Books by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
Cambridge University Press, 2022
Avicenna believes that God must be understood in the first place as the Necessary Existent (wāǧib... more Avicenna believes that God must be understood in the first place as the Necessary Existent (wāǧib al-wuǧūd). In his various works, he provides different versions of an ingenious argument for the existence of the Necessary Existent—the so-called Proof of the Sincere (burhān al-ṣiddīqīn)—and argues that all the properties that are usually attributed to God can be extracted merely from God’s having necessary existence. Considering the centrality of tawḥīd to Islam, the first thing Avicenna tries to extract from God’s necessary existence is God’s oneness. The aim of the present Element is to provide a detailed discussion of Avicenna’s arguments for the existence and unity of God. Through this project, I hope that I can clarify how, for Avicenna, the Islamic concept of monotheism is intertwined with the concept of essential existence.
Edited Books by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
Oxford University Press, 2024
The philosophy of religion is a discipline that explores a wide range of issues related to religi... more The philosophy of religion is a discipline that explores a wide range of issues related to religious beliefs and practices. However, the field has historically exhibited a narrow focus, predominantly centring on the Christian tradition and lacking substantial interaction between philosophers from distinct religious and cultural backgrounds. To address this, Global Dialogues in the Philosophy of Religion includes contributions from eminent scholars that address the world's five major religious traditions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.
These dialogues delve into the philosophical aspects of religion, covering significant topics, including revelation and religious experience, analysis of faith, science and religion, the foundations of morality, and life and the afterlife. In each section, one of these critical issues is examined by three distinguished philosophers, each specializing in a particular religious tradition. These authors not only present their own perspectives on the subject matter but also respond to the viewpoints of philosophers from other traditions. This dynamic exchange gives readers valuable insight into how philosophical inquiries can be approached from various religious standpoints. This unique collection offers a rich tapestry of ideas and fosters a greater understanding of the philosophical dimensions of religion across diverse cultural and religious contexts.
Routledge, 2024
This volume focuses on Islamic philosophy of religion with a range of contributions from analytic... more This volume focuses on Islamic philosophy of religion with a range of contributions from analytic perspectives. It opens with methodological discussions on the relationship between the history of Islamic philosophy and contemporary analytic philosophy. The book then offers a philosophical examination of some specific Islamic beliefs as well as some approaches to general beliefs that Islam shares with other religions. The chapters address a variety of topics from the existence and attributes of God through to debates on science and religion. The authors are predominantly scholars from Muslim backgrounds who tackle philosophical issues concerning Islam as their own living religion, representing internal perspectives that have never been vocal in analytic philosophy of religion so far. This is valuable reading for scholars and students of philosophy, theology, and religious studies.
Edited Issues of Journals by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
One of the most significant features that most (if not all) religions share is the belief in the ... more One of the most significant features that most (if not all) religions share is the belief in the existence of deities. Deities are usually taken to be supernatural beings with superhuman powers to control and/or be impactful on some aspect(s) of the world. These aspects may include, but are not restricted to, human life and destiny. Some deities enjoy degrees of perfection that are, at least in some respects, far beyond the maximum degree of perfection that a human being might achieve. It is perhaps because of these things that the followers of a religion worship its deities and take being in relation with them as a vehicle for spiritual growth and happiness. Given the central roles that deities play in religions, it is quite natural that the most significant philosophical questions regarding a specific religion include (even though not limited to) the questions of the existence, nature, and attributes of the deities that are believed in that religion. In the context of the monotheistic religions, these discussions are exclusively focused on the unique deity accepted in such religions-e.g., God in the Abrahamic religions. That is why much of the contemporary philosophy of religion-which has been largely Christianity-oriented-has focused on discussions regarding the existence and attributes of the Christian God. Of course, due to the similarities between the God of Christianity and those of the other Abrahamic religions (i.e., Judaism and Islam), those Christianity-oriented discussions have been of interest to the followers of the other two religions too. Nevertheless, the extent of negligence of the contemporary philosophy of religion towards the issues that are either (1) exclusively related to the God of Judaism or Islam or (2) related to the existence and nature of deities accepted in non-Abrahamic religions can hardly be exaggerated. This clearly shows that it is vital for diversifying the field of philosophy of religion to encourage and welcome discussions around the existence and nature of deities of all religions and not only Christianity. And this is exactly what this special issue aims to do.
Islam and the Islamic tradition have been largely underrepresented in contemporary philosophy of ... more Islam and the Islamic tradition have been largely underrepresented in contemporary philosophy of religion. This is so while there are many issues pertaining to (or raised by) Islamic beliefs which can be philosophically discussed. Moreover, there are many general problems about religious beliefs (regardless of whether or not they are exclusively Islamic) which can be philosophically addressed based on ideas, insights, and philosophical theories that Muslim philosophers developed throughout the intellectual history of the Islamic tradition. The present issue of Religious Studies Archives tries to draw the attention of contemporary philosophers of religion to Islam and the Islamic tradition as a rich source of worth considering philosophical problems and approaches by presenting a collection of best ever papers about Islam published in Religious Studies.
Encyclopedia Entries by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Apr 9, 2022
Philosophy of pure mathematics deals with two major groups of questions. One pertains to the onto... more Philosophy of pure mathematics deals with two major groups of questions. One pertains to the ontology of mathematical entities and the other to the epistemology of mathematical concepts and judgments (Avigad 2007). The nature and existence of mathematical objects (e.g., numbers and geometrical shapes), the existence and qualifications of infinities (e.g., infinite magnitudes and infinite collections of numbers or numbered things), and the existence and qualifications of continua are some of the most significant ontological issues with which philosophers of mathematics are concerned. On the other hand, some of the most important and challenging epistemological issues about mathematics are the following: the mechanisms through which we grasp mathematical knowledge, the epistemic status of mathematical axioms and principles, the nature of mathematical proofs (that are writable on paper) and their connection to what goes on in the mind of mathematicians, and the role of mathematical knowledge in attaining a better understanding of the physical world.
It is very well known that the medieval Islamic civilization played a pivotal role in the historical development of technical aspects of mathematics. Standing on the shoulders of their pre-Islamic Greek, Indian, and Persian ancestors, Muslim mathematicians have made numerous innovations in various branches of mathematics and have written a great number of books and essays introducing mathematical notions and proving mathematical theorems (Al-Daffaʾ 1977; R. Rashed 1994; 2012; 2015; Berggren 2016). However, it is very difficult (if not impossible) to find a book from the medieval Islamic era that is exclusively devoted to a comprehensive and systematic study of philosophy of mathematics. Nevertheless, many of the aforementioned philosophical issues about mathematics have been addressed, by great Muslim medieval thinkers, in various works whose central subject was mathematics, physics, metaphysics, or even theology (kalām). Putting these scattered engagements together, it becomes clear that although philosophy of mathematics has never been treated as an independent discipline in the medieval Islamic world, Muslim thinkers came up with very interesting and profound ideas, insights, and arguments about at least some philosophical issues related to mathematics. This entry briefly reviews the most remarkable examples of such insights and arguments, some of which have been the subject of long-standing debates and discussions among Muslim thinkers. Accordingly, the technical mathematical works of Arab and Muslim scholars will be discussed only to the extent that they contain materials related to the philosophy of mathematics.
Journal Papers by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
Journal of Philosophy
Rehabilitating an argument originally proposed by Leibniz, Michael Della Rocca has offered a new ... more Rehabilitating an argument originally proposed by Leibniz, Michael Della Rocca has offered a new argument for the Principle of Sufficient Reason. A crucial element of this argument is that, for every x, the fact that x does not brutely fail to exist is an untrivial requisite of x’s existence. Criticising this claim, I show that the new argument for PSR fails.
History and Philosophy of Logic, 2024
Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Dashtakī (d. 1498) has proposed a solution to the liar paradox according to which ... more Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Dashtakī (d. 1498) has proposed a solution to the liar paradox according to which the liar sentence is a self-referential sentence in which the predicate ‘false’ is iterated. Discussing the conditions for the truth-aptness of the sentences with nested and iterated instances of the predicates ‘true’ and/or ‘false’, Dashtakī argued that the liar sentence is not truth-apt at all. In the tradition of Arabic logic, the central elements of Dashtakī's solution—the self-referentiality of the liar sentence and the implicit iteration of the predicate ‘false’—were initially highlighted in two earlier solutions proposed by Naīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (d. 1274) and Shams al-Dīn al-Samarqandī (d. 1322), respectively. Here I investigate all three solutions and show that Dashtakī's solution can be taken as a synthesis of the other two. None of these solutions seems to be convincing at the end of the day. Nevertheless, all of them include significant logical and philosophical insights. In particular, although Dashtakī's solution is not itself compelling, it is only a few steps away from a promising solution. The appendix to this paper includes translations of the relevant passages.
British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2024
Appealing to some analytic tools developed by contemporary analytic philosophers, I discuss Avice... more Appealing to some analytic tools developed by contemporary analytic philosophers, I discuss Avicenna’s views regarding the problem(s) of linguistic and mental reference to non-existents, also known as the problem(s) of ‘empty intentionality’. I argue that, according to Avicenna, being in an intentional state directed towards an existing thing involves three elements: (1) an indirect relation to that thing, (2) a direct relation to a mental representation of that thing, and (3) a direct relation to the essence of that thing. Empty intentionality does not involve the first element. Moreover, depending on the nature of the non-existent we are thinking about, the third element may not be involved either. Thus, the necessary element of being in an intentional state towards something is to be related to a mental representation of that thing. The nature of this representation may vary depending on the nature of the non-existent towards which our thought is directed.
International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 2022
The Successive Addition Argument (SAA) is one of the arguments proposed by the defenders of the K... more The Successive Addition Argument (SAA) is one of the arguments proposed by the defenders of the Kalām Cosmological Argument (KCA) to support the claim that the universe has a beginning. The main premise of SAA states that a collection formed by successive addition cannot be an actual infinite. This premise is challenged by an argument originally proposed by Fred Dretske. According to Dretske’s Argument (DA), the scenario of a counter who starts counting numbers and never stops can provide a counterexample to the main premise of SAA. I argue that neither DA nor its past-oriented counterpart—which discusses the scenario of a counter who has always been counting negative integers from the infinite past—can play a decisive role in our evaluation of the strength of the arguments that are intended to establish the finitude of the past based on the impossibility of an actually infinite number of successive additions.
Faith and Philosophy, 2021
Defenders of the Kalām Cosmological Argument appeal to the so-called Hilbert’s Hotel Argument to ... more Defenders of the Kalām Cosmological Argument appeal to the so-called Hilbert’s Hotel Argument to establish the finitude of the past based on the impossibility of actual infinites. Some of their opponents argue that this proves too much because if the universe cannot be beginningless due to the impossibility of actual infinites, then, for the same reason, it cannot be endless either. Discussing four different senses of the existence of an actual infinite, I criticize both sides of the debate by showing, on the one hand, that the Hilbert’s Hotel Argument is not powerful enough to rule out the possibility of the infinitude of the past and, on the other hand, that the soundness of the argument for the finitude of the past from the impossibility of actual infinites does not establish the soundness of the parallel argument for the finitude of the future.
Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2021
Craig has argued that the universe has a beginning because (1) the infinitude of the past entails... more Craig has argued that the universe has a beginning because (1) the infinitude of the past entails the existence of actual infinite multitudes of past intervals of time, and (2) the existence of actual infinite multitudes is impossible. Puryear has rejected (1) and argued that what the infinitude of the past entails is only the existence of an actual infinite magnitude of past time. But this does not preclude the infinitude of the past, Puryear claims, because there can be no justification for the claim that actual infinite magnitudes are impossible. I argue, against Puryear, that there can be such a justification. I claim, nevertheless, that for reasons entirely different from Puryear’s, the finitude of the past cannot be established based either on the impossibility of actual infinite multitudes or the impossibility of actual infinite magnitudes. My arguments in this paper draw on insights from al-Kindī and Avicenna.
Philosophical Psychology, 2021
At face value, intentionality is a relational notion. There are, however, arguments intended to ... more At face value, intentionality is a relational notion. There are, however, arguments intended to show that it is not. I categorize the strongest arguments against the relationality of intentionality into three major groups: Brentanian arguments, Fregean arguments, and Quinean arguments. I argue that, despite their prima facie plausibility, none of these arguments eventually succeeds. I then conclude that, in the absence of defeating evidence against what at face value looks correct, we are justified to consider intentionality as a relational notion.
Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 2021
According to Avicenna, some of the objects of mathematics exist and some do not. Every existing m... more According to Avicenna, some of the objects of mathematics exist and some do not. Every existing mathematical object is a non-sensible connotational attribute of a physical object and can be perceived by the faculty of estimation. Non-existing mathematical objects can be represented and perceived by the faculty of imagination through separating and combining parts of the images of existing mathematical objects that are previously perceived by estimation. In any case, even non-existing mathematical objects should be considered as properties of material entities. They can never be grasped as fully immaterial entities. Avicenna believes that we cannot grasp any mathematical concepts unless we first have some specific perceptual experiences. It is only through the ineliminable and irreplaceable operation of the faculties of estimation and imagination upon some sensible data that we can grasp mathematical concepts. This shows that Avicenna endorses some sort of concept empiricism about mathematics.
History and Philosophy of Logic, 2021
The medieval Islamic solutions to the liar paradox can be categorized into three different famili... more The medieval Islamic solutions to the liar paradox can be categorized into three different families. According to the solutions of the first family, the liar sentences are not well-formed truth-apt sentences. The solutions of the second family are based on a violation of the classical principles of logic (e.g., the principle of non-contradiction). Finally, the solutions of the third family render the liar sentences as simply false without any contradiction. In the Islamic tradition, almost all the well-known solutions of the third family are inspired by the solution proposed by Aṯīr al-Dīn al-Abharī (d. 1265). Providing a logical analysis of his discussion of the liar paradox, I show that his solution is based on a conception of truth according to which every sentence signifies, usually among other things, its own truth. This makes Abharī’s solution of the same spirit as certain solutions that were later developed in the Latin tradition, in particular by John Buridan (d. 1358) and Albert of Saxony (d. 1390).
Religious Studies, 2020
By discussing three different understandings of the notion of God's propositional omniscience fro... more By discussing three different understandings of the notion of God's propositional omniscience from a theistic point of view, I show that the strictly restricted account (SPO) – according to which God knows all true propositions that He can know – is preferable to the two other candidates as the standard interpretation of God's propositional omniscience. To establish this conclusion, I argue that Pruss's argument that strictly restricted omniscience (SPO) entails full omniscience (FPO) fails because it relies on a flawed construal of the former thesis. I propose an alternative construal for strictly restricted omniscience and defend it against some potential objections.
Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 2020
Avicenna believed in mathematical finitism. He argued that magnitudes and sets of ordered numbers... more Avicenna believed in mathematical finitism. He argued that magnitudes and sets of ordered numbers and numbered things cannot be actually infinite. In this paper, I discuss his arguments against the actuality of mathematical infinity. A careful analysis of the subtleties of his main argument, i.e., The Mapping Argument, shows that, by employing the notion of correspondence as a tool for comparing the sizes of mathematical infinities, he arrived at a very deep and insightful understanding of the notion of mathematical infinity, one that is much more modern than we might expect. I argue moreover that Avicenna’s mathematical finitism is interwoven with his literalist ontology of mathematics, according to which mathematical objects are properties of existing physical objects.
Philosophy East and West, 2020
Abstract: Dimitri Gutas has argued that Avicennian fiṭrīyāt (or propositions based on data with b... more Abstract: Dimitri Gutas has argued that Avicennian fiṭrīyāt (or propositions based on data with built-in syllogisms), as a group of principles of syllogism, are analytic and non-a priori, in the Kantian sense. In this paper I show that Gutas’s analysis of Avicennian fiṭrīyāt is misleading. I argue that if we want to find a place for fiṭrīyāt in the Kantian matrix of analyticity and a priority, we should accept that at least some of fiṭrīyāt are synthetic a priori.
Philosophy East and West, 2020
In a previous paper, I argued against Gutas’s reading of the epistemic and semantic status of Av... more In a previous paper, I argued against Gutas’s reading of the epistemic and semantic status of Avicennian awwalīyāt and fiṭrīyāt. In his response, he found my use of the Kantian terminology irrelevant to his concerns. To show that the soundness of my argument does not depend on its Kantian language, I develop another version of my argument which is free from Kantian terms. I argue that according to Avicenna’s epistemology, there are some non-innate concepts (i.e., the concepts ‘I’ or ‘self’) and propositions (i.e., awwalīyāt and fiṭrīyāt) that are independent of sense experience. So, it is implausible to describe Avicenna as an empiricist in its modern sense.
Uploads
Books by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
Edited Books by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
These dialogues delve into the philosophical aspects of religion, covering significant topics, including revelation and religious experience, analysis of faith, science and religion, the foundations of morality, and life and the afterlife. In each section, one of these critical issues is examined by three distinguished philosophers, each specializing in a particular religious tradition. These authors not only present their own perspectives on the subject matter but also respond to the viewpoints of philosophers from other traditions. This dynamic exchange gives readers valuable insight into how philosophical inquiries can be approached from various religious standpoints. This unique collection offers a rich tapestry of ideas and fosters a greater understanding of the philosophical dimensions of religion across diverse cultural and religious contexts.
Edited Issues of Journals by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
Encyclopedia Entries by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
It is very well known that the medieval Islamic civilization played a pivotal role in the historical development of technical aspects of mathematics. Standing on the shoulders of their pre-Islamic Greek, Indian, and Persian ancestors, Muslim mathematicians have made numerous innovations in various branches of mathematics and have written a great number of books and essays introducing mathematical notions and proving mathematical theorems (Al-Daffaʾ 1977; R. Rashed 1994; 2012; 2015; Berggren 2016). However, it is very difficult (if not impossible) to find a book from the medieval Islamic era that is exclusively devoted to a comprehensive and systematic study of philosophy of mathematics. Nevertheless, many of the aforementioned philosophical issues about mathematics have been addressed, by great Muslim medieval thinkers, in various works whose central subject was mathematics, physics, metaphysics, or even theology (kalām). Putting these scattered engagements together, it becomes clear that although philosophy of mathematics has never been treated as an independent discipline in the medieval Islamic world, Muslim thinkers came up with very interesting and profound ideas, insights, and arguments about at least some philosophical issues related to mathematics. This entry briefly reviews the most remarkable examples of such insights and arguments, some of which have been the subject of long-standing debates and discussions among Muslim thinkers. Accordingly, the technical mathematical works of Arab and Muslim scholars will be discussed only to the extent that they contain materials related to the philosophy of mathematics.
Journal Papers by Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
These dialogues delve into the philosophical aspects of religion, covering significant topics, including revelation and religious experience, analysis of faith, science and religion, the foundations of morality, and life and the afterlife. In each section, one of these critical issues is examined by three distinguished philosophers, each specializing in a particular religious tradition. These authors not only present their own perspectives on the subject matter but also respond to the viewpoints of philosophers from other traditions. This dynamic exchange gives readers valuable insight into how philosophical inquiries can be approached from various religious standpoints. This unique collection offers a rich tapestry of ideas and fosters a greater understanding of the philosophical dimensions of religion across diverse cultural and religious contexts.
It is very well known that the medieval Islamic civilization played a pivotal role in the historical development of technical aspects of mathematics. Standing on the shoulders of their pre-Islamic Greek, Indian, and Persian ancestors, Muslim mathematicians have made numerous innovations in various branches of mathematics and have written a great number of books and essays introducing mathematical notions and proving mathematical theorems (Al-Daffaʾ 1977; R. Rashed 1994; 2012; 2015; Berggren 2016). However, it is very difficult (if not impossible) to find a book from the medieval Islamic era that is exclusively devoted to a comprehensive and systematic study of philosophy of mathematics. Nevertheless, many of the aforementioned philosophical issues about mathematics have been addressed, by great Muslim medieval thinkers, in various works whose central subject was mathematics, physics, metaphysics, or even theology (kalām). Putting these scattered engagements together, it becomes clear that although philosophy of mathematics has never been treated as an independent discipline in the medieval Islamic world, Muslim thinkers came up with very interesting and profound ideas, insights, and arguments about at least some philosophical issues related to mathematics. This entry briefly reviews the most remarkable examples of such insights and arguments, some of which have been the subject of long-standing debates and discussions among Muslim thinkers. Accordingly, the technical mathematical works of Arab and Muslim scholars will be discussed only to the extent that they contain materials related to the philosophy of mathematics.