Averroes (Ibn Rushd) on the Divine as the Subject of Metaphysics
Selected studies about the philosophical works by Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
Hasnawi Ahmad. Aspects de la synthèse avicennienne. In Penser avec Aristote. Edited by Sinaceur Mohammed Allal. Toulouse: Erès 1991. pp. 227-244
Hasnawi Ahmad, "Le mouvement et les catégories selon Avicenne et Averroès: l'arrière-fond grec et les prolongements latins médiévaux," Oriens-Occidens 2: 119-122 (1998).
Hasnawi Ahmad, "La définition du mouvement dans la 'Physique' du Sifa' d'Avicenne," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 11: 219-255 (2001).
"A part of chapter 1, Book II of the Physics of the Sifa' is dedicated to the Aristotelian definition of motion (Physics III, 1, 201a10-11). The developments to which the treatment of this question gives rise are distinctive of the Avicennian style in his Physics. By assuming the notion of double entelechy Avicenna is following the most classical exegetical tradition. However, by setting a correspondence between the double entelechy and the double notion of motion: (1) motion as an intermediary state, which can be ascribed to a moving object at any instant of its trajectory, and (2) motion as a traversal of a given distance, which cannot be ascribed to the moving object, but at the end-point of its trajectory, Avicenna gives a new content to a lieu commun of the exegetical tradition."
Hasnawi Ahmad. Le statut catégorial du mouvement chez Avicenne: contexte grec et postérité médiévale latine. In De Zénon d'Élée à Poincaré. Recueil d'études en hommage à Roshdi Rashed. Edited by Morelon Régis and Hasnawi Ahmad. Louvain: Peeters Publishers 2004. pp. 607-622
Les Cahiers du MIDEO. Vol. I
Hasse Dag Nikolaus. Avicenna's De Anima in the Latin West: the formation of a Peripatetic philosophy of Soul 1160-1300. London: Warburg Institute 2000.
Herrera Ibáñez Alejandro, "La distinción entre esencia y existencia en Avicena," Revista Latinoamericana de Filosofía 16: 183-195 (1990).
"In this paper I examine (I) Avicenna's view that existence is an accident, (IIi) the status of the problem of the real distinction between essence and existence, and (III) the nature of Avicenna's essentialism. I conclude that Avicenna anticipated Frege and Russell in holding that existence is an accident of accidents. I also defend the view that Avicenna held that there is a real distinction between essence and existence. Finally, I hold that Avicenna's essentialism anticipates Meinong's view about nonexistent objects."
Hourani George Fadlo, "Ibn Sina on necessary and possible existence," Philosophical Forum 4: 74-86 (1972).
"Close translations of four Arabic texts where Ibn Sina (Avicenna) gives his well-known arguments for a 'necessary being' as cause of all other existents."
Houser Rollen Edward. The place of the first principle of demonstration in Avicennian metaphysics. In Proceedings of the Patristic, Medieval and Renaissance (PMR) Conference. Vol. 6. Villanova: Augustinian Historical Institute, Villanova University 1981. pp. 117-134
Houser Rollen Edward, "Let them suffer into the truth: Avicenna's remedy for those denying the axioms of thought," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 73: 107-133 (1999).
"For those who are intransigent enough to deny even the principle of noncontradiction, Avicenna advises putting them to the fire or beating them, until they admit that pain is different from nonpain. This treatment may seem too severe, but illustrates theory and practice in his philosophy, and when viewed in that light even becomes reasonable. The paper has four parts: (1) how certain events in Avicenna's autobiography illustrate the interplay of philosophy, religion, and politics in his mind, (2) Avicenna's treatment of the principles of metaphysics in "Shifa', Met." 1, (3) Avicenna's reading of Aristotle on noncontradiction, (4) Avicenna's own treatment of noncontradiction in "Shifa'. Met." 1.8."
Hussain Mohd, "The doctrine of Being in Ibn Sina's metaphysics," Islam and the Modern Age 23: 176-182 (1992).
Inati Shams. Ibn Sina on single expressions. In Islamic theology and philosophy. Edited by Marmura Michael E. Albany: State University of New York Press 1984. pp. 148-159
Jalbert G, "Le nécessaire et le possible dans la philosophie d'Avicenne," Revue de l'Université d'Ottawa 30: 89-101 (1960).
Janssens Jules. L'Avicenne latin: particularités d'une traduction. In Avicenna and his heritage. Acts of the International Colloquium Leuven-Louvain-la-Neuve, September 8-September 11, 1999. Edited by Janssens Jules and Smet Daniel De. Leuven: Leuven University Press 1999. pp. 113-129
Reprinted in: J. Janssens - Ibn Sina and his infulence on the Arabic ans Latin world - Aldersoht, Ashgate, 2006.
Janssens Jules, "Avicenne et sa "paraphrase-commentaire" du livre Lambda (Kitab-alinsaf)," Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales 70: 401-416 (2003).
Janssens Jules. Ibn Sina and his influence on the Arabic and Latin world. Aldershot: Ashgate 2006.
Collection of articles already published and a new preface.
Contents: Preface; Ibn Sina, and his heritage in the Islamic world and in the Latin West; Ibn Sina's ideas of ultimate realities: Neoplatonism and the Qur'an as problem-solving paradigms in the Avicennian system; The problem of human freedom in Ibn Sina; Creation and emanation in Ibn Sina; Ibn Sina (Avicenne): un projet 'religieux' de philosophie?; Les Ta'liqat d'Ibn Sina: essai de structuration et de datation; Le Danesh-Nameh d'Ibn Sina: un texte à revoir?; Le ma'arij al-quds fi madarij ma'rifat al-nafs: un élément-clé pour le dossier Ghazzali-Ibn Sina?; Al-Ghazzali's Mi`yar al-'ilm fi fann al-mantiq: sources avicenniennes et farabiennes; Al-Ghazzali's Tahafut: is it really a rejection of Ibn Sina's philosophy?; Al-Ghazzali, and his use of Avicennian texts; Bahmanyar ibn Marzuban: a faithful disciple of Ibn Sina?; Mulla Sadra's use of Ibn Sina's Ta'liqat in the Asfar; L'Avicenne latin: particularités d'une traduction; L'Avicenne latin: un témoin (indirect) des commentateurs (Alexandre d'Aphrodise - Thémistius - Jean Philopon); Some elements of Avicennian influence on Henry of Ghent's psychology; Elements of Avicennian metaphysics in the Summa; Index.
Janssens Jules. Le vocabulaire d'Avicenne. In Le vocabulaire des philosophes. Suppléments. Vol. I. Edited by Zarader Jean-Pierre. Paris: Ellipses 2006. pp. 13-64
Jolivet Jean. Aux origines de l'ontologie d'Ibn Sina. In Études sur Avicenne. Edited by Jolivet Jean and Rashed Roshdi. Paris: les belles Lettres 1984. pp. 11-28
Reprinted in: Jean Jolivet - Philosophie médiévale arabe et latine - Paris, Vrin, 1995, pp. 221-236.
Jolivet Jean. La répartition des causes chez Aristote et Avicenne: le sens d'un déplacement. In Lectionum varietates. Hommage à Paul Vignaux (1904-1987). Edited by Jolivet Jean, Kaluza Zénon, and Libera Alain de. Paris: Vrin 1991. pp. 45-65
Jolivet Jean. L'épistémologie de Descartes dans les Regulae et celle d'Avicenne. In Descartes et le Moyen age. Edited by Biard Joël and Rashed Roshdi. Paris: Vrin 1997. pp. 187-197
Actes du Colloque organisé à la Sorbonne du 4 au 7 juin 1996 par le Centre d'histoire des sciences et des philosophies arabes et médiévales (URA 1085, CNRS/ÉPHÉ) à l'occasion du quatrième centenaire de la naissance de Descartes
Jolivet Jean. From the beginnings to Avicenna. In Routledge history of philosophy. Volume III: Medieval philosophy. Edited by Marenbon John. New York: Routledge 1998. pp. 29-48
Jolivet Jean. Le vocabulaire de l'être et de la création dans la Philosophia prima de l' Avicenna latinus. In L''élaboration du vocabulaire philosophique au Moyen Âge. Edited by Hamesse Jacqueline and Steel Carlos. Turnhout: Brepols 2000. pp. 35-49
Actes du Colloque international de Louvain-la-Neuve et Leuven 12-14 septembre 1998 organisé par la Société internationale pour l'étude de la philosophie médiévale
Koutzarova Tiana. Das Transzendentale bei Ibn Sina. Zur Metaphysik als Wissenschaft Erster Begriffs- und Urteilsprinzipien. Leiden: Brill 2009.
To be published May 2009.
"Following al-Farabi's approach, Ibn Sina undertakes a new foundation of the First Philosophy based on his own critical systematisation of the Aristotelian theory of science, yielding the result that metaphysics is only possible as a transcendental science, i.e. that not only the subject-matter of metaphysics and its properties but also the arguments by which the first principles of knowledge are defended must be transcendental."
Libera Alain de, "D'Avicenne à Averroès et retour. Sur les sources arabes de la théorie scolastique de l'Un transcendental," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 4: 141-179 (1994).
Libera Alain de. L'art des généralités: théories de l'abstraction. Paris: Aubier 1999.
Chapter IV: Avicenne - pp. 499-636.
In appendix translations by Marc Geoffroy from Arabic of relevant passages in Alexander of Aphrodisias and in the Metaphysics of the Shifa , pp. 637-79.
Lizzini Olga, "Wugud-Mawgud / Existence-Existent in Avicenna. A key ontological notion in Arabic philosophy," Quaestio.The Yearbook of the History of Metaphysics 3: 111-138 (2003).
Lizzini Olga, "Utility and gratuitousness of metaphysics: Avicenna, Ilahiyyat I, 3," Quaestio.The Yearbook of the History of Metaphysics 5: 287-305 (2005).
Madkour Ibrahim, "Le traité des categories du Shifa'," Mélanges de l'Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales (MIDEO) 5: 153-178 (1958).
Madkour Ibrahim, "Introduction à la Métaphysique du Shifa'," Mélanges de l'Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales (MIDEO) 6: 281-308 (1961).
Madkour Ibrahim, "La théorie du syllogisme chez Avicenne," Mélanges de l'Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales (MIDEO) 8: 131-144 (1966).
Marmura Michael E., "Some aspects of Avicenna's theory of God's knowledge of particulars," Journal of the American Oriental Society 82: 299-312 (1962).
Marmura Michael E. Avicenna Healing-Metaphysics X. In Medieval political philosophy. A sourcebook. Edited by Lerner Ralph and Mahdi Muhsin. New York: The Free Press of Glencoe 1963. pp. 98-111
Marmura Michael E. Avicenna's Chapter "On the relative" in the Metaphysics of his Shifa. In Essays in Islamic philosophy and science. Edited by Hourani George Fadlo. Albany: State University of New York Press 1975. pp. 83-99
Marmura Michael E. Avicenna's Chapter on Universals in the Isagoge of his Shifa. In Islam: Past influence and present challenge. Edited by Welch Alford T. and Cachia Pierre. Albany: State University of New York Press 1979. pp. 34-56
Studies presented by his colleagues and students to William Montgomery Watt.
Marmura Michael E., "Avicenna's proof from contingency for God's existence in the Metaphysics of the Shifa'," Mediaeval Studies 62: 337-352 (1980).
Marmura Michael E., "Avicenna on the division of the sciences in the Isagoge of his Shifa'," Journal for the History of Arabic Science 4: 239-251 (1980).
Marmura Michael E. Avicenna on primary concepts in the Metaphysics of his al-Shifa. In Logos Islamikos: Studia Islamica in honorem Georgii Michaelis Wickens. Edited by Savory Roger and Agius Dionisius. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 1984. pp. 219-239
Marmura Michael E. Avicenna: Metaphysics. In Encyclopaedia Iranica. Edited by Yarshater Ehrsan. London : Routledge & Kegan Paul 1987. pp. 73-79
Vol. III
Marmura Michael E. Quiddity and universality in Avicenna. In Neoplatonism and Islamic thought . Edited by Morewedge Parviz. Albany: State University of New York Press 1992. pp. 77-88
Marmura Michael E. Probing in Islamic philosophy. Studies in the philosophies of Ibn Sina, al Ghazali and other major Muslims thinkers. Binghamton: Global Academic Publishing 2004.
"Part I is devoted to Ibn Sina (Avicenna), noted for his refining the distinction between essence and existence, which constitutes the basis for his proof of God's existence and for his significant theory of the universals. The second part is devotes to Avicenna's theologian critic, Ghazali, noted for his argument that a necessary causal connection between natural events can be proved neither logically nor empirically. The third part pertains to various central themes in Islamic philosophy and includes discussions of the thought of such philosophers as Kindi, Razi, Ibn Tufayl, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). It concludes with a discussion of on the issues that divided the Islamic theologians, namely whether the value of the moral act is intrinsic to it or whether it is solely derived from the religious law."
Contents:
I. Avicennan studies
Preface VII; Avicenna's Division of the Sciences in the Isagoge of his Shifa 1; Avicenna's metaphysics (from Encyclopedia Iranica) 15; Avicenna's Chapter on Universals in the Isagoge of his Shifa' 31; Quiddity and universality in Avicenna 57; Some aspects of Avicenna's theory of God's knowledge of particulars 67; Avicenna and the Kalam 91; Avicenna's proof from contingency for God's existence in the Metaphysics of the Shifa' 123; Avicenna on primary concepts in the Metaphysics of his Shifa' 141; Avicenna and the problem of infinite number of souls 161; Avicenna's "Flying man" in context 169; Avicenna's theory of prophecy in the light of Ash'arite theology 185;
II. Ghazalian Studies
The logical role of the argument from time in the Tahafut's second proof for the world's pre-eternity 207; Ghazali and demonstrative science 217; Ghazali on ethical premises 247; Al-Ghazali on bodily resurrection and causality in the Tahafut and Iqtis'ad 253; Ghazali's Chapter on Divine power in the Iqtis'ad 279;
III. Other Studies
(With John Rist), Al-Kindi's discussion of divine existence and oneness 315; The fortuna of the Posterior Analytics in the Arabic Middle Ages 331; Divine Omniscience and future contingents in Alfarabi and Avicenna 349; The Islamic philosophers' conception of Islam 363; The philosopher and society: some medieval Arabic discussions 381; A medieval Islamic argument for the intrinsic value of the moral act 395.
Marmura Michael E. Avicenna's critique of Platonists in Book VII, Chapter 2 of the Metaphysics of his Healing. In Arabic theology, Arabic philosophy. From the Many to the One: essays in celebraion of Richard M. Frank. Edited by Montgomery James E. Leuven: Peeters 2006. pp. 355-369
Maróth Miklós. Ibn Sina und die Peripatetische Aussagenlogik. Leiden: Brill 1989.
Translated from the Ungarian by Johanna Till
Martin Richard Milton, "On connotation and attribute," Journal of Philosophy 61: 711-723 (1964).
"This article is a historical-philosophical discussion of two works by n Rescher on the history of Arabic logic. The most interesting essays in the former work are Al-FArabi's discussions of future contingencies and of existence as a predicate, Avicenna's analysis of conditional propositions, and Averroes' extensional analysis of modal propositions. In the first of these essays, Al-FArabi rejects the Stoic interpretation of Aristotle's "De interpretatione IX", which restricts the principle of the excluded middle; and in the second essay, Al-FArabi tries to harmonize a number of apparent inconsistencies in Aristotle's logic and metaphysics. The essays on Avicenna and Averroes are interesting for their discussion of temporal quantification. The translation of Al-Farabi's commentary also contains useful historical information. The most interesting part of the commentary is Al-Farabi's treatment of inductive arguments."
McGinnis Jon, "Ibn Sina on the Now (A new translation with commentary of a section of Avicenna's Physics)," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 73: 73-106 (1999).
"Ibn Sina's Treatise on the Now is philosophically deep analysis of Aristotle's temporal theory.
The text is translated and discussed, with particular attention to both its un-Aristotelian and uniquely Avicennian aspects. Among the former is his conception of time as the flow of the now, a view found among Aristotle's later commentators, but absent from Aristotle himself. Ibn Sina's originality emerges most vividly in his solution to Aristotle's paradox against a "flowing" or changing now ("Physics" iv 10, 218a8-21). Ibn Sina's answer conceives of the now analogously to our contemporary mathematical notion of a limit."
McGinnis Jon, "A penetrating question in the history of ideas: space, dimensionality and impenetrability in the thought of Avicenna," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 16: 47-69 (2006).
"Avicenna's discussion of space is found in his comments on Aristotle's account of place. Aristotle identified four candidates for place: a body's matter, form, the occupied space, or the limits of the containing body, and opted for the last. Neoplatonic commentators argued contra Aristotle that a thing's place is the space it occupied. Space for these Neoplatonists is something ossessing
dimensions and distinct from any body that occupies it, even if never devoid of body. Avicenna argues that this Neoplatonic notion of space is untenable on the basis of three arguments. In general he maintains that bodies' impenetrability is explained by reverence to dimensionality. Avicenna argues that the method used to arrive at the possibility of space is illicit, and so Neoplatonist cannot show that space is even possible. Thus, concludes Avicenna, Aristotle's initial account must be correct. The paper outlines the historical context of this debate and then treats Avicenna's arguments against space in detail."
Mertz Donald W., "Instance ontology and Avicenna's arguments," Modern Schoolman 70: 189-199 (1993).
Mondin Battista, "La metafisica di Avicenna," Sapienza 52: 257-279 (1999).
"Avicenna is not only the greatest metaphysicians of Arabic philosophy, but through his excellent paraphrasis of Aristotle's "Metaphysics", he contributed to the knowledge of metaphysics among the Christian scholastics; and his influence on William of Auvergne, Albert the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus was quite strong. The present article analyzes the object and properties of metaphysics according to Avicenna; then it explains the structure of metaphysics, the four causes, the real distinction between essence and existence, and between the necessary and the possible, the proof of God's existence the attributes of God and the meaning of divine names, the origin of the world through emanation, divine providence and the problem of evil. The study is mainly based on the Kitab al-Shifa."
Morewedge Parviz, "Philosophical analysis and Ibn Sina's "essence-existence" distinction," Journal of the American Oriental Society 92: 425-435 (1972).
Reprinted in: Parviz Morewedge - The mystical philosophy of Avicenna - Binghamton, Global Publications, 2001 pp. 33-55.
Morewedge Parviz, "Ibn Sina's concept of the self," Philosophical Forum 4: 49-73 (1972).
Morewedge Parviz. The mystical philosophy of Avicenna. Binghamton: Global Publications, Binghamton University 2001.
Contents: A introduction to Ibsn Sins's ontology 1; 1. Philosophical analysis and Ibn sina's essence-existence distinction 33; 2. The logic of Emanationism and Sufism in the philosophy of Ibn Sina (Avicenna) 57; 3. A third version of the ontological argument int eh Ibn Sinian Metaphysics 117; 4. The analysis of "Substance" un Tusi's Logic and in the Ibn Sinian tradition 165; 5. two senses of mysticism in the Neoplatonic and Sufic tradition 207-239.
"Summary: The enclosed collection of essays focuses on the ontology of the most important medieval Muslim philosopher, ibn Sina (980-1037), proffering the theses that: (a) his ontology is incompatible with monotheistic theologies; (b) his cosmogony is not derivable from either Aristotelian or Neoplatonic systems; and finally (c) the mystical dimension of his system is in accord with monistic "nature mysticism," as classified by R. C. Zaehner*. In contrast to the views of majority of contemporary scholars that ibn Sina's philosophy essentially follows monotheistic or Greek philosophical systems, this collection emphasizes his original contributions to ontology and meta-mysticism."
* [Robert Charles Zaehner - Mysticism sacred and profane. An inquiry into some varieties of praeternatural experience - New York, Oxford University Press, 1961]
Nasr Seyyed Hossein, "Existence ('wujud') and Quiddity ('mahiyyah') in Islamic philosophy," International Philosophical Quarterly 29: 409-428 (1989).
"This paper deals with the meaning of "wujud" and "mahiyyah" in various schools of Islamic thought. It begins by turning attention to the significance of this subject for Islamic philosophy as well as theology and even certain schools of sufism. It traces the history of the subject from Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina to Suhrawardi, Fakhr al-din Al-Razi and later Islamic philosophers such as Mir Damad and Mulla Sadra. The essay then deals with the basic distinctions made by Ibn Sina between necessity, contingency and impossibility which forms the basis of the ontology of Islamic philosophers."
Owens Joseph. The relevance of Avicennean Neoplatonism. In Neoplatonism and Islamic thought. Edited by Morewedge Parviz. Albany: State University of New York Press 1992. pp. 41-50
Porro Pasquale, "Universaux et esse essentiae: Avicenne, Henri de Gand et le "Troisième Reich"," Cahiers de Philosophie de l'Université de Caen 38-39: 9-51 (2002).
Fascicle titled: Le Réalisme des universaux. Philosophie analytique rt philosophie médiévale
Porro Pasquale. Duns Scot et le point de rupture avec Avicenne. In Duns Scot à Paris 1302-2002. Actes du colloque de Paris, 2-4 septembre 2002. Edited by Boulnois Olivier et al. Turnhout: Brepols 2004. pp. 195-218
Porro Pasquale. Tommaso d'Aquino, Avicenna e la struttura della metafisica. In Tommaso d'Aquino e l'oggetto della metafisica. Edited by Brock Stephen. Roma: Armando 2004. pp. 65-87
Rahman Fazlur, "Essence and existence in Avicenna," Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies 4: 1-16 (958).
Rahman Fazlur, "Essence and existence in Ibn Sina. The myth and the reality," Hamdard Islamicus 4: 3-14 (1981).
Ramón Rafael Guerrero, "Sobre el objecto de la metafisica según Avicena," Cuadernos de Pensamiento 10: 59-75 (1996).
Rashed Marwan. Ibn 'Adi et Avicenne: sur les types d'existants. In Aristotele e I suoi esegeti neoplatonici. Logica e ontologia nelle interpretazioni greche e arabe.
Atti del Convegno internazionale Roma 19-20 ottobre 2001. Edited by Celluprica Vincenza and D'Ancona Costa Cristina. Napoli: Bibliopolis 2004. pp. 107-171
Reisman David C. The making of the Avicennan tradition. The transmission, contents, and structure of Ibn Sina's al-Mubahatat (The Discussions). Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers 2002.
Rescher Nicholas, "Avicenna on the logic of 'conditional' propositions," Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 4: 48-58 (1963).
Rescher Nicholas. Studies in the history of Arabic logic. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press 1963.
"In the ten essays brought together in this volume, the author discusses different aspects and problems related to the intellectual history of Islam and centered around logical and philosophical issues. the guiding line is that Arabic logic is entirely western and has nothing to do with "oriental philosophy." Six of the essays have appeared in different journals. The first essay, written especially for this volume, gives a brief account of the history of Arabic logic. The other essays deal with particular texts and problems related to the writings of such thinkers as Al-FArabi, Al-Kindi, Avicenna, Abu 'l-Salt of Denia, Averroes. The book contains extensive bibliographical references, documentary and critical notes."
Rescher Nicholas. The development of Arabic logic.1964.
"The book begins with a chapter on the "First century" of Arabic logic which is understood to be a period of transmission, translation and assimilation of mainly Alexandrian Aristotelianism.
The author relates how toward the end of the development of Arabic logic the initial relationship which logic bore to medicine, mathematics and astronomy was replaced by a new kinship with the Islamic "sciences" of theology, law, philology and rhetoric."
Rescher Nicholas. Temporal modalities in Arabic logic. Dordrecht: Reidel 1966.
Rescher Nicholas, "Avicenna on the logic of questions," Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 49: 1-6 (1967).
"In the past few years the Logic of Questions has come into its own as a branch of logical theory which has generated widespread interest and has been extensively cultivated (1). It is thus germane to call attention to the (relatively brief) treatment of the theory of questions by the famous Persian-Arabic philosopher Avicenna (980-1037) (2).
In several of his logical treatises, Avicenna takes up the task of providing an analysis and a systematic classification of questions (3)." p. 1
(1) A pioneer work of the recent discussions is M. and A. Prior, "Erotetic Logic", The Philosophical Review, vol. 64 (1955) pp. 43-59. Three important monographs are: D. Harrah, Communication: A Logical Model, Cambridge Mass. 1963; N. D. Belnap, Jr., An Analysis of Questions: Preliminary Report, Santa Monica 1963; L. Aqvist, A New Approach to the Logical Theory of Interrogatives, Pt. I, Uppsala 1965.
(2) On Avicenna as a logician see N. Rescher, The Development of Arabic Logic, Pittsburgh 1964, especially pp. 149-155.
(3) Our principal sources are: (1) Danesh-name, anonymously edited in Teheran in 1331 A. H. (= 1912); tr. by M. Achena and M. Massi, Avicenne: Le Livre de Science, vol. I, Sections on logic and metaphysics; Paris 1955, pp. 84-85; (2) Kitab al-isharat wa-' l-tanbihat, ed. J. Forget, Leiden 1892; ed. with the commentary of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (b. 1201) by S. Dunya, Cairo 1960; tr. A. M. Goichon, Livre des Directives et Remarques, Paris 1951; see pp. 85-86 of the Forget text and pp. 234-238 of the translation; (3) Kitab al-najat, et. M. Kurdi, Cairo 1938; The material on questions is extracted and translated in a series of footnotes on pp. 235-237 of A. M. Goichon, op. cit.
Rescher Nicholas. Studies in Arabic philosophy. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press 1968.
Rizvi Sajjad, "Roots of an aporia in later Islamic philosophy. The existence-essence distinction in the metaphysics of Avicenna and Suhrawardi," Studia Iranica 29: 61-108 (2000).
"The distinction between existence and essence in contingent beings is one of the foundational doctrines of medieval philosophy. Building upon the Aristotelian logical distinction between a thing and its existence, Avicenna posited the distinction as a proof for the radical contingency of creation. However, one Islamic philosopher, who had an enormous influence on the development of philosophical discourse in Iran, subverted the traditional Peripatetic vision of reality and disputed the ontological nature of existence. Through a critique of the Peripatetic notion of existence, Suhrawardi denied that the term had 'reference' and demonstrated the irrelevance of the distinction for metaphysical inquiry, which should, instead, rely upon an eidetic vision of the 'hierarchy of lights'. The synthesis of these two views led to the crystallisation of Mullâ Sadrâ Shirâzi's famous doctrine of the ' primacy and systematically graded nature of being' ".
Rizvi Sajjad. Process metaphysics in Islam? Avicenna and Mulla Sadra on intensification in Being. In Before and After Avicenna. Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group. Edited by Reisman David C. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers 2003. pp. 233-248
Roccaro Giuseppe, "Il soggetto della scienza prima. Ibn Sina, As-sifa'. Al-ilahiyyat, I.1-2," Giornale di Metafisica 16: 45-69 (1994).
In appendix: Italian translation of Al-ilahiyyat, I.1-2 (pp. 69-82)
Sabra Abdelhamid I., "Avicenna on the subject matter of logic," Journal of Philosophy 77: 757-764 (1980).
Reprinted in: Optics, astronomy, and logic. Studies in Arabic science and philosophy - Aldershot Variorum Reprints, 1994 (essay XVII).
"Analysis of Avicenna's views on the subject matter of logic as presented in the introduction to the logical section of his "Kitab al-Shifa" -- the only part of this section that was translated into Latin in the Middle Ages. Attempts to clarify the distinctive character of Avicenna's account and point out Avicenna's emphasis on the intimate connection between logic and language. A brief historical introduction places Avicenna's view of the nature of logic in the context of Islamic."
Sebti Meryem. Avicenne. L'âme humaine. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France 2000.
Sebti Meryem, "Le statut ontologique de l'image dans la doctrine avicennienne de la perception," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 15: 109-140 (2005).
"Our goal in this article is to show that the analysis of Avicenna's doctrine of perception enables the isolation of two distinct concepts of the image. In the first part, we examine the passages in which Ibn Sina characterizes the image, in agreement with the ancient conception, as the material replica of a concrete reality formed in the faculty-organs by reification. We then undertake to read his doctrine of perception in the light of the discussion of the essence or common nature, which in itself is indifferent to unity and plurality. This reading enables us to show that for Ibn Sina, the common element of the various representations--sensible, imaginative, and intellective--is the quiddity as it is in itself. Each of these representations adds to the quiddity an intention of universality or of particularity."
Smith Gerard, "Avicenna and the possibles," New Scholasticism 17: 340-357 (1943).
Stone Abraham, "Simplicius and Avicenna on the essential corporeity of material substance," Interdisciplinary Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 9: 73-130 (2001).
Street Tony, "'The eminent later Scholar' in Avicenna's Book of the Syllogism," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 11: 205-218 (2001).
"Avicenna refers on a number of occasions in his Book of the Syllogism to "the eminent later scholar" (al-fadil min al-muta'ahhirin). At least three recent studies have argued or assumed that this eminent later scholar is Alexander of Aphrodisias.
It is argued in this article that Avicenna is in fact referring to Alfarabi. This has consequences for reconstructing the lost first part of Alfarabi's Great Commentary on the Prior Analytics, for
highlighting certain aspects of Alfarabi's logical doctrines, and for understanding more about the relation between Avicenna and Alfarabi in matters logical."
Street Tony, "Avicenna and Tusi on the contradiction and conversion of the absolute," History and Philosophy of Logic 21: 45-56 (2002).
Street Tony, "An outline of Avicenna's syllogistic," Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 84: 129-160 (2002).
"This study presents an outline of Avicenna's categorical syllogistic with divided modal premises. It is hoped that this will encourage further analysis of the system and, ultimately, the production of a formal semantics for it. The study also takes note of some of the problems in Avicenna's system which motivated the later logicians to introduce modifications into it. Finally, the study proposes translations for a number of the Arabic terms of art."
Verbeke Gerard, "Le "De anima" d'Avicenne, à propos d'une édition critique.," Revue Philosophique de Louvain 66: 619-629 (1968).
"The article deals with the principles according to which the first critical edition of the Latin medieval translation of Avicenna's De anima IV-V has been prepared by Simone van Riet (University of Louvain, Belgium). The main topics are: the 'double readings', the choice of the basic manuscripts, the two critical apparatus and the two comparative vocabularies.
The article also provides a survey of the Latin medieval translations of Avicenna in general and indicates the main themes set forth by G. Verbeke in the introduction about the psychological doctrine of Avicenna."
Verbeke Gerard. Le statut de la Métaphysique. In Avicenna Latinus Liber de philosophia prima sive scientia divina I-IV. Louvain: Peters 1977. pp.
Intoduction doctrinale pp. 1*-122*
Verbeke Gerard. Une nuovelle théologie philosophique. In Avicenna Latinus Liber de philosophia prima sive scientia divina V-X.. Louvain: Peters 1980. pp.
Introduction doctrinale 1*-80*.
Verbeke Gerard, "Transmission d'Avicenne a l'Occident Latin. Les cheminements l'histoire," Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie 114: 51-64 (1982).
"During the last years a critical edition of two important works of Avicenna according to their Latin medieval translation has been published: "De anima" and "De philosophia prima". This translation dates back to the 12th century: as far as the "De anima" is concerned the translation was made wih the help of a Jewish philosopher, Ibn Daoud, who was probably assisted by Dominicus Gundisalvi. Both translations were very influential in the Latin West: the doctrines expressed in them were widely accepted (with some restrictions) and were never censured by the Church."
Verbeke Gerard. Deux étapes de la reflexion métaphysique: Aristote et Avicenne. In Vérité et Éthos: Recueil Commémoratif dédié à Alphonse-Marie Parent. Edited by Danek Jaromir. Québec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval 1982. pp. 57-86
Verbeke Gerard. Avicenna. Grundleger einer neuen Metaphysik. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag 1983.
Winovsky Robert, "Notes on Avicenna's concept of thingness (Say'iyya)," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 10: 181-221 (2000).
"Avicenna's appeals to thingness occur most densely in passages devoted to analyzing the relationship between efficient and final causes, an entirely Aristotelian topic. A philological question arises: should these passages be emended to real causality (sababiyya) in place of thingness (say'iyya)? I argue that the balance of evidence compels us to retain thingness. For Avicenna, thingness is the respect in which the final cause is prior to the efficient cause (as well as to the formal and material causes); existence, by contrast, is the respect in which the efficient cause is prior to the final cause. In fact, over the course of Avicenna's career a progression from the kalam problematic of say' v. mawgud to his own problematic of mahiyya v. wugud can be detected in his discussions of efficient and final causation."
Winovsky Robert. Towards a history og Avicenna's distinction between immanent and transcendent causes. In Before and after Avicenna. Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group. Edited by Reisman David C. and Al-Rahim Ahmed H. Leiden: Brill 2003. pp. 49-68
Winovsky Robert. Avicenna's metaphysics in context. Ithaca: Cornell University Press 2003.
Winovsky Robert. Avicenna and the Avicennian tradition. In The Cambridge Companion to Arabic philosophy. Edited by Adamson Peter and Taylor Richard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005. pp. 92-136
"My aim in this book is to present a history of the metaphysics of Abú `Ali al-Husayn ibn `Abdallah ibn Sinâ, known in the West by his Latinized name Avicenna.
Since 1937, when Amélie-Marie Goichon published La distinction de l'essence et de l'existence d'après Ibn Sinâ (Avicenne), no serious book-length study specifically devoted to Avicenna's metaphysics has appeared. This is surprising enough given how influential Avicenna's metaphysical ideas were, but what makes it astonishing is that tremendous advances have taken place since Goichon's time in fields relevant to this topic. Those fields include - from the ultimate to the proximate, to use Avicenna's terms - the study of late antique Greek philosophy and the study of classical Islamic doctrinal theology, or kalâm; the study of the Greco-Arabic philosophical translations and the study of the philosophy of al-Farabi; and the study of Avicenna's metaphysics and the study of his intellectual biography."
Wippel John F., "Commentary of Boethius De Trinitate: Thomas Aquinas and Avicenna on the relationship between First Philosophy and the other theoretical sciences," Thomist 37: 133-154 (1973).
Wippel John F., "The Latin Avicenna as a source for Thomas Aquinas's metaphysics," Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie: 51-90 (1990).
Wippel John F. Thomas Aquinas, Siger of Brabant, and their use of Avicenna in clarifying the subject of metaphysics. In Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of philosophy. Volume 2: Metaphysics. Edited by Rockmore Tom. Bowling Green: Philosophy Documentation Center, Bowling Green State University 1999. pp. 15-26
"Both Aquinas and Siger were familiar with a fundamental disagreement within the earlier philosophical tradition concerning the subject of metaphysics: is it being as being, or is it divine being? if Avicenna represented one approach to this issue, and Averroes another, both Thomas and Siger were closer to Avicenna than to Averroes in their respective solutions. Nonetheless, each resolved the issue in a distinct way."
Zedler Beatrice, "Saint Thomas and Avicenna in the De potentia," Traditio.Studies in Ancient and Medieval thought, history, and religion 6: 105-159 (1948).
Zedler Beatrice, "Another look at Avicenna," New Scholasticism 50: 504-521 (1976).
Zedler Beatrice, "Why are the possibles possible?," New Scholasticism 55: 113-130 (1981).
Zghal Hatem. La connaissance des singuliers chez Avicenne. In De Zénon d'Élée à Poincaré. Recueil d'études en hommage à Roshdi Rashed. Edited by Morelon Régis and Hasnawi Ahmad. Louvain: Peeters Publishers 2004. pp. 685-718
Les Cahiers du MIDEO. Vol. I
Zghal Hatem, "La relation chez Avicenne," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 16: 237-286 (2006).
"This study consists in a commentary on some passages from Avicenna, which deal with the category of the relative. The commentary points out the promotion of the relative to the role of an exclusive determining factor. An attempt is made here to show how Avicenna tries to detach the relative accident from its subject, in order to transform it into the exclusive determining factor of a pure thingness. The relative determination of this thingness must be able to receive specifications, which may extend as far as the infimae species. These specifications are obtained by the consideration of the other attributes of the subject of the relative attribution, which are, henceforth, no more than the "modes of advent" of the relation."
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