Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Saadya’s Life and the Cultural Milieu

The Kitāb al-Amānāt wa-l-Iʿtiqādāt (Book of Beliefs and Convictions): Structure, Content and Method

The Ṣefer Yeẓirah

Saadya’s Commentary on the Ṣefer Yeẓirah

The Literature on Saadya’s Epistemology

Chapter One Two Paths to Knowledge

I. Process and Insight

The Process of the Elimination of Doubts in Ten Steps

The Six Observations

The Process of Cognition in the TSY

KAI: An Epistemological Dualism

TSY: An Epistemology Based on Simplicity

II. The Sources of Knowledge

Abraham’s Supposed Authorship of the Ṣefer Yeẓirah

Prophecy and Philosophy

What is Knowledge? The Contextuality of Knowledge in the KAI and in the TSY

Knowledge Realized and the Ways to Knowledge: Wisdom

Intellect and Speculation

III. Saadya’s Aim in the Two Books: Knowledge Expressed and Ineffable

Saadya’s Aim in the Two Books: The KAI against Doubt and Uncertainty

The TSY: Against a Literal Understanding

IV. Saadya Now: The Two Epistemological Frameworks from a Contemporary Perspective

The Question of Externalism/Internalism and Foundationalism/Coherentism in Contemporary Epistemology

Externalism and Foundationalism in the KAI

Internalism and Coherentism in the TSY

Chapter Two The Understanding of Reality in the KAI and in the TSY

I. Creation ex Nihilo

The Place of Creation ex Nihilo in the KAI and the TSY

The Philoponean Proofs in Saadya

II. The Ontological Realms

Sensation Causing Material Reality (ḥaqīqa)

Immediate Knowledge of the Intellect, and Illumination

The Map of Creation in the TSY

Connecting Creator and Creation: The Notions of the ‘First Air’ and of ‘God’s Created Glory’

Between Creator and Creation: The Notion of the Soul in the KAI

The Description of the Creator in the KAI and the TSY

Aristotelian Categories and the Description of the Divine

III. Finitude, Time, and Space in the KAI and the TSY

The Question of Finitude: The Reformulation of the Philoponean Proofs in the Epistemology of the KAI

Extension of the Philoponean Proofs by Way of Analogy/Correspondence in the TSY

Gradualness, Time and Timelessness

The Concept of Place in the KAI and TSY

Back to Epistemology: Speculation and Analogy

Knowing and Knowledge: The Relationship between Epistemology and Ontology in the KAI

The Relationship between Epistemology and Ontology in the TSY

Chapter Three Rational Theology: An Islamic Parallel from the 10th Century: The Muġnī

I. Kalām in the Muġnī and Saadya

About the Thought of the Kalām

The Kalām in Saadya

The Muġnī of ʿAbd al-Jabbār

II. The Concept of Speculation (naẓar) in the Muġnī and Saadya

The Nature of Speculation

The Notion of the ‘Tranquility of the Soul’ (sukūn an-nafs) in the Epistemology of the Muġnī

The Finitude of the Speculation in Saadya’s KAI

The Physical Representations of the Act of Speculation: Pressure, Blowing, Hunting and Spear Throwing

Speculation and Sense Perception

The Notion of Logical Inference (istidlāl)

The Notion of Aspect in the Muġnī

Speculation and Revelation: Ability (maqdūr) and Obligation (ījāb) to Speculate in the Muġnī

Speculation and Religion

The Notion of the Intellect (ʿaql)

Speculation and Exegesis in Saadya and in the Muġnī

The Sources of Knowledge: Perception (idrāk) and Sensation (ḥass)

III . What is Knowledge?

Definitions of Knowledge in the Muġnī

What is Not Knowledge

Knowledge and Reality (ḥaqīqa)

Necessary (ḍarūrī) and Acquired (muktasab) Knowledge

Dialectical Epistemologies

Chapter Four Gnosticism: An Islamic Parallel from the 10th Century: The Epistles of the Sincere Brethren

I. Who were the Sincere Brethren?

The Content of the Epistles

II. The Multilayered Epistemology of the Brethren

The Notion of Knowledge in the Epistles of the Brethren

The Ultimate Aim of the Process of Knowledge

Knowledge for the Masses and for the Distinguished

The Notion of Belief (īmān) in the Brethren

III. The Psychology of the Brethren

The Notion of the Soul in the Brethren and in the KAI

The Internalism of the Brethren

The Faculties of the Soul

The Faculty of Imagination, Inspiration and Revelation in the Brethren and the TSY

Philosophy and Prophecy

IV. Numbers, Systems, and Interconnectedness

The Third (Intermediary) Ontological Position and the Numeric System

Analogies/Correspondences

God: Unity, Centeredness and Immanence

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index