Abstract
This paper engages critically with Dimitri Gutas’ recent characterization of post-classical Islamic
philosophy and theology as a form of paraphilosophy or intellectual activity that merely simulates philosophy.
I argue that this view arises from a misguided understanding of the concept of philosophy that should provide
the standard for its historiography. In order to avoid a number of problematic consequences, such as gaps in
historical continuity or a disconnection from what we understand by philosophy today, we must take our cue
from a sufficiently uncontroversial contemporary concept of philosophy instead of any particular historical
concept, such as the Peripatetic amalgam of metaphysics, theory of science, and the empirical sciences. Such
a strategy provides a sound basis for the inclusion of post-classical thinkers, as well as many classical thinkers
who are not falāsifa, in the history of Islamic philosophy without vicious circularity or loss of a normative
concept of philosophy
Keywords
Concept of philosophy Dimitri Gutas historiography of Islamic philosophy paraphilosophyShare
Details
- Authors: Jari Kaukua, Prof., University of Jyväskylä
- DOI: dx.doi.org/10.12658/Nazariyat.6.2.M0110en
- Year: 2020 (November) / Volume: 6 / Issue: 2
- Page: 1-21
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