Methods in Islamic Philosophy Studies and Historiography of Thought: An Evaluation Based on Revisionist al-Ghazālī Studies

Abstract

When concerned with the issue of methodology in the study of Islamic philosophy, the matter of discussion usually involves the scope of Islamic philosophy. However, the suggestion is made that this problem must be considered within the general historiography of thought. Accordingly, this article recommends a theoretical basis regarding Islamic philosophy studies in Turkey through three historiography of thought approaches: the history of philosophy approach as presented by Jacob Brucker (1742-1744), the history of ideas approach as presented by Arthur Lovejoy (1936), and the intellectual history approach as presented by Quentin Skinner (1969). Historical causal explanations regarding the thoughts of a philosopher are suggested to be based on the philosopher's overall system of thought according to the history of philosophy approach, on various contexts in which that thought is observed according to the history of ideas approach, and on the language and sociopolitical context according to the intellectual history approach. Moreover, this article concretizes the theoretical basis through evaluations of the revisionist al-Ghazālī studies by Richard Frank (1992, 1994), Frank Griffel (2009), Alexander Treiger (2012), and Kenneth Garden (2014). Lastly, some opinions about Islamic philosophy studies in Turkey are given using the approaches discussed in the article. Along with this, the article does not suggest a method, yet it examines three historiography of thought approaches and aims to raise awareness of these approaches as they are adopted.