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9The Brethren of Purity on Justice for Animals and the Moral Demands of Rational HierarchyJournal of the History of Philosophy 62 (1): 25-48. 2024.Abstractabstract:This paper intervenes in a contemporary debate on the animal ethics of the Brethren of Purity's (Iḫwān al-Ṣafāʾ) epistle on animals. I argue that they present a case for justice for animals by rejecting the fallacious link between ontological superiority and moral superiority. Since human beings are vice-regents of God and since the rational soul is the vice-regent, the Brethren's account of human beings as superior in virtue of their rationality establishes a moral obligation t…Read more
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20Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī on Animal Cognition and ImmortalityArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 106 (1): 23-52. 2024.This paper is devoted to a fascinating passage in Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210), in which he argues that non-human animals have rational souls. It is found in his Mulaḫḫaṣ fī l-manṭiq wa-l-ḥikma (Epitome on Philosophy and Logic). Following a discussion of the afterlife, Faḫr al-Dīn suggests that animals should, like humans, be capable of grasping universals, and that they are aware of their own identity over time. Furthermore, animal behavior shows that they are capable of rational planning and …Read more
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Ibn Ṭufayl's Use and Misuse of His PredecessorsIn Andreas Lammer & Mareike Jas (eds.), Received Opinions: Doxography in Antiquity and the Islamic World, Brill. 2022.
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13In this study, Bethany Somma argues for a dichotomous interpretation of human desire developed by late ancient Greek and medieval Islamic philosophers in response to an ambiguity in Aristotle’s account of desire.
Ludwig Maximilians Universität, München
Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Study of Religion
PhD, 2018
Areas of Specialization
Arabic and Islamic Philosophy |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |