Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Phenomenology and Historicism in the Study of Islamic Philosophy: The Significance of Corbin’s Approach

Phenomenology and Historicism in the Study of Islamic Philosophy: The Significance of Corbin’s Approach 

Zane Leach

Bachelor Global & Comparative Philosophy


Abstract:This essay concerns the significance of Henry Corbin’s methodology for the ‘Western’ study of Islamic philosophy and its relevance for the revival of traditional metaphysics in postmodernity. This methodology established itself as an alternative to the traditional scholastic and modern colonial approaches to the study of Islamic philosophy. Under the influence of Heidegger, Corbin developed a methodology wherein the inadequacies of modern historicism could be consummated into a reassessment of traditional metaphysics. The aim of this essay is to articulate the foundations and demonstrate the justifiability of Corbin’s approach. This is done for the purpose of elucidating how the metaphysics of Corbin and the Islamic Platonism from which he draws can contribute to the revitalization of contemporary Western philosophy. This essay thus constitutes an exploration of the problem of returning to traditional metaphysics through phenomenological hermeneutics and a corresponding mysticism.

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Henry Corbin & the Arts... continued: Jarvis Brookfield



From Creative Boom


Psychedelic painter Jarvis Brookfield likes to delve deep into our psyches with his groundbreaking work; his latest exhibition is no exception. As he highlighted in our exclusive interview a while back, Jarvis's art is a celebration of the boundless nature of the imagination.

His new collection draws inspiration from Henry Corbin's essay The Mundus Imaginalis and delves into the concept of a "place of images in suspense," which exists between spiritual realms and the sensory world: a 'place' that's as ontologically real as the world we perceive.

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

I am now on Substack

All my lectures and classes are now posted to my website and to Substack! 

Please subscribe for free here:  https://tomcheetham.substack.com