Books and Their Genre

Beginning with an analysis of al-Ghazali’s Doctrines of the Philosophers (Maqasid al-falasifa), this chapter reconstructs the development of books in the genre of hikma during the sixth/twelfth century. The chapter suggests that works such as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s Eastern Investigations (al-Mabahith al-mashriqiyya) and his highly influential Compendium on Philosophy and Logic (al-Mulakhkhas fi l-hikma wa-l-mantiq) have their origins in the genre of reports of philosophical teachings written by Muslim theologians. The prime example of this genre is al-Ghazali’s Maqasid. The chapter analyzes how this latter book was viewed and used during the sixth/twelfth century and how it triggered forgeries. It shows how books that wish to report the teachings of falsafa became more and more engaged in developing these teachings, a development that ends in the two comprehensive summae of philosophy written by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi.