Journal of the History of Philosophy

BOOK REVIEWS 665 precise state of the textual evidence, whether that be a series of partial expositions (Aristotle) or a few fragmentary and contradictory reports of lost authors (atomists and Stoics). Though other interpretations of the relevant texts can still be defended, White has significantly raised the ante for anyone who wants to enter the debate. No one can simply dismiss White's interpretation without offering an equally sufficient or superior explanation of the evidence. There is also a suprahistorical dimension to White's project. By articulating three ancient philosophical positions in contemporary terms, White has lifted them out of their original historical plane to a position from which they may enter contemporary debates. Philosophy has always stood on the past to build the future. White stands on the present to rebuild the past. To some extent he has idealized the three ancient protagonists; hut in so doing he has elevated them to the rank of permanent participants in the eternal dialogue that is philosophy. White's book stops short of actually confronting contemporary mathematics and philosophy with these revivified ancients, yet his peroration holds out the prospect that ancient attempts to overcome the opposition between the continuous and the discrete may yet hold a formidable challenge to contemporary pure mathematics, where its divorce from the physical science that gave rise to it is not always viewed as an unmixed blessing (329-3o). White's book is full of challenges, from its difficult, technical subject matter to its unconventional methodology and conclusions; but anyone sincerely interested in the precise meaning of the ancient texts or in the broader issues of the foundations of ancient philosophy and mathematics will be well rewarded for any effort spent working through it. DAVID E. HAHM Ohio State UniversiOy L. E. Goodman. Avicenna. New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. xv + 24o. Cloth, $72.5o. Paper, $ x5.95. Anyone who is at all familiar with the writings of the medieval Islamic philosopher Avicenna recognizes him as a philosophically penetrating and original thinker who deserves a place alongside the more familiar major figures in the history of Western philosophy. Yet despite his immense influence on Latin medieval philosophy, and indirectly upon the early modern period, Avicenna's arguments and ideas remain only sketchily known by historians of philosophy, who usually encounter them only through the filter of their later appropriators and detractors. The inaccessibility of Avicenna's writings, owing to the lack of good translations of the original Arabic and Persian texts, is a major reason for the lingering obscurity of Avicenna's thought. But the lack of comprehensive, philosophically informed accounts of Avicenna's views has also contributed to his neglect. Lenn Goodman's Avicenna goes a long way to fill this lacuna, presenting the reader with an overview of the principal tenets of Avicenna's philosophy that both sets them in their own historical context within 666 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 32"4 OCTOBER 1994 medieval Islam and brings them to bear upon perennial themes in the history of Western philosophy. ~man's book is divided into four major chapters: the first gives a biographical overview of Avicenna's life and times; the second addresses his metaphysical thought; the third explores his epistemology and philosophy of mind; and the fourth treats his logic and philosophy of language. The introduction to Avicenna's historical milieu and the impact of the political vicissitudes of his time on Avicenna's own life is one of the best that I have encountered. It is readable and informative, and Goodman captures very nicely the spirit of Avicenna's rather hectic and adventurous life, situating the philosopher's various writings within the biographical context. In his treatment of Avicenna's philosophy itself, Goodman chooses to focus on major themes rather than on the details of his arguments and texts, as befits the intended audience of both the book and the series to which it belongs. Almost as much attention is devoted to Avicenna's predecessors and later critics, such as Al-Farabi, AIGhazali , and the Islamic theologians or m~imun as a whole, and to the place of his thought in relation to the ancient and modern philosophical traditions, as...