Philosopher Responds

Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī (Author) Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī (d. 414/1023) was a prominent litterateur and philosopher in Baghdad.Abū ʿAlī Miskawayh (Author) Abū ʿAlī Miskawayh (ca. 320-421/932-1030) was a philosopher and historian born in Rayy.Bilal Orfali (Editor) Bilal Orfali is Professor and Sheikh Zayed Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut and previously held the M.S. Sofia Chair in Arabic Studies at the Ohio State University. He specializes in Arabic literature, Sufism, and Qur'anic Studies. He co-edits al-Abhath Journal and Brill's series Texts and Studies on the Qur'an. He is the author and editor of more than twenty books on Arabic Studies. His recent publications include The Anthologist's Art (Brill, 2016), The Book of Noble Character (Brill, 2015), The Comfort of the Mystics (Brill, 2013), Sufism, Black and White (Brill, 2012), and In the Shadow of Arabic (Brill, 2011).Maurice A. Pomerantz (Editor) Maurice A. Pomerantz is Associate Professor of Literature at New York University Abu Dhabi. He is the author of Licit Magic: The Life and Letters of al-Sahib b. 'Abbad.Sophia Vasalou (Translator) Sophia Vasalou is Senior Lecturer and Birmingham Fellow in Philosophical Theology at the University of Birmingham. Her books include Moral Agents and their Deserts: The Character of Mu'tazilite Ethics, Wonder: A Grammar, and Ibn Taymiyya's Theological Ethics.James E. Montgomery (Translator) James E. Montgomery is Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity Hall. His latest publications are In Deadly Embrace: Arabic Hunting Poems, Fate the Hunter: Early Arabic Hunting Poems, and Kalīlah and Dimnah: Fables of Virtue and Vice, with Michael Fishbein. In 2024 he was elected Fellow of the British Academy.

"Tawhidi's questions are often epigrammatic essays; they assert the limits of human reason and dwell on man's 'deficiencies,' while evincing a Johnsonian keenness towards observing the contradictions of the human character, the fortunes of life and the spirit of the age. . . . There was no better recorder of his distempered century than Tawhidi; but there was also no other thinker of his time whose disillusioned and restless spirit is more modern, or whose character comes across more strongly in his writings." (Times Literary Supplement) "A fascinating read, particularly for the aspiring scholar of classical Arabic texts, who will benefit from a solid English translation alongside the original Arabic." (Al Jadid) "This publication not only offers a new critical reference edition of the Arabic text, but also, through an elegant and fluent English translation, makes this unique work accessible to an audience of non-specialists." (Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies) "A marvel of literary finesse, of an English style seemingly able to match the often ornate prose of the Arabic... A pleasure to read throughout." (Journal of Near Eastern Studies)