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Sciences of the Soul and Intellect, Part I: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistles 32-36
Contributor(s): Walker, Paul E. (Author), Simonowitz, David (Author), de Callatay, Godefroid (Author)
ISBN: 0198758286     ISBN-13: 9780198758280
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
OUR PRICE:   $94.05  
Product Type: Hardcover
Published: February 2016
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Philosophy | History & Surveys - Medieval
- Philosophy | Eastern
- Science | Philosophy & Social Aspects
Dewey: 181.07
LCCN: 2016374924
Series: Epistles of the Brethren of Purity
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.1" W x 9.3" (1.55 lbs) 496 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
The Ikhwan al-Safa (Brethren of Purity), the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity based in Basra and Baghdad, hold an eminent position in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopaedia, the Rasa'il
Ikhwan al-Safa (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This compendium contains fifty-two epistles offering synoptic accounts of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age; divided into four classificatory parts, it treats themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology,
metaphysics, and theology, in addition to didactic fables.
Epistles 32 to 36 comprise the first five treatises in the third division of the Rasa'il, on the sciences of the soul and intellect. Combining Islamic revelation with Hellenistic philosophy, the Ikhwan delineate herein their metaphysical system. Epistles 32 and 33 present adaptations of the
Pythagorean doctrines, and of Neo-Platonist leitmotifs, whereby a numerical analogy is applied to the unique and transcendent God, or the One, from whom all existence emanates. Epistle 34 takes up the pervasive theme of the correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm, situating the human being as
the central link between the celestial and terrestrial realms. In Epistle 35, we find an explanation of the intellectual faculties of the individual human soul, whose ultimate aim is ascension to the timeless reality of pure intellect. Finally, Epistle 36 presents itself as the astrological epistle
par excellence of the Rasa'il; from the coming-to-be of worms, to the emergence of religions and empires, nothing in the sub-lunar sphere escapes the determining influence of the celestial cycles.