World of Image in Islamic Philosophy

Download or read book World of Image in Islamic Philosophy written by L. W. C. van Lit and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-30 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most controversial issues that divided Islamic philosophers and theologians during the Middle Ages was whether human beings would have a spiritual or bodily existence after death. The idea of a world of image was conceived as a solution, suggesting that there exists a world of non-physical (imagined) bodies, beyond our earthly existence. This world may be reached in sleep, in meditation or after death.From the embryonic conception by Ibn Sina, to the radical rethinking by Suhrawardi and Shahrazuri into a sophisticated system, L. W. C. van Lit unravels the history of this idea. Using a distant reading approach for measuring the transmission, he further shows how the idea remained relevant for Muslim thinkers through the centuries, up until today.