PCAC 18 (Patrimonio Culturale Arabo Cristiano vol. #18) (EN)

PCAC 18

Yaḥyā Ibn ʿAdī, L'affinamento dei caratteri. (Kitāb tahḏīb al-aḫlāq). Un trattato di etica del X secolo, edizione a cura di Samir Khalil Samir; introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di Ida Zilio Grandi; indici a cura di Ida Zilio-Grandi e Davide Righi, Bologna 2019, independently published. 

ISBN: 978-1985163577

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Compendium of rational ethics in the form of a systematic treatise, the Tahḏīb al-aḫlāq ("The refinement of the characters") of Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī disregards a properly religious way and instead moves on the ground of Greek philosophical reflection and also on that of a simpler reasonableness. Precisely the absence of religious references meant that it was attributed over time to Muslim authors, such as al-Ǧāḥiẓ of Basra, Ibn al-ʿArabī of Murcia, or the mathematician, physicist and astronomer Ibn al-Hayṯam.

    Among the earliest and most important examples of Arabic literature on the ethical topic, «The refinement of the characters» of Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī teaches and illustrates a journey of personal improvement. Rich and meticulous, vast in content and generous in intent, this small text composed in the 10th century Baghdad can speak with intelligent simplicity even to the contemporary reader.