The Incoherence of the Philosophers, 2nd Edition (Brigham Young University - Islamic Translation Series) [Hardcover]

Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (Author), Michael E. Marmura (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2002 | Series: Brigham Young University - Islamic Translation Series

Although Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali lived a relatively short life (1058-1111), he established himself as one of the most important thinkers in the history of Islam. The Incoherence of the Philosophers, written after more than a decade of travel and ascetic contemplation, contends that while such Muslim philosophers as Avicenna boasted of unassailable arguments on matters of theology and metaphysics, they could not deliver on their claims; moreover, many of their assertions represented disguised heresy and unbelief. Despite its attempted refutation by the twelfth-century philosopher Ibn Rushd, al-Ghazali's work remains widely read and influential.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 580 pages
• Publisher: Brigham Young University; Second Edition, 2nd Edition edition (February 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0842524665
• ISBN-13: 978-0842524667
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #364,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent edition, August 24, 2004

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Tron Honto - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Incoherence of the Philosophers, 2nd Edition (Brigham Young University - Islamic Translation Series) (Hardcover)

Though only a sparse number of Medieval Muslim thinkers are familiar to Western readers, al-Ghazali is likely to be one of the most often mentioned names as THE representative classical intellectual of Sunni Islam. Not too rarely is he compared with the Christian intellectual giant, St. Augustine. This is not an inaccurate portrait. As such, many curious readers may desire to read something by al-Ghazali in order to sample his thought. This volume might be tempting to some since it is one of his most famous works. I regret to say that I must recommend against it, for although the work itself is a classic, a masterpiece of Islamic scholarship, it is also deeply abstruse. Moreover, there is little that is asserted in the positive sense of al-Ghazali's personal beliefs. Being that the main aim of the work is to show the feebleness and vanity of philosophy to surpass revelation, most of the work can be characterized as principally deconstructive. In this regard, it is as vicious as it is systematic, rigorous and disarming even if the consequences al-Ghazali pointed to, such as atomism and the denial of all forms of causality, appear highly tendentious to all modern currents of thought. All but the most intrepid readers, I fear, may despair at its contents. I wholeheartedly recommend the potential to start elsewhere, such as Deliverance from Error, an autobiographical work.

With this caveat in mind, a few words about this edition for the non-initiate. The translation and the editing of the Arabic text are absolutely top-notch, and the parallel placement of the English-Arabic columns are easily followed by those familiar with both languages. Accompanying the text throughout are expository and explanatory notes that are immanently useful for both understanding cross-referencing the text with the works of the likes of Ibn Sina and al-Farabi. The aim of this series to create a parallel of the `Loeb Classics' for Islamic Studies appears to be directly on course.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars We need more!, February 16, 2006

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Joseph Martin "pomonomo2003" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Incoherence of the Philosophers, 2nd Edition (Brigham Young University - Islamic Translation Series) (Hardcover)

We need more! The `Incoherence of the Philosophers' (Tahafut al-falasifa) is part of a series of books in which Ghazali intended to explain his position vis-a-vis philosophy and kalam. (For our purposes here, Kalam is speculative theology.) The first book, `The Aims of the Philosophers' (Maqasid al-falasifa), is a fair and neutral exposition of the philosophy of Avicenna. Indeed, as Marmura notes, Ghazali "wrote this work of exposition to explain the philosophers' theories as a prelude to his refuting them in the Tahafut." Note that although Ghazali speaks of both al-Farabi and Avicenna in the Incoherence he usually is speaking of Avicenna. The next book in the series is this book, the Incoherence, and it is intended to be the refutation of philosophy. Then comes `the Standard for Knowledge' (Mi'yar al-'ilm) which, according to Marmura, "is an exposition of Avicennan logic, the most comprehensive of such expositions that al-Ghazali wrote." Ghazali considered logic philosophically neutral and thus a fitting tool for both theologians and jurists. Note that this position is itself controversial among the defenders of orthodoxy - see, for example, what Ibn Taymiyya says about Greek logic. Now, Ghazali considered his work on logic an appendix to the Tahafut. Lastly, in this series, Ghazali writes his `Moderation in Belief' (Al-iqtisad fi al-i'tiqad) which is an exposition of Kalam, specifically, Ash'arite theology. This Ash'arite theology is the type of Kalam that Ghazali then adhered to. Of this Marmura says that in, "the Tahafut al-Ghazali intended to refute and negate; in the Iqtisad, to build and affirm what he declared to be true doctrine." So you see that the Tahafut is only part of a series of books that presented Ghazali's comprehensive position on philosophy (and kalam) at this point in his career. We now need the Islamic Translation Series to publish these companion pieces of the Tahafut so we too can see Ghazali's comprehensive view. ...But keep in mind that this is not his final view; after writing these books (1091-1095) Ghazali had his spiritual crises that led to his turn toward mysticism. This is, btw, a fine bilingual edition superbly translated; both Marmura and the Islamic Translation Series deserve to be proud. For those of you that still want more turn to the reply of the falasifa in Averroes, `the Incoherence of the Incoherence' (Tahafut al-Tahafut), which has been translated by Simon Van Den Bergh and contains over 200 pages of notes! I only give 4 stars (instead of 5) until the three books that were meant by Ghazali to be read with the Incoherence are translated and published.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Major Work, January 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Incoherence of the Philosophers, 2nd Edition (Brigham Young University - Islamic Translation Series) (Hardcover)

A first-rate translation, by a top scholar, of a great, rich, and historically important text by one of the most significant thinkers and most influential figures in Islamic history.

Does anything remain to be said?

Okay, a bit more: For anyone interested in the relationship between revelation and reason or between faith and philosophy, or in Islamic intellectual history, or in the history of philosophy, or in a number of other fields, this is a must-read.