The Story of Islamic Philosophy: Ibn Tufayl, Ibn al-'Arabi, and Others on the Limit between Naturalism and Traditionalism

Offers a new interpretation of medieval Islamic philosophy, one informed by Platonic mysticism. In this innovative work

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The Story of Islamic Philosophy: Ibn Tufayl, Ibn al-'Arabi, and Others on the Limit between Naturalism and Traditionalism

Table of contents :
The Story of Islamic Philosophy
Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The File of Illuminationist Philosophy and the Purpose of Writing Hayy
The Legend of Eastern Philosophy
Eastern and Western Schools of Philosophy
Plato and Aristotle: The Heart and the Voice of Islamic Philosophy
The Purpose of Writing Hayy
2. The Introduction
Mystical Expression and Experience: Fundamental Sūfi Concepts
Knowledge1, Knowledge2, and Ghazālī’s Niche of Lights
Ibn Sīnā’s Liminal Depiction of the Mystical Experience
Salāmān and Absāl: The Hermetistic Version
Ibn Sīnā’s Version
3. The Naturalistic Account of Hayy’s Birth
Ibn Tufayl’s Method of Concealment
Spontaneous Generation
A Liminal Depiction of the Chain of Existents
In the Earth of Barzakh
Plato’s Myth of Spontaneous Generation
4. The Traditionalistic Account from the End
Divine Origins and Illuminative Gradations
Imitation and Interpretation
Ibn Tufayl’s Liminal Declaration
5. The Origination of the World
Between Plato and Aristotle
Aristotle’s Concept of the Infinite
Ibn Tufayl’s Liminal Stand
6. The Shadow of Fārābī
Philosophy’s Ultimate Mission
The Origination of Language
The Quest for Unity
The Development of Meanings
Two Conceptions of Dialectic
7. The Shadow of Ibn Bājja
Ibn Bājja on the Chain of Existents and Self-Intellection
The Presence of the Parable of the Cave
8. The Traditionalistic Account from the Beginning
The Emphasis on Balance and Equilibrium
The Discovery of Fire
The Sleepers in the Cave
The Encounter Between Moses and al-Khadir
Moses in Fusūs al-Hikam
9. Gilgamesh: The One Who Saw the Abyss
The Builder of the Great Walls and the Man-As-He-Was-In-the-Beginning
Intercourse as an Act of Writing
In Company with Gilgamesh
Enkidu’s Death
The Quest for Eternal Life
The Encounter with Utnapishtim
In the Underworld
10. The Tale of Bulūqiya Between Ibn al-‘Arabī and Gilgamesh
The Tale of Hāsib Karīm al-Dīn
The Quest for the Plant of Life
The Mystical Dimension
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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The Story of Islamic Philosophy

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