Terence Kleven

Terence Kleven is a Lecturer at Central College, Iowa, USA, in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin, affiliated with Katja Krause’s research group "Experience in the Premodern Sciences of the Soul & Body, c. 800–1650."

• Education:
  • Graduate in Religious Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

Kleven’s research focuses on Arabic philosophy, particularly Alfarabi’s logical and political treatises, and the interplay between political philosophy and religion in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. He is preparing critical Arabic editions and English translations of Alfarabi’s logical works, emphasizing dialectic as a foundational tool for demonstration and distinguishing it from sophistry. His broader interests include political thought and religion in Asia.

At the MPIWG, Kleven investigates Alfarabi and Averroes’ accounts of pre-scientific knowledge sources—received tradition, perception, and first intelligibles—to highlight their enduring relevance to epistemology and scientific practice.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Bradley Foundation fellowship
  • Yad Hanadiv Foundation fellowship
  • Fulbright fellowship
  • National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship
  • Moore Family Foundation fellowship
  • Earhart Foundation fellowship

Kleven has taught at Memorial University (Newfoundland, Canada) and the Near Eastern School of Theology (Beirut, Lebanon). His work spans critical editions of Arabic philosophical texts and interdisciplinary explorations of logic, rhetoric, and dialectic in premodern sciences.