AMI’s Dr. Wahid M. Amin presents at Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambrid

AMI’s Dr. Wahid M. Amin was recently invited to present a paper at the second meeting of the History of Arabic Philosophy Group on 26 May 2017 at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge.

Held annually, the History of Arabic Philosophy Group is a forum for specialists in the field of Arabic/Islamic philosophy to share and collaborate their research with other academics. This year’s meeting included papers on a variety of topics by Toby Mayer (Institute of Ismaili Studies), Tianyi Zhang (University of Cambridge), Ayman Shihadeh (SOAS), Mohammad Saleh Zarepour (University of Cambridge).

In his paper Dr. Amin examined in depth a treatise on mental existence (al-wujūd al-dhihnī) by the Ottomoan scholar ‘Iṣām al-Dīn Ṭāshkūprīzāde (d. 961/1561). The aim of the paper was to highlight one aspect of great importance for post-Avicennan scholars and why tracing the origins and development of key ideas in the history of Arabic philosophy sheds great light on the connected history and participation of thinkers from different periods and regions of the Islamic world thus demonstrating the shared intellectual concerns of post-classical scholarship in Islam. Apart from the historical trajectory which this paper tried to map, Dr. Amin also exhibited some of the key areas and topics in which debates surrounding mental existence become a crucial factor in the advancement of a crucial theological doctrine, and why, therefore, later Islamic theology is substantially affected by core metaphysical notions which impart crucial significance to beings which are purely mind-dependent.

To find out more about their work click here