Avicenna on Matter: Implications for Ernst Bloch&apos;s Marxist Aesthetics

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Avicenna on Matter: Implications for Ernst Bloch's Marxist Aesthetics

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Author(s): Karam AbuSehly

Publication date (Print): Autumn 2017

Journal: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Avicenna, Aristotelian Left, Ernst Bloch, Marxist aesthetics, matter, the aesthetic Vor-Schein

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Abstract

The question of the influence of Islamic philosophy on Western critical theory is far from being a well-established area of research and not without controversy. It becomes even more controversial when integrating an Islamic discourse as having implications for Marxist aesthetics. This is very true in the case of Avicenna and Ernst Bloch, an area which has not been addressed adequately. This article, therefore, explores how Avicenna was integrated into a materialist Western discourse, through playing a major role in what Bloch termed the Aristotelian Left, an idea that Bloch expressed in full in his Avicenna and the Aristotelian Left (1952). I argue that no matter how controversial the integration of Avicenna's position on matter might be, it has significant implications for Bloch's Marxist aesthetics and his warm stream of Marxism. By examining these implications, the present article sheds light on the possibilities latent in Islamic philosophy, in one of its variation, for a critical theory of culture and society.

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Karam AbuSehly

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Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): reorient

Title: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 20555601

ISSN (Electronic): 2055561X

Publication date (Print): Autumn 2017

Volume: 3

Issue: 1

Pages: 4-22

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Karam AbuSehly, Beni-Suef University, Egypt

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Publisher ID: reorient.3.1.0004

DOI: 10.13169/reorient.3.1.0004

SO-VID: ccdd980a-8443-4dc6-bf05-71103d8b4f77

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History

References

Agar, J. (2014) Post-Secularism, Realism and Utopia: Transcendence and Immanence from Hegel to Bloch . New York: Routledge.
Avicenna (1945) A Treatise on Love. Translated by Fackenheim, E. L. Medieval Studies 7, 208–28.
Avicenna (1963) Danish-Nameh, Metaphysics . Tehran: Abu Ali Ibn Sina University.
Avicenna (2003) Book of definitions. Translated by Kennedy-Day, K. In Kennedy-Day, K. (ed.) Books of Definitions in Islamic Philosophy: The Limits of Words . London and New York: Routledge.
Avicenna (2005) The Metaphysics of the Healing . Translated by Marmura, M. E. Pravo/Utah: Brigham Young University Press.
Avicenna (2009) The Physics of the Healing . Translated by McGinnis, J. Pravo/Utah: Brigham Young University Press.
Bacher, I. (2017) Ernest Bloch (1885–1977). In Goodchild, P. and Phelps, H. (eds) Religion and European Philosophy: Key Thinkers from Kant to Žižek . New York: Routledge, 101–14.
Belo, C. (2007) Chance and Determinism in Avicenna and Averroes . Leiden and Boston: Brill.
Bloch, E. (1952) Avicenna und die Aristotelische Linke . Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag.
Bloch, E. (1970) A Philosophy of the Future . Translated by Cumming, J. New York: Harder and Harder.
Bloch, E. (1988) The Utopian Function of Art and Literature: Selected Essays . Translated by Zipes, J. and Mecklenburg, F. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Bloch, E. (1995a) The Principle of Hope , Volume 1. Translated by Plaice, N. et al. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Bloch, E. (1995b) The Principle of Hope , Volume 2. Translated by Plaice, N. et al. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Bloch, E. (1995c) The Principle of Hope , Volume 3. Translated by Plaice, N. et al. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Bloch, E. (1998) Literary Essays . Translated by Joron, A. et al. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bloch, E. (2000) The Spirit of Utopia . Translated by Nassar, A. A. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bloch, E. (2009) Atheism in Christianity: The Religion of the Exodus and the Kingdom . Translated by Swann, J. T. London and New York: Verso.
Boldyrev, I. (2014) Ernst Bloch and His Contemporaries: Locating Utopian Messianism . London, New Delhi, New York, and Sydney: Bloomsbury.
Bronner, S. E. (2002) Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists . 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Brooks, C. (1947) The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry , No. 11. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
De Cillis, M. (2014) Free Will and Predestination in Islamic Thought: Theoretical Compromises in the Works of Avicenna, al-Ghāzālī and Ibn ‘Arabī . London and New York: Routledge.
Dorrien, G. J. (2008) Reconstructing the Common Good: Theology and the Social Order . Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Freeman, J. (2006) Ernst Bloch and Hugo Ball: Toward an ontology of the avant-garde. In Jones, D. (ed.) Dada Culture: Critical Texts on the Avant-garde . Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 225–53.
Geoghegan, V. (2008) Ernst Bloch . London and New York: Routledge.
Heath, P. (1992) Allegory and Philosophy in Avicenna with a Translation of the Book of the Prophet Muhammad's Ascent to Heaven . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Herman, L. (1996) Concept of Realism . Columbia: Camden House.
Hudson, W. (1982) The Marxist Philosophy of Ernst Bloch . London and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ivry, A. (1984) Destiny revisited: Avicenna's concept of determinism. In Marmura, M. (ed.) Islamic Theology and Philosophy: Studies in Honor of George F. Hourani . Albany: SUNY, 160–71.
Lukács, G. (1983) Expressionism: Its significance and decline. In Livingstone, R. (ed.) and Frenbach, D. (Trans.). Essays on Realism . Cambridge: MIT Press, 76–113.
McGinnis, J. (2007) What underlies the change from potentiality to possibility? A select history of the theory matter from Aristotle to Avicenna. Cadernos de História E Filosofia da Ciência . 17 (2), 259–78.
Miri, S. J. (2010) Reflections on the Social Thought of Allama M.T. Jafari: Rediscovering the Sociological Relevance of the Primordial School of Social Theory . Maryland: University Press of America.
Neville, P. et al. (1995) Translators' introduction. In Bloch, E. The Principle of Hope , Volume 1. Cambridge: MIT Press.
The Noble Qur'an: English Translations of the Meaning and Commentary by Al-Hilali, M. T. U. D. and Khan, M. M. (1997). Madinah: King Fahd Complex.
Thompson, P. (2009) Ernst Bloch and the quantum mechanics of hope. In Bloch, B. Atheism in Christianity: The Religion of the Exodus and the Kingdom . London and New York: Verso, ix–xxx.
Turki, M. (2012) Introduction. In Bloch, E. Ibn Sina wa-Alyasar Al-Aristotelisi [Avicenna and the Aristotelian Left]. Translated by Turki, M. Tunis: Bayt Al-Hikma.
Zeilinger, D. (2006) Reciprocal Approach: Aesthetic and Ethical Aspects of the Natural Philosophy of Ernst Bloch [Wechselseitiges Ergreifen: Ästhetische und Ethische Aspekte der Naturphilosophie Ernsts Blochs]. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.

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Comment on this article

[1] Agar, J. (2014) Post-Secularism, Realism and Utopia: Transcendence and Immanence from Hegel to Bloch . New York: Routledge.

[2] Avicenna (1945) A Treatise on Love. Translated by Fackenheim, E. L. Medieval Studies 7, 208–28.

[3] Avicenna (1963) Danish-Nameh, Metaphysics . Tehran: Abu Ali Ibn Sina University.

[4] Avicenna (2003) Book of definitions. Translated by Kennedy-Day, K. In Kennedy-Day, K. (ed.) Books of Definitions in Islamic Philosophy: The Limits of Words . London and New York: Routledge.

[5] Avicenna (2005) The Metaphysics of the Healing . Translated by Marmura, M. E. Pravo/Utah: Brigham Young University Press.

[6] Avicenna (2009) The Physics of the Healing . Translated by McGinnis, J. Pravo/Utah: Brigham Young University Press.

[7] Bacher, I. (2017) Ernest Bloch (1885–1977). In Goodchild, P. and Phelps, H. (eds) Religion and European Philosophy: Key Thinkers from Kant to Žižek . New York: Routledge, 101–14.

[8] Belo, C. (2007) Chance and Determinism in Avicenna and Averroes . Leiden and Boston: Brill.

[9] Bloch, E. (1952) Avicenna und die Aristotelische Linke . Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag.

[10] Bloch, E. (1970) A Philosophy of the Future . Translated by Cumming, J. New York: Harder and Harder.

[11] Bloch, E. (1988) The Utopian Function of Art and Literature: Selected Essays . Translated by Zipes, J. and Mecklenburg, F. Cambridge: MIT Press.

[12] Bloch, E. (1995a) The Principle of Hope , Volume 1. Translated by Plaice, N. et al. Cambridge: MIT Press.

[13] Bloch, E. (1995b) The Principle of Hope , Volume 2. Translated by Plaice, N. et al. Cambridge: MIT Press.

[14] Bloch, E. (1995c) The Principle of Hope , Volume 3. Translated by Plaice, N. et al. Cambridge: MIT Press.

[15] Bloch, E. (1998) Literary Essays . Translated by Joron, A. et al. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

[16] Bloch, E. (2000) The Spirit of Utopia . Translated by Nassar, A. A. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

[17] Bloch, E. (2009) Atheism in Christianity: The Religion of the Exodus and the Kingdom . Translated by Swann, J. T. London and New York: Verso.

[18] Boldyrev, I. (2014) Ernst Bloch and His Contemporaries: Locating Utopian Messianism . London, New Delhi, New York, and Sydney: Bloomsbury.

[19] Bronner, S. E. (2002) Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists . 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

[20] Brooks, C. (1947) The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry , No. 11. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[21] De Cillis, M. (2014) Free Will and Predestination in Islamic Thought: Theoretical Compromises in the Works of Avicenna, al-Ghāzālī and Ibn ‘Arabī . London and New York: Routledge.

[22] Dorrien, G. J. (2008) Reconstructing the Common Good: Theology and the Social Order . Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers.

[23] Freeman, J. (2006) Ernst Bloch and Hugo Ball: Toward an ontology of the avant-garde. In Jones, D. (ed.) Dada Culture: Critical Texts on the Avant-garde . Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 225–53.

[24] Geoghegan, V. (2008) Ernst Bloch . London and New York: Routledge.

[25] Heath, P. (1992) Allegory and Philosophy in Avicenna with a Translation of the Book of the Prophet Muhammad's Ascent to Heaven . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

[26] Herman, L. (1996) Concept of Realism . Columbia: Camden House.

[27] Hudson, W. (1982) The Marxist Philosophy of Ernst Bloch . London and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

[28] Ivry, A. (1984) Destiny revisited: Avicenna's concept of determinism. In Marmura, M. (ed.) Islamic Theology and Philosophy: Studies in Honor of George F. Hourani . Albany: SUNY, 160–71.

[29] Lukács, G. (1983) Expressionism: Its significance and decline. In Livingstone, R. (ed.) and Frenbach, D. (Trans.). Essays on Realism . Cambridge: MIT Press, 76–113.

[30] McGinnis, J. (2007) What underlies the change from potentiality to possibility? A select history of the theory matter from Aristotle to Avicenna. Cadernos de História E Filosofia da Ciência . 17 (2), 259–78.

[31] Miri, S. J. (2010) Reflections on the Social Thought of Allama M.T. Jafari: Rediscovering the Sociological Relevance of the Primordial School of Social Theory . Maryland: University Press of America.

[32] Neville, P. et al. (1995) Translators' introduction. In Bloch, E. The Principle of Hope , Volume 1. Cambridge: MIT Press.

[33] The Noble Qur'an: English Translations of the Meaning and Commentary by Al-Hilali, M. T. U. D. and Khan, M. M. (1997). Madinah: King Fahd Complex.

[34] Thompson, P. (2009) Ernst Bloch and the quantum mechanics of hope. In Bloch, B. Atheism in Christianity: The Religion of the Exodus and the Kingdom . London and New York: Verso, ix–xxx.

[35] Turki, M. (2012) Introduction. In Bloch, E. Ibn Sina wa-Alyasar Al-Aristotelisi [Avicenna and the Aristotelian Left]. Translated by Turki, M. Tunis: Bayt Al-Hikma.

[36] Zeilinger, D. (2006) Reciprocal Approach: Aesthetic and Ethical Aspects of the Natural Philosophy of Ernst Bloch [Wechselseitiges Ergreifen: Ästhetische und Ethische Aspekte der Naturphilosophie Ernsts Blochs]. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.