How the Human Arrived in Islam and Then Disappeared: From Athens to Baghdad
This book argues that while the concept of man was a Greek invention, its reinvention was Arab before it was European. Born in Greece in the fourth century BC, this concept of man disappeared at the end of Late Antiquity, before reappearing in the Abbasid Near East. It was Muslim rationalist theologians who revived it in their theodicy of a just God who can only be just by recognizing the agency of human beings in their voluntary acts. Later, Arabic-speaking philosophers gave it a space of its own under the name of ‘human sciences,’ in the 9th century. But a traditional theology got the better of it. Its reappearance had to wait for the European Renaissance, while retaining its Arab origins.
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How the Human Arrived in Islam and Then Disappeared: From Athens to Baghdad
This book argues that while the concept of man was a Greek invention, its reinvention was Arab before it was European. Born in Greece in the fourth century BC, this concept of man disappeared at the end of Late Antiquity, before reappearing in the Abbasid Near East. It was Muslim rationalist theologians who revived it in their theodicy of a just God who can only be just by recognizing the agency of human beings in their voluntary acts. Later, Arabic-speaking philosophers gave it a space of its own under the name of ‘human sciences,’ in the 9th century. But a traditional theology got the better of it. Its reappearance had to wait for the European Renaissance, while retaining its Arab origins.
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How the Human Arrived in Islam and Then Disappeared: From Athens to Baghdad

How the Human Arrived in Islam and Then Disappeared: From Athens to Baghdad

by Houari Touati
How the Human Arrived in Islam and Then Disappeared: From Athens to Baghdad
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How the Human Arrived in Islam and Then Disappeared: From Athens to Baghdad

How the Human Arrived in Islam and Then Disappeared: From Athens to Baghdad

by Houari Touati

Overview

This book argues that while the concept of man was a Greek invention, its reinvention was Arab before it was European. Born in Greece in the fourth century BC, this concept of man disappeared at the end of Late Antiquity, before reappearing in the Abbasid Near East. It was Muslim rationalist theologians who revived it in their theodicy of a just God who can only be just by recognizing the agency of human beings in their voluntary acts. Later, Arabic-speaking philosophers gave it a space of its own under the name of ‘human sciences,’ in the 9th century. But a traditional theology got the better of it. Its reappearance had to wait for the European Renaissance, while retaining its Arab origins.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9789004700437
Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers, Inc.
Publication date: 01/29/2026
Series: Handbook of Oriental Studies: Section 1; The Near and Middle East , #195
Pages: 550
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Houari Touati is professor at EHESS, Paris. He is editor of Studia Islamica and a member of the Academy of Europe. He is the author of numerous books, some of which have been translated into English, Italian and Turkish.
Gwendolin Goldbloom read Islamic Studies and English at Hamburg University. She has translated several books and numerous articles in the fields of Islamic Studies and the intellectual and political history of both Europe and the Middle East.
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