• Intro; Letter from the General Editor; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Map: Buyid and Neighbouring Lands; Note on the Text; Notes to the Introduction; The Philosopher Responds; On the differences between a number of similar words-a linguistic question; On why people commend the keeping of secrets yet still disclose them-an ethical question; On why certain names are more pleasing than others-a composite question about the secrets of nature and the letters of the language; On why people preach renunciation but do not practice it

• On reasons, causes, time, and place-a question relating to voluntary choiceOn why people seek worldly goods through knowledge but do not seek knowledge through worldly goods-a question relating to voluntary choice; On why people long for the past-a natural question; On why men of knowledge tend to be conceited-an ethical question; On why people are sometimes ashamed and sometimes proud of wrongdoing; on the meaning of shame; On why people claim to have knowledge they lack-a natural question; On why it pleases people when others ascribe good qualities to them-a natural question

• On why it is bad to praise people in their presence and good to praise them in their absence-a question relating to voluntary choiceOn why people want to know what others say about them in their absence-a natural question; On why people disapprove of young people who act as if they were older-a question relating to voluntary choice; On why mean people tend to be mild-tempered and generous people volatile-an ethical question; On why people need to acquire knowledge but not ignorance-a question relating to nature and voluntary choice

• On why people who provoke admiration also feel wonder at themselves on the nature of wonder; on describing and knowing God-a natural question; On why it is unseemly to eulogize long-time friends and acquaintances-a question relating to voluntary choice; On why blind people are often endowed with unusual powers-a natural question; On why people say that nothing good comes from partnership- a question relating to nature and voluntary choice; On why people use intermediaries despite the problems with partnership-a question relating to voluntary choice

• On why people speak gladly about the needs of those they concern themselves with yet keep quiet about their own needs-a question relating to natural and ethical mattersOn why some people become famous after they die-a question relating to natural and ethical matters; On why men of virtue and reason feel envious toward their equals even though they know envy is blameworthy-an ethical question; On why we fear death but sometimes welcome it-a question relating to natural and ethical matters; On why thin people tend to be noble and fat people ignoble-a natural question

Questions and answers from two great philosophers Why is laughter contagious? Why do mountains exist? Why do we long for the past, even if it is scarred by suffering? Spanning a vast array of subjects that range from the philosophical to the theological, from the philological to the scientific, The Philosopher Responds is the record of a set of questions put by the litterateur Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi to the philosopher and historian Abu 'Ali Miskawayh. Both figures were foremost contributors to the remarkable flowering of cultural and intellectual life that took place in the Islamic world during the reign of the Buyid dynasty in the fourth/tenth century. The correspondence between al-Tawhidi and Miskawayh holds a mirror to many of the debates and preoccupations of the time and reflects the spirit of rationalistic inquiry that animated their era. It also provides insight into the intellectual outlooks of two thinkers who were divided as much by their distinctive temperaments as by the very different trajectories of their professional careers. Alternately whimsical and tragic, wondering and brooding, trivial and profound, al-Tawhidi's questions provoke an interaction as interesting in its spiritedness as in its content. This new edition of The Philosopher Responds is accompanied by the first full-length English translation of this important text, bringing this interaction to life for the English reader. A bilingual Arabic-English edition.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)