Henry Corbin
Henry Corbin (born in Paris on 14 April 1903 and died in Paris on 7 October 1978 ) is a philosopher and orientalist French.
He is one of the few philosophers to deal with the Islamic Iran in general and the gnosis Shia in particular.
Corbin translated, interpreted and edited some of the classics of this tradition, including big names such as Sohrawardi , Molla Sadra Shirazi , Ruzbehan Baqll Shirazi and also the Sufi Ibn Arabi and his disciple Shiite Haydar Amoli , slowly expanding horizon Philosophical also in the process of globalization.
Summary |
Life
A student of Etienne Gilson and Jean Baruzi , Louis Massignon reveals the "Oriental Theosophy" definitely of Suhrawardi who directs his philosophical vocation. After several trips to Germany, he published in 1937 the first French translation of Heidegger entitled "What is metaphysics? . Attach at the French Institute of Istanbul ( 1939 to 1945 ), he is responsible for founding the department of Iranology at the French Institute in Tehran. He founded the "Iranian Library" which will be published classics this forgotten tradition. In 1954 he was appointed director of studies "Islam and the religions of Arabia" at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes where he succeeded his friend and master Louis Massignon. In 1974 , he founded an international center for spiritual research compared at Saint John of Jerusalem where specialists meet the three Abrahamic religions.
Work
Through his exegesis, Corbin covers topics such as knowledge and visionary narrative, the imaginal world and the creative imagination as theophanic faculties, the spiritual body or earth heavenly, the immamologie, s angelology and drama in the sky are creations of what the foundation called Corbin a philosophy based on the prophetic spiritual hermeneutics of the Holy Book which is the best Christian equivalent Jakob Bhme. This means that this prophetic philosophy must be considered a theosophy able to reconcile the rational and visionary faculties in man.
The work of Henry Corbin tries to demonstrate that thought Islam is not confined to philosophers Hellenists, the kalam Sunni or even Sufism and that his story does not end with Averroes. According to Corbin, the death of Averroes remove only the peripatetic Arab and dialogue between the deaf and Falasifa Kalam. Islamic philosophy is instead a boost from the seminal work of Sohrawardi passing the Arab world to Persia where it finds a new vitality and fully realize some unexplored potential without denying the achievements and technical categories Greek thought.
Finally, the work of Corbin exceeds historical exegesis and takes a new dimension when she sees this tradition as a potential bulwark against the dangers of the deadly spiritual secularism and secularization which nihilism West seems the culmination. For Corbin, esotericism esotericism Shiite joined Abraham and is one of the vertices and form a force of proposal remains valid, able to overcome the impasses of the metaphysical systems of theology dogmatic in reifying God , make it a metaphysical significance (the Supreme Being ) that atheism could only withdraw after the weakening of the secular power of the churches.
The essential work of H. Corbin extends through his pupil Jambet Christian who, without question, has shown that besides the esoteric , the Shia tradition also included a kalam, a dogmatic theology whose consideration is essential when we want understand the origins of sectarianism and fundamentalism whose Iranian revolution is the latest manifestation.
Publications
- History of Islamic philosophy, al. "Ideas", Gallimard, 1964.
- Islam in Iranian spiritual and philosophical aspects, 2nd ed., Gallimard, 1978, 4 vols.
- Avicenna and the visionary narrative, repr. Verdier, 1999.
- The Hidden Imam, L'Herne, 2003.
- The paradox of monotheism, the Herne, 1981.
- Cyclical Time and Ismaili Gnosis, Berg International , 1982.
- Face of God in the face of man, Flammarion, 1983.
- Alchemy as hieratic art, L'Herne, 1986.
- Iranian philosophy and comparative philosophy, Buchet / Chastel, 1979.
- Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth: From Mazdean Iran to Shi'ite Iran, 2nd ed. Fully revised, Buchet / Chastel, 1979, 303P.
- The Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn'Arab, 2nd ed. Flammarion, 1977.
- Temple and contemplation, Flammarion, 1981.
- The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism, 2nd ed. Editions "Presence", 1971.
- Jasmine Faithful Love, by Ruzbehan , translated from Persian by Henry Corbin, ed. Verdier, Grasse 1991.
- The man and his angel. Initiation and spiritual chivalry, repr. Fayard, 2003.
Bibliography
- Bibliography and detailed biography in Cahier de l'Herne devoted to Henry Corbin, 1981, edited by Christian Jambet.
- Henry Corbin, pilgrims from Iran by Jean Moncelon, in Aurora spring-summer 2006.
- Henry Corbin: Philosophies and religions of the book of wisdom, Proceedings of the conference "Henry Corbin," Sorbonne, 6-8 November 2000, under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Christian Jambet Pierre Lory, Library School Studies, Religious Studies Vol. 126, No. 1, 1 vol. (251 p.), Publisher: Brepols (Turnhout), 2005 ( ISBN 2-503-51904-0 )
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