Vagueness

In the Sufi Ibn `Arabi’s mystical discourse, a performative “language of unsaying” is generated from the tensions and paradoxes that arise from the attempt to articulate the ineffable nature of a transcendent divine. However, such forms of language also occur in his attempts to articulate the elusi...

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Autor principal: David Perley
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 2005
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/f3558422bcd34024ac2b2c0dd10f23ab
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:f3558422bcd34024ac2b2c0dd10f23ab2021-12-02T18:18:45ZVagueness10.35632/ajis.v22i4.4612690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/f3558422bcd34024ac2b2c0dd10f23ab2005-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/461https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 In the Sufi Ibn `Arabi’s mystical discourse, a performative “language of unsaying” is generated from the tensions and paradoxes that arise from the attempt to articulate the ineffable nature of a transcendent divine. However, such forms of language also occur in his attempts to articulate the elusive nature of the barzakh, an intermediate property of all existent things and beings. His use of language invokes not only issues of ineffability arising from a transcendent object, but also the dynamic relation between the ineffable and the intermediate. The analytical concept of “vagueness” helps to clarify such concepts as the barzakh by showing how these symbols are, relatively speaking, “precise” representations. Such a linguistic, philosophical knot is built into the mystical, pedagogical tradition of Ibn `Arabi’s Sufism, necessitating a distinction between how contemporary analytical philosophers and Sufi thinkers like him think about vagueness, while also emphasizing the sophisticated understanding of language at the heart of his Sufism. David PerleyInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 22, Iss 4 (2005)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
David Perley
Vagueness
description In the Sufi Ibn `Arabi’s mystical discourse, a performative “language of unsaying” is generated from the tensions and paradoxes that arise from the attempt to articulate the ineffable nature of a transcendent divine. However, such forms of language also occur in his attempts to articulate the elusive nature of the barzakh, an intermediate property of all existent things and beings. His use of language invokes not only issues of ineffability arising from a transcendent object, but also the dynamic relation between the ineffable and the intermediate. The analytical concept of “vagueness” helps to clarify such concepts as the barzakh by showing how these symbols are, relatively speaking, “precise” representations. Such a linguistic, philosophical knot is built into the mystical, pedagogical tradition of Ibn `Arabi’s Sufism, necessitating a distinction between how contemporary analytical philosophers and Sufi thinkers like him think about vagueness, while also emphasizing the sophisticated understanding of language at the heart of his Sufism.
format article
author David Perley
author_facet David Perley
author_sort David Perley
title Vagueness
title_short Vagueness
title_full Vagueness
title_fullStr Vagueness
title_full_unstemmed Vagueness
title_sort vagueness
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 2005
url https://doaj.org/article/f3558422bcd34024ac2b2c0dd10f23ab
work_keys_str_mv AT davidperley vagueness
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