[lit-ideas] Re: The 'Near-Eastern' influences on the Greek philosophy, sc...

  • From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 20:58:08 -0700 (PDT)

--- John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> The prima facie case is that thinkers like Avicenna
> and Maimonides get 
> relegated to passing mentions--kind of like the
> technical folks in the 
> long lists that scroll by at the end of a film.  The
> critical issue, I 
> suppose, is whether they have any more claim on star
> billing than say, 
> Plotinus. Are they truly brilliant but neglected
> thinkers who still 
> have something to say to us today or good but only
> second-rate minds of 
> what Joseph Levenson called "of merely historical"
> interest?

Ibn-Sinna (Avicenna) is best-known for his
contributions in natural science and medicine, which
might suggest 'merely historical interest.' However, I
have read some of his philosophical work and it is
fairly interesting. There are resonances of both Plato
and Aristotle. Then you have Al-Ghazali (Alghazal) and
Ibn-Rushd (Averroes) whose work is primarily or
largely philosophical - yes, Al-Ghazali was a
theologian, but one deeply steeped in philosophy,
which he did not always sufficiently credit - and who
certainly have something to say to us today. 

All right, you can find some of the texts of these
three, and a number of others, at:

www.muslimphilosophy.com

Please keep quiet about it.

O.K.

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