Al-Ghazālī on the Origins of Ethics
In his famous autobiography, The Deliverer from Error, al-Ghazālī reconstructs the way the science of ethics is supposed to have developed. Al-Ghazālī contends that the philosophical ethics taught by the Arabic Aristotelians necessarily depends upon prior revelations handed to religious aspirants of...
| Pubblicato in: | Numen |
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| Autore principale: | |
| Tipo di documento: | Elettronico Articolo |
| Lingua: | Inglese |
| Verificare la disponibilità: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Caricamento...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Pubblicazione: |
Brill
2016
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| In: |
Numen
Anno: 2016, Volume: 63, Fascicolo: 2/3, Pagine: 271-298 |
| Altre parole chiave: | B
al-Ghazālī
Islamic Neoplatonism
Platonic ethics
Islamic ethics
Sufism
history of religions
prophetology
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| Accesso online: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Riepilogo: | In his famous autobiography, The Deliverer from Error, al-Ghazālī reconstructs the way the science of ethics is supposed to have developed. Al-Ghazālī contends that the philosophical ethics taught by the Arabic Aristotelians necessarily depends upon prior revelations handed to religious aspirants of a vaguely Sufi stamp. Al-Ghazālī’s argument is reminiscent of similar ones made in late antiquity; I maintain, however, that for al-Ghazālī the point bears added systematic significance. Given the central position held by the purification of the soul in al-Ghazālī’s conception of true religion, he can hardly admit that the philosophers should have discovered independently any of the philosophical ethics al-Ghazālī himself espouses. It is the supernatural power of prescribed ritual acts that ultimately allows al-Ghazālī to maintain the superiority of religiously predicated ethics. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5276 |
| Comprende: | In: Numen
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341423 |