According to Aristotle, metaphysics is utterly important. It’s the first philosophy that is concerned with ‘the first causes and principles of things.’ The field needs to explain things that are beyond the physical world. Theology is a field that is concerned with metaphysical questions and puts God in the centre.
Al-Ghazali is notorious for being an anti-Aristotelian, in other words for being irrational. Moreover, he’s being accused of ending the golden age of the Islam. To which extent is this true? Is it true at all? He might have been portrayed like this bad guy however the situation is quite the opposite. He wrote a book to summarise philosophers, stepped into their train of thoughts, to have an objective position as possible, subsequently he noticed incoherences in their work. He was a critical thinker, who puts theories into question and demanded answers. He encouraged to study philosophy in order to refute it. In a way, he’s not so much different from Socrates, who kept raising questions in order to come closer to the truth. So, the opposite of his accusations is the truth, he’s being very rational and more importantly, the golden age started after he set foot.
What goes wrong most often with the systematisation of philosophers? Well, many philosophers just imitate their ancestors without proper investigation. Also, questions are asked that shouldn’t be asked in philosophy in the first place. Questions about metaphysics which you can’t answer through empirical proof. A lot of questions about God, his existence and causality are ‘proven’ while there are so many errors in these proofs. Claims were being made when there’s no necessary consequence from premise to conclusion. That leads to bad philosophy. Al-Ghazali wants to uphold the scientific method and metaphysics can’t be part of that because of the inability to demonstrate.
Metaphysics is outside the realm of science. In philosophy there’s no room for imagination, because there’s no fundamental agreement. According to Al-Ghazali, philosophy has nothing to offer in understanding religion. Philosophy needs logic. Also, theology has the task for investigating metaphysical questions. In religion there’s a long tradition of broad agreement in faith. And religion has reliable sources like prophets who claim to have received revelation. Philosophy doesn’t have this authority. Philosophy should stay away from metaphysics, because philosophy is about logic and good demonstration. He thinks good philosophy only entails scientific questions.
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