Theory of Prophecy in the Peripatetics and Spinoza

Abstract

In this article, the Peripatetics’and Spinoza's understanding of prophecy are presented in comparative perspective. The prophecy which is one of the most original theories of Islamic philosophy are discussed in conjunction with metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and politics in connection with the theory of emanation by the philosophers. Al-Farabi is the first Islamic philosopher who systematized the theory of prophecy with the Active Intellect and the faculty of imagination. After him, the whole Islamic philosophers somehow have taken the issue of prophecy. As many western philosophers, also the New Age philosopher Spinoza is very influenced by the Peripatetics’ theory of prophecy. He also explains the prophecy with the faculty of imagination and miracle; additionally he emphasizes unlike the Western thought, the prophets are the chosen people and their messages are universal.