THE ESSENTIAL, SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR

The Essential, Seyyed Hossein Nasr attempts to provide an overview of his main ideas. RELIGION -1,M) THE ORDER OF NATURE

*** “Nasr is a living legend in Islamic Studies…” —Publishers Weekly *** “The highest honor a philosopher can receive is to be nominated by his peers for inclusion in the series of The Library of ,Living Philosophers… [for which the] latest entry is The Philosophy of Seed Hossein Nasr. And the highest honor a theologian can receive is to be invited to deliver the Gifford Lectures in Glasgow, Scotland. Seyyed Hossein Nasr is the only person ever to have received both of these honors….. This valuable book distills the essence of the thought of one of the most important thinkers or our times:” —Huston Smith *** “[Nasr’s] knowledge of western scientific writings is profound… his criticism well documented.” —Times Literary Supplement *** “Nasr’s wisdom covers an immensely wide range of philosophical and religious knowledge, enabling him not only to elucidate the causes of our present dilemmas, but also to guide us in the task of rediscovering a world view in which Man, Nature, and God are seen in their proper harmony.” —Carmen Blacker, Cambridge University

Author

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

(b. 1933)

Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran, where he received his early education. He studied in the West and gained his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MA and PhD from Harvard University, where he studied the History of Science and Learning with special concentration on Islamic science and philosophy. In 1958, he returned to Iran to teach at Tehran University, where he was Professor of the History of Science and Philosophy. In 1962 he was visiting lecturer at Harvard University, and he taught there during the summer of 1965. During 1964-65, he was the first holder of the Agha Khan Chair of Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut. He also served as Vice Chancellor of Tehran University and Chancellor of the Arya-Mehr University of Technology in Iran. He was the founder and first President of the Iranian Academy of Philosophy and is presently University Professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University, Washington D. C. and President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies. Professor Nasr has lectured in America, Europe, the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Japan, and Australia and was the first Muslim Scholar to deliver the Gifford Lectures. He is the author of over twenty-five books and five hundred articles in Persian, English, Arabic and French. His works have appeared in more than ten languages. His important contribution is three generations of scholars he has trained in the course of his fifty-year scholarly career in Iran and the West.