The Philosopher Responds
An Intellectual Correspondence from the Tenth Century, Volume Two
372 Pages
October 2019
ISBN: 9781479834600
Questions and answers from two great philosophers
Why is
laughter contagious? Why do mountains exist? Why do we long for the
past, even if it is scarred by suffering? Spanning a vast array of
subjects that range from the philosophical to the theological, from the
philological to the scientific, The Philosopher Responds is the
record of a set of questions put by the litterateur Abu Hayyan
al-Tawhidi to the philosopher and historian Abu 'Ali Miskawayh. Both
figures were foremost contributors to the remarkable flowering of
cultural and intellectual life that took place in the Islamic world
during the reign of the Buyid dynasty in the fourth/tenth century.
The
correspondence between al-Tawhidi and Miskawayh holds a mirror to many
of the debates and preoccupations of the time and reflects the spirit of
rationalistic inquiry that animated their era. It also provides insight
into the intellectual outlooks of two thinkers who were divided as much
by their distinctive temperaments as by the very different trajectories
of their professional careers.
Alternately whimsical and
tragic, wondering and brooding, trivial and profound, al-Tawhidi’s
questions provoke an interaction as interesting in its spiritedness as
in its content. This new edition of The Philosopher Responds is
accompanied by the first full-length English translation of this
important text, bringing this interaction to life for the English
reader.
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