The Philosophy of the KalamHarry Wolfson was renowned throughout the world for the depth, scope, and wisdom of his monumental volumes on the structure and growth of philosophic systems from Plato to Spinoza. It was not only his extraordinary erudition that commanded respect, his awesome mastery of all the primary sources, Greek, Christian, Judaic, and Muslim; it was also his penetrating insight and his original and groundbreaking interpretations. In this long-awaited volume, on which he worked for twenty years, Wolfson describes the body of doctrine known as the Kalam. Kalam, an Arabic term meaning "speech" and hence "discussion," was applied to early attempts in Islam to adduce philosophic proofs for religious beliefs. It later came to designate a system of religious philosophy which reached its highest point in the eleventh century; the masters of Kalam, known as Mutakallimum, were in many respects the Muslim equivalent of the Christian Church Fathers. Wolfson studies the Kalam systematically, unfolding its philosophic origins and implications and observing its repercussions in other religions. He scrutinizes the texts of Muslim writers for their treatment of such crucial problems as the attributes of God, the Creation, causality, predestination and free will. In the process he shows how the teachings of the Koran were constantly interwoven with ideas from Greek and Oriental philosophies, Judaism, and Christianity as Islamic thought developed. As lucidly written and intellectually stimulating as all the author's earlier books, this volume is a fitting capstone to a notable career. |
Contents
CHAPTER I | 1 |
THE DENIAL OF A PREEXISTENT HEAVENLY | 3 |
THE KALAM ACCORDING TO MAIMONIDES | 43 |
INFLUENCES | 58 |
IRANIAN AND INDIAN RELIGIONS | 66 |
that of the Kalam 57 | 79 |
WHAT IS NEW IN THE KALAM | 82 |
Halevis statement on Karaite followers of the Kalam 86 | 86 |
REGATION OF ATOMS | 386 |
WORLD | 392 |
How Juwayni reinforces this argument against one of | 402 |
either directly upon Aristotles tentative objection to | 408 |
ARGUMENT FROM THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF | 421 |
INFINITE BY SUCCESSION 410 | 434 |
des criticism of the argument | 451 |
ATOMISM | 466 |
Discussion of that statement 87 References by other | 108 |
DENIAL OF THE REALITY OF ATTRIBUTES | 132 |
CREATED ATTRIBUTES | 143 |
ABU HASHIMs ahwāl | 167 |
tion of Modes | 183 |
OPPOSITION TO ABU HASHIM | 197 |
THE SEMANTIC ASPECT OF THE PROBLEM | 205 |
CHAPTER III | 235 |
THE UNRAISED PROBLEM OF INLIBRATION | 244 |
tion | 251 |
How though unlike Ibn Hanbal he maintains that the Word | 259 |
KORAN | 274 |
FADĀLI | 289 |
CHAPTER IV | 304 |
TRINITY AND INCARNATION IN THE KALAM | 310 |
TRINITY | 318 |
AN UNKNOWN SPLINTER GROUP OF NESTORIANS | 337 |
MUSLIM ATTRIBUTES IN MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY | 349 |
CHAPTER V | 355 |
EXISTENT almadum AS A CONTROVERSY | 359 |
ARGUMENTS FOR CREATION | 373 |
ACCIDENTS OF THE COMPONENT PARTS OF | 374 |
AN UNKNOWN PSEUDODEMOCRITEAN FRAGMENT | 472 |
Problem of the origin of the unextendedness of atoms | 483 |
Existence position or turning shape order or intercontact | 490 |
CHAPTER VII | 518 |
ITY AND OF THE THEORY OF CUSTOM | 551 |
AFFIRMATION OF CAUSALITY | 559 |
IMPOSSIBILITIES | 578 |
REPERCUSSIONS IN CHRISTIANITY | 589 |
CHAPTER VIII | 601 |
THE LIBERTARIANS | 613 |
THE HATIRĀNI IN THE KALAM AND GHAZĀLĪ AS INNER | 624 |
GENERATED EFFECTS almutawalladat | 644 |
THE ANTINOMIES OF FREE WILL | 655 |
THE THEORY | 663 |
the relation of Gods power to mans freedom 664 Shah | 672 |
Nashi 676 Jub | 679 |
How Asharis views on acquisition are in agreement with | 694 |
His first discussion | 705 |
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE | 723 |
| 766 | |
| 767 | |