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CSI'S MONDAY MAJLIS: "Kalīla and Dimna and the Anthological Epistemology of adab" — Johannes Stephan

Feb 20, 2023 | 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM

The CSI Monday Majlis is a Monday evening, online event, where invited speakers present on aspects of their current research.

Abstract

Focus is given to the reception history of the book Kalīla wa-Dimna between the 9th and 13th centuries CE, which was known as the Indian book in the Arabic context. In doing so, Stephan attempts to reconstruct what the Arabic Kalīla wa-Dimna might have looked like before the early 13th century, to which we do not have access due to the manuscript situation. This intertextual endeavor also offers fruitful insights into how wisdom literature is perceived and incorporated into the Arabo-Islamic context of adab, and is thus also a step towards deciphering what adab is actually about. I will therefore present how the reception of Kalīla wa-Dimna's wisdom not only helps to reconstruct some aspects of the book tradition, but also reveals how the inclusion of wisdom literature is embedded in an epistemology that carries specific ethical implications. Stephan refers to this as an anthological epistemology, that is, an attitude toward knowledge rooted in grasping new snippets of wisdom through the use of cognitive association – similes, parables, analogies. Such an attitude has implications for understanding the ethics of reading and learning on the one hand, and appropriate situational understanding and behavior on the other. Kalīla wa-Dimna, Stephan will argue, is among the first specimen in Arabic literature of introducing an integrative Islamic mode of thinking based on a mediation between what is commonly known and accepted and the creativity and innovation necessary to engage with new contexts.

Time & Location

Feb 20, 2023 | 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM

Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter (Online)

Further Information

Note: Times are in UK time.

To register in advance for this meeting click here.