Rosabel Ansari
· Assistant ProfessorVerifiedStony Brook University · Philosophy
Active 2022–2025
About
Rosabel Ansari is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Stony Brook University. She earned her Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 2020 and her B.A. from the University of Cambridge in 2012. Her research focuses on the transmission of Ancient Greek philosophy into Arabic, Arabic and Islamic metaphysics in both the classical and post-classical periods, the philosophy of language, and the relationship between rational and supra-rational forms of knowledge in Islamic philosophy. Her forthcoming monograph will explore metaphysics and the philosophy of language in the philosophy of al-Fārābī.
Research topics
- Theology
- Epistemology
- Philosophy
- Artificial Intelligence
- Computer Science
- Religious studies
Selected publications
The Theory of Amphibolous Predication
2025-10-23
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract This chapter examines the theory of amphibolous terms, its status as a species of homonymy, and the various classes of amphibolous terms. It also explores the origins of the term ‘amphibolous’ as a designation for Aristotle’s pros hen homonymy and argues that it is intended to point to an epistemological problem concerning our understanding of these terms. It argues that the designation as ‘amphibolous’ is related to Aristotle’s Topics and Sophistical Refutations and the discussions of the epistemological problems arising from homonyms or terms of many meanings. The chapter postulates that there may be a Greek substrate to the Arabic mušakkik, reflected in the meaning of amphibolos. Nevertheless, it emphasizes the important Islamic context of certitude (yaqīn) and doubt (šakk) for understanding the theory.
Reassessing the History of a Philosophical Concept
2025-10-23
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract This chapter offers a reflection on methodology and the problems that arise in studying the history of amphibolous terms (asmāʾ mušakkikah). While its prehistory begins in Greek, there is thus far no certainty of its exact terminological origins. Moreover, its history after Fārābī is rich and alive to this day. These circumstances give rise to certain challenges in writing about the history of the theory. This chapter’s principal argument is that to understand the theory we must begin with its genesis in Fārābī, disentangling it from developments in early modern Islamic philosophy, which until now have been transposed on to its early articulation.
La métaphysique éléatique et son explication psychologique dans la philosophie d’Al-Farabi
Rencontres de philosophie médiévale · 2025-01-01
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingLanguage and Being in al-Fārābī
2025-10-23
book1st authorCorrespondingAbstract This book explores the philosophy and genesis in al-Fārābī (d. 950) of the amphibolous predication of ‘being’, a key theory in Arabic logic and Islamic metaphysics that states that ‘being’ is predicated neither fully homonymously nor synonymously. As an amphibolous (i.e., ambiguous) term, ‘being’ causes us to be unsure of its meaning(s) and hence how we construe our understanding of what is. Developed in Fārābī’s logical works, the theory would go on to permeate Islamic metaphysics up to the contemporary period. This book argues that understanding its genesis in Fārābī is key to unlocking the theory’s significance in subsequent philosophers. To this end, the book begins by investigating problems that currently exist in scholarly approaches and concludes by showing that the Fārābian provenance is an essential component of theories of amphibolous predication until at least the fifteenth century. The central chapters are concerned with how Fārābī construes the relationship between language and being that helps us to understand the function of ‘being’ as an amphibolous term. First, he considers language to have an ideal ontological foundation, albeit one that is mediated through our intellection of what is. Consequently, how we understand language has metaphysical implications for what we consider there to be. Second, the book shows how Fārābī develops an essentialist theory of being whereby the primary meaning of ‘being’ is for something to be what-it-is. Through this investigation, the book proposes a revised take on the theory of emanation as a causal explanation for something being what-it-is.
The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam by Frank Griffel (review)
Journal of the history of philosophy · 2024
1st authorCorresponding- Philosophy
- Epistemology
- Religious studies
The Existential Threat of Climate Change
2023-05-09
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingThe famous philosopher Avicenna (d. 1037) outlined a well-known theory of evil in which he argues that evil is always outweighed by good and that it can only afflict individuals and not their species as such. This chapter weighs in, from an Avicennan perspective, on the phenomenon of global climate change, which is often framed as a threat to humanity.
Religious Studies · 2023 · 2 citations
1st authorCorresponding- Philosophy
- Theology
- Epistemology
Abstract A meta-theology makes claims about the structure of theological claims: it identifies a single, fundamental claim about God, and shows how other theological claims are derivable from the fundamental claim. In his book Depicting Deity and other articles, Jon Kvanvig has identified three distinct meta-theologies: Creator Theology, Perfect Being Theology, and Worship-worthiness Theology. In this article, we argue that the medieval Islamic philosopher Avicenna's views about God have the structure of a meta-theology, and that it is distinct from the three projects Kvanvig identifies. This view is Necessary Existent Theology.
American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly · 2022 · 1 citations
1st authorCorresponding- Computer Science
- Philosophy
- Artificial Intelligence
This study provides the historical background to, and analysis and translations of, two seminal texts from the medieval Islamic world concerning the univocity of being/existence and a theory of “ambiguous predication” (tashkīk), which is similar to the Thomistic theory of analogy. The disputants are Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (1149–1210), who defended a theory of the univocity of being, and Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (1201–1274), who defended the theory of ambiguous predication. While the purported issue is whether a quiddity can cause its own existence, the debate extends further. Rāzī draws on several arguments that “existence” must be predicated univocally of God and creature and then concludes that, given the univocity of “existence,” God cannot be simple, but is a composite of the divine quiddity and distinct attributes. In contrast, Ṭūsī denies that “existence” is said univocally of God and creature and rather is predicated ambiguously/analogously, and then defends divine simplicity.
Oriens · 2022-07-01 · 1 citations
article1st authorCorrespondingAbstract This article discusses the Ašʿarī theologian Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī’s (d. 793/1390) refutation of Akbarian metaphysics and the identification of absolute being ( al-wuǧūd al-muṭlaq ) with the Necessary Being, i.e. God, in his summa Šarḥ al-Maqāṣid . Al-Taftāzānī argues that the Akbarians are amateur philosophers who misappropriated the philosophical tradition. If absolute being were identified with God, we would not be able to say that anything else is , leading to monism. Instead al-Taftāzānī argues that absolute being is a mind-dependent concept. Al-Taftāzānī’s refutation reveals the contested nature of the Avicennan legacy and the important role of the Akbarian school in its development.
Greek Philosophy and Sufism in Mecdi’s Ottoman Turkish Gardens of Peonies
2022-12-14
book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
Frequent coauthors
- 2 shared
Jon McGinnis
University of Missouri–St. Louis
- 1 shared
Billy Dunaway
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