IN THE SHADOW OF "PROPHETIC LEGISLATION": THE VENTURE OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY AFTER AVICENNA

Abstract

The article aims to demonstrate that Avicenna's (d. 428/1037) centrality in Islamic intellectual history is not restricted to the branches of theoretical philosophy; rather, he also has had a deep and strong influence on the conception of practical philosophy until modern times. I will discuss the impact of Avicenna's view of practical philosophy by analyzing his different classifications of practical philosophy throughout his career and the factors behind his disregard for practical philosophy in his philosophical summas on the basis of his view of the relationship between philosophy and saria. To demonstrate my argument regarding Avicenna's influence on the conception of practical philosophy in Islamic tradition, I will refer to major works on the classification of sciences, and the commentaries (suruh.) and glosses (hawasi) on the two most important and widely circulated philosophical summas in the post-Avicennan philosophy, which are al-Abhari's (d. 663/1264) Hidayat al-hikma and al-Katibi's (d. 675/1276) Hikmat al-ayn.