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Global History of Philosophy

VOLUME IV

The Period of Scholasticism

( PART ONE )

JOHN C. ̂ LOTTrntfr

James Michael DolinPaul David Mays

MOTILAL BANARSIDASSDelhi Varanasi Pafna Madras

StiftingU'-ii'/srsitst Hik^sh^m

UfiiversitatsbibKoth&k

UB HHdesheim1Q: 03343

© MOTILAL BANARSIDASS?ead. office^41~v:A\'-BmsalowRoad' Delhi 110007

: Chowk, Varanasi 221 001Ashok Rajpath, Patna 800 004

6, Appar Swamy Koil Street, Mylapore, Madras 600 004First Edition : Delhi, 1984

ISBN : 0-89581-678-4

Printed in India

By,shanjilal Jain^at Shri Jainendra Press,

^n^;AK^i£aAffi§^

FOREWORD,

The present volume of the Global History ofphilos°Phy coversthe period" 800-1150 and the next volume will coverAePeriodlT50-1350, which together are aptly designated by the authorsas'the Period of Scholasticism. By Scholasticism, m the broad-est'sense, " should be understood the systematic attempt to bringinto harmony the data of reason and those of revelation.

As far as the Islamic tradition is concerned, the two majorschools"of systematic theology (Kalam), i.e. the Mu'taziliteandAsh'arit'e, are adequately dealt with, and thus the dramaticconfrontation between the first, rationalist and philhellenic, andthe'second anti-rationalist group, are highlighted. This volume,however, does not leave out the far more radical rationalisttendencies inherent in the writings of the great philosophers ofthe'ciassical Islamic age, al-Kindi(d. ca. 866), al-Farabi (d. 950),Ibn Sina (d. 1037), and their Jewish successors, Sa'adia (d. 942),Tbn Gabirol(d. 1057) and Halevy (d. 1141). It also touches onthe first broodings of the pre-Scholastic Latin philosophers andtheologians of the ninth and eleventh centuries, i.e. Eriugena(d. 870), St. Anselm (d. 1109) and Abelard (d. 1142) Thisperiod is rightly referred to as pre-Scholastic, we believe,because it preceded the great period of Latin Aristotelianism,which to all intents and purposes, was a continuation of ArabicAristotelianism. Prior to the introduction of Aristotelian Logicthrough the Arabic medium, the theologians of that periodobviously lacked the intellectual tools for developing a scho-lastic system of the magnitude of later systems, such as thoseof St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1270), Roger Bacon (ca. 1212-1292), Duns Scotus (1265-1308) and others. This was indeedthe golden age of Latin Scholasticism, to be dealt with inVolume V.

The authors of this History should be complimented ontheir dedication to this difficult task of writing a global history

which transcends the limits of space and time and isolates thefundamental trans-cultural, trans-national concepts common to

( VI )

traditions as varied as those of Arabia, India, China and West-ern Europe.

^Although the present writer is not competent to speak autho-ritatively on the subJect. of Eastern thought, it would appear'mgeneral that ̂ the two pivotal points at which all thes'etradi^tions were in contact are : (a) The valiant effort of the mindto lift the mystery surrounding man's experience onhe'divineTand (b) the deepening of religious feeling to the extent'th'aHtcan no longer be penetrated by the light of reason. The"fo"rmerwe call losw, the second mysticism. " However, themreientirattempt during the centuries under study, to overcome "thlantithesis between them is the principal goal of scholasTicism*;as the present volume illustrates in so many ways. '""""'"""'

Majid FakhryChairman,

Department of Philosophy,American University of Beirut,

Lebanon

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Since putting it all together has been more like working a.Jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing than exploring on a tranquillake in a comfortable canoe, we are more thankful to thosewho have encouraged us than apologetic for our shortcomings.Wallace Gray of Southwestern College, Kansas, and ConnieHa.eer, have' generously given assistance and encouragement.Wallace Gray has becomean occasional co-author and reallydeserves a place on the title page. Besides some very competenttextual editing, Connie Hager has also blessed us _ with herindominable enthusiasm for value. We also thank Le_n EvanGbodman and the entire philosophy department at theUniver-sity'of Hawaii, Madhev Deshpande of the University of Midu-gan/Russell Hatton of the University of Delaware, as'well asthe librarians at Hawaii and Michigan, and especially thewonderful librarians at Marshall University, Huntmgton^W.~Va. A personal note of gratitude goes to Hideo Murakamiand Hossein Bombedad, whose assistance has been profoundlyappreciated though seldom rewarded. And finally a specialthanks to Margaret O'Neill, who exemplifies so well the inter-play'between adventure and tranquillity in the human^ues^fortiii's world and any other. To all these and the many unnamed,we'extend onr deepest gratitude for their various but always.invaluable assistances.

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

I. Monism in Many Moods (800-900)

1. Jabir

2. Nara Buddhism

3. Rabi'ah

4. Liu Tsung-yuan

5. Sankara

6. Padmapada

7. Suresvara

8. Saicho

9. Han Yu and Li Ao

10. Theodore of Studium

11. Nicephorus12. Kukai

13. Vidyananda

14. Haribhadra

15. Vacaspati Mis'ra16. Mu'tazilites

17. al-Muhasibi

18. Ennin

19. al-Kindi

20. Erigena

21. Bayazid al-Bastami22. Jayanta Bhatta23. Photius

24. al-Sarakhsi

v

Vll

Xl

1-263

3

7

212836

616782

90100

108

121133149155165174184

189

207

227235

248

258

II. Exfoliation and Elaboration (900-1150)

1. Somananda

2. Bhaskara

265-662

267277

( x

3. Thabit ibn Qurra4. al-Junayd

5. al-HalIcij6. al-Razi

7. al-Ash'ari

8. Saadia

9. Tkhwan aI-Safa

10. al-Farabi

11. Abhinavagupta]2. Gcnshin

13. Simeon the New Theologian14. Miskawayh15. Ibn Sina

16. Ibn al-I-Iaitham

17. al-Biruni

18.,' Udayana19. Atisa20. Ibn Gabirol

21. IbnHazm22. Chou Tun-i

23. Shao Yung24. Chang Tsai

25. Bahya Ibn Paquda26. Ch'eng Hao and Ch'eng I27. WangAn-shih28. Psellos

29. Anselm

30. al-Ghazali

31. Ryonin

32. Ramanuja33. Hugh of St. Victor34. Judah Halevi

35. AbelardNotes

Index

289294306

313328.340358

374390409

420428443459

466

476492502508514

527536547553561568

587596613617635644650663

685

INTRODUCTION

[t was intially hoped that the Period of Scholasticism (800-1350) could have been treated in one volume as the otherperiods have been. That not being possible due to length andcircumstances, the period will be presented in two volumes.Admittedly we have not been able to find subdivisions for thisperiod which are to our satisfaction. Therefore we have usedthose subdivisions which seem to fit the history of philosophy,although by no means do we propose that periodizing onlyaccording to philosophical developments is desirable. Thus, forthe Period of Scholasticism (800-1350) we suggest the follow-ing divisions : the Earlier Period of Scholasticism or "Monismin'Many Moods" (800-900); the Middle Period of Schoiastic-ism or "Exfoliation andElaboration" (900-1150);and theLater Period of Scholasticism or the "Great Summas" (1150-1350). What we intend by "Monism in Many Moods" and"Exfoliation and Elaboration" should not necessarily be takenin any strict technical sense, but rather as indicating the domi-nating trend in contrast with the architectonic structuring ofthe "Great Summas" of the Later Scholastic Period. Thereader is referred to Volume II of this study for an overview ofour periodization scheme, "The Problem of Periodization".

The basic problem for the ninth Century is that implicitlyset by St. John of Damascus, namely the Formlessness orIndescribability of God and His relation with nature and man.In Erigena, this relation is basically contingent on God's draw-ing all things back to Himself ; in Saadia, it rests primarily onthe Semitic doctrine of God's transcendent position as Creator;in al-Ash'ari, primarily on the Unicity of the Godhead; inSankara, on the unavoidable inference that since everythingexperienceable must be within maya, there must be That uponwhich all rests as fl^aw, superimposition; in Kukai, on theexperience of mystical enlightenment or that level ofconsciousness wherein all things and all possible ideas are seenas fragmentations of a single Continuum of ever-changingProcess. A completely synoptic view of these together is our end.