The upcoming conference of the Bard College with the title “Forms and Functions of Islamic Philosophy” seeks to highlight how Islamic philosophy (falsafa/ḥikma) was practiced “in conversation”—between scholars, with various audiences, and with different disciplines, approaches, and rhetoric. Islamic philosophy was composed not only in traditional forms of treatises and commentaries, but also through narratives written in poetry and prose. What do story-telling, poetry, narrative, metaphor, and allegory reveal about the nature and purpose of philosophy?

The conference will take place online on Thursday, March 31, 2022 and Friday, April 1, 2022