Abstract

The dialectical method refers to the scholarly investigation of a subject through argumentation between two opponents. In the early centuries of Islam, dialectics constituted the method in the disciplines of theology, law and linguistics until its validity was challenged by the philosophers, and even afterwards it continued to play a major role in these disciplines. ;Ghazali was trained in dialectical methodology and employed it skillfully in his various works. His polemical works against the Batini s and the philosophers--among others--are the products of this method par excellence. In these polemics, Ghazali uses the dialectical method as a means for criticizing the theories of his opponents and attacking their inconsistencies rather than building his own theories. Ghazali, however, is not consistent if we compare the various positions he takes against his opponents in these polemics. ;Ghazali finds dialectics epistemically unsound, ethically unjustifiable, and socially unproductive. He accepts the demonstrative method of the philosophers as a criterion in scholarly research but has some reservations whether or not it can be rigorously applied to ethics and metaphysics. By converting from dialectics to demonstration, Ghazali exemplifies the intellectual trend of his time. The philosophers had already started the transition from dialogical to monological discourse; Ghazali not only joined them but also contributed tremendously to this transition