Inter-university doctoral seminar 2022-2023: History of ideas and concepts in medieval Arab knowledge

This is a monthly seminar, taking place one Friday a month from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
Seminar venue: 65 rue des Grands Moulins Paris 13ème, Salle 4.04.

SEMINAR OUTLINE

This seminar, organized by Inalco (CERMOM) and PARIS 1 (GRAMATA, SPHERE), aims to study the major texts of medieval Arabic thought through the prism of some of its most fundamental concepts. By bringing together researchers and specialists in the history of Arabic knowledge of the classical period, we will contribute to the effort to define and delimit these central concepts, and more broadly to the development of an epistemology capable of clarifying their theoretical singularity and the issues they raise. These concepts are at the crossroads of several knowledges within medieval Arabic thought: the kalām, linguistic theory (naḥw, balāġa), falsafa but also the uṣūl al-fiqh. It is in this sense that a multidisciplinary approach will prove not only fruitful but necessary in order to restore the meaning of these concepts in their historical and theoretical contexts. Reading specific texts from these different fields will thus make it possible to account for the variety of meanings of the same concept, but also to identify, for each of them, clues to a possible theoretical unity.

The first concept that will occupy this seminar is that of cause (ʿilla). The concept of ʿilla occupies an important place in grammar, it relates in part to the explanation of linguistic facts. Following on from the work of researchers in the history of Arabic grammar, we will be able to study the function occupied by the ʿilla within grammatical reasoning, seeking to shed light on the network of concepts to which it belongs, in particular its relationship to qiyās (analogy), ḥukm (attributive judgment, linguistic fact), aṣl (primitive), farʿ (secondary), etc. The notion of ʿilla is also central to the history of the kalām: on the one hand, the distinction between ʿilla and sabab concerns the understanding of causality in the world, but again the relationship between ʿilla and fāʿil crystallizes one of the major points of cosmological discord over the eternity of the world. The uṣūl al-fiqh too question the distinction betweenʿilla and sabab and as such deserve to have their role restored more precisely in the elaboration of this crucial distinction between two types or approaches to causality. Finally, in the context of thefalsafa, it is around the notion of ʿilla that the engagement of Arabic-speaking philosophers with the Platonic-Aristotelian tradition crystallizes. Faced with the challenge posed by a monotheistic God to the inherited understanding of causality, the falāsifa modify the Greek heritage in decisive and original ways.

How are we to characterize the ʿilla in this network of meanings and distinctions? What do each of its conceptual elaborations teach us about the relationship between these different fields of knowledge themselves? These are the questions that will guide this collaborative and multidisciplinary work.

Over the course of seven annual sessions and starting in October 2022, this monthly seminar will be organized as follows: one hour will be devoted to the presentation of a text chosen by one of the participants, who will set out his or her interpretation and present his or her conclusions relating to the concept that concerns us. This will be followed by an hour of debate and discussion with all seminar members. We will take care to respect interdisciplinarity and dialogue between knowledge by alternating, for each session, the fields of specialization.

Seminar: History of ideas and concepts in medieval arabic sciences

This seminar organized by Inalco (CERMOM) and PARIS 1 (GRAMATA, SPHERE) aims to examine some of the major texts of Arab medieval tradition through the lens of certain crucial concepts. We hope to contribute to the efforts already made by the scientific community by inviting researchers and specialists in the History of classical period of Arab philosophy and sciences to shed conceptual clarity and accuracy on these central notions. More broadly, this seminar intends to elaborate an epistemology that gives an account of each of these concepts in their theoretical and historical context. These concepts are common to many different traditions: kalām, linguistic theory (naḥw, balāġa), falsafah and uṣūl al-fiqh. It is in this regard that we consider an interdisciplinary approach a fertile ground for examining the various significations of one shared concept, for which a theoretical unity may be found.

The first concept we will examine in this seminar is causality (ʿilla). ʿIlla is mobilized in Grammar in order to account for linguistics facts. By focusing, for example, on the precise function of ʿilla in the grammatical reasoning, its relation to qiyās (analogy), ḥukm (attributive judgment, linguistic fact), aṣl (primitive) and farʿ (secondary) can be better understood, thus following the work of researchers in Arabic grammar history on the topic. The concept of ʿilla occupies a similarly central position in the history of kalām. The distinction between ʿilla and sabab for instance is importantly involved in the understanding of causal relations in the world, and the distinction between ʿilla and fāʿil plays a major role in the cosmological debates about the world's eternity. Uṣūl al-fiqh engages in similar questioning of the differences between sabab and ʿilla, and its influence on such conceptual differentiations deserves examination. Finally, with regards to falsafa, it is in the discussions on causality that we find the confrontation between the plato-aristotelian conception of causality and the monotheistic conception of God, thus challenging muslim peripaetic philosophers to rethink and modify in a decisive and original way the greek philosophical heritage.

How do we characterize ʿilla in this network of significations and distinctions? What do these varied conceptual elaborations teach us about the relations between the disciplines themselves? These are the questions guiding our multidisciplinary collaborative project.

This seminar will occur every month, from October 2022 to May 2023. The seven sessions are meant to be organized as follows: one person will present and comment on the text of his choice in the lens of the concept of ʿilla. Another hour will be dedicated to a discussion and debate with the other participants. In order to respect the interdisciplinary and to encourage the dialogue between the different disciplines we will alternate, from one session to another, the different domains of specialization.

SEMINAR SCHEDULE

FIRST SEMESTER

- Friday, October 21, 2022 - 4:00-6:00 pm - Inalco (PLC), 4th floor, Room 4.04 or by videoconference (Registration required by e-mail to obtain connection codes: lucietardy@hotmail.fr)

• Julien Sibileau (History of Arabic grammar / Inalco - CERMOM): Ṣiḥḥat al-ʿilla or the quest for the true cause in medieval Arabic grammar

- Friday, November 25, 2022 - 4:00-6:00 pm - Inalco (PLC), 4th floor, Room 4.04 or by videoconference (Registration required by e-mail to obtain connection codes: lucietardy@hotmail.fr)

• Loïc Bertrand (Classical Arabic Literature / Inalco - CERMOM): Les notions de ʿilla et taʿlīl dans les Asrār al-balāġa de ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Ǧurǧānī
  

- Tuesday, December 13, 2022 - 16h30-18h30 - Inalco (PLC), 5th floor, Room 5.26 or by videoconference (Registration required by e-mail to obtain connection codes: lucietardy@hotmail.fr)

• Cédric Molino-Machetto (Medieval Arabic Philosophy / Toulouse 2): Ibn Khaldûn and his Achʿarite influences: the problem of causality in the Muqaddima

SECOND SEMESTER

- Friday, February 17, 2022 - 4:00-6:00 pm - Inalco (PLC), 4th floor, Room 4.04 or by videoconference (Registration required by e-mail to obtain connection codes: lucietardy@hotmail.fr)

• Yassir Mechelloukh (Inalco / Casa de Velázquez): Synonymy and distinction: Remarks on causality between sabab and ʿilla in Arab thought

- Friday, March 17, 2022 - 4:00-6:00 pm - Inalco (PLC), 4th floor, Room 4.04 or by videoconference (Registration required by e-mail to obtain connection codes: lucietardy@hotmail.fr)

• Jean-Patrick Guillaume (Professor Emeritus - Sorbonne Nouvelle / History of Linguistic Theories): La cause des grammairiens revisitée: considérations sur la notion de ʿilla chez les grammairiens arabes

- Friday, April 21, 2022- 2:30-4:30 pm - Inalco (PLC), 4th floor, Room 4.13 or by videoconference (link)

• Lucie Tardy (Arabic Philosophy - Paris 1 / GRAMATA, SPHERE) : Causality and divine attributes in the thought of al-Juwaynī

- Friday, May 26, 2022 - 16:00-18:00 - Inalco (PLC), 4th floor, Room 4.04 or by videoconference (link)

• Miriam Rogasch (Arabic Philosophy - Paris 1 / GRAMATA, SPHERE): La notion de 'illa chez Avicenne

ORGANIZATION

• Lucie Tardy (PARIS 1 - GRAMATA, SPHERE)
• Miriam Rogasch (PARIS 1 - GRAMATA, SPHERE)
• Julien Sibileau (Inalco - CERMOM)

CONTACTS

lucietardy@hotmail.fr, miriam-rogasch@gmx.de and julien.sibileau@inalco.fr