25. Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī: The Philosophy of Illumination
A Sourcebook in Global Philosophy - Mohammed Rustom
Jari Kaukua [+]
University of Jyväskylä
Description
The following are excerpts from The Philosophy of Illumination (Ḥikmat al-ishrāq) by Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī (d. 1191 CE). The book is divided into two parts, the first of which is a concise but rich critique of Avicennian metaphysics and theory of science, whereas the second part sketches out the Illuminationist philosophical system as an alternative to Avicenna’s Peripateticism. In the translated passages, all of which are from the first part of the book, Suhrawardī first aims to undermine the very foundation of Avicenna’s theory of science by taking as his target the concept of real definition. In another set of passages from slightly later on in the book, Suhrawardī targets such foundational ideas of Avicenna’s metaphysics as the real distinction between essence and existence, and the real constitution of essences out of generic and differential features. Instead, he endorses the view that all extramental essences are simple and the analysis into constituents only takes place in the human mind, depending as it does on “intellectual considerations” or concepts that we introduce into our analysis. Thus, Suhrawardī claims, since Avicenna’s metaphysics is based on concepts that fail to adequately correspond to extramental reality, it does not rest on firm grounds.