Philosophising the Occult: Avicennan Psychology and ‘The Hidden Secret’ of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, 2021
In the twelfth century, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210) was the pre-eminent theologian of the Isla... more In the twelfth century, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210) was the pre-eminent theologian of the Islamic east. His magisterial work ‘the Hidden Secret’ adapted Avicenna’s psychology and celestial kinematics to explain the “talismanic” occult craft: how the human soul could establish a noetic connection with the planetary spheres to draw down their powers into a talisman. Thus empowered, it could affect terrestrial change that contravened the empirical norm.
For Rāzī, this was a genuine science, its epistemology rooted in empirical observation, analogical reasoning, inspiration, and the transmission of data accumulated since time immemorial. Results in the real world confirmed the truth of its claims. Examining Rāzī’s philosophical theory of the science and its influence on the counter-Avicennan prophetology of his late career, the present study will demonstrate that occult science was indeed an important aspect of Islamic intellectual history, the object of profound rational engagement.
Philosophising the Occult: Avicennan Psychology and ‘The Hidden Secret’ of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, 2021
In the twelfth century, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210) was the pre-eminent theologian of the Isla... more In the twelfth century, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210) was the pre-eminent theologian of the Islamic east. His magisterial work ‘the Hidden Secret’ adapted Avicenna’s psychology and celestial kinematics to explain the “talismanic” occult craft: how the human soul could establish a noetic connection with the planetary spheres to draw down their powers into a talisman. Thus empowered, it could affect terrestrial change that contravened the empirical norm.
For Rāzī, this was a genuine science, its epistemology rooted in empirical observation, analogical reasoning, inspiration, and the transmission of data accumulated since time immemorial. Results in the real world confirmed the truth of its claims. Examining Rāzī’s philosophical theory of the science and its influence on the counter-Avicennan prophetology of his late career, the present study will demonstrate that occult science was indeed an important aspect of Islamic intellectual history, the object of profound rational engagement.
Uploads
Books by Michael Noble
For Rāzī, this was a genuine science, its epistemology rooted in empirical observation, analogical reasoning, inspiration, and the transmission of data accumulated since time immemorial. Results in the real world confirmed the truth of its claims. Examining Rāzī’s philosophical theory of the science and its influence on the counter-Avicennan prophetology of his late career, the present study will demonstrate that occult science was indeed an important aspect of Islamic intellectual history, the object of profound rational engagement.
For Rāzī, this was a genuine science, its epistemology rooted in empirical observation, analogical reasoning, inspiration, and the transmission of data accumulated since time immemorial. Results in the real world confirmed the truth of its claims. Examining Rāzī’s philosophical theory of the science and its influence on the counter-Avicennan prophetology of his late career, the present study will demonstrate that occult science was indeed an important aspect of Islamic intellectual history, the object of profound rational engagement.