The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Library of Living Philosophers) [Paperback]

Lewis Edwin Hahn (Editor), Randall E. Auxier (Editor), Lucian W. Stone (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Library of Living Philosophers | Publication Date: November 30, 2000

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a Persian Sufist is the subject of volume 28 in the "Library of Living Philosophers" series. As in the other volumes of the series, the subject discusses his life and philosophical development in an intellectual autobiography. This is followed by 33 critical essays by various scholars and Nasr's replies to each of them. Nasr has been influential in the fields of comparative religion, theology and Islamic studies, as well as philosophy and comparative philosophy. He is also known for his writings on the history of art, the history of science and Sufism (Islamic Mysticism).

Product Details

• Paperback: 848 pages
• Publisher: Open Court Publishing Company (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812694147
• ISBN-13: 978-0812694147
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,936,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-edited anthology of a unique contemporary philosopher, July 5, 2001

By 

Derek Law (Shanghai, China) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Library of Living Philosophers) (Paperback)

I've noticed the writings of S.H. Nasr since 1995. While being a leading scholar on Islamic philosophy and intellectual tradition (that was how I first noticed his writings), he also holds an interesting 'traditional' views which he called (along with other Western Orientalists) 'perennial philosophy'.

From an editing point of view, I think this is a very solid selection of different views towards Nasr. The first part includes an intellectual autobiography written by Nasr, which does NOT give a full restatement of his philosophy (as it was for the other non-western philosopher in this series for S. Radhakrishnan), but it gives interesting personal background of Nasr's career under the context of a wide network of philosophers in both Iran and other countries. At the end of the book, there is a detailed bibliography of the works of Nasr in different languages. For someone who wants to study Nasr as a philosopher, this book is simply a must, as it makes clear with Nasr's own words on what he considers to be his more important works (e.g. I'd otherwise never have suspected that his editing of Islamic Spirtuality is considered by him to be one of the more important project in his career)

There are also many well-written articles by critics that makes the book interesting. The attacks by the Buddhist, Neo-Confucian standpoints, together with the critique by his collaborator M. Aminrazavi are very to-the-point which I don't think Nasr (nor any dogmatic traditionalist) can answer convincingly. But these exchanges do help clarify some reasons why Nasr's model for the transcendent unity of world religions (which is used as the basis for inter-religious dialogues) would need modifications. It is also interesting for me to also get to know more about Nasr's antagonistic attitudes (which I have suspected but never verified before this volume comes out) towards the other type of 'unity of religons' model propelled by Neo-Vedantist such as S. Radhakrishnan.

All in all, even though an expensive volume, it is a good buy if you are either interested in the thoughts of Nasr or in examining the potential basis for inter-religious dialogues.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nasr's Critique of Modernity not a Call for Violence, June 2, 2003

By 

C. King Khidr (Damascus, Syria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Library of Living Philosophers) (Paperback)

Nasr is a premier philosopher of science and arguably the West's leading Islamicist.

This particular work draws together a wide range of responses to Nasr's writings from scientists, philosophers, and scholars of religion that are both highly laudatory and scathingly critical.

The extent of Nasr's influence can be judged by the academic, religious, and cultural diversity of the contributers.

Of special interest to those who are familiar with Nasr's philosophical vision already is that many of the arguments raised against his understanding of the "sophia perennis" are responded to here in one form or another through Nasr's exhaustive replies to each essay.

The only major shortcoming to this work is the absence of a contribution addressing some of the theological and philosophical problems surrounding Nasr's belief in a transcendent and esoteric unity of religions. This particular aspect of the Iranian philosopher's thought has sparked a considerable degree of dialogue among Muslims, much of it, no doubt, ridden by misunderstandings. A contribution by a non-perennialist Traditionalist such as the Shadhili Sufi Shaikh, Nuh Keller, or the Ba Alawi Cambridge professor, Abdul-Hakim Murad, would have completed this excellent volume.

Perhaps the editors did consider including a critical essay of this nature, but deemed it outside the field of the book, which is after all concerned with philosophy per se. But if there is anything one gets from Nasr, it is that philosophy and religion, conceived in the traditional sense, exist through a symbiotic interdependency: Religion provides a concrete method for the existential realization or "tahqiq" of philosophical truths whereas philosophy provides the Intellectual basis for religion.

Because Nasr's truly holistic worldview necessitates the mutual dependence of religion and philosophy, the absence of a critical essay questioning the legitimacy of Nasr's perennial philosophy from a theologically Islamic vantage point, (since that is the tradition through which he speaks), can't but be seen as a deficiency in an otherwise comprehensive collection of articles.

Finally, some readers might be troubled by Nasr's criticisms of modernity, such as his claim that the "the modern world is essentially evil and accidentally good," whereas the traditional world is "essentially good and accidentally evil." These statements have to be understood in the broader context of his philosophy.

For Nasr, the traditional world was pervaded by a tremendous sense of the Sacred and the Absolute, whereas the inception of modernity involved precisely the severing off of that awareness, resulting in what Max Weber would later dub the "disenchantment of the world."

Nazism was as much a product of that disenchantment as was secular liberalism, fascism, communism, and colonialism. All of these ideological strains were products of the Enlightenment. Modern day religious terrorism, guided as it is by a desire for a modern utopian state through the use of sophisticated modern weaponry and strategy is simply another expression of Modernity with the unique feature that it employs the symbology of religion.

Nasr has been an unrelenting opponent of Islamic fundamentalism in all its forms throughout his career because he sees it as a somewhat vigilante reactionary movement operating within the paradigm of the modern nation state, but even more so, because it lacks a well thought out metaphysical basis rooted in a traditional Muslim understanding of the world which respects both nature and human dignity.

To say then that Nasr's religiously based critique of modernity translates into a tacit endorsement of political terrorism is not only a gross misrepresentation of his outlook, but an indictment against one's own capacity to understand.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good summary of his philosophy, November 19, 2001

By 

Muzaffer Muctehitzade "hacibey" (Boston, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Library of Living Philosophers) (Paperback)

Book is about his philosophy in the form of critics written by other scholars in this field or against it. It starts with short biography of Dr.Nasr, mostly his activities written by him. It sounds a liitel strange when he praises himself but what is the difference if it is the truth. Main part of the book is various themas of his Perennial Philosophy. Each scholar has taken some aspects of his writings or known beliefs and either commented on it, supported it or tried to negate it. After each such writing, Dr. Nast has responded and gave his defence or clarifications on the issues that might have been mis represented or mis understood. This book is a quick and short way into his philosophy for lazy minds. Rather than reading his book "Knowledge and Sacred", you can read this book and get the whole idea. In his theory of Transendental Unity of Religions it sounds like he is building on the ayat that says similar to each man is born with a concept of God. Theory seems to be long strech and depends on definition of Religion. Besides the philosophy itself this book is worth to read for someone interested in unity of religions and view of contemporary Islamic scholar on philosphy of religion. One thing is important that you need to read this book with symbolism and mystisism in mind and in the context of the subject than you understand what he is saying, otherwise you could get crooked interpretations. One of the writers in the book had a wrong understanding about his statement about modern world and Mr. Nasr has given a good answer to it.