PERSONAL IDENTITY – Edited by Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller Jr and jeffrey Paul

Abstract:

“Despite the fact that it continues to have followers, and that it can be said to have enjoyed something of a micro-revival in recent years, dualism either in the philosophy of mind
or in the theory of personal identity persists in being more the object of ridicule than of serious rational engagement. It is held by the vast majority of philosophers to be anything fro
(and not mutually exclusively) false, mysterious, and bizarre, to obscurantist, unintelligible, and/or dangerous to morals. Its adherents are assumed to be biased, scientifically ill-informed, motivated by prior theological dogma, cursed by metaphysical anachronism, and/or to have taken leave of their senses. Dualists who otherwise appear relatively sane in
their philosophical writings are often treated with a certain benign, quasi parental”

Hylemorphic Dualism (Oderberg)



The Wisdom of Animals – William C. Chittick

Abstract:

“More than any other Muslim thinker, Ibn ¡Arabi dedicated his teachings to clarifying the presence of the divine wisdom in all things and the human necessity of conforming to that wisdom. The arguments he offers are at once metaphysical and scrip- tural, cosmological and psychological, scientific and ethical. He addresses every dimension of human and cosmic existence and speaks constantly of the inherent goodness of all of creation and the human duty to respect the rights (huq¬q) of all creatures – not simply the rights of God and the rights of our fellow beings. If there is a single scriptural theme to his writings, after tawh¨d, it is certainly the prophetic saying: “Give to each that has a right”

The Wisdom Of Animals (Chittick)

Al-Kindi, On the Device for Dispelling Sorrows

Abstract:

Although less technical philosophically than many of al-Kind¯‡’s known treatises, this Epistle remains basic for understandin g the spirit that underlies his thinking. Socratic, yet very Kindian in spirit, this Epistle displays its author’s tendency to harmonize Greek philosoph y and Islam, particularl y as this relates to ethics, and his belief in man’s free will and reason. To him, sorrows may be caused either by our own actions or by the actions of others. It is up to us to choose to do or not to do what saddens us. Through reason we can eliminate some of the causes of sorrow when we perceive the intellectual world, and derive from it things desired. Though this Epistle has a signiŽcant share of the linguisti c and stylistic complexities characteristi c of al-Kind¯‡’s writing, it is hoped that the present translation will facilitate its comprehension.

Al-Kindi, On The Device For Dispelling Sorrows

The Problem of Evil – by M. Ali Lakhani

Abstract

The problem of evil challenges the conception of a deity that combines
the attributes of Omnipotence and Goodness: either attribute alone
is compatible with the existence of evil, but the combination of the
two is not. And yet it is precisely this combination of attributes that is
claimed by the monotheistic God of the Abrahamic religions, giving rise
thereby to the problem of theodicy—the conundrum of evil………….

Lakhani, Problem Of Evil

The Islamic Notion of Beauty – William Chittick

Abstract:


Anyone with the vaguest knowledge of Islamic culture knows that it has produced extraordinary works of art and architecture — Persian miniatures,
the Taj Mahal, the Alhambra. Few are aware, however, that this rich artistic heritage is firmly rooted in a worldview that highlights love and beauty…….

The_Islamic_Notion_of_Beauty

Love in Islamic Thought – William C. Chittick

Abstract:

Western studies of Islam have paid relatively little attention to love. Early scholars
were heirs to a long history of European animosity toward this upstart religion and tended to
assume that love was a Christian monopoly. When Muslim writing on love did come to their
attention, they typically considered it peripheral or borrowed, often by classifying it as “Sufi.”
As Carl Ernst explains, “The term Sufi-ism was invented at the end of the eighteenth century, as
an appropriation of those portions of ‘Oriental’ culture that Europeans found attractive.

Love_in_Islamic_Thought

The Significance of Human Attire

Abstract:

Along with food and shelter, clothing must rank among the most important but least analyzed sites of colonization. And even those works that do examine the connection between colonization and clothing focus almost entirely on the material dimension of dress. Few works, if any, take the necessary additional step of defining clothing as a component of spirituality. Thus, to find a work that addresses both the material and spiritual dimensions of clothing is no easy task. This is partly due to the segregation of knowledge in modern academia, where discussions of spirituality are eschewed by

Pallis, Do Clothes Make The Person