The Limits of Discursive Interpretation. Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.The Limits of Discursive Interpretation

¿adr al-D¿n Q¿naw¿ (d. 1274) is arguably the most important thinker of the generation following the main founders of medieval philosophy-al-F¿r¿b¿, Ibn S¿n¿, Ibn ¿Arab¿, and Suhravard¿-and before Mull¿ ¿adr¿. Yet, almost nothing of his writings has been translated into English. This is the first annotated translation of his present magnum opus, I¿j¿z al-bay¿n. In this influential work he explores speech (divine and human) as the unfolding relationality of knowing and being. The Translator's introduction and notes shed a detailed light on the linguistic sources of Q¿naw¿'s lexicon. The introduction also summarizes the key ideas of the book and explains their significance to philosophy. In part one Q¿naw¿ argues that the failure of theoretical proofs to establish the reality of a thing does not itself disprove that reality. He elucidates the canons of thinking in relation to 'tasting' (experience) and the question of the 'realities of things' where knowing and being unfold dynamically from their 'root' in divine hiddenness and manifestation. He goes on to detail the concepts and the rules of relational subordination that govern these realities according to rootedness and mutual distinctions. Many of Q¿naw¿'s tools are derived from linguistics, which the translator brings to bear on Q¿naw¿'s work for the first time. They enable Q¿naw¿ to transform the narrow sense in which Ibn S¿n¿ declared man incapable of grasping the realities of things. According to Q¿naw¿, in the end, without a proper understanding of rootedness as the source of the realities' mutual distinctions, thinking remains relational, unequal to the thinking subject's goal of self-realization and incapable of fully rendering the real (not to be confused with empirical facticity) without folding back on itself. In Part Two Q¿naw¿ details the semiology by which, not only the contents of the Qur'¿n but, primarily the ontological dimensions of God's speech are disclosed as the veiling and unveiling, exteriorization and interiorization of being.

Anthony F. Shaker is a philosopher, scholar of Islamic thought/civilization, and analyst of social theory. He has authored numerous articles and books, including the only complete study of ¿adr al-D¿n Q¿naw¿'s thought (d. 1274 CE) and two translated volumes of Ghaz¿l¿'s I¿y¿' al-¿ul¿m. He also served as an elected member of the executive council of the Canadian parliament's official opposition, helping formulate policy and conferring with various political leaders. He is currently exploring the idea of productive dialogue within the framework of civilization, not only as a channel of passive exchange across cultures. He obtained his doctorate from McGill University and currently lives with his wife in Quebec, Canada.