On the harmony of spirituality and rational wisdom according to the opus rasāʾil iḫwān aṣ-ṣafāʾ

a path to overcome the crisis in sciences

Detlev Quintern

pp. 51-67

in: Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (ed), Reason, spirit and the sacral in the new enlightenment, Berlin, Springer, 2011

Abstract

More then a thousand years ago IÌwÁn aÒ-ÑafÁÞ, the brothers of sincerity – a community of philosophers and scientists – introduced a philosophy of science which embedded knowledge in the necessary understanding of the interplay of micro- and macrocosm. Here sciences are aware of their connectivity not only regarding the search for truth in the inseparable web of life but as well beyond. The creativity of reason is spiritually orientated towards oneness. Sciences unfold the constructive potentialities of nature with which human rationality communicates. The current crisis of sciences may find a way out from the lapse of destructivity by recovering the harmony of spirituality and rationality.