Avicenna's Metaphysics in Context

Robert Wisnovsky

Published by Cornell University Press 2003

Avicenna's Metaphysics in Context

Robert Wisnovsky

https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501711527

Overview
Contents

About this book

The eleventh-century philosopher and physician Abu Ali ibn Sina (d. A.D. 1037) was known in the West by his Latinized name Avicenna. An analysis of the sources and evolution of Avicenna's metaphysics, this book focuses on the answers he and his...

Author / Editor information

Robert Wisnovsky is Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University.

Reviews

Peter Adamson, King's College London:

Wisnovsky's approach epitomizes what I see as the three most fruitful avenues for the study of the first few centuries of Arabic philosophy: taking late-antique thought (especially the commentators) into account and being attentive to details of the Arabic translations of philosophical works rather than imagining Avicenna and others as engaging directly with Greek sources. Wisnovsky's outstanding book should serve as a model for future research on Avicenna, and on the formative period of Arabic philosophy in general.

Dimitri Gutas, Yale University:

Robert Wisnovsky's judgments in Avicenna's Metaphysics in Context are based on a keen critical sense and sound knowledge of all the relevant texts, Greek and Arabic alike. The combination of historical and philological accuracy and philosophical insight make this book relatively rare among its kind in Arabic philosophy. Wisnovsky belongs to a new generation of scholars of Arabic philosophy who approach the subject with the seriousness, diligence, and expertise it deserves.

Everett Rowson, University of Pennsylvania:

Robert Wisnovsky has tackled some of the most central and controversial issues involved in the interpretation of Avicenna's philosophy. The result is an original, illuminating, and extremely lucid exposition of Avicenna's views and how he arrived at them.

Taneli Kukkonen, University of Victoria:

Wisnovsky's effort, then, is a resounding success. His study will provide specialists with years' worth of materials to mine and digest, while newcomers are treated to a challenging yet thoroughly engaging introduction to the central metaphysical issues being discussed in late ancient philosophy and the first bloom of Arabic thought. Wisnovsky's book represents the state of the art; it comes highly recommended to anyone interested in the interface between ancient and medieval thought.

Jon McGinnis, University of Missouri–St Louis:

Robert Wisnovsky's Avicenna's Metaphysics in Context is arguably one of the most important works to come out on Avicenna to date. Wisnovsky has a superb mastery of the philological, historical, and philosophical tools necessary for tackling some of the most central and deepest issues in Avicenna's philosophy. His study is history of ideas done at its best. The work is must reading for anyone studying Avicenna today and likewise will be of interest to those with broader interests, whether in Arabic philosophy and intellectual history, Hellenistic and Neoplatonic studies, medieval Latin philosophy, or the history of philosophy in general.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
A Note on Transliteration and Citation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I: Avicenna and the Ammonian Synthesis
1. Aristotle: Perfection in the Definitions of the Soul and of Change Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
2. Alexander and Themistius: Attempts at Reconciliation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
3. Proclus, Ammonius and Asclepius: The Neoplatonic Turn to Causation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
4. Proclus, Ammonius and Philoponus: Neoplatonic Perfection and Aristotelian Soul Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
5. Greek into Arabic: The Greco-Arabic Translations and the Early Arabic Philosophers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
6. Avicenna on Perfection and the Soul: The Issue of Separability Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Part II: The Beginnings of the Avicennian Synthesis
7. Essence and Existence (A): Materials from the Kalām and al-Fārābī Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
8. Essence and Existence (B): Shay'iyya or Sababiyya? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
9. Essence and Existence (C): The Question of Evolution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
10. Causal Self-Sufficiency vs. Causal Productivity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
11. Necessity and Possibility (A): Materials from the Arabic Aristotle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
12. Necessity and Possibility (B): Materials from al-Fārābī Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
13. Necessity and Possibility (C): Materials from the Kalām Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
14. Necessity and Possibility (D): The Question of Evolution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Appendix I: Tables of Greco-Arabic Translation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
Appendix II: Transcriptions of Lemmata from MS Uppsala Or. 364 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
Index of Lemmata Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 320
Keywords: African Hist & Diaspora; History

eBook

Published: May 31, 2018
ISBN: 9781501711527