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 |
differed in their views with regard to the inlibration of | 3 |
1 View of The Early Muslims 8 | 8 |
WHAT IS NEW IN THE KALAM | 19 |
THE KALAM ACCORDING TO MAIMONIDES | 43 |
ORIGIN STRUCTURE DIVERSITY | 70 |
that of the Kalam 57 | 79 |
Halevis statement on Karaite followers of the Kalam 86 | 86 |
second question 377 Reconstruction of the original form | 382 |
Asharī as quoted by Shah | 388 |
Bāķillānī 393 Ibn Suwar | 400 |
How the various presentations of this argu | 408 |
ARGUMENT FROM PARTICULARIZATION | 434 |
As presented by Juwayni in his Irshād 434 As presented | 443 |
How the argument from preponderation is presented by | 451 |
CHAPTER VI | 466 |
Discussion of that statement 87 References by other | 108 |
64 | 115 |
88 | 128 |
DENIAL OF THE REALITY OF ATTRIBUTES | 132 |
CREATED ATTRIBUTES | 143 |
68 | 147 |
70 | 180 |
tion of Modes | 183 |
OPPOSITION TO ABŪ HASHIM | 197 |
THE SEMANTIC ASPECT OF THE PROBLEM | 205 |
CHAPTER III | 235 |
The two questions 244 a The question concerning | 245 |
The Hanbalite Asharī | 254 |
THE CREATED KORAN | 263 |
THE FORMAL CREEDS ON INLIBRATION | 279 |
CHAPTER IV | 304 |
TRINITY AND INCARNATION IN THE KALAM | 310 |
Kindis three arguments against the Trinity the first | 318 |
AN UNKNOWN SPLINTER GROUP OF NESTORIANS | 337 |
MUSLIM ATTRIBUTES IN MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY | 349 |
CHAPTER V | 355 |
THE KALAM CONTROVERSY OVER THE NON | 359 |
Suggestion that underlying this controversy is the problem | 372 |
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 |
279 | 594 |
CHAPTER VIII | 601 |
THE LIBERTARIANS | 613 |
ites to man 620 Differences among the Libertarians with | 622 |
referred to as motivating man to good and evil 624 | 628 |
GENERATED EFFECTS almutawalladāt | 644 |
FREE WILL AND THE APPOINTED TERM ajal | 657 |
THE THEORY | 663 |
the relation of Gods power to mans freedom 664 Shaḥ | 672 |
Nashi 676 Jub | 679 |
How Asharis views on acquisition are in agreement with | 694 |
His first discussion | 705 |
CONCLUSION | 739 |
768 | |