This volume deals with the philosopher AbÅ« l-Ḥasan al-ʽÄmirÄ« (died 992) and his reception of Neoplatonism, focusing on his KitÄb al-Fuṣūl fÄ« l-maʽÄlim al-ilÄhÄ«ya, the Chapters on Metaphysical Topics (Arabic text with German translation).
The Chapters on Metaphysical Topics paraphrase sections of the Elements of Theology by the Neoplatonist Proclus (died 485) and are therefore part of the Arabic Procliana.
The commentary analyses al-ʽÄmirÄ«âs combination of Greek philosophy with Islamic theology, especially the harmonization of philosophical and Qurâanic terminology (universal Intellect is the Pen, universal Soul the Tablet) and manâs position between the two worlds. On the basis of a textual comparison between al-ʽÄmirÄ«âs work, the Greek text of Proclus and the Arabic writings of the Liber de Causis-tradition, the book argues for the existence of a âUr-Liber de causisâ.
Elvira Wakelnig, Ph.D. in Islamic Studies at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (2005), research associate at the University of Bochum (Glossarium Graeco-Arabicum), short-term Frances A. Yates fellowship at the Warburg Institute (London), at present post-doc fellowship at the University of Halle-Wittenberg.
Those interested in the transmission of Greek Philosophy into Arabic, Arabic-Islamic philosophy, and the tradition of Neoplatonism â especially Proclus. And those interested in Medieval Philosophy â especially in the tradition of the (pseudo-Aristotelian) Liber de Causis.