Ethics in Islamic philosophy

By Fakhry, Majid

The study of Islamic ethics, whether philosophical or theological, grew out of early discussions of the questions of predetermination (qadar), obligation (taklif) and the injustices of temporal rulers, ...

al-Juwayni, Abu’l Ma‘ali (1028–85)

By Leaman, Oliver; Albdour, Salman

Al-Juwayni rose to great prominence as a theologian in the Islamic world, and his theoretical discussions of philosophical issues played a significant role in the development of Islamic ...

Ethical systems, African

By Appiah, K. Anthony

Ethical thought in sub-Saharan Africa grows largely out of traditions that are communalistic, not based in individual consent, anti-universalizing, naturalistic, and humanist. Within such thought, the general vocabulary ...

Ethics

By Crisp, Roger

What is ethics? First, the systems of value and custom instantiated in the lives of particular groups of human beings are described as the ethics of these groups. ...

Ibn ‘Adi, Yahya (893–974)

By Inati, Shams C.

Following in the footsteps of the Greek philosophers, Ibn ‘Adi concerned himself with the ultimate human end, happiness, which he found in knowledge. However, he was primarily occupied ...

Law, Islamic philosophy of

By Calder, Norman

One of the principles of Islam which precedes juristic discussion proper is that God, the creator and lord of the world, has commissioned humanity to believe, confess and ...

Ibn Bajja, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn as-Say’igh (d. 1138)

By Inati, Shams C.

Ibn Bajja’s philosophy may be summed up in two words; al-ittisal (conjunction) and al-tawahhud (solitude). Conjunction is union with the divine realm, a union that reveals ...

Science in Islamic philosophy

By Sardar, Ziauddin

Islam attempts to synthesize reason and revelation, knowledge and values, in its approach to the study of nature. Knowledge acquired through rational human efforts and through the Qur’an ...

al-Tusi, Khwajah Nasir (1201–74)

By Cooper, John

While philosophical activity in the Islamic west virtually ceased after Ibn Rushd at the close of the sixth century AH (twelfth century ad), it experienced renewed ...

Greek philosophy: impact on Islamic philosophy

By Fakhry, Majid

During the Hellenistic period (323–43 bc), classical Greek philosophy underwent a radical transformation. From being an essentially Greek product, it developed into a cosmopolitan and eclectic cultural ...

al-Razi, Fakhr al-Din (1149–1209)

By Cooper, John

Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi was one of the outstanding figures in Islamic theology. Living in the second half of the sixth century AH (twelfth century ad), ...

Ibn Rushd, Abu’l Walid Muhammad (1126–98)

By Leaman, Oliver

Ibn Rushd (Averroes) is regarded by many as the most important of the Islamic philosophers. A product of twelfth-century Islamic Spain, he set out to integrate Aristotelian philosophy ...

Islam, concept of philosophy in

By Leaman, Oliver

There is no generally accepted definition of what Islamic philosophy is, and the term will be used here to mean the sort of philosophy which arose within the ...

Soul in Islamic philosophy

By Inati, Shams C.

The discussion of the human soul, its existence, nature, ultimate objective and eternity, occupies a highly important position in Islamic philosophy and forms its main focus. For the ...

Islamic philosophy

By Leaman, Oliver

Islamic philosophy may be defined in a number of different ways, but the perspective taken here is that it represents the style of philosophy produced within the framework ...

al-Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya’ (d. 925)

By Walker, Paul E.

Perhaps the most famous and widely respected Islamic authority on medicine in the medieval period, al-Razi also aspired to a comparable achievement in philosophy and the other sciences ...

Ibn Miskawayh, Ahmad ibn Muhammad (c.940–1030)

By Leaman, Oliver

Like so many of his contemporaries in the fourth and fifth centuries AH (tenth and eleventh centuries ad) Ibn Miskawayh was eclectic in philosophy, basing his ...

al-Kindi, Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq (d. c.866–73)

By Kennedy-Day, Kiki

Practically unknown in the Western world, al-Kindi has an honoured place in the Islamic world as the ‘philosopher of the Arabs’. Today he might be viewed as a ...

Islamic philosophy, modern

By Morewedge, Parviz; Leaman, Oliver

There are a number of major trends in modern Islamic philosophy. First, there is the challenge of the West to traditional Islamic philosophical and cultural principles and the ...

Ethics

What is ethics? First, the systems of value and custom instantiated in the lives of particular groups of human beings are described as the ethics of these groups. ...

Epistemology in Islamic philosophy

By Inati, Shams C.

Muslim philosophers agree that knowledge is possible. Knowledge is the intellect’s grasp of the immaterial forms, the pure essences or universals that constitute the natures of things, and ...

Confucian philosophy, Chinese

By Cua, A.S.

Chinese Confucian philosophy is primarily a set of ethical ideas oriented toward practice. Characteristically, it stresses the traditional boundaries of ethical responsibility and dao, or the ideal ...