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[German Version] (Abū Ḥāmid al-Gazzālī; 1058–1111 ce) from Ṭūs in northeastern Iran, the Algazel of the Latin Middle Ages, was one of the most important and, to date, most influential scholars in Islam. From a religious family, he first studied the traditional Islamic disciplines and taught law and theology from 1091 on in the leading Sunni academy in Baghdad. Simultaneously, however, Gazzālī sought to engage with the other intellectual trends of the epoch (Sufism, philosophy, the Šīʿite Ismāʿīlīya; Š…

[German Version] (Lat. form of Abū aʿAlī al-Ḥusain ibn ʿAbdallāh Ibn Sīnā; c. 980, Afšana near Buḫārā – 1037, Hamadān), a comprehensive scholar, outstanding physician and philosopher, whose thought has exerted lasting influence on later Islamic intellectual history, but also on European scholasticism. Avicenna developed his philosophical doctrines in dialogue with Aris…

[German Version] The Muʿtazilah was a school of major importance in the development of Islamic theology; it emerged in the first half of the 8th century through the teaching of Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ; in the early 9th century, it rose to become the dominant intellectual school (with political influence). Despite growing opposition, it continued to have a say in theological discussion over the centuries. Its most prominent feature is strict rationalism in addressing questions of physics and metaphysics, a…

[German Version] (c. 1105, Wādī Āš, Spain – 1185, Marrakech), physician and Islamic philosopher. Ibn Ṭufail supported Averroes and became known as the author of the novel Ḥaiy ibn Yaqẓān [The living, son of the wakeful one]. In this novel, Ibn Ṭufail describes the path to recognition of a person named Ḥaiy, who grew up alone on a solitary island from his birth. Ḥaiy deciphers his environment step by step, grasps the laws of logic and of physics, gains insight into the cosmic order, and recognizes the necessity of a creator.…

[English Version] I. Naturwissenschaftlich N. bringen regelmäßige Zusammenhänge zw. Naturphänomenen zum Ausdruck mit dem Idealziel der mathematischen Modellierbarkeit. Je nachdem, ob dieser Zusammenhang unbedingt gilt oder nur Wahrscheinlichkeiten beschreibt, kann man zw. deterministischen und statistischen N. unterscheiden. In der klassischen Physik wird alles Naturgeschehen durchgängig von Kausalgesetzen (Kausalität) determiniert, nur epistemische Zufälligkeit in bezug auf den Kenntnisstand des B…

[German Version] I. Science Natural laws express regular connections between natural phenomena, with the ideal aim of potential mathematical modeling. Depending on whether the connection is unconditionally valid, or merely describes probabilities, a distinction can be made between deterministic and statistical natural laws. In classical physics, all natural events are consistently determined by laws of causality; only epistemic chance in relation to the state of the observer’s knowledge is allowed (…

[English Version] I. Philosophisch Der N. geht aus von der Systembildung Plotins; bedeutende Vertreter sind Amelios, Porphyrius, Jamblich, Theodoros von Asine, Kaiser Julian Apostata, Plutarch von Athen, Syrian, Proklos, Damascius und Simplikios; der pagane N. endet institutionell mit der Schließung der Akademie durch Kaiser Justinian I. 529 n.Chr. 1.  Selbstverst Der N. versteht sich selbst als Interpretation und Erneuerung der genuinen Philos. Platos (Platonismus). Zw. den Meinungen des hist. Autors Plato und der gesuchten Wahrheit wird da…

[English Version] I. Biblisch 1.  Altes Testament und frühjüdische ApokalyptikP. bez. traditionell die zeitlich vorgängige, endgültige Festlegung von Menschen durch Gott im Hinblick auf ihr eschatologisches Heil oder Unheil. Sie stellt darin eine Teilmenge einer allg. Vorstellung von göttlicher Vorherbestimmung (Determination [Determinismus/Indeterminismus: II.]) in individueller und soteriologischer Zuspitzung dar, wie sie sich auch im jüd.-christl. Raum findet. Eigentliche Prädestinationsaussagen kenn…

[English Version] I. Philosophisch Als »Skepsis« (S.) bzw. »Skeptizismus« (Sz.) wird eine Einstellung bez., die geprägt ist von Zweifeln an bestimmten Überzeugungen. Im Bereich der Philos. betreffen diese Zweifel v.a. die Überzeugung von der Existenz oder der Erkennbarkeit der Außenwelt und der Erkennbarkeit oder der motivierenden Kraft moralischer Normen. Seit der griech. Antike wird der sog. »akademische Sz.« vom sog. »pyrrhonischen Sz.« unterschieden. Während ersterer an der Platonischen Akademi…

[German Version] I. Fundamental Theology – II. Systematic Theology – III. Islamic Theology – IV. Philosophy of Science – V. Physics I. Fundamental Theology Determinism is the thesis that given a particular state of affairs (e.g. “the world now”) another state cannot be other than it is or will be (e.g. “the world tomorrow”). Fatalism is a slightly different idea, namely that an aspect of reality is unavoidable (e.g. one's own death…

[German Version] I. Bible 1. Old Testament and early Jewish apocalypticism. Predestination refers traditionally to God’s foreordained final determination regarding the eschatological salvation or damnation of each individual. In this sense, it represents a subset of a universal notion of divine predetermination (Determinism and indeterminism: II) taken to its logical individual and soteriological extreme, as is found in both Judaism and Christianity. The Old Testament does not speak of predestination in …

[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion – II. Fundamental Theology – III. Islamic Theology I. Philosophy of Religion Philosophy of religion deals with the problem of the question of proofs of God in the broader context of delineating the relationship between faith and reason. A relationship between religion and philosophy has existed since antiquity. Plato's thought can be understood as philosophical commentary on popular Greek religion. This interrelationship led (e.g. in the Leges) to reflection on the nature of the divine and creation (Plato, Tim.) along with impulses …

[German Version] I. Philosophy The term skepticism denotes an attitude informed by doubts regarding certain beliefs. In the realm of philosophy, these doubts have to do primarily with the existence or knowableness of the external world and the knowableness or motivating force of moral norms. Since ancient Greece, a distinction has been made between academic skepticism and Pyrrhonian s…

[German Version] I. Philosophy Neoplatonism takes the system constructed by Plotinus as its starting point. Important representatives are Amelios, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Theodore of Asine, Emperor Julian the Apostate, Plutarch of Athens, Syrian, Proclus, Damascius, and Simplicius. Pagan Neoplatonism ends institutionally with the closing of the Academy by Emperor Justinian I in 529 ce. 1. Self-understanding. Neoplatonism understands itself as an interpretation and renewal of the genuine philosophy of Plato (Platonism). No conscious distin…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Bible – IV. Judaism – V. Christianity – VI. Islam I. Religious Studies In the context of rational Christian metaphysics, the knowability of God is assumed and God-talk is substantiated in such a way that certain attributes, such as holiness …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. History of Religions – III. Philosophy of Religion – IV. Art History I. Religious Studies All cultures have concepts of a hereafter or beyond (“the next world”), although they are extremely diverse. They involve a realm of existence different from the visible earthly world but nevertheless thought of as real. Concepts of the hereafter are part of cosmology and therefore are related to the real world: the h…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. Human destiny. The human experience of existence holds both positive and negative events. Personal and structural processes involving violence and suffering are constants. The “horizon of justice and righteousness” allows us to surmise that the events that take place in the course of the world are not random but are turbulences on the surface of a fundamental order. Disorientation (anomie) does not destroy the need for security. These turbulences remain a question to which religious ¶ traditions and atheistic projections of Dasein offer ans…

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[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich, religionsgeschichtlich 1.  PhänomenologischDie christl.-abendländischen Konnotationen des durch die Forschung von außen an religionsgesch. Befunde herangetragenen Seelenbegriffs sind am weitesten auszuschließen, wenn man S. als Prinzip wahrnehmbarer oder kulturell für wahrnehmbar gehaltener Lebensäußerungen versteht, die allerdings selten unter einem gemeinsamen Oberbegriff zusammengefaßt werden. Deshalb ist es sinnvoll, von einer Vielzahl von S. zu spr…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. History of Dogma – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Philosophy of Religion – VIII. Judaism – IX. Islam (cf. Present and Future …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. Phenomenology Western, Christian connotations of the concept of the soul, imposed on th…

[English Version] I. Religionsgeschichtlich 1.  GrundfragenLeben, Natur, Umwelt und Zeitenlauf (Zeit/Zeitvorstellungen) sind für jede Gesellschaft Alltagserfahrungen. Zur Wirklichkeit gehört aber auch das Risiko, wonach dieser natürliche Lebensraum bedroht und bedrohlich ist. Chaos und Tod gehören zum Kosmos (Welt). Die Realität ist ambivalent. Evolutionstheoretisch gehört zu den entscheidenden Symptomen der Entwicklung vom vormenschlichen zum humanen Existenzbereich, daß diese Risikoerfahrung rituell gestaltet wird. Dadurch wird das passiv erlittene Chaos zum aktiv gestalteten Kosmos. In kosmologischen Weltbildern werden darüber Transformationen narrativ und theoretisch formuliert. Aus Natur wird Kultur. Der Begriff Sch. ist ein solc…

[German Version] I. Origin and Spread – II. Doctrine – III. Islamic Philosophy – IV. Islamic Art (Architecture and Book Art) – V. Islamic Studies – VI. Christianity and Islam – VII. Judai…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Old Testament – III. Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. History of Theology – VI. Creation and Preservation – VII. Religious Education – VIII. Islam – IX. Science – X. Art History…