The Legacy of Henry Corbin: Mohammed Arkoun

"...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.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Mohammed Arkoun

Thanks to Sayyed Mohsen Mousavi, who has linked to my page, I discovered the excellent Gifford Lectures webpage which has enough material to keep one busy for several lifetimes. As Mousavi notes, the text for Mohammed Arkoun's 2001 Lecture is online there:

The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought 2001, Mohammed Arkoun

From Arkoun's biography at the Gifford Lectures site: Professor Arkoun's early studies of the historian and philosopher Ibn Miskawayh established his scholarly reputation. He taught at Lyon 2 University (1969-1972) and at the New Sorbonne University of Paris (1972-1992). Additionally he has taught at UCLA, Princeton University, Temple University, the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, the Pontifical Institute of Arabic Studies in Rome and the University of Amsterdam. He is Emeritus Professor at the Sorbonne as well as Senior Research Fellow and member of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Ismali Studies. Professor Arkoun serves as a jury member for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. He has served as the scientific director of the magazine ARABICA and in 2002 he was a member of the international jury of the UNESCO Prize for the promotion of peace.

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