The Philosopher Responds : : An Intellectual Correspondence from the Tenth Century / / Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī, Abū ʿAlī Miskawayh.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2021 English
• VerfasserIn: al-Tawḥīdī, Abū Ḥayyān,; Miskawayh, Abū ʿAlī,
• MitwirkendeR: Montgomery, James E.,; Rée, Jonathan,; Vasalou, Sophia,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Library of Arabic Literature ; 72
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

Questions and answers from two great philosophersWhy is laughter contagious? Why do mountains exist? Why do we long for the past, even if it is scarred by suffering? Spanning a vast array of subjects that range from the philosophical to the theological, from the philological to the scientific, The Philosopher Responds is the record of a set of questions put by the litterateur Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī to the philosopher and historian Abū ʿAlī Miskawayh. Both figures were foremost contributors to the remarkable flowering of cultural and intellectual life that took place in the Islamic world during the reign of the Buyid dynasty in the fourth/tenth century.The correspondence between al-Tawḥīdī and Miskawayh holds a mirror to many of the debates of the time and reflects the spirit of rationalistic inquiry that animated their era. It also provides insight into the intellectual outlooks of two thinkers who were divided as much by their distinctive temperaments as by the very different trajectories of their professional careers. Alternately whimsical and tragic, trivial and profound, al-Tawḥīdī’s questions provoke an interaction as interesting in its spiritedness as in its content.An English-only edition.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Letter from the General Editor -- About this Paperback -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Map: Buyid and Neighboring Lands -- Note on the Text -- Notes to the Introduction -- The Philosopher Responds -- In the name of God, the Merciful. I ask God for assistance -- On the differences between a number of similar words - On moral change and acting out of character -- On the meaning of a certain saying concerning God’s beneficence - On why excellent souls find repose in the truth and find falsehood repugnant -- On a question put by Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb concerning why animals are generated inside plants but plants are not generated inside animals - On the possibility that a person may abandon every belief he adopts ad infinitum -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Further Reading -- Index -- About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute -- About the Translators -- The Library of Arabic Literature