Doubts on Avicenna : a study and edition of Sharaf al-Dīn al-Masʻūdī's commentary on the Ishārāt / by Ayman Shihadeh.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-186) and index.

In English. Includes original Arabic text.

Print version record.

Machine generated contents note: 1. Al-Mas'udi's Life and Career, in Context -- 1.1. Context: Eastern Avicennism in the Twelfth Century -- 1.2. Al-Mas'udi's Biography -- 1.3. Al-Mas'udi's Oeuvre -- 1.4. Theological Commitments -- 2. Shukuk: Aporetic Commentary -- 2.1. Two Genres: Aporetic Commentary (Shukuk), Exegetical Commentary (Sharh) -- 2.2. Broad Outline -- 2.3. Synopsis -- 2.4. Interpretation: Al-Mas'udi's Philosophical Theology -- 3. Efficient Causation and Continued Existence: Problem 9 -- 3.1. Classical Kalam Background -- 3.2. Avicenna's Theory of Efficient Causation -- 3.3. Avicenna's Criticism of Kalam in the Isharat -- 3.4. Al-Ghazali's Criticism -- 3.5. Al-Mas'udi's Commentary -- 4. Ontology of Possibility: Problems 10 and 14 -- 4.1. Avicenna on Dispositional Possibility and Per Se Possibility -- 4.2. Al-Ghazali: An Ash'ari Rejoinder -- 4.3. Al-Mas'udi on the Ontology of Possibility (Problem 10) -- 4.4. Al-Mas'udi on the Indestructibility of the Human Soul (Problem 14) -- 4.5. Concluding Remarks: Dispositional Possibility and Per Se Possibility Post-Avicenna -- 5. Avicenna's Proof of the Existence of God: Problem 7 -- 5.1. Avicenna's Proof from Possibility -- 5.2. Avicenna on Infinite Temporal Series -- 5.3. Al-Ghazali's Criticism -- 5.4. Al-Mas'udi's Commentary -- 6. Matter and Form: Problem 1 -- 6.1. Avicenna's Theory of Matter and Corporeity -- 6.2. Avicenna's Proof of Prime Matter in the Isharat -- 6.3. Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi's Competing Theory of Matter -- 6.4. Al-Mas'udi's Commentary -- 7. Manuscripts and Critical Edition -- 7.1. Manuscripts -- 7.2. Introduction to the Critical Edition -- Bibliography -- Index of Individuals, Groups and Places -- Index of Subjects -- 8. Critical Edition: Sharaf al-Din al-Mas'udi, al-Mabahith wa-l-Shukuk 'aid l-Isharat -- Preface -- 1. Establishing the Existence of Matter -- 2. Establishing the Finitude of Bodies -- 3. That the Power that Preserves the Mixture is the Soul -- 4. Reality of Perceptions, and the External and Internal Senses -- 5. That the Rational Soul is not Imprinted in the Body -- 6. That Some Existents are beyond the Grasp of the Senses -- 7. Establishing the Existence of the Necessary of Existence and the Finitude of Causes -- 8. Establishing the Oneness of the Necessary of Existence -- 9. That the Continued Existence of the Effect Depends on the Continued Existence of Its Cause -- 10. That the Possibility of Coming-to-be is an Attribute that Exists Prior to Coming-to-be -- 11. That from One Only One Effect Can Proceed -- 12. That the Activities of Corporeal Powers are Finite -- 13. That the Human Soul is not Affected by the Loss of the Body through Death -- 14. That the Human Soul Cannot Possibly Pass Away -- 15. Knowledge that the Necessary of Existence Has of Itself and of Things Other than Itself.

Ayman Shihadeh brings to light an important new source, which marks a key moment of transition in twelfth-century Arabic philosophy. Sharaf al-Din al-Mas'udi's al-Mabahith wa-l-Shukuk 'ala l-Isharat (Investigations and Objections on the Pointers) offers major insight into the dialectic between the two traditions of Avicennan philosophy and rational theology, particularly Ash'arism, which by the end of the century culminates in the systematic philosophical theology of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. Inaugurating the long and distinguished commentarial tradition on Avicenna's 'Isharat' (Pointers), al-Mas'udi's 'Shukuk' uniquely consists of aporias on selected passages, as opposed to exegesis. This monograph provides an overview and the first critical edition of the text, and in-depth case studies of metaphysical aporias and their Avicennan background.

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