The Legacy of Henry Corbin: Space Ontology

"...the Imagination (or love, or sympathy, or any other sentiment) induces knowledge, and knowledge of an 'object' which is proper to it..."

Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was a scholar, philosopher and theologian. He was a champion of the transformative power of the Imagination and of the transcendent reality of the individual in a world threatened by totalitarianisms of all kinds. One of the 20th century’s most prolific scholars of Islamic mysticism, Corbin was Professor of Islam & Islamic Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Teheran. He was a major figure at the Eranos Conferences in Switzerland. He introduced the concept of the mundus imaginalis into contemporary thought. His work has provided a foundation for archetypal psychology as developed by James Hillman and influenced countless poets and artists worldwide. But Corbin’s central project was to provide a framework for understanding the unity of the religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His great work Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi is a classic initiatory text of visionary spirituality that transcends the tragic divisions among the three great monotheisms. Corbin’s life was devoted to the struggle to free the religious imagination from fundamentalisms of every kind. His work marks a watershed in our understanding of the religions of the West and makes a profound contribution to the study of the place of the imagination in human life.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Space Ontology

Jameh Mosque, Qazvin, Iran

I bring this to your attention not so much because Corbin is mentioned (once, in passing) in the article but because of the inherent interest of the Journal...

Space Ontology International Journal (SOIJ) published by Qazvin Islamic Azad University (located in Iran) is a scholarly open access, peer-reviewed, quarterly and fully refereed journal with a primary objective to provide the academic community for the submission of new ideas, the state of the art research results and fundamental advances in all aspects of Architecture, Urban Design and Planning.

Current Issue: Volume 4, Issue 3, Autumn 2015, Page 1-74

The Impact of Climate and Culture on the Formation of Yard in Mosques

Page 19-28

Hossein Soltanzadeh