Sunday, April 23, 2006
Kalam and Philosophy; A Perspective from One Problem
Philosophy like science is
But the framingan activity of mind,a state of mind for framing questionsthe right question forthe right answer
Some Philosophers considerof questionsrequires itself a frameworkso that the round can beround andfound so andthe square square andbelieve soma'a sukuni n-nafs
theologianssquare withintheir round-framedeternal universes
But philosophers too are
conceived as they conceivewithin their framesdiscourse within framed universesthey cannot reasonably escapetaghlidan
Some like Ash'arites
find speculation obligatorysince cannonized tradition
Some like Mullahs
beginning in unquestioned questioningfind it only way and pathto know what isal-haqq
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Richard M. Frank, The Catholic University of America
*The following was originally presented as the opening paper in the Conference on Early Islamic Thoughts in Honor of Harry A. Wolfson 20-22 April 1971 at Harvard University
