Questions and answers from two great philosophersWhy 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.

• Cover
• The Philosopher Responds Volume One
• Letter from the General Editor
• Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Map: Buyid and Neighboring Lands
• Note on the Text
• Notes to the Introduction
• THE PHILOSOPHER RESPONDS, VOLUME ONE
  • On the differences between a number of similar words
  • On why people commend the keeping of secrets yet still disclose them
  • On why certain names are more pleasing than others
  • On why people preach renunciation but do not practice it; on reasons, causes, time, and place
  • On why people seek worldly goods through knowledge but do not seek knowledge through worldly goods
  • On why people long for the past
  • On why men of knowledge tend to be conceited
  • 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
  • On why it pleases people when others ascribe good qualities to them
  • On why it is bad to praise people in their presence and good to praise them in their absence
  • On why people want to know what others say about them in their absence
  • On why people disapprove of young people who act as if they were older
  • On why mean people tend to be mild-tempered and generous people volatile
  • On why people need to acquire knowledge but not ignorance
  • On why people who provoke admiration also feel wonder at themselves; on the nature of wonder; on describing and knowing God
  • On why it is unseemly to eulogize long-time friends and acquaintances
  • On why blind people are often endowed with unusual powersstion
  • On why people say that nothing good comes from partnership
  • On why people use intermediaries despite the problems with partnership
  • On why people speak gladly about the needs of those they concern themselves with yet keep quiet about their own needs
  • On why some people become famous after they die
  • On why men of virtue and reason feel envious toward their equals even though they know envy is blameworthy
  • On why we fear death but sometimes welcome it
  • On why thin people tend to be noble and fat people ignoble
  • On why short people tend to be crafty and tall people foolish
  • On why some people overstate and others understate their age
  • On why people end up loving particular months or days and why they form different conceptions of different days
  • On the meaning and origin of injustice
  • On the significance of a popular saying, and the meaning of certain words
  • On why relatives and kinfolk are prone to outbreaks of extreme hostility
  • On why people become angry when others impute evil to them
  • On why a person who is being talked about suddenly appears out of nowhere; on the nature of coincidences
  • On the meaning of certain ordinary and technical terms
  • On the meaning of certain prepositional expressions concerning God
  • On the nature of the sense of familiarity we feel toward particular places and people
  • On why epilepsy is so hard to treat
  • On why people are so enamored of ascetic individuals
  • On why some people squander their money despite the harmful consequences this entails while others are miserly even though this gives them a bad name
  • On why some people keep their affairs private while others broadcast them for all to hear
  • On why self-praise is unseemly
  • On why people disparage avarice even though they’re avaricious; on the origin of avarice and generosity
  • On why people blame treachery and praise fidelity even though treachery predominates among them
  • On the origin of the customs of different nations
  • On why people don’t grow young again after they’ve grown old
  • On the benefit people derive from likening some things to others
  • On why some dreams are true and others false
  • On the nature of dreams
  • On why friendship arises between apparently dissimilar individuals
  • On the definition and nature of knowledge
  • On why people make apparently false statements when expressing admiration
  • On why people take pleasure in contemplating beautiful forms
  • On why people are more adept at counseling others than at managing their own affairs
  • On why the sight of open wounds provokes horror and fascination
  • On why people love the present world; on whether the religious Law can conflict with nature
  • On why people take their own lives
  • On a philosophical puzzle relating to the act of suicide
  • On moral change and acting out of character
  • On the meaning of a certain saying concerning God’s beneficence
  • On why noble-minded people love cleanliness
  • On the merits of singing versus playing musical instruments
  • On why some people master different subjects more easily than others
  • On the nature of physiognomy
  • On why people covet things denied to them
  • On why people inquire into what will happen in the future
• Notes
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Further Reading
• Index
• About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute
• About the Typefaces
• Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature
• About the Editor–Translators