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BOOK REVIEWS ~99 well supported. The limitation of an expository review precludes extended critique, but I would like to raise two issues. The first relates to the question of the restoration of lost virginity. As the author notes, the editor of Damian's work suggests that this question is superfluous because no one ever seriously doubted that God could restore physical integrity or that he could make a woman spiritually whole again. Resnick is unconvincing in his attempted refutation of this criticism (49-5 l). There is surely a wider issue here, relating either to Desiderius's claim that to say that God is unable to restore means nothing else than that he does not will to restore, or to the more interesting question whether God can ordain that what is now (lost virginity) did not happen. A second observation relates to Resnick's presentation of Damian's account of the dialecucians' attempts to restrain God's power within the conclusions of a syllogism. A case in point is the virgin birth that contradicts the conclusion of: If she has given birth, she has known a man; now she has given birth, therefore, she has known a man. Resnick translates (54) Damian's rhetorical challenge, "Doesn't this argument seem to have unquestionable soundness before the redemption of humanity? But a mystery is affirmed, and the argument is dismissed." The translation is needlessly misleading for a modern reader since the idea of the soundness of an argument has a technical meaning with which Peter Damian was obviously unfamiliar. Resnick ought to have been more literal here: "Doesn't this argument have unassailable strength [inexpugr ~bilis robozis]... ?" Its validity is indeed unassailable, but it is not a sound argument because the major premise is false. For Damian, the virgin birth showed its falsity, for us it is test-tube babies. Greater attention to Peter Damian's simplistic attacks on dialectics would have improved this book. As a book D/v/he Power and Possibilityis a fine piece of work. Aside from several minor misprints (mostly in the notes), the text is largely faultless, the bibliography is ample and up-to-date, and there is a helpful index. (Note the error on page 5o, n. 37. The text should read "incorruptionisque signaculum," not "in corruptionisque signaculum .") The publisher is to be commended for printing the Latin counterparts to the numerous translated citations from Peter Damian. This volume would make a valuable addition to the library of anyone interested in the GeistesgeschichtedesMittelalters. Ptzsnz J. P^vzs Mount Saint Vincent University Majid Fakhry. Ethical Theories in Islam. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 199~. Pp. x + ~3o. Cloth, $65.64. Majid Fakhry is well known to students of Islamic philosophy for his useful A Histo~ of Islamic Philosophy, as well as for several other valuable studies on specific aspects of Islamic philosophy and theology. His latest monograph focuses on the field of premodern Islamic ethics. This is still a largely unexamined subject, so this study necessarily breaks new ground. Moreover, Professor Fakhry's comprehensive knowledge of the texts and ideas involved and his fluent and straightforward style insure that his volume 300 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 32:2 APRIL t994 will be welcomed by specialists in Islamic thought as well as by all who are interested in the study of ethics. He presents an overview of the field that is equally valuable for those who wish a brief introduction and tho~e who will use this book as a starting point for more detailed research in individual subjects. In his preface Professor Fakhry observes that there are two ways that he could have presented his subject: "a historical or horizontal method which simply follows the chronological line of development, and an analytical or schematic one, which deals with major ethical themes somewhat vertically" (ix). He adopts the second method and accordingly divides his study into four parts. These deal with ethical traditions based on, respectively, scriptural morality, theological ethics, philosophical ethics, and religious morality. The sources for scriptural morality are the Koran and .hadfth, the latter being the recorded traditions of the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad. Discussion in this section centers...

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