Abstract

Man as a being has always been concerned with seeing the unseen; each individual who ventures upon this search has a different trajectory. This research studies the path which seems to unite different travelers who seek the vision of the unseen, through analyzing Plato's allegory of the cave, which is an excerpt from The Republic, Heidegger's interpretation of the allegory which is from his book The Essence of Truth, and some of the works of Ibn 'Arabi which shed light on the Sufi path. It is my hope that the similarities that emerge from this analysis will help enunciate the fundamental and primordial experience of the human being coming to know him/herself. It is the epistemological/ontological journey which is necessitated by the yearning to see the hidden, the unseen which is within and without. This journey is undertaken by man regardless his/her religion, culture and all the numerous variables that human beings identify themselves with, a journey which is depicted by all three thinkers in spite of their differences.

School

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Degree Name

MA in Arabic Studies

Date of Award

2009

Online Submission Date

2009

First Advisor

Stelzer, Steffen

Committee Member 1

Switzer, Robert

Committee Member 2

Lutfi, Huda

Document Type

Thesis

Rights

The American University in Cairo grants authors of theses and dissertations a maximum embargo period of two years from the date of submission, upon request. After the embargo elapses, these documents are made available publicly. If you are the author of this thesis or dissertation, and would like to request an exceptional extension of the embargo period, please write to thesisadmin@aucegypt.edu

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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