This is the recording of a talk given on November 15th, 2023, during the Privacy, Secrecy and Esotericism seminar organized by The Centre for Privacy Studies and the Copenhagen Centre for the Study of Theosophy and Esotericism at the University of Copenhagen.
Abstract:
While the study of esotericism in the history of Islamic thought remains heavily debated (eg. Feras Hamza, 2017), recent scholarship clearly demonstrates that a kind of esoteric current of Islamicate science did and does exist (Liana Saif, 2015). At the same time, the intersection, exchange, and parallelism between a “Western” and “Islamic” form of esoteric knowledge leaves much to be explored (outlined by Saif in 2019). An important figure in this reception history is the French theologian and scholar Henry Corbin (1903-1978). Corbin’s career in Iran and attendance at the famous Eranos meetings in Ascona, Switzerland, played a crucial role in early comparativist analyses of Western and Islamic esotericism. Furthermore, Corbin seems to have bridged the gap between insider/outsider and scholar/practitioner. Yet his role as Islamic translator of esoteric concepts, which had been kept “secret” or “private” from Westerners for hundreds of years, is not fully understood. This is especially true of “private” or esoteric Shiite concepts that are related to discourses about higher knowledge, access to the divine, and so forth. To what extent Corbin was “correct” in his interpretations? Are there other meanings to such concepts, which Corbin may have missed? To approach this question, we focus on one philosophical concept Corbin made much use of-namely, that of Aql-in order to determine the precision with which he interpreted this idea in the context of a Shiite esoteric tradition. We further ask, is there another more “private” Shiite understanding of the concept of Aql, one that goes beyond his neo-Platonic inspired, emanationist, and Perennialist interpretations? Shedding light on this questions will provide a greater appreciation for Corbin as main translator of Islamic esoteric thought in the 20th century, but also enable us to recognize his limitations.
The description of Sadra’s transcendent theosophy is partly quoted from Maria Massi Dakake's “The Soul as ‘Barzakh’: Substantial Motion and Mulla Sadra’s Theory of Human Becoming,” The Muslim World 94 (2004): 107-130.
Негізгі бет Henry Corbin and the “Secret” Understanding of ‘aql in Shiite Traditions
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