Phenomenological Dialectics on Reason and Spirit: Rational Discourses and Spiritual Inspirations

Abstract

Philosophical interrogations around the notions of “reason” and “spirit” are essentially self-reflective, in the sense that they presuppose the matter to be thought to be itself posited as a ground that founds the unfurling of such impetus in thinking. This self-reflexivity lets itself also appear in this transition as being seemingly groundless in its self-grounding (as Abgrund). This reflective state of affairs becomes significantly complicated in the context of a dialogue between “phenomenology” and “philosophical thinking in Islam”; especially when such endeavor is undertaken in the context of a colloquium held as part of the American Philosophical Association meeting (keeping in mind the manner by virtue of which mainstream academic/professional “philosophical analyses” assess investigations of “spirituality”).