An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia

The appearance of the fourth volume of Nasr’s and Aminrazavi’s excellent Anthology of Philosophy in Persia series is a great gift to teachers and students of philosophy. The present edition covers Illuminationist and Mystical currents from the 7th to 10th centuries AH, and 13th to 18th centuries AD, which coincided with the eclipse of the school of Khorasan and the rise of the Safavids. Like previous editions of this encyclopedic effort, the work begins with a general introduction to broad intellectual schools and their personalities, followed by thematic sections divided into chapters dealing with individual thinkers. These chapters are themselves preceded by introductions to the life and thought of their personages, and this serves as a refreshing entry into the specialist translations. The reader cannot help but appreciate how this format has gathered the best of a reference style with that of a detailed reader in philosophy allowing him to choose how deeply he would like to immerse himself in a given thinker or idea.