Philosophy in the Islamic world

Are there any philosophers from the Sufi tradition you are considering? Thomas Merton was fond of their mysticism.

Oh! If it was up to me, I would have 25 episodes on the Ikhwan al-Safa' ("my" guys). So I guess I will just restrain myself and request you to cover them in *one* episode. Having listened to [almost] all the previous episodes (e.g. on Pythagoras, Philo, Origen, Pseudo-Dysonisus, Iamblichus, etc.) I could imagine the episode on the Ikhwan al-Safa' in the in-between period between Kindi and Ibn Sina. They are roughly contemporary to Farabi and the Ismaili thinkers.
If you can't squeeze them in- don't worry- I'll look forward to the second edition of the HoP!

I cannot wait to hear this series on Islamicate philosophy. Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and Al-Ghazali would be great. I think you already mentioned Ibn Sina, Mulla Sundra, and Al 'Arabi -- all great choices.

Thanks so much for the podcasts.

Hello Prof. Adamson,

I am really glad you decided not to split up the Christian and Jewish Arabic philosophers from the Muslim ones. After all they did not live and write in their own bubbles. Also looking at the relationship between philosophy and Fiqh is a great decision because I always thought there was more to the four Madhahib than discussing hadith and their legal implications. After all Hanbalism is usually considered as a theological school in its own right by some. Both Hanbalism and Hanfism carry epistemological implications that would reward philosophical analysis. As far as Adab goes I hope you will cover some of it such as Al-Jahiz, the poetic tradition, and the Nahj Al-Balagha since they had an impact on the sciences and ethics. Like the Jewish and Christian philosophers, Fiqh and Adab existed in the same environment and did respond to and challenge philosophy. After all most of the philosophers were Fuquha, it is how they made a living and were able to practice philosophy in the first place. Few scholars analyze this dimension in Islamic philosophy asides from maybe scholars of Ibn Rushd.

Will you cover Islamic philosophy in one go, or will you split it up and jump from Europe to the Islamic lands when a time period closes? Such as from the classical period in the Islamic lands, to Europe for Scholasticism, then to Byzantium to its fall, and before you go into the early modern period or the Enlightenment, pop back in to the Islamic world?

I would greatly appreciate coverage of al-Farabi, especially the ongoing controversies concerning how much he was influenced by Neoplatonism and whether he thought that the soul was genuinely immortal.

It's really a shame that his commentary on the Ethics is lost.

Wow, this sounds really exciting. Must include the usual suspects Al-kindi, Al-Biruni and, of course Avicenna (and definately floating man).

Love to know more about the link between Islamic Philosophy and the development of science and mathematics and, of course, medicine.

It would great to achieve an overall perspective as the tendency is to overlook much of the originality of Islamic philosophical thought, especially when seem through the prism of the Translation Movement. Like to get away from the idea that it was all simply rehash of Aristotle. Need to consider the cultural stimulus which in turn reflects the diversity of the Islamic thought, then as now! And must have some Giraffes!

Hi Professor Adamson! I hope you're well.

I'm really looking forward to the episodes on Arabic philosophy. I have a request, but no worries if you can't cover it. I would be particularly interested on an episode on Ibn Khaldun, particularly his thought and works on social and political philosophy. I'm particularly interested in his Asabiyyah concept, and this possibly being a forerunner to Durkheim's social solidarity theories. I don't think Ibn Khaldun is acknowledged enough as the founder of the philosophy of history and of sociology itself, or even of thinking in economic terms centuries before Adam Smith. Other honourable mentions of topics I'd really like to hear about:

Ibn Tufail's 'Hayy ibn Yaqdhan' philosophical novel;
Avicenna's proof;
Ghazali's deliverance from error and incoherence of the philosophers;
Averroes' incoherence of the incoherence;
The influence of Arabic philosophy on Aquinas and later thinkers.

Best wishes,
Yasser

I am looking forward to beginning something I know absolutely nothing about. To start off on such a venture at my age is exciting.

Professor Adamson, I'd like to hear more about natural philosophy within the Islamicate philosophy, particularly as it contributes to the development of natural philosophy in all three religious traditions participating in this conversation that makes up Islamicate philosophy. I'm interested in the question of how these thinkers understood the natural world as creation, and in the manner they related it to God. I'd also love to hear more about natural philosophy across the traditions, especially around the 13th century in al-Andulus, and how that might have contributed to subsequent developments in natural philosophy.