Fakhr al-Dīn Al-Rāzī’s Epistle on al-Hayūlā wa Al-Sūrah: A Study and Editio Princeps
Journal Title: Nazariyat İslam Felsefe ve Bilim Tarihi Araştırmaları Dergisi - Year 2014, Vol 1, Issue 1
Abstract
This article examines Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s work entitled al-Hayūlā wa al-Sūrah, whose subject pertains to a critique of the opinion, held by peripatetic philosophers such as al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, that the “body” is composed of matter and form. In this article, extant copies of the work are introduced; its name, date of writing, and chronology in relation to the author’s other works are established, the authorship of al-Rāzī is demonstrated, and finally the text is edited. As the next step, the issues addressed by the text are identified. In this context, al-Rāzī’s critiques on the definition and the reality of the body, and on the body as being composed of matter and form are discussed. In particular, those works of al-Rāzī’s that deal with these issues - namely, al-Mabāhith, al-Mulakhkhas, Jawābāt ‘an Shukūk al-Mas‘ūdī, Sharh al-Ishārāt, al-Hayūlā wa al-Sūrah, Lubāb al-Ishārāt, Sharh ‘Uyūn al-Hikma, and al-Matālib - are discussed from a chronological perspective, their contents regarding the issues at hand are compared, the development of proofs is shown, and tables demonstrating the change are presented. In the section where the content is discussed, although the importance of the subject with regard to philosophical thought and theological principles is touched upon, al-Rāzī’s thoughts on atomism have been particularly avoided. As we continued through the process of identifying al-Rāzī’s ideas, we found that throughout his scholarly career, he criticized the notion of the body being composed of matter and form. We ascertained that instead of this definition, he saw the body as having an entity with a single reality and essence, holding that spatiality, volume, extension and the ability to be physically pointed at are all accidents that inhere in this essence and reality. We elaborated on al-Rāzī’s idea that the body can be defined by the enumeration of its accidental attributes in question.
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Eşref Altaş
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- EP ID EP296256
- DOI 10.15808/Nazariyat.1.1.M0003
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