The Appropriation of Islamic Philosophy

Pushing against the association of Islamic philosophy with a temporal and geographical 'elsewhere', this work makes the case for a Ricoeurian hermeneutics of appropriation that revitalises Avicenna's thinking for the philosophy of today. Selami Varlik develops a precise approach to the appropriation of Avicenna, exploring the tension between being and non-being inherent in the notion of creation as crucial both to Ricoeur's hermeneutics and to the duality between essence and existence in Avicenna.

Although he pays careful attention to their theological differences, Varlik identifies paths of convergence between Avicenna and Ricoeur on the levels of both form and content. In relation to form, he identifies a common language based on a shared concern with putting belief in tension with rational discourse. With regard to content, he explores similarities and divergences between the two philosophers' approaches to the concept of creation. An aspect of this is the pivotal role played by Avicenna's conception of ex nihilo creation in medieval philosophy, which Varlik interprets as indirectly influencing the distinction between origin and temporal beginning in Ricoeur.

This is a vital contribution to the development of a living Islamic philosophy that skilfully navigates the tensions between the experience of the text and its conceptual dimension on the one hand and between fidelity to a philosophical tradition and semantic innovation on the other.