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