The Appropriation of Islamic Philosophy

Revitalises the thinking of Avicenna through Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics, demonstrating the relevance of Avicenna's work today and articulating a living Islamic philosophy.

Phenomenology and philosophical hermeneutics are today deepening their dialogue with ancient and medieval metaphysics.

Yet Islamic philosophy—typically relegated to a distant past—remains strikingly absent, despite its recognized impact on European thought. Making the case for a Ricoeurian hermeneutics of appropriation that revitalizes Avicenna’s thinking for contemporary philosophy, The Appropriation of Islamic Philosophy develops a precise approach to the appropriation of Avicenna, exploring the tension between being and non-being at the heart of the notion of creation.

Attentive to theological and methodological differences, Selami Varlik brings the two philosophies into dialogue through their shared concern with putting belief in tension with rational discourse. The notion of creation, common to both religions, plays a pivotal role in this convergence, particularly through Avicenna’s distinction between ontological creation and temporal creation. This duality echoes directly in medieval philosophy and more subtly in Ricoeur’s distinction between origin and temporal beginning. It also allows Avicenna to articulate a notion of contingency, rooted in the distinction between essence and existence and revealing the ontological indigence of the created.

By establishing a shared conceptual language between both traditions, this work makes a vital contribution to the development of a living Islamic philosophy, transcending the scope of the two authors examined here.