ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY AND OCCIDENTAL PHENOMENOLOGY ON THE PERENNIAL ISSUE OF MICROCOSM AND MACROCOSM Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology in Dialogue VOLUME 2 Founder and Editor: Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka Co-Editor: Gholam Reza A’awani, Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute Editorial Board: Mehdi Aminrazavi, Department of Classics, Philosophy and Religion, Mary Washington College Angela Ales Bello, Rome Patrick Burke, Department of Philosophy, Seattle University William Chittick, Comparative Studies, State University of New York at Stony Brook Nader El-Bizri, Dept. of History & Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge Lenn E. Goodman, Department of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University Hassan Hanafi, Department of Philosophy, College of Arts, Cairo University James G. Hart, Department of Religious Studies, Indiana University Walter Lammi, Department of English, The American University in Cairo Robert D. Sweeny, Department of Philosophy, John Carroll University Seyed Mostafa Mohaghghegh Damad Ahmad Abadi, Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute Reza Davari Ardakani, Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute Ibrahim Dinani, Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute Seyyed Mohammed Khamenei, Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm Edited by Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka The World Institute for Advanced Phenomenological Research and Learning A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-10 1-4020-4114-4 (HB) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4114-3 (HB) ISBN-10 1-4020-4115-2 (e-book) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4115-0 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2006 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed in the Netherlands. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction: The Perennial and Contemporary Significance of the Great Analogy: Microcosm and Macrocosm Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka ix Section I: Some Approaches to the Great Analogy The Microcosm/Macrocosm Analogy: A Tentative Encounter Between Graeco-Arabic Philosophy and Phenomenology Nader El-Bizri 3 The Microcosm/Macrocosm Analogy in Ibn Sînâ and Husserl Marina Paola Banchetti-Robino 25 Hermann Lotze’s Microcosm Nikolay Milkov 41 Connection of Microcosm with Macrocosm in Max Scheler’s Philosophy: Man, Logos and Ethos Mieczysáaw Paweá Migon′ 67 Improvisation in the Dance of Life: the Microcosm and Macrocosm Kathleen Haney 97 The Uncovering of the Microcosmic-Macrocosmic Setting of Life’s Process: The Cosmological Expansion of Phenomenology’s Notion of Evidence Gary Backhaus 113 Section II: Creativity as the Principle of Differentiation Soul and its Creations Seyed Mostafa Mohaghghegh Damad 129 The Creative Transformation in Liu Chih’s “Philosophy of Islam” Sachiko Murata 141 “Man’s Creativity/Vicegerency” in Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism Sayyid Mohammed Khamenei 149 vi Table of Contents The Sadrean Theory of the World of Divine Command Gholam-Reza A’wani 161 Section III: Imagination and its Worlds A Glance at the World of Image Reza Davari Ardakani 173 The World of Imagination Golamhosein Ebrahimi Dinani 177 The Sublime Visions of Philosophy: Fundamental Ontology and the Imaginal World Mohammad Azadpur 183 Section IV: The Circle of Life in its Ramifications to the Divine The Circle of Life in Islamic Thought 205 William C. Chittick Between Microcosm and Macrocosm: Man at Work Daniela Verducci 215 The Illuminative Notion of Man in Persian Thought: A Response to an Original Quest Mahmoud Khatami 225 Section V: Metaphysics, Ontology, Cosmology Being and Necessity: A Phenomenological Investigation of Avicenna’s Metaphysics and Cosmology Nader El-Bizri 243 Al-Suhrawardi’s Doctrine and Phenomenology Salahaddin Khalilov 263 Martin Heidegger and Omar Khayyam on the Question of “Thereness” (Dasein) Mehdi Aminrazavi 277 Appendix: Programs of the Symposia 289 Index of Names 293 Acknowledgments I am bringing this long-awaited book to the public with considerable pride. It is the second volume of our new book series: Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology in Dialogue, and fruit of our three symposia on the central subject, as well as of other programs of The World Institute for Advanced Phenomenological Research and Learning. First of all, we owe thanks to all the scholars who followed our pioneering élan in opening up this cross-cultural field of in-depth search for philosophical truth from the year 2000 on and associated with us in a common effort, from which this book results. Two papers, those of Sachiko Murata and William Chittick, were presented at our second symposium of Islamic Philosophy and Phenomenology in Dialogue that was held at The American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia on December 28, 2001. The papers of Seyed Mostafa Mohaghghegh Damad, Sayyid Muhammed Khamenei, Gholam-Reza A’wani, Reza Davari Ardakani, and Golam Hossein Ibrahim Dinani stem from our Fifty-Second International Phenomenology Congress, held in Rome, Italy from June 25-29, 2002. The topic of the congress was: Human Creativity in the Ontopoiesis of Life. The papers by Nader El-Bizri, Nikolay Milkov, and Daniela Verducci stem from Phenomenology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium, and the Third Symposium in Islamic Philosophy and Phenomenology: Microcosm and Macrocosm that was held at The Fifty-Third International Phenomenology Congress in Istanbul, Turkey from August 10-17, 2003. The paper by Gary Backhaus was presented at the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting of December 27-30, 2004 in Boston, Massachusetts. The papers of Marina Banchetti-Robino, Mohammad Azadpur, Nader El-Bizri, Salahaddin Khalilov, and Mehdi Aminrazavi were presented at the fourth symposium of IPCPD on Macrocosm and Microcosm at The Third World Congress of Phenomenology: (Logos of Phenomenology and Phenomenology of the Logos) held at Wadham College, University of Oxford, England from August 15-21, 2004. The papers of Kathleen Haney, Mieczysáaw Pawel Migon, Mahmoud Khatami were submitted by invitation. Our special thanks go to our publisher Springer for offering us an outlet in our pioneering, specialized work. We thank also Dr Claire Ortiz Hill who graciously consented to help with some of the finishing touches, Ryan Walther who copyedited the manuscripts, and Nader El-Bizri who helped with the index. A-TT Introduction: The Perennial and Contemporary Significance of the Great Analogy: Microcosm and Macrocosm Anna - Teresa Tymieniecka The World Institute for Advanced Phenomenological Research and Learning I In proposing as our theme the analogy between Microcosm and Macrocosm, it is not our purpose to enter into specialized historical studies of this theme and certainly not to rewarm ancient conceptions of it since overshadowed by the progress of knowledge. On the contrary, what is proposed is to take up this ancient topic as it has been transformed in the present day. It happens that, without being highlighted as a philosophical/metaphysical object of investigation, the theme of the analogy between microcosm and macro- cosm has acquired new pertinence in an age in which science has made enormous progress in inquiring into the infinitely small, in the realm of life in particular, and the infinitely great, in the expanding universe. Technological invention has allowed us to throw a bridge between these two infinities, “domesticating” some of the fears they provoke, and as secrets are unfolded striking significances a re suggested. These accomplishments surpass even the dreams that humanity has harbored since the times of Daedalus and Icarus and the Renaissance. Yet, these prodigious discoveries, while clarifying many an erroneous belief and offering undreamt vis- tas/possibilities for the conquest of cosmic forces to human advantage, do not yield definitive clarification of the many old and new questions the human mind raises. Nor do they offer the existential reassurance that human beings unavoid- ably seek. Even as many great questions are being reformulated, new ones are thrown open. The now indisputable validity of the evolution of life on earth reinforces the search after its origin and that of the universe too. And the wealth of discovery does nothing to soothe human anguish over our unforeseen destiny. To the contrary, we have been stripped of the security of old beliefs about our place in the cosmos and not been given the support of a newly found significance for our lives. In losing old bearings and in facing a plethora of possible developments of life, human beings on planet earth feel themselves to be navigating on a fragile raft precariously afloat upon the onward rush of the infinite spheres. x Anna -Teresa Tymieniecka The situation of life, of the human being, is not merely an academic question. The scientific discoveries being implemented in technology permeate our life conditions and penetrate the very fabric of individual human existence. The transformations in our everyday habits thus effected by our conquests of space