Webcasts Home
Browse:
- Biography, History
- Culture, Performing Arts
- Education
- Government
- Poetry, Literature
- Religion
- Science, Technology
More Audio, Video Resources at the Library
TITLE: Arab Medieval Philosophers' Doctrines on War
SPEAKER: Maroun Aouad
EVENT DATE: 02/25/2009
RUNNING TIME: 75 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
Unlike the concept of jihad in the Islamic world, the doctrines on war that were held by medieval philosophers writing in Arabic have received minimal attention. Maroun Aouad, a distinguished visiting scholar in the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, discussed the topic in a lecture titled "Arab Medieval Philosophers' Doctrines on War."
According to Aouad, studies about jihad, the duty required by Islamic law to wage war under certain conditions, are numerous. They are, however, of a limited interest, since they link the concept of jihad to its restricted juridical and historical characteristics within a specific religion and civilization.
Much less attention, according to Aouad, has been paid to the doctrines on expansive war that were held by Arab medieval philosophers, who, like Averroes (1126-1198), were at times influenced by Plato. Those doctrines were grounded in pure reasoning and were not based on a revealed law. They raised problems and gave answers that are of a much more universal value and go far beyond the Islamic civilization. Aouad's talk will dealt with these rational explanations and with their relationship to jihad.
Speaker Biography: Maroun Aouad received a master's degree in law from the Universite de Lyon and a doctorate in philosophy from the Sorbonne in Paris. He is the director of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and has done research there since 1985. He has received numerous awards, fellowships and honors including the Delalande-Guerineau Prize given by the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in 2004.