Al-Ghazâlî, Causality, and Knowledge
ABSTRACT: Few passages in Arabic philosophy have attracted as much attention as al-Ghazâlî's discussion of causality in the seventeenth discussion of Tahâfut al-Falsafa, along with the response of Ibn Rushd (Averroës) in his Tahâfut al-Tahâfut. A question often asked is to what extent al-Ghazâlî can be called an occasionalist; that is, whether he follows other Kalâm thinkers in restricting causal agency to God alone. What has not been thoroughly addressed in previous studies is a question which al-Ghazâlî and Ibn Rushd both see as decisive in the seventeenth discussion: what theory of causality is sufficient to explain human knowledge? In this paper I show that al-Ghazâlî's and Ibn Rushd's theories of causality are closely related to their epistemologies. The difference between the two thinkers can be briefly summerized as follows. For Ibn Rushd, the paradigm of human knowledge is demonstrative science; for al-Ghazâlî, in contrast, the paradigm of human knowledge is (or at least includes) revelation. Yet both remain committed to the possibility of Aristotelian science and its underlying principles. Thus, I suggest that al-Ghazâlî's stance in the seventeenth discussion sheds light on his critique of philosophy in the Tahâfut: namely, philosophy is not inherently incoherent, but simply limited in scope. I also briefly compare this position to that of Thomas Aquinas, in order to place the view in a more familiar context.
Few passages in Arabic philosophy have attracted as much attention as al-Ghazâlî's discussion of causality in the seventeenth discussion of Tahâfut al-Falâsifa, along with the response of Ibn Rushd (Averroës) in his Tahâfut al-Tahâfut. A question which has been addressed ...
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...onalist reading of al-Ghazâlî, translates the same as 'sheer vilification,' referring to the philosophers. Marmura's is clearly the better translation (tashnî' being the verbal noun of 'to vilify'), indicating that al-Ghazâlî is in fact referring back to the criticism made by the philosophers. The passage is at Tahâfut, p. 296. See also Riker, p. 319.
(12) Tahâfut, p. 300, p. 258. English translation p. 330, p. 278.
(13) Tahâfut, p. 296. English translation, p. 325.
(14) Tahâfut, pp. 295-6. English translation, p. 324.
(15) Tahâfut, p. 294. English translation, p. 322.
(16) Qurân 35.43, cited at Tahâfut, p. 292. English translation, p. 320. See also Tahâfut, p. 302, English translation, p. 333.
(17) Tahâfut, p. 296. English translation, p. 325.
(18) Tahâfut, p. 298. English translation, p. 327.
(19) Tahâfut, p. 84. English translation, p. 70.
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Birge, Barbara. "Bram Stoker's DRACULA: The Quest for Female Potency in Transgressive Relationships." Psychological Perspectives. 1994. 22-36.
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