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Hybridity As Epistemology in the Work of Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, and in the Rhetorical Legacy of The FROM ATHENS (VIA ALEXANDRIA) TO BAGHDAD: HYBRIDITY AS EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE WORK OF AL- KINDI, AL-FARABI, AND IN THE RHETORICAL LEGACY OF THE MEDIEVAL ARABIC TRANSLATION MOVEMENT Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Baddar, Maha Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 23/09/2021 14:23:53 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/196136 1 FROM ATHENS (VIA ALEXANDRIA) TO BAGHDAD: HYBRIDITY AS EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE WORK OF AL-KINDI, AL-FARABI, AND IN THE RHETORICAL LEGACY OF THE MEDIEVAL ARABIC TRANSLATION MOVEMENT By Maha Baddar ________________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY With A Major IN RHETORIC, COMPOSITION, AND THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH In the Graduate College The University of Arizona 2010 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Maha Baddar entitled From Athens (via Alexandria) to Baghdad: Hybridity as Epistemology in the Work of Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, and in the Rhetorical Legacy of the Medieval Arabic Translation Movement and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2010 Ken McAllister _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2010 Damián Baca _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2010 Linda Waugh Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate‘s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. _______________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2010 Dissertation Director: Ken McAllister 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Maha Baddar 4 DEDICATION To my parents and Seif with love and appreciation. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... 7 PREFACE ......................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 1, POWER/KNOWLEDGE IN MEDIEVAL BAGHDAD‘S TRANSLATION MOVEMENT .................................................................................... 13 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 13 Pre-Abbasid Translation ............................................................................................ 14 Myths about the Translation Movement ..................................................................... 17 Practical Application of Translated Knowledge and Creation of New Knowledge: The Case of Medicine ............................................................................ 22 New Knowledge and Ideology: The Case of Astronomy ............................................ 26 Translation of Philosophical Works ........................................................................... 30 Translation Genres ..................................................................................................... 37 Sponsors .................................................................................................................... 41 Translation as a Profession: The Process of Hunayn Ibn Ishaq and His School ........... 44 CHAPTER 2, MEDIEVAL ARABIC SCHOLARSHIP: A DIALOGIC ANALYSIS .... 51 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 51 Michel Foucault‘s Power-Knowledge and Edward Said‘s Orientalism ....................... 54 Bakhtinian Hybridity: Challenging Orientalism and Dialogic Epistemology .............. 63 A Problem of Terminology: Is Medieval Arabic Rhetoric Comparative or Dialogic? . 69 CHAPTER 3, HYBRIDITY AS PERSUASION IN AL-KINDI‘S ―A STATEMENT ON THE SOUL‖ .................................................................................................................. 73 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Inroduction ................................................................................................................ 73 Background and Influences ........................................................................................ 75 Al Kindi‘s ―A Statement on the Soul‖ ........................................................................ 78 Translation of al-Kindi‘s Treatise on the Soul ............................................................ 79 Commentary .............................................................................................................. 87 The Role of Genre in Serving Al-Kindi's Philosophical Project .................................. 95 CHAPTER 4, AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF AL-FARABI‘S BOOK ON RHETORIC ................................................................................................................... 98 CHAPTER 5, THE ARABS DID NOT ‗JUST‘ TRANSLATE ARISTOTLE: AL- FARABI‘S LOGICO-RHETORICAL THEORY ......................................................... 143 Al-Farabi‘s Life and Philosophy .............................................................................. 145 Rhetoric for al-Farabi: A Logical Art in the Arabic Tongue ..................................... 148 Greek Terms, Arabic Translation ............................................................................. 154 The Rhetorical Nature of al-Farabi‘s Ouevre ............................................................ 156 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 161 ENDNOTES ................................................................................................................ 164 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 171 7 ABSTRACT This is a dissertation project on medieval Arabic rhetoric and philosophy that focuses on the innovative nature of the knowledge produced while translating and commenting on foreign works of science and philosophy in Abbasid Baghdad. Chapter One challenges colonial attitudes toward the Translation Movement as exclusively imitative and preservative. The chapter shows that the translations had practical and ideological purposes to fulfill, not simply archival ones. Translation genres are discussed to show how deletions, additions, and new material were introduced during the translation process to ensure that that translation work met the goals of the sponsors. The work of the most renowned translator, Hunayn Ibn Ishaq is discussed in some detail to illustrate the process of translation and to show that translation overlapped with knowledge making. The chapter also covers the translation done in fields such as medicine, astronomy, and philosophy. Chapter Two covers how the work of theorists such as Edward Said, Michel Foucault, and Mikhail Bakhtin enabled me to challenge an Orientalist attitude toward medieval Arabic philosophy as was as show its innovative nature. In Chapter Three, I provide a translation of al-Kindi‘s ―A Statement on the Soul,‖ followed by an analysis of the epistemological and persuasive significance of the treatise. The chapter illustrates how the Arabic engagement with Greek and Neo-Platonic knowledge was dialogic in nature. Chapter Four is a translation of al-Farabi‘s book of rhetoric. Chapter Five is an analysis of al-Farabi‘s theory of rhetoric that is based on the previous chapter. It focuses on his understanding of rhetoric as a logical art, how logical and rhetorical terms acquired new meanings when translated from Greek to Arabic in his 8 work, and the rhetorical nature of his work as he adapted Platonic and Aristotelian models to suit his monotheistic context. 9 PREFACE This is a dissertation project on medieval Arabic rhetoric and philosophy that focuses on the role of hybridity in knowledge making. The project covers the Translation Movement as whole as well as the work of two prominent Arabic thinkers, al-Kindi (whose work was produced during the Translation Movement), and al-Farabi, whose work was produced after the Translation
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