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An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, vol. 1, ed. by Seyyed Hossein Nasr with Mehdi Aminrazavi. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. xxx + 411 pages. Bibl. to p. 413. Index to p. 434. n.p.
An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, vol. 2, ed. by Seyyed Hossein Nasr with Mehdi Aminrazavi. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. xv + 378 pages. Bibl. to p. 380. Index to p. 400. n.p.
These handsomely published volumes are the first two of a four volume series intended to apprize students and scholars of the extensive philosophic thought that can be attributed to Persia in one way or another. Volume one presents 16 selections ranging from extracts of early Zoroastrian texts to portions of two little known logical and metaphysical treatises by the famed poet `Umar Khayyam. These include texts of primarily religious inspiration, others representing Peripatetic philosophy within the Islamic philosophical tradition, yet others deriving from a conflation of religious and philosophical thought, and even two snippets from the enigmatic Abu Bakr al-Razi. Volume two, with nine selections, focuses on Isma`ili thought within Shiism, but also includes a few passages from Pythagorean and Hermetic philosophic strands that have taken root in...