Ontologization of ethics or ethicization of ontology
a comparative approach on Plotinus and al-Ghazali
pp. 129-141
in: Nazif Muhtaroglu, Detlev Quintern (eds), Islamic philosophy and occidental phenomenology in dialogue, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
This article intends to show how ethics depend logically on ontology and how ontology reaches deep into the sphere of ethics. Plotinus and al-Ghazali are here interpreted as examples of philosophers who developed a perspective for the substantial rooting of justice as the yardstick of action oriented at unity as the measure of theory. Emphasizing reason to be the bracket between ontology and ethics man has a crucial role to play in the harmonization of being. Getting back to the ultimate source by the heart's drive to understand the human finds itself united with all being, a fellow creature. Knowledge of God is no escapism but at the same time self-knowledge and deep insight into the web of life that culminates in gentle devotion to all being.
