Faith and Reason: A Comparative Analysis of Abū l-Muʿīn al-Nasafī and Thomas Aquinas on Intellect, Assent, and Free Will

Yıl 2023, , 469 - 506, 31.12.2023

Muhammet Saygı

https://doi.org/10.12730/is.1317582

Öz

This paper aims to explore the complex relationship between intellect, knowledge, and free will in the context of religious faith, īmān or fides. The paper focuses on the perspectives of two prominent theologians, Abū l-Muʿīn al-Nasafī (d. 508/1115) and Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), from the Middle Ages. The study begins its investigation by looking into the aforementioned theologians’ ideas and interpretations related to the nature of religious faith. It then explores the specific roles assigned by al-Nasafī and Aquinas to intellect, assent, and free will in the act of faith. The article’s final section presents a comparative analysis of their perspectives, highlighting the similarities, differences, and potential tensions between their positions. The findings of this study suggest that Aquinas’ argument, which asserts that grounding faith in knowledge or evidence undermines human free will, may have certain problematic aspects. According to him, one necessarily assents to the proposition at hand if there is conclusive evidence. However, as for al-Nasafī, it appears that one can rely on evidence and exercise his/her free will in the act of faith if religious assent, taṣdīq or agnitio, is understood in a dual sense.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Intellect, assent, free will, knowledge, evidence, Abū l-Muʿīn al-Nasafī, Thomas Aquinas

Teşekkür

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Nicholas Adams and Dr Richard Todd, for their thoughtful comments and valuable feedback on my earlier drafts of this paper. I would also like to express my gratitude to the esteemed Professor İlyas Çelebi and my dear friend Dr Sami Turan Erel for their invaluable assistance in accessing and interpreting the Arabic materials used in this study.

Kaynakça

• Akdağ, Özcan. Tanrı ve Özgürlük: Gazâlî ve Thomas Aquinas Ekseninde Bir İnceleme. Ankara: Elis Yayınları, 2016.
• Akkuş, Süleyman. “Ebû’l-Muîn en-Nesefî’ye Göre Taklidin İnanç Boyutu”. Sakarya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 10/18 (2008), 99-128.
• Altıntaş, Ahmet. “Ebû Mansur Muhammed el-Mâturîdî ile Ebu’l-Muîn en-Nesefî’nin İman Görüşü”. Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 16/32 (2018), 311-355.
• Amesbury, Richard. “Fideism”. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (summer 2022 edition). Edited by Edward N. Zalta. Accessed June 7, 2023. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2022/entries/fideism/
• Aquinas, Thomas. The Disputed Questions on Truth. Translated by Robert W. Mulligan - James V. McGlynn - Robert William Schmidt. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1952-1954.
• Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Contra Gentiles. Translated by Laurence Shapcote, OP. Green Bay, Wisconsin: Aquinas Institute, Inc., 2018. https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~SCG1
• Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologiae. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Benziger Bros. edition. Epub: The Thomistic Institute, 1947. https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org/st-index
• Aquinas, Thomas. The Pocket Aquinas: Selections from the Writings of St. Thomas. Edited by Vernon J. Bourke. New York: Washington Square Press, 1968.
• al-Ashʿarī, Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl Ibn Abī Bishr. Maqālāt al-Islāmīyyīn wa-ikhtilāf al-muṣallīn. Edited by Hellmut Ritter. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2nd Edition, 1963.
• Bauerschmidt, Frederick Christian. Thomas Aquinas: Faith, Reason, and Following Christ. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
• Clifford, William K. “The Ethics of Belief”. An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism. Edited by Gordon Stein. 276-293. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1980.
• Davies, Brian. “Thomas Aquinas”. A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Edited by Jorge J. E. Gracia - Timothy B. Noone. 643-659. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2003.
• Dönmez, Süleyman. “İbn Rüşd ve Thomas Aquinas Bağlamında Hıristiyanlığın Rasyonel Yorumuna İslam Felsefesinin Etkisi”. Çukurova Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 7/2 (June 2007), 21-38.
• Ess, Josef van. “The Logical Structure of Islamic Theology”. Kleine Schriften by Josef van Ess. Edited by Hinrich Biesterfeldt. 1/238-271. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
• Feldman, Richard. “The Ethics of Belief”. Evidentialism: Essays in Epistemology. Edited by Earl Conee - Richard Feldman. 166-196. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Feldman, Richard - Conee, Earl. “Evidentialism”. Evidentialism: Essays in Epistemology. Edited by Earl Conee - Richard Feldman. 83-108. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Griffiths, Paul J. An Apology for Apologetics: A Study in the Logic of Interreligious Dialogue. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2007.
• Izutsu, Toshihiko. The Concept of Belief in Islamic Theology: A Semantic Analysis of Îmân and Islâm. Tokyo: The Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, 1965.
• James, William. The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy and Human Immortality. New York: Dover Publications, 1960.
• Kenny, Anthony. Aquinas on Mind. New York: Routledge, 1993.
• Kenny, Anthony. What Is Faith?: Essays in the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
• Küken, A. Gülnihâl. Doğu - Batı Felsefi Etkileşiminde İbn Rüşd ve St. Thomas Aquinas Felsefelerinin Karşılaştırılması. İstanbul: Alfa Yayınları, 1996.
• Mascall, Eric L. “Faith and Reason: Anselm and Aquinas”. The Journal of Theological Studies 14/1 (April 1963), 67-90. https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/XIV.1.67
• Mill, John Stuart. Three Essays on Religion. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1874.
• al-Nasafī, Abū l-Muʿīn Maymūn ibn Muḥammad. al-Tamhīd fī uṣūl al-dīn. Edited by ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Qābil. Cairo: Dār al-Thaqāfah, 1987.
• al-Nasafī, Abū l-Muʿīn Maymūn ibn Muḥammad. Baḥr al-kalām. Edited by Muḥammad Sāliḥ al-Farfūr. Damascus: Maktabat Dār al-Farfūr, 2nd Edition, 2000.
• al-Nasafī, Abū l-Muʿīn Maymūn ibn Muḥammad. Tabṣirat al-adillah fī uṣūl al-dīn. Edited by Hüseyin Atay - Şaban Ali Düzgün. 2 Volumes. Ankara: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı Yayınları, 2003.
• Niederbacher, Bruno. “The Relation of Reason to Faith”. The Oxford Handbook of Aquinas. Edited by Brian Davies - Eleonore Stump. 337-347. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Pawl, Timothy. “The Five Ways”. The Oxford Handbook of Aquinas. Edited by Brian Davies. 115-131. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Penelhum, Terence. “The Analysis of Faith in St Thomas Aquinas”. Religious Studies 13/2 (June 1977), 133-154. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412500009938
• Pessagno, Jerome Meric. “Intellect and Religious Assent: Intellect and Religious Assent: The View of Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī”. The Muslim World 69/1 (1979), 18-27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.1979.tb03368.x
• Plantinga, Alvin. “Is Belief in God Properly Basic?”. Noûs 15/1 (March 1981), 41-51. https://doi.org/10.2307/2215239
• Plantinga, Alvin. “Reason and Belief in God”. Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God. Edited by Alvin Plantinga - Nicholas Wolterstorff. 16-93. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983.
• Saygı, Muhammet. “The Predominant Christian Interpretation of Religious Faith in the Middle Ages: Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas”. Darulfunun İlahiyat 34/1 (June 2023), 211-242. https://doi.org/10.26650/di.2023.34.1.1230415
• Siebert, Matthew Kent. “Aquinas on Testimonial Justification: Faith and Opinion”. The Review of Metaphysics 69/3 (March 2016), 555-582.
• al-Tāftāzānī, Saʿd al-Dīn Masʿūd ibn Fakhr al-Dīn. A Commentary on the Creed of Islam: Saʿd al-Dīn al-Tāftāzānī on the Creed of Najm al-Dīn al-Nasafī. Translated by Earl Edgar Elder. New York: Columbia University Press, 1950.
• Tennant, Frederick R. Philosophical Theology. 2 Volumes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
• Türkben, Yaşar. İbn Sînâ ve Thomas Aquinas’ta Kötülük Problemi. Ankara: Elis Yayınları, 2012.
• The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Sahih International. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://corpus.quran.com
• Wehr, Hans. The Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Accessed November 9, 2023. http://ejtaal.net/aa/readme.html
• West, John A. “Aquinas on Intellect, Will, and Faith”. Aporia 13/1 (Spring 2003), 1-13.
• Young, James O. “The Coherence Theory of Truth”. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive (Fall 2018 Edition). Edited by Edward N. Zalta. Accessed June 7, 2023. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/truth-coherence/