Introduction

“ What is philosophy?” is a question that has been posed by many and answered in various ways. The very fact that such a question can be raised indicates that “philosophy” is not merely a term to denote the particular system of a philosopher's thought or a generic name for its disciplines. Philosophers (falāsifa, ḥukamāʾ) in the premodern Islamic world, similar to those in late antiquity, considered philosophy (falsafa, ḥikma) a path to human perfection and everlasting happiness. For example, in the arguably most important philosophical summa ever written in Arabic, al-Šifāʾ (The Healing), Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna, d. 428/1037) states, “The purpose of philosophy (falsafa) is to grasp the realities (ḥaqāʾiq) of all things to the extent that humans can grasp them,” and “the end of theoretical philosophy is to perfect the soul simply by knowing, whereas that of practical philosophy is to perfect the soul, not simply by knowing, but by knowing, so that one will act, the things upon which one should act.” With this goal in mind, the philosopher knew what to write in the Šifāʾ: the gist of the philosophical principles with occasional discussions of side issues and his solutions to philosophically difficult problems.

To what extent, however, does the written word contribute to such an ambitious enterprise of philosophy? Writing has not always been reputed as a good way to communicate knowledge. In Phaedrus, Socrates concludes that “no discourse worth serious attention has ever been written in verse or prose” and that “only what is said for the sake of understanding and learning, what is truly written in the soul concerning what is just, noble, and good can be clear, perfect, and worth serious attention” (277e– 8a).