On Ghazalian Criticism of Falsafa’s Teaching about the Soul

The article covers the section on psychology from the polemical work of the prominent theologian of classical Islam al-Ghazali (d. 1111) – “The Incoherence of the Philosophers” (Tahafut al-Falasifa), in which, from the standpoint of Asharite Theology (Kalam), is criticized the Muslim Peripatetic school (Falsafa), mainly represented by al-Farabi (d. 950) and especially by Ibn Sina (Avicenna; d. 1037). The authors trace the connection of this work with the book “Concepts of the Philosophers” (Maqasid al-Falasifa), previously compiled by al-Ghazali himself, who provides an objective exposition of the Falsafa’s views, in order to refute them in the aforementioned work. In the article are analyzed the relevant sections of the response treatise “The Incoherence of the Incoherence” (Tahafut at-Tahafut), written by the peripatetic Ibn Rushd (Averroes; d. 1198), in which the Ghazalian objections to the Falsafa’s concepts of cosmic souls-minds and the immateriality (incorporeality) and incorruptibility of the human soul are thoroughly examined. As the authors show, many of the Falsafa’s ideas rejected by al-Ghazali in “The Incoherence of the Philosophers” will be assimilated by the theologian in his later works aimed at a narrow circle of readers. It was largely thanks to al-Ghazali that the view on the soul as a spiritual (incorporeal, immaterial) and incorruptible substance was given legal status in Kalam theology. Moreover, the heritage of the thinker himself opened the way for the synthesis of Asharite-Maturidi Kalam with Falsafa (mainly in its Avicennian form), which became characteristic of the classics of systematic Kalam, such as al-Iji (d. 1355), at-Taftazani (d. 1390) and al-Jurjani (d. 1413

Art · Criticism · Epistemology · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Soul · Islamic Studies and History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy · Psychology