OriensPub Date : 2023-03-02DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340019
Stefan Hagel
{"title":"Al-ʿūd, pípá, Lute: An Ancient Greek Perspective on Their Prehistory","authors":"Stefan Hagel","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340019","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Starting from early Arabic sources, the absolute pitch of the Early Abbasid ʿūd is considered and related to evidence on pitch usage in Roman-period sources. Similar instruments, it is argued, must have existed already in late antiquity. Iconographic evidence takes us back to late Classical Greece, whose music would have provided especially fertile ground for designing such a lute. In contrast to the traditional tuning in fifths and fourths throughout, lutes with equidistant design had also existed for a long time, likely also on precursors of the ʿūd. The association of this style with the name of Manṣūr Zalzal must therefore be reassessed.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42317055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OriensPub Date : 2023-03-02DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340020
Judith I. Haug
{"title":"“Nourishment of the Soul” – Music, Medicine, and Food in Ottoman Culture","authors":"Judith I. Haug","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340020","url":null,"abstract":"The phrase “music is the nourishment of the soul” reflects a century-old complex of musical, medical, and astrological thinking; integrated notions of celestial and terrestrial harmony, humoral medicine and ethos theory that reach back to Ancient Greece. Adopted into Islamicate philosophy, those theories were combined with a modal system that amplified them. The present paper traces them in various Ottoman texts with the aim of understanding how concepts of music theory, astrology, medicine, and food interacted. A crucial question is whether music theory sources can be brought into a relationship with descriptions of musical (therapy) practices in hospitals.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47174106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OriensPub Date : 2023-02-07DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340022
Yaron Klein
{"title":"Musical Instruments in Samāʿ Literature: al-Udfuwī’s Kitāb al-Imtāʿ bi-aḥkām as-samāʿ","authors":"Yaron Klein","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340022","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Samāʿ literature reveals a tension in premodern Islamicate societies. While musical practices were ubiquitous and practiced in many contexts, Islamic legal tradition regarded them with suspicion. Musical instruments occupied a central place in these discussions, perhaps, because as physical objects associated with what is otherwise in the non-tangible domain of sound they were seen as the quintessential manifestation of music. Udfuwī’s Imtāʿ is one of the most comprehensive works in the genre, and its chapter on instruments is unique in both the length and place it ascribes to percussion instruments. Udfuwī argues for their permissibility and stresses their social importance throughout history.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45824252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OriensPub Date : 2022-12-05DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340018
Frédérique Woerther, Gaia Celli
{"title":"Les fragments d’Avicenne dans la traduction arabo-latine de la Rhétorique d’Aristote par Hermann l’Allemand","authors":"Frédérique Woerther, Gaia Celli","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340018","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 L’utilisation d’Avicenne par Hermann l’Allemand dans sa traduction latine de la version arabe de la Rhétorique d’Aristote, brièvement mentionnée par William Boggess, a été longuement étudiée et évaluée par Gaia Celli dans deux publications de 2012 et 2017, dans la perspective d’une réédition de la Rhétorique du Šifāʾ qui prendra en compte une variété et un nombre plus conséquents de manuscrits arabes. La présente contribution s’inscrit dans la logique et la lignée de deux études précédentes, dédiées à l’utilisation par Hermann d’al-Fārābī et d’Averroès, dans sa traduction arabo-latine de la Rhétorique. Il s’agit en effet, tout d’abord, de présenter pour la première fois l’édition arabo-latine des fragments et témoignages d’Avicenne dans la traduction d’Hermann, à partir des deux témoins conservés de ce texte, et en lui adjoignant un second apparat critique pointant les écarts entre cette version latine et le texte d’Avicenne tel qu’il a été édité par Sālim. Il s’agit ensuite d’évaluer le recours d’Hermann dans ce même texte à Avicenne, en le comparant à la façon dont Hermann a recouru au Grand commentaire d’al-Fārābī à la Rhétorique d’une part, et au Commentaire moyen d’Averroès à la Rhétorique d’autre part, afin de caractériser plus précisément la pratique d’Hermann – une pratique qui déborde en effet bien largement ce que l’on entend aujourd’hui par le simple terme de « traduction ». Il s’agit enfin, à partir de l’édition des fragments d’Avicenne dans la traduction latine d’Hermann d’une part, et des avancements qui ont été récemment réalisés dans la connaissance de la transmission manuscrite d’Avicenne, de proposer une esquisse de reconstruction stemmatique de la tradition de la Rhétorique du Šifāʾ et, dans un dernier temps, de tenter d’isoler la place que tient la source arabe d’Hermann dans cette tradition.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43303516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OriensPub Date : 2022-09-06DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340017
S. Harvey
{"title":"Disgraceful! Maimonides’ Use of Qabīḥ in the Guide","authors":"S. Harvey","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340017","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Maimonides (d. 1204) employs three different sets of terms for good and bad in his Guide of the Perplexed\u0000 I, 2: one Hebrew set (from Gen. 3:5), ṭov and raʿ; and two Arabic sets, al-ḫayr and al-šarr, and al-ḥasan and al-qabīḥ. Guide I, 2 is one of the betterknown chapters of the book – one of the first chapters the beginning student of the Guide encounters and one whose important teachings have been the subject of many valuable studies. Curiously, leading translators and scholars do not see any meaningful distinction between the two sets of Arabic terms despite Maimonides’ well-known declaration that “the diction of this Treatise has not been chosen at haphazard” (see below, n. 19). This article seeks to understand and explain why Maimonides employs two different sets of Arabic terms here for the concepts of good and bad, with special focus on qabīḥ, a key term for him in this chapter and in others in the book.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45105606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OriensPub Date : 2022-07-07DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340016
Fedor Benevich
{"title":"Knowledge as a Mental State in Muʿtazilite Kalām","authors":"Fedor Benevich","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340016","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000It is commonly accepted that the definition of knowledge is not among the main epistemological concerns of the period between Plato and Edmund Gettier. Kalām is an exception to the rule. Kalām scholars provide a detailed philosophical analysis of the difference between knowledge and mere true belief. In this article, I am focusing on the analysis of knowledge in one tradition of kalām, Bahšamite Muʿtazilism. I will argue that knowledge is a factive mental state for the Bahšamites. I will also show that the Bahšamite definition of knowledge is a combination of internalism and externalism with respect to justification.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41555524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OriensPub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340015
R. Ansari
{"title":"Al-Taftāzānī’s Refutation of Akbarian Metaphysics and the Identification of Absolute Being with the Necessary Being","authors":"R. Ansari","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340015","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article discusses the Ašʿarī theologian Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī’s (d. 793/1390) refutation of Akbarian metaphysics and the identification of absolute being (al-wuǧūd al-muṭlaq) with the Necessary Being, i.e. God, in his summa Šarḥ al-Maqāṣid. Al-Taftāzānī argues that the Akbarians are amateur philosophers who misappropriated the philosophical tradition. If absolute being were identified with God, we would not be able to say that anything else is, leading to monism. Instead al-Taftāzānī argues that absolute being is a mind-dependent concept. Al-Taftāzānī’s refutation reveals the contested nature of the Avicennan legacy and the important role of the Akbarian school in its development.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41329978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OriensPub Date : 2022-05-06DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340011
A. Erdt
{"title":"The Possibility of the Nobler (imkān al-ashraf) in Ṣadrā’s Philosophy and Its Historical Origins","authors":"A. Erdt","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340011","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The principle known as the possibility of the nobler (qāʿidat imkān al-ashraf) is arguably one of the most often employed principles in later Islamic philosophy. In its standard formulation it states that if something baser exists, a nobler thing must have existed prior to it. A similar argument from the degrees of perfections has had a long career in the history of Western philosophy as well, with its beginnings reaching Stoicism. In Christian theology and philosophy it serves most importantly as a proof for the existence of God in the so-called henological argument of Aquinas. In Islamic philosophy it directly derives from the ex uno non fit nisi unum principle. Since the formulation of its standard version by al-Suhrawardī, the validity of the principle has been conditioned on that it is only applicable to the intelligible beings, hence its main objective is to offer a proof for the existence of the intellects. The article analyzes the application of the principle in Ṣadrā’s philosophy and enquires about its historical roots.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41626294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OriensPub Date : 2022-05-06DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340012
R. Morrison
{"title":"Cosmic Order in the Microcosm: Ethical Guidance in Post-Classical Astronomy Texts","authors":"R. Morrison","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340012","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article is the first to focus on statements about ethical guidance in post-classical astronomy texts. A number of astronomers in post-classical Islamic societies remarked that the study of astronomy, specifically the mathematical analysis of the uniform motions of the celestial orbs, had ethical benefits. These astronomers’ statements are significant because, through them, scholars can learn more about the role of reason in Islamic thought and about sources of ethical guidance other than Sharīʿa and philosophical ethics. The details of the ethical guidance imparted by the study of astronomy tell us more about the relationship between astronomy and the disciplines of fiqh and kalām, respectively. The existence of ethical guidance in astronomy texts is additional evidence that post-classical astronomy texts were part of an Islamic intellectual tradition.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47501163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OriensPub Date : 2022-05-06DOI: 10.1163/18778372-12340014
R. Todd
{"title":"Physics and Metaphysics in an Early Ottoman Madrasa: Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī on the Nature of Time","authors":"R. Todd","doi":"10.1163/18778372-12340014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-12340014","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Although overshadowed by his celebrated commentaries on Ibn ʿArabī and Ibn al-Fāriḍ, Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī’s (d. 750/1351) treatise on the philosophy of time – the Nihāyat al-bayān fī dirāyat al-zamān (The Utmost Elucidation Concerning Knowledge of Time) – is a notable milestone in the history of Islamic conceptions of temporality. Composed around the start of Qayṣarī’s tenure as head of the first Ottoman madrasa, the Nihāyat al-bayān rejects the Aristotelian definition of time as the number of motion in favor of Abū l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī’s concept of zamān as the measure of being. Challenging, likewise, portrayals of time as a flux or succession of fleeting instants, Qayṣarī propounds instead an absolutist vision of time as an integral, objectively existent whole. Qayṣarī’s reassessment of dominant medieval theories of temporality – including kalām atomism and the Neoplatonic distinction between time, perpetuity, and eternity – is thus shown to be a key early example of what was to become an abiding Ottoman interest in time and timekeeping.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44025367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}