MEDVL 3212

Philosophy in the Islamic World (800-1400)

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2024-2025 Catalog.

An introduction to some of the major thinkers and philosophical developments in the Islamic world from the 9th to the 14th centuries CE. Figures include Muslim thinkers such as Al-Kindī, Al-Rāzī, Al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), Al-Ghazālī, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) as well as important representatives of the Jewish tradition such as Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides). Themes include philosophical theology (the existence and nature of God, God's relation to the created world, prophecy, the place of reason in religion), metaphysics (the nature of existence, fundamental ontology, causality), mind and knowledge (the nature and mechanisms of cognition, our knowledge of ourselves and the world), and ethics and political philosophy (how best to live and organize the state).

Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: at least one course in philosophy.

Distribution Category (ALC-AS, ETM-AS)

When Offered Spring.

Comments All readings are in English translation.

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