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Despite an ever-growing interest in non-Western ways of thought, the rich tradition of Islamic philosophy remains unknown to most Americans. Those familiar with this intellectual tradition have long recognized its profound influence on medieval Christian and Jewish thought, as well as the essential role Islamic philosophers played in preserving and transmitting the legacy of classical Greek thought to Europe.  However, even here a number of long-standing assumptions have often hindered a full appreciation and understanding of the Islamic philosophical tradition:  for instance, that it begins and ends in the medieval period, that it is basically derivative of classical Greek thought, that its value can be cashed out purely in terms of its contributions to the development of European thought, and that its interest to the modern West is thus at best merely historical.

However, scholars have gradually begun to rethink the ways in which we estimate the value and significance of Islamic philosophy. As we move beyond traditional Eurocentric frameworks and take into consideration the self-understanding of Islamic philosophers, it becomes increasingly clear that their activity did not come to a grinding halt in the twelfth century with the death of Averroës, but continued to flourish (particularly in Persia), and even today constitutes a vibrant, living tradition. Significant non-Greek, indigenous resources within Islamic philosophy, such as Sufism and the school of Illumination, have come into sharper focus recently as well traditions that had minimal impact on European thinkers, but that nonetheless were --and are --enormously influential within the intellectual world of Islam.

Today there is a growing awareness that Islamic philosophy constitutes a vital, preeminent tradition in its own right, one that needs to be approached not just from the perspective of its European beneficiaries, but on its own terms. What are the fundamental philosophical problems with which it has concerned itself? How are they similar to --and different from --the abiding philosophical concerns of the West? What kind of answers has it offered? Are its responses to questions concerning the nature of the divine and the human, selfhood, community, justice, freedom, knowledge, reason and faith simply reducible to their cultural and historical contexts, or can they still make serious claims upon us as contemporary thinkers? As we stand at the beginning of the twenty-first century --a time when the relation between the modern West and the House of Islam seems increasingly defined by mutual misunderstanding, manipulative rhetoric and violence --the Humanities Institute seeks to pose the question: what can we learn from Islamic philosophy?

--Peter S. Groff, Faculty Coordinator