The Reception of Avicennan Philosophy in the Twelfth Century: Al-Mas'udi's Doubts on Avicenna

这个项目探索了中世纪阿拉伯哲学史上最关键但尚未被充分研究的阶段之一。集中于最近确定的“ghazali”潮流，它从al-Ghazali（公元1111年）在他的“哲学家的不一致性”中对哲学传统的批评中得到启示，它调查了(i)对阿维森纳（公元1037年）哲学体系的接受，最重要的中世纪阿拉伯哲学家，以及（ii）它与12世纪穆斯林世界东部的Ash'ari神学的互动。这一时期标志着从阿拉伯哲学和伊斯兰神学的“古典”阶段过渡到以哲学神学传统的兴起和主导地位为特征的“后古典”阶段，这一阶段一直持续到现代早期。该项目的主要成果将是一本专著，集中于代表这一加扎利亚潮流的最重要文本。由Sharaf al-Din al-Mas'udi（约1190年）撰写，他是一个关键但迄今尚未研究的人物，“对指针的怀疑”是阿维森纳广泛阅读的哲学著作“指针”的一系列评论中的第一篇。Al-Mas'udi的书由对“指针”的物理和形而上学部分的选定部分的批判性评论组成，并展示了早期对阿维森纳的批评者的影响，特别是al-Ghazali和哲学家Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi（1165年）。作者拒绝了几个主要的阿维森纳学说和论点（特别是关于心理学和知觉、形同论和必然存在的本质），提出了另一种哲学上有趣的理论，这些理论最终有助于阿维森纳哲学与阿什阿里神学体系的协调，并将其整合在一起。Al-Mas'udi和他的评论反过来对他年轻的同时代人Fakhr al-Din al-Razi（生于1210年）产生了深刻的影响，他与Fakhr al-Din al-Razi多次交往和辩论。尽管如此，Al-Razi还是对Ghazalian的潮流进行了强烈的批判，并继续发展自己复杂而系统的综合，这在很大程度上为后来的哲学神学传统设定了主要参数。因此，对al-Mas'udi文本的历史兴趣源于这样一个事实，即它构成了一个关键环节，揭示了在11世纪末和12世纪初发生的哲学和神学活动与我们在12世纪后期及以后遇到的活动之间的逐渐发展。计划出版的专著将包括al-Mas'udi书的评论版和对文本的解释性研究。解释性研究将把作品置于背景中，评估其历史意义，并对其哲学内容提供深入的历史分析评论。

This project explores one of the most pivotal yet understudied phases in the history of medieval Arabic philosophy. Concentrating on the recently-identified 'Ghazalian' current, which took its cue from al-Ghazali's (d. 1111) criticism of the philosophical tradition in his 'Incoherence of the Philosophers', it investigates (i) the reception of the philosophical system of Avicenna (d. 1037), the most important medieval Arabic philosopher, and (ii) its interaction with Ash'ari theology in the east of the Muslim world during the twelfth century. This period marks the transition from the 'classical' phase of Arabic philosophy and Islamic theology to the 'post-classical' phase characterised by the rise and dominance of a tradition of philosophical theology, which continued to thrive until the early modern period.The main outcome of the project will be a monograph that concentrates on the most important text representing this Ghazalian current. Written by Sharaf al-Din al-Mas'udi (d. ca. 1190), a key but hitherto-unstudied figure, the 'Doubts on the Pointers' is the first in a long series of commentaries on Avicenna's widely-read philosophical work the 'Pointers'. Al-Mas'udi's book consists of critical commentaries on selected sections from the physical and metaphysical parts of the 'Pointers', and exhibits the influence of earlier critics of Avicenna, particularly al-Ghazali and the philosopher Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi (d. 1165). Rejecting several major Avicennan doctrines and arguments (especially concerning psychology and perception, hylomorphism and the nature of the Necessary Existent) the author proposes alternative, philosophically interesting theories, which ultimately serve to harmonise Avicennan philosophy with, and to integrate it in, the Ash'ari theological system.Al-Mas'udi and his commentary were, in turn, deeply influential on his younger contemporary Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1210), with whom he associated and debated on several occasions. Al-Razi, nonetheless, became intensely critical of the Ghazalian current and went on to develop his own sophisticated and systematic synthesis, which to a great extent set the main parameters for the later philosophico-theological tradition. The historical interest of al-Mas'udi's text, therefore, stems from the fact that it constitutes a key link that reveals a gradual development between the philosophical and theological activities taking place in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries and those we then encounter in the late twelfth century and beyond.The planned monograph will comprise a critical edition of al-Mas'udi's book and an interpretive study of the text. The interpretive study will contextualise the work, assess its historical significance, and offer an in-depth historico-analytical commentary on its philosophical contents.