This class has two related goals: We will discuss how medieval Muslim, Jewish, and Christian falâsifa conceived their philosophical project and how they related it to their religious tradition. And we will examine some of their key doctrines that at times were highly contested: from God's nature and God's relation to the world to the ethical, political, and religious conditions for living well. We will begin with the first part of al-Ghazâlî's Munqidh min al-dalâl to get a sense of the broader intellectual setting in which falsafa unfolded. Then we will read a selection of texts from al-Fârâbî, Yahyâ ibn Adî, Averroes, and Maimonides. In this context we will also discuss excerpts from the critique of the falâsifa's positions in al-Ghazâlî's Tahâfut al-falâsifa to which Averroes and Maimonides are responding. close