Classical Theism, Philosophy, and Religion Forum / Greetings of peace

**Posted by mashsha'i** 7/16/2015 10:06 am

hi everyone,

A grad student in (Arabic/Latin) philosophy at McGill in Montreal, i came to this forum through Feser's blog, of which (and of whose works) i'm an avid reader. religiously, i'm a Muslim; philosophically, an Avicennian. hope to benefit from all of you here. Salam!

**Posted by iwpoe** 7/16/2015 10:32 am

Welcome!

**Posted by Scott** 7/16/2015 9:17 pm

Ahlan wa sahlan, mashsha'i!

Last edited by Scott (7/16/2015 9:45 pm)

**Posted by Flaccus** 7/17/2015 6:26 am

Welcome, mashsha'i! I had no idea that Avicennians were still running around. Is there quite a wide circle that you work in? Are there any rogue Averroists that try to upset your Avicennian musing?

**Posted by DanielCC** 7/17/2015 8:00 am

Greetings Mashsha'i, good to have you here.

We hope to have more discussion of the various schools of Islamic philosophy in the future (I’ve the Oneworld intro to Mulla Sadra lined up as a potential candidate for the first Reading Group session)

**Posted by Scott** 7/17/2015 12:45 pm

DanielCC wrote:
We hope to have more discussion of the various schools of Islamic philosophy in the future[.]

I in particular would be interested in hearing from an actual Avicennian what Ibn-Sīnā's own views were on the real distinction between essence and existence. He's often cited as a source for Aquinas's account in De Esse et Essentia. (Of course that's a topic for another thread, presumably in the "Philosophy" forum.)

**Posted by mashsha'i** 7/17/2015 4:29 pm

thanks all. hah, not really Flaccus. there are really no Averroists proper among Muslims (and he wasn't influential historically in Islamic philosophy). there are, however, plenty of Suhrawardians, Sadrians, Akbarians, and Ash'arites around to upset my Avicennian musing!

DanielCC, looking forward to it. but that book is, well, it's ok (i recently had a chance to review it, so can send that over if you'd like). the best work in English on Sadra's system, in my view, is F. Rahman's 1975 The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra (most of which is available on Google books).

Last edited by mashsha'i (7/17/2015 4:30 pm)

**Posted by Flaccus** 7/17/2015 10:11 pm

I'm convinced that if it weren't unorthodox for a Catholic to accept a universal active intellect, I'd be an Averroist; although, that temptation might be on account of some latent hipster envy.