The Unity of Eastern and Western Thought Traditions in Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka's Phenomenology of Life

Phenomenology is traditionally thought to be a product of Western thought. However, Buddhism is also usually considered as one of the sources of Husserlian phenomenology. The close relationship of this teaching with Islamic philosophy, particularly with Ishraqism (Illuminationism) has been researched under the leadership of A.-T. Tymieniecka in the last decades. Although the existence of this relationship was first revealed by Henry Corbin, the wider analytic comparison of these two different philosophical research directions has been made in the works of A.-T. Tymieniecka. In the Islamic (Illuminationist) philosophy, the knowledge gained by means of the senses is not considered as true knowledge (as truth). On the contrary, what is required for achieving truth is to be free from the effects of sensory experience. In fact, it reminds us of the phenomenological induction. The epistemological system in Islamic philosophy has been studied better and more comprehensively than Husserlian phenomenology. Merely Western philosophy, which was unaware of it, had to rediscover all these notions. However, Husserlian phenomenology can only one-sidedly explain the problem. It does not take into consideration the variety and multi-stageness of the structure of the soul. Reason in Islamic philosophy is only one aspect of the soul. Perhaps for this reason, A.-T. Tymieniecka establishes her teaching not only on reason and logic but also on the world of soul which is a richer world of consciousness. The formation of intuition is considered by Tymieniecka in the context of creativity which is a wider notion. She thinks that people only live when they create. The idea 'I create, therefore I am' is more precise than Descartes' thesis 'Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am)'. If we consider the fact that creativity is also an experience and life then it could be said that the philosophy of Tymieniecka includes in itself the synthesis of Husserlian phenomenology and Existentialism. However, Tymieniecka goes a step further, and by considering the achievements of Islamic philosophy in this field, she rises up to a higher state of synthesis.