The Philosopher Responds: An Intellectual Correspondence from the Tenth Century – Abu Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdi & Abu ‘Ali Miskawayh

Letters from the General Editor

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Map: Buyid and Neighboring Lands

Note on the Text

Notes to the Introduction

The Philosopher Responds

1. On differences between a number of similar words  /  2. On why people commend the keeping of secrets yet still disclose them  /  3. On why certain names are more pleasing than others  /  4. On why people preach renunciation but do not practice on it; on reasons, causes, time, and place  /  5. On why people seek worldly goods through knowledge but do not seek knowledge through worldly goods  /

6. On why people long for the past  /  7. On why men of knowledge tend to be conceited  /  8. On why people are sometimes ashamed and sometimes proud of wrongdoing; on the meaning of shame  /  9. On why people claim to have knowledge they lack  /  10. On why it pleases people when others ascribe good qualities to them  /

11. On why it is bad to praise people in their presence and good to praise them in their absence  /  12. On why people want to know what others say about them in their absence  /  13. On why people disapprove of young people who act as if they were older  /  14. On why mean people tend to be mild-tempered and generous people volatile  /  15. On why people need to acquire knowledge but not ignorance  / 

16. On why people who provoke admiration also feel wonder at themselves; on the nature of wonder; on describing and knowing God  /  17. On why it is unseemly to eulogize long-time friends and acquaintances  /  18. On why blind people are often endowed with unusual powers  /  19. On why people say that nothing good comes from partnership  /  20. On why people use intermediaries despite the problems with partnership  /

21. On why people speak gladly about the needs of those they concern themselves with yet keep quiet about their own needs  /  22. On why some people become famous after they dies  /  23. On why men of virtue and reason feel envious toward their equals even though they know envy is blameworthy  /  24. On why we fear death but sometimes welcome it  /  25. On why thin people tend to be noble and fat people ignoble  / 

26. On why short people tend to be crafty and tall people foolish  /  27. On why some people overstate and others understate their age  /  28. On why people end up loving particular months or days and why they form different conceptions of different days  /  29. On the meaning and origin of injustice  /  30. On the significance of a popular saying, and the meaning of certain words  /

31. On why relatives and kinfolk are prone to outbreaks of extreme hostility  /  32. On why people become angry when others impute evil to them  /  33. On why a person who is being talked about suddenly appears out of nowhere; on the nature of coincidences  /  34. On the meaning of certain ordinary and technical terms  /  35. On the meaning of certain prepositional expressions concerning God  / 

36. On the nature of the sense of familiarity we feel toward particular places and people  /  37. On why epilepsy is so hard to treat  /  38. On why people are so enamored of ascetic individuals  /  39. On why some people squander their money despite the harmful consequences this entails while others are miserly even though this gives them a bad name  /  40. On why some people keep their affairs private while others broadcast them for all to hear  /  

41. On why self-praise is unseemly  /  42. On why people disparage avarice even though they’re avaricious; on the origin of avarice and generosity  /  43. On why people blame treachery and praise fidelity even though treachery predominates among them  /  44. On the origin of the customs of different nations  /  45. On why people don’t grow young again after they’ve grown old  / 

46. On the benefit people derive from likening some things to others  /  47. On why some dreams are true and others false  /  48. On the nature of dreams  /  49. On why friendship arises between apparently dissimilar individuals  /  50. On the definition and nature of knowledge  /

51. On why people make apparently false statements when expressing admiration  /  52. On why people take pleasure in contemplating beautiful forms  /  53. On why people are more adept at counseling other than at managing their own affairs  /  54. On why the sight of open wounds provokes horror and fascination  /  55. On why people love the present world; on whether the religious Law can conflict with nature  / 

56. On why people take their own lives  /  57. On a philosophical puzzle relating to the act of suicide  /  58. On moral change and acting out of character  /  59. On the meaning of a certain saying concerning God’s beneficence  /  60. On why noble-minded people love cleanliness  /

61. On the merits of singing versus playing musical instruments  /  62. On why some people master different subjects more easily than others  /  63. On the nature of physiognomy  /  64. On why people covet things denied to them  /  65. On why people inquire into what will happen in the future  / 

66. On the influence of companions on a person’s character and on the benefits of companionship  /  67. On why people scorn certain forms of ostentatious demeanor and why individuals aren’t simply allowed to do as they please  /  68. On what the soul seeks in this world and on the nature of human beings  /  69. On the nature and attributes of God  /  70. On why people experience fear in the absence of an apparent cause  /

71. On why people fly into a rage when they can’t open a lock  /  72. On why people with small heads have light brains  /  73. On certain beliefs concerning the relation between a person’s facial hair and his character  /  74. On why people racked by suffering find it easy to face death  /  75. On why people denigrate things they fail to attain and are hostile to things of which they are ignorant

76. On why it is easier to make enemies than friends  /  77. On why atheists act morally  /  78. On why some people willingly become the butt of other people’s jokes  /  79. On why people love to occupy positions of eminence  /  80. On why we honor people for the achievements of their ancestors but not those of their progeny  /

81. On why the progeny of illustrious people evince an elevated sense of entitlement and self-importance  /  82. On whether it would be more consistent with the true order of things if all people were honored equally  /  83. On different forms of divination  /  84. On why some people dislike being addressed as “old man” while others relish it  /  85. On why people take comfort from knowing they are not alone in their misfortune  /

86. On the virtues of different nations, such as the Arabs, Byzantines, Persians, and Indians  /  87. On why intelligent people are more susceptible to grief  /  88. On why intrinsic merit and worldly fortune do not coincide  /  89. On the meaning of coincidence  /  90. On the nature of compulsion and choice  /

91. On the reason for the wanderlust experienced by certain people  /  92. On why people desire knowledge, and on the benefits of knowledge  /  93. On why people and other animals respond so powerfully to certain kinds of sounds and musical effects  /  94. On why older people are more liable to hope; on the meaning of “hope” and related terms  /  95. On why women are more jealous than men; on the nature and moral status of jealousy  /

96. On why more people die young than die old  /  97. on why people seek likenesses  /  98. On why we find it easier to represent extreme ugliness in our imagination than exquisite beauty  /  99. On why sudden joy affects people so violently  /  100. On why we experience states of suffering more intensely than states of well-being  /

101. On why seeing someone laughing causes others to laugh  /  102. On why human beings are so attached to the world despite the misfortunes and suffering they experience in it  /  103. On why people say the world would fall to ruin if it weren’t for fools  /  104. On the anxiety experienced by people who have something to hide  /  105. On why we are more likely to heed a preacher who practices what he preaches  /

106. On why people regret their failure to honor and benefit from great men during their lifetime  /  107. On why Arabs and non-Arabs declare their pedigrees in times of war  /  108. On why people distinguish between different kinds of air, water, and earth, but not different kinds of fire  /  109. On why people feel happier when they unexpectedly obtain something they weren’t seeking than when they obtain what they were seeking  /  110. On why fine edifices fall to ruin when left uninhabited /  

111. On why men of sublime character beget knaves  /  112. On why our longing for home grows more intense the nearer we come to it  /  113. On the meaning of the dictum that judgement sleeps while passion keeps watch  /  114. On a remark concerning logic made by the dialectical theologian Abu Hāshim to the philosopher Abū Bishr Mattā  /  115. On why some Arabic words are feminine and others masculine /

116. On whether a human being could know everything  /  117. On why new incumbents are harsh toward the officials they replace  /  118. On why human beings are considered to be orphans after losing their father rather than their mother /  119. On why chess is so hard to master  /  120. On why people dislike changing their name or patronymic, and why they have a sense of aversion toward certain names and titles  /

121. On the mannerisms of people whose mind is preoccupied, and on why people have so many different ways of behaving when they feel anxious or unhappy  /  122. On different ways of approaching God’s attributes  /  123. On why we find it easier to remember what is correct than what is defective  /  124. On why prosodists tend to produce flat poetry  /  125. On the meaning of the dictum that the learned live longer than the ignorant  /

126. On why it is harder to speak eloquently than to write eloquently  /  127. On the significance of the fact that human beings are the only animals to stand upright  /  128. On why certainty is less enduring than doubt  /  129. On why we laugh harder when a person keeps a straight face  /  130. On the meaning of the scholars’ proposition that a rare instance attracts no ruling  /

131. On the possibility of certain kinds of coincidences obtaining  /  132. On the role of analogical reasoning in the linguistic sciences  /  133. On whether God created the world for a cause  /  134. On why a life of comfort makes people feel oppressed and leads them to behave wantonly  /  135. On why some things are best when they’re new and others are best when old  /

136. On why people who display great piety are prone to arrogance  /  137. On why a warm manner is more pleasing than a cold benefaction  /  138. On why those closest to a king are less inclined to prattle about his person than those at the farthest remove from him  /  139. On Ibn Sālim al-Baṣrī’s claim that God perceived the world while it was nonexistent  /  140. On why the poets love to dwell on the apparitions that come to them in their sleep  /

141. On why people are reluctant to advertise their merits  /  142. On the relative merits of verse as against prose  /  143. On why people feel oppressed when things are prohibited to them  /  144. On why preachers are affected by stage fright when addressing large audiences  /  145. On why we hate hearing the same thing twice  /

146. On whether the religious Law can conflict with human reason  /  147. On a remark made by Aḥmad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhāb concerning the possibility of uttering something that is completely false versus something completely true  /  148. On why excellent souls find repose in the truth and find falsehood repugnant  /  149. On a question put by Aḥmad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhāb concerning why animals are generated inside plants but plants are not generated inside animals  /  150. On the nature of alchemy and why people are so enamoured of it  /

151. On a question put by Aḥmad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhāb concerning the difference between the words “indeterminable” and “impenetrable”  /  152. On the disagreements between jurists  /  153. On why people despise kings who are governed by pleasure and fear kings governed by reason  /  154. On the physical reactions people exhibit when listening to music  /  155. On why liars often tell the truth but not the reverse, and on whether habits can change  /

156. On certain popular sayings  /  157. On the distinction between different forms of divination  /  158. On why there are four categories for inquiry: whether, what, which, and why  /  159. On the nonexistent  /  160. On why a physician rejoices at the recovery at his patient  /

161. On why money is made of silver and gold and not other substances  /  162. On the specific time when the soul attaches itself to the body  /  163. On whether souls can recollect what they used to know after leaving the body  /  164. On why mountains exist  /  165. On why there are three souls  /

166. On why the sea is located on a particular side of the earth  /  167. On why seawater is salty  /  168. On how we can see things in our sleep without an organ of sense perception  /  169. On a puzzle concerning the possibility of seeking something we do not know  /  170. On why it does not snow in the summer  /

171. On the proof for the existence of angels  /  172. On what justifies the suffering of children and non-rational animals  /  173. On why it takes us longer to hear thunder than to see lightning  /  174. On the possibility that a person may abandon every belief he adopts and infinitum

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Further Reading

Index

About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

About the Translators

The Library of Arabic Literature