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(S) Medieval Arabic and Jewish Philosophy: Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi

Lukas Mühlethaler

Hinweise für Studierende

Languages of instruction: English and German
Together with Prof. Dr. Stephen Menn from the HU

Kommentar

Reading and discussion of selected chapters, in Arabic, from the philosophical magnum opus, the Kitab al-Mu?tabar, of Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi, a 12th-century Jewish philosopher and a startlingly original thinker with deep influence on the subsequent history of Arabic philosophy. He is, notably, the first philosopher in the broadly Western tradition to explicitly defend epistemological direct realism. Trained both as a philosopher and as a medical doctor, Abu l-Barakat explores the major problems of his era in logic, physics (including psychology), and metaphysics. Starting by observing the disagreements between Galen, Avicenna, and other philosophers, he goes through each of their topics, discusses their disputes, and reaches his own often unique stances. As a Jew, Abu l-Barakat also authored a philosophical commentary on Ecclesiastes, but he appears to have converted to Islam later in life.

We will focus on comprehending Abu l-Barakat’s philosophical arguments, his reactions to previous philosophers, particularly Avicenna, and his broader objectives within the text. Key topics include his efforts to mediate between Aristotelian and Galenic views, his critique of traditional faculty-psychology, his arguments for direct realism, and his defense of God’s knowledge of individual entities. We may also read related passages in earlier philosophers (especially Avicenna) that Abu l-Barakat references and engages with, and/or later philosophers who further developed his ideas, such as Fakhr al-Din Razi or Suhrawardi.

If you are unsure whether you have sufficient background, please contact the instructors. We will spend most of each class working through Abu l-Barakat’s Arabic text together, trying to figure out what each sentence means, how they work together in an argument, and why he might want to argue that way. To take the seminar for credit toward a degree at the HU or FU, you must be willing and able to translate classical Arabic in class. But people with strong backgrounds in ancient or medieval philosophy, who do not have Arabic but are willing to listen to people arguing about a classical Arabic text, and can make useful comments about what might be going on in it philosophically, are welcome to contact the instructors to see if we can find a way for you to participate. The normal language of the seminar will be English, but if someone feels more comfortable translating an Arabic text into German than into English, that is not a problem.

Schließen

Zusätzliche Termine

Di, 16.04.2024 14:00 - 16:00

Dozenten:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Lukas Mühlethaler