Anthony Robert Booth Islamic Philosophy and the Ethics of Belief

Annotation

In this bookthe author argues that the Falasifa,the Philosophers of the Islamic Golden Age, are usefully interpreted throughthe prism of the contemporary, western ethics of belief. He contends that theirposition amounts to what he calls 'Moderate Evidentialism' - that only for theepistemic elite what one ought to believe is determined by one's evidence. Theauthor makes the case that the Falasifa's position is well argued, ingeniouslycircumvents issues in the epistemology of testimony, and is well worth takingseriously in the contemporary debate. He reasons that this is especially thecase since the position has salutary consequences for how to respond tothe sceptic, and for how we are to conceive of extremist belief.