The Significance of Comparative

BEFORE discussing the role and significance of comparative philosophy for the study of Islamic philosophy, it is necessary to define exactly what we mean by comparative philosophy, for only too often today facile comparisons are made between Oriental metaphysical doctrines of a sacred nature and secular modern philosophies without the least consideration for the basic difference in the nature of the ideas involved and their source of inspiration. In fact if the term philosophy is used in its purely modern sense, it is not possible to speak of Oriental philosophy, whether it be Islamic or otherwise. Only if the meaning of philosophy is extended to embrace the metaphysical doctrines contained in the different formulations of the philosophia perennis is it possible to speak legitimately of the comparative philosophy of East and West. In any case the basic distinction between Oriental metaphysics and modern philosophy with whatever metaphysical pretentions it might have must be kept in mind. Furthermore, an intermediate domain must be recognized, which is that of a systematic philosophy that is rational and at the same time based upon metaphysical intuition and closely allied to revealed truths. As examples of such a philosophy one could cite Latin scholasticism and