”). Kamal combines the new ontological editor of this anthology for his numerous position of both thinkers with mysticism, insightful corrections and remarks. Actu- concluding that their similarity is not limited ally, he tackles the following issue through to their mystical experience aimed at appre- the lens of modern analytic philosophy: How hending the truth. does our view of God as a First Cause and a Mahmoud Khatami’s paper contains three Self-Sufficient Being, according to Avicenna interrelated marginal or preliminary remarks and Leibniz (as “intellectual interlocutors”), (contextuality, normativity, and criticality) affect our understanding of our role in the provided for a meta-theory of comparative world as free and culpable agents, especially philosophy, critical comparative philosophy taking into account that they lived 700 years, studies, which indicates a meta-study con- 5000 kilometres, and two cultures and reli- cerning philosophy of comparison, as well gions apart? as the fact that they claim to be a cultural- Ali Paya, the editor of this anthology, in his based discipline of comparative philosophy paper “Scepticism and the Problem of Ac- itself. His major distinction in this essay is quiring Genuine Knowledge: Ghazzali and his outsider/insider approaches to compara- Popper”, compares and contrasts the episte- tive philosophy, i.e. the shift from the Orien- mological approaches of these two prominent talistic view (outsider view) to the cultural- thinkers. At first glance, it would seem that based model (cultural identity) of this way of they are poles apart. His main goal is to ex- thinking, while the third remark is criticality plore some aspects of the epistemological that “not only question what is outside the projects of these two thinkers, as well as, on intellectual tradition of their inquiry, but also closer inspection, to reveal many interest- critique the intellectual tradition”. Definitely, ing and informative similarities and differ- comparative philosophy itself is for him a ences concerning the possibility of attaining part of a large programme of cultural studies knowledge by providing certain crucial back- and belongs to the idealised concept of “Eu- ground/contextual information for each of the ropean culture”, a view from the presuppos- two thinkers under consideration. edly dominant, methodological, and indiffer- Latimah-Parvin Peerwani compares Mulla ent position of an observer who has authority Sadra and Meister Eckhart, which is a part to judge the truth of others, i.e. non-Western of the project of making links between dis- heritages. tant philosophical-theological-mystical tradi- Oliver Leaman, in his essay “Ibn al-Hay- tions. Something similar has been done, for tham, Alberti and Brunelleschi on Perspec- instance, by Ueda Shizuteru in his doctoral tive”, discusses Ibn al-Haytham, the famous thesis Die Gottesgeburt in der Seele und der Muslim physicist from the 10th/11th century, Durchbruch zur Gottheit. Die mystische An- and his pioneering works in optics, which in thropologie Meister Eckharts und ihre Kon- many different ways made the Renaissance frontation mit der Mystik des Zen-Buddhis- possible, and which helped Filippo Brunel- mus (Mohn, Gütersloh, 1965). Essentially, in leschi and Leon Battista Alberti to develop her paper Peerwani discusses the question of the technique of perspective in the 15th cen- the commonality of certain topics on man be- ing the image of God in their thought (i.e. the tury. Noble Man by Eckhart, who teaches that the In Muhammad Legenhausen’s paper the focus perfect image of God is Jesus, and the Perfect is on recent criticisms surrounding the doc- Man, al-insān al-kāmil, in Mulla Sadra, who trine of necessity in Ibn Sina’s philosophy. It encourages us to follow Prophet Muham- revisits Ibn Sina’s metaphysics of existence, mad’s teachings as the best paradigm – uswah necessity and causation and the modification hasanah). of Ibn Sina’s theological metaphysics through Finally, W. Craig Streetman, in his paper “On comparison of Charles Sanders Peirce’s ty- being ‘Useless’ yet ‘True’: Plato, Farabi, and chism (proposed in opposition to necessi- Ibn Bajja on the Condition of Philosophers in tarianism), on the one hand, and Ibn Sina’s the Context of a Corrupt State”, contrasts al- determinism, on the other. According to the Farabi’s political philosophy with Plato’s and author, most of this paper is devoted to argu- Ibn Bajja’s philosophies, underlining the fact ing in favour of the compatibility of physical that al-Farabi’s political philosophy is a novel indeterminism with theological causal deter- synthesis of doctrines and themes, which he minism. demonstrates very well in this paper with Dealing with the topic in a comparative fash- concrete examples of originality, ones that are ion and with a comparative account of the alien to the Platonic model and, at the same SYNTHESIS PHILOSOPHICA Book Reviews 62 (2/2016) pp. (461–469) 464 time, unique to al-Farabi. Streetman suggests, why it was limited only to libraries and re- quite correctly, that previous findings on al- search institutes. Now this amazing volume is Farabi as a follower of Plato in the sphere of available at a much more reasonable price and political philosophy should be revisited in the it is more accessible. Created by the main edi- light of these new ones. tor, Oliver Leaman, and thirty-nine scholars To sum up, the book bears witness to the fact and researchers, The Biographical Encyclo- that the time has finally come for the need to pedia of Islamic Philosophy contains entries on more than 300 thinkers and key concepts, completely acknowledge the value of open- and also includes a timeline, a glossary, and a ness and cultural diversity and to revitalize detailed bibliography. Coverage extends from Islamic discourse in this regard once more. the early Islamic period to the modern age. This anthology could not have come at a Only a few scholars would be able to work on better moment; it fills the gap and provides such a project, which Leaman has attempted copious references for further study as really as a collaborative work, provided that we ex- ground-breaking in this regard. The author clude Hans Daiber’s existing Bibliography of this review would like to recommend it of Islamic philosophy (Brill, Leiden/Boston, whole-heartedly for its inclusion in courses 1999) and its supplement volume (2006). of comparative philosophy. Its vantage point This is the ideal study resource as it includes: and its aim to support inter-traditional con- an introduction, a list of contributors, a list of structive engagement in our more and more entries, and a combined bibliography with an interdependent world bear witness to the index and a brief glossary. Leaman’s inclusion need for crucial mutual understanding, which of Ottoman scholars who studied and wrote on is definitely a matter of survival in today’s philosophy, which has also already been not- world. ed by other reviewers, should be commended. In addition, the editor is to be commended for Nevad Kahteran compiling a work that will help to alleviate the pervasive lack of knowledge on Islamic thought and culture in the English-speaking world, because of its poor treatment. How- ever, this largely overlooked area has a real potential to present enlightening insights into the development of Western thought as al- ready presented in the work of the late profes- doi: 10.21464/sp31219 sor A.-T. Tymieniecka, as well as contributing to contemporary discussions on philosophy and theology in general through constructive Oliver Leaman (ed.) engagement of comparative philosophy. The editor himself, in showing its contemporary The Biographical relevance, has undertaken an important task so that the status of Islamic philosophy may Encyclopedia of Islamic be promoted to its proper station in the dia- Philosophy logue of cultures. This encyclopaedic work definitely offers ac- Bloomsbury Academic, cess to Islamic philosophers from all periods, London et al. 2015 as well as providing information on the main trends, schools and ideas as the main aim of this volume to include entries on Islamic phi- An extensive research of the significant con- losophers (biographical entries), as well as to tributions of Muslim thinkers to world phi- constitute a comprehensive list of all those losophy, now available for the first time in its who could be described as such (the average paperback edition, The Biographical Encyclo- entry is about 500 words long; the shorter pedia of Islamic Philosophy, provides access ones only half as long). Within the body of to the ideas and persons belonging to almost entries there is a cross-referencing system to 1400 years of the Islamic philosophical tradi- include the other entries, i.e. the work is fully tion and covers all the major and many minor cross-referenced. All this makes it highly rec- philosophers, theologians, and mystics who ommended for faculties, university libraries, contributed to its nascence and development. research centres, and, hopefully, other kinds Its first edition (Continuum, London, 2006, of prestigious institutions, since it fills an im- 736 pages; also an electronic, searchable edi- portant gap in reference literature in this field tion of the same work) was well received but and includes a great deal of relevant mate- also very expensive, which was the reason rial.