Search results for "Avicenna"
showing 10 items of 21 documents
Illumination
2020
"Not So Ridiculous" : Avicenna on the Existence of Nature (tabi'a) contra Aristotle and the Ash'arites
2019
In this paper, I set out to explicate what I take to be a distinctive argument that Avicenna offers for the existence of nature (ṭabī ͑a) as a causal power (quwwa) in bodies (ajsām). In doing this, I first clarify the philosophical and historical context of the argument, showing that its two main targets were the Aristotelian tradition on the hand and the Ash ͑arite theological (kalām) tradition on the other. With regards to the Aristotelian tradition, which took the existence of nature as a given, I show that the shaykh departs from it in this regard for at least two reasons. The first has to do with a certain feature of how Avicenna conceptualized, consistent with the Aristotelian traditi…
Freedom and responsibility in Avicenna
2022
It is still a matter of some debate whether Avicenna grounds moral responsibility in a robust notion of free will. In this contribution, I will first delve into Avicenna’s theory of voluntary agency, arguing that he holds voluntary agency to be responsive to reasons but also thoroughly determined by the agent’s beliefs concerning the relevant goals, instruments, and qualifying circumstances. Since these beliefs in turn are caused, it seems that there is little room for a causally undetermined will in Avicenna’s theory. I will conclude by considering the question of whether Avicenna is some kind of compatibilist concerning the relation between determinism and responsibility. peerReviewed
The Problem of Existential Import in Metathetic Propositions: Qutb al-Din al-Tahtani contra Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
2019
This paper addresses discussions in post-Avicennan Arabic logic on various characterizations of metathetic propositions and their status vis-à-vis the existential import condition by focusing on the arguments made by Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210) and the counter-arguments by Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī al-Taḥtānī (d. 766/1365), both of whom established their positions in a framework drawn by Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 428/1037), the most prominent figure in the tradition of classical Arabic logic. In his logic texts, Avicenna thoroughly discusses the problem of the existential import in metathetic propositions (ma‘dūla), and seems to have presumed the existential import to be a truth-condition for…
LA NOZIONE DI “PARTECIPAZIONE” NELL’EXPOSITIO IN METAPH. DI TOMMASO: LA MEDIAZIONE DI AVICENNA
2012
Future contingency and God’s knowledge of particulars in Avicenna
2022
Avicenna’s discussion of future contingent propositions is sometimes considered to entail metaphysical indeterminism. In this paper, I argue that his logical analysis of future contingent statements is best understood in terms of the epistemic modality of those statements, which has no consequences for modal metaphysics. This interpretation is corroborated by hitherto neglected material concerning the question of God’s knowledge of particulars. In the Taʿlīqāt, Avicenna argues that God knows particulars by knowing their complete causes, and when contrasted with the human knowledge of particulars, this epistemically superior access shows that the contingency of statements about future partic…
The Heritage of Ibn Sīnā’s Concept of the Self
2021
If the historical importance of a philosopher is measured by her influence, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Sīnā, the Latin Avicenna (d. 1037 CE), should merit an uncontested entry in even the narrowest of canons. The development of Islamic philosophy and theology in the so-called post-classical period, that is, from the twelfth century CE down to the dawn of the postcolonial era, is unthinkable without him. By the same token, the Latin translations of a portion of his works were pivotal for the scholastic renaissance of Aristotelian philosophy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and many Avicennian ideas, such as his modal metaphysics and its theological implications or his theor…
Avicenna on subjectivity : a philosophical study
2007
Ab? cAl? Ibn S?n? (980–1037 jaa., lat. Avicenna) oli keskiajan arabifilosofeista kenties tärkein. Hänen ajattelunsa yhdisti omaperäisellä tavalla uusplatonistisen ja aristoteelisen perinteen aineksia. Ibn S?n?n vaikutus keskiajan latinankieliseen filosofiaan oli varsinkin psykologian alalla merkittävä, koska hänen psykologinen pääteoksensa käännettiin ennen Aristoteleen tutkielmaa Sielusta, ja se määritti olennaisella tavalla ymmärrystä Aristoteleen psykologiasta. Islamilaisessa filosofisessa perinteessä Ibn S?n? on merkitykseltään Aristoteleen veroinen hahmo.Kaukuan tutkimus käsittelee Ibn S?n?n teoriaa subjektiivisuudesta. Hän käsittelee Ibn S?n?n teoriaa intentionaalisesta tietoisuudesta…
Book Review : Damien Janos. Avicenna on the Ontology of Pure Quiddity
2022
Rule of the One: Avicenna, Bahmanyār, and al-Rāzī on the Argument from the Mubāḥathāt
2020
Avicenna is a strong proponent of what some of the later ones call qāʻidat al-wāḥid or ‘rule of the one’ (RO). The gist of RO states: from the one only one directly proceeds. In the secondary literature, discussion of this Avicennian rule is usually limited to a particular application of it i.e., the issue of emanation. As result, it’s not really clear what RO means, nor why Avicenna endorsed it. In this paper, I try and remedy this situation by doing two things – one on the taṣawwur front, the other on the tasdīq. First, explain just what the terms of RO amount to – that is, its subject and predicate. In doing this, I distinguish between a narrow and a broad understanding of RO, and the sh…