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God’s attributes; Are aḥwāl contradictory?

  • Behnam Zolghadr
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Contradiction and the Absolute
This chapter is in the book Contradiction and the Absolute

Abstract

This article is about Abū Hāshim al-Jubbāī’s theory of aḥwāl (states). According to Abū Hāshim, the attributes of God are His states of being. One of the controversial claims of the theory of states is that states are neither existent nor non-existent. In this paper, I examine this claim in the works of al-Juwaynī, one of the later proponents of the theory of states. Some later Arabic philosophers argued that the theory of states implies that there is a middle between existence and non-existence. In this paper, I demonstrate that this is not the case; nevertheless, the ineffability of states- in-themselves implies a contradiction.

Abstract

This article is about Abū Hāshim al-Jubbāī’s theory of aḥwāl (states). According to Abū Hāshim, the attributes of God are His states of being. One of the controversial claims of the theory of states is that states are neither existent nor non-existent. In this paper, I examine this claim in the works of al-Juwaynī, one of the later proponents of the theory of states. Some later Arabic philosophers argued that the theory of states implies that there is a middle between existence and non-existence. In this paper, I demonstrate that this is not the case; nevertheless, the ineffability of states- in-themselves implies a contradiction.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Dedication V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Introduction: Facing Contradiction in the Absolute 1
  5. Part I : Asian Philosophy
  6. Transcendental Contradictions: The Spectre of Non-Being in Early to Middle Brāhmanic-Hindu Thought-System 9
  7. “It is Distant, it is Near” – Vedāntic Hindu Visions of Divine Contradictions 39
  8. Contradictions and Certainty: The Mīmāṃsā Defense of the Authorless Veda 61
  9. Buddhism, Emptiness, and Paradox 77
  10. All in One Mind. Huayan’s Holistic Panbuddhism 89
  11. Heidegger and Dōgen on the Ineffable 105
  12. Part II : Christian Philosophy
  13. Contradiction and God Between Neoplatonism and the Byzantine Tradition: Proclus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Nicholas of Methone 137
  14. The Ways God Overcomes Contradictions in Human Understanding: Nicholas of Cusa 169
  15. Identity and non-Identity of the Human Soul with God in Meister Eckhart’s Metaphysical Mysticism 185
  16. Hegel’s Absolute from a Logical Point of View 211
  17. The One, the Many, and the Trinity: A Dialetheist Response to the Trinitarian Contradiction 221
  18. Part III: Jewish and Islamic Philosophy
  19. “Laud and praise Him justly and uprightly, not by attributing to Him exaggerations and absurdities”: God and logic in Jewish thought 249
  20. On Ayin, or the Divine Nothing 269
  21. Transcendence vs. Immanence in Jewish Philosophy and Poetry 289
  22. God’s attributes; Are aḥwāl contradictory? 297
  23. God and Impossibility: A Classical Ashʿarī Perspective 311
  24. Is Being Contradictory? — Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Principle of Non-Contradiction 347
  25. Contributors
  26. Names Index
  27. Topic Index
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111369983-016

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Dedication V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Introduction: Facing Contradiction in the Absolute 1
  5. Part I : Asian Philosophy
  6. Transcendental Contradictions: The Spectre of Non-Being in Early to Middle Brāhmanic-Hindu Thought-System 9
  7. “It is Distant, it is Near” – Vedāntic Hindu Visions of Divine Contradictions 39
  8. Contradictions and Certainty: The Mīmāṃsā Defense of the Authorless Veda 61
  9. Buddhism, Emptiness, and Paradox 77
  10. All in One Mind. Huayan’s Holistic Panbuddhism 89
  11. Heidegger and Dōgen on the Ineffable 105
  12. Part II : Christian Philosophy
  13. Contradiction and God Between Neoplatonism and the Byzantine Tradition: Proclus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Nicholas of Methone 137
  14. The Ways God Overcomes Contradictions in Human Understanding: Nicholas of Cusa 169
  15. Identity and non-Identity of the Human Soul with God in Meister Eckhart’s Metaphysical Mysticism 185
  16. Hegel’s Absolute from a Logical Point of View 211
  17. The One, the Many, and the Trinity: A Dialetheist Response to the Trinitarian Contradiction 221
  18. Part III: Jewish and Islamic Philosophy
  19. “Laud and praise Him justly and uprightly, not by attributing to Him exaggerations and absurdities”: God and logic in Jewish thought 249
  20. On Ayin, or the Divine Nothing 269
  21. Transcendence vs. Immanence in Jewish Philosophy and Poetry 289
  22. God’s attributes; Are aḥwāl contradictory? 297
  23. God and Impossibility: A Classical Ashʿarī Perspective 311
  24. Is Being Contradictory? — Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Principle of Non-Contradiction 347
  25. Contributors
  26. Names Index
  27. Topic Index
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