Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
What a thing is and whether it exists are two different questions – and only God exists necessarily, everything else depends on him.
Placement
Physician and philosopher: his distinction between essence and existence shaped metaphysics in East and West.
Key ideas
- Essence vs. existence
- The floating man
- The necessary existent
Influence
Influenced by 4
Aristotle
influenced by ✓
Avicenna’s Book of the Cure (al-Shifa) follows the order of Aristotle’s corpus from logic to metaphysics, but reworks it into a system of his own. Ibn Sina, al-Shifa; D. Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition (1988; 2nd ed. 2014); SEP “Ibn Sina [Avicenna]”
Aristotle › 384–322 BCE
Plotinus
influenced by ✓
Avicenna wrote notes on the Theology of Aristotle, the Arabic Plotinus, and his scheme of emanation from the Necessary Existent continues Plotinian Neoplatonism. P. Adamson, “Non-Discursive Thought in Avicenna’s Commentary on the Theology of Aristotle”, in J. McGinnis (ed.), Interpreting Avicenna (2004); SEP “Ibn Sina [Avicenna]”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Plotinus › 204–270
al-Kindi
influenced by disputed ✓
Avicenna built on the Arabic Neoplatonic Aristotle shaped in al-Kindi’s circle, including the Theology of Aristotle; a direct influence of al-Kindi himself is disputed. P. Adamson, The Arabic Plotinus (2002); P. Adamson, Al-Kindi (2007); SEP “al-Kindi”
al-Kindi › c. 801–873
al-Farabi
influenced by ✓
In his autobiography Avicenna recalls that he understood Aristotle’s Metaphysics, read some forty times, only through al-Farabi’s treatise On the Aims of the Metaphysics. Ibn Sina, autobiography, tr. W. E. Gohlman, The Life of Ibn Sina (1974); D. Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition (1988); SEP “Ibn Sina [Avicenna]”
al-Farabi › c. 872–950
Influenced 17
Maimonides
influenced ✓
Maimonides took over Avicenna’s distinction between necessary and possible existence for a proof of God and held that existence is an accident of essence (Guide, c. 1190). Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed (c. 1190), tr. S. Pines (1963), with Pines’s introduction; SEP “Maimonides”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Maimonides › 1138–1204
Albertus Magnus
influenced ✓
Albert drew on Avicenna’s paraphrases of Aristotle, especially his account of the inner senses and the intellect, throughout his commentaries such as De anima. Albertus Magnus, De anima; De homine; SEP “Albert the Great”; SEP “Ibn Sina [Avicenna]”
Albertus Magnus › c. 1200–1280
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
influenced ✓
Al-Tusi’s commentary on Avicenna’s Pointers and Reminders (completed 1246) defended him against Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s objections and shaped how later scholars read him. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Hall mushkilat al-Isharat (1246); SEP “Ibn Sina [Avicenna]”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi › 1201–1274
Thomas Aquinas
influenced ✓
In On Being and Essence (c. 1255) Aquinas took up Avicenna’s distinction of essence and existence, citing him often; elsewhere he rejected his necessary emanation of the world. Thomas Aquinas, De ente et essentia (c. 1255); Summa theologiae I q. 47 a. 1; SEP “Thomas Aquinas”; SEP “Ibn Sina [Avicenna]”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Thomas Aquinas › c. 1225–1274
John Duns Scotus
influenced
Scotus took over Avicenna’s common nature, ‘horseness is just horseness’, indifferent to universality and singularity, and his view of being as the intellect’s first object. Avicenna, Metaphysics (al-Ilāhiyyāt) V.1; Duns Scotus, Ordinatio II d. 3 p. 1 q. 1; I d. 3; SEP “John Duns Scotus”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
John Duns Scotus › c. 1266–1308
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
influenced ✓
Nasr presented Avicenna as the master of the Peripatetic school in Three Muslim Sages and studied his cosmology in An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (both 1964). S. H. Nasr, Three Muslim Sages (1964); An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (1964)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Seyyed Hossein Nasr › b. 1933
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Ibn Tufayl
influenced
Ibn Tufayl took the name Hayy ibn Yaqzan from Avicenna’s allegory and presented his tale as unveiling the ‘Oriental philosophy’ Avicenna had mentioned. Ibn Tufayl, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, introduction, tr. L. E. Goodman (1972); SEP “Ibn Tufayl”
Evidence: AI draft
Ibn Tufayl › c. 1105–1185
Suhrawardi
influenced
Suhrawardi was trained in Avicenna’s philosophy and wrote Peripatetic works such as The Intimations (al-Talwihat) before setting illumination against it as an alternative. Suhrawardi, al-Talwihat; SEP “Suhrawardi”
Evidence: AI draft
Suhrawardi › 1154–1191
Athir al-Din al-Abhari
influenced
Al-Abhari’s Guide to Philosophy presents logic, physics and metaphysics largely in Ibn Sina’s terms; its metaphysics, like that of al-Katibi’s Philosophy of the Source, depends closely on Ibn Sina and carried his doctrines into the madrasas. SEP “Arabic and Islamic Metaphysics” (A. Bertolacci); al-Abhari, Hidāyat al-ḥikma
Evidence: AI draft
Athir al-Din al-Abhari › c. 1194–1265
Najm al-Din al-Katibi
influenced
Al-Katibi’s Shamsiyya builds on Ibn Sina’s temporal modal logic, though it examines thirteen modal propositions where Ibn Sina had examined six, and his Philosophy of the Source presents metaphysics largely in Ibn Sina’s terms. T. Street, The Rules of Logic (2024); SEP “Arabic and Islamic Metaphysics”
Evidence: AI draft
Najm al-Din al-Katibi › 1203–1277
Roger Bacon
influenced
Bacon ranked Avicenna highest among Aristotle’s followers and, with him, held the agent intellect to be separate from the soul – for Bacon, God himself (Opus maius, 1267). Roger Bacon, Opus maius (1267); É. Gilson, ‘Les sources gréco-arabes de l’augustinisme avicennisant’, AHDLMA 4 (1929); SEP “Roger Bacon”
Evidence: AI draft
Roger Bacon › c. 1219–1292
Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi
influenced
Qutb al-Din wrote a five-volume commentary on the general part of Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine and taught the Canon and the Healing in Syria; his Pearly Crown presents Avicennan philosophy in Persian. F. J. Ragep, Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (2007); J. Walbridge (1992)
Evidence: AI draft
Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi › 1236–1311
Mir Damad
influenced
Mir Damad developed Avicenna’s distinction of time, perpetuity (dahr) and eternity into his doctrine that the world is ‘perpetually originated’ (Kitab al-Qabasat). Mir Damad, Kitab al-Qabasat; Encyclopaedia Iranica “Mir Damad”
Evidence: AI draft
Mir Damad › c. 1561–1631
Mulla Sadra
influenced
Mulla Sadra started from Avicenna’s distinction of existence and essence, but turned it into the primacy of existence and its gradation (al-Asfar al-arbaa). Mulla Sadra, al-Hikma al-mutaaliya fi l-asfar al-arbaa; SEP “Mulla Sadra”
Evidence: AI draft
Mulla Sadra › c. 1572–1640
Hadi Sabzawari
influenced
Sabzawari wrote marginal notes on the metaphysics of Ibn Sina’s Healing, printed with those of Mulla Sadra and Mir Damad. Ibn Sina, al-Shifāʾ, al-Ilāhiyyāt, with marginal notes by Mulla Sadra, Mir Damad, Khwansari, Sabzawari and others, ed. H. Naji Isfahani (Tehran 2004)
Evidence: AI draft
Hadi Sabzawari › 1797–1873
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani
influenced
Schooled in the philosophical tradition of Avicenna, al-Afghani taught Islamic philosophy, including Avicenna’s works, in Cairo in the 1870s to a circle that included Muhammad Abduh. N. R. Keddie, Sayyid Jamal ad-Din “al-Afghani”: A Political Biography (1972); A. Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798–1939 (1962)
Evidence: AI draft
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani › 1838–1897
Fazlur Rahman
influenced
Fazlur Rahman wrote his Oxford doctorate on Avicenna’s psychology, published Avicenna’s Psychology (1952) and edited the De anima of the Book of the Cure (1959). F. Rahman, Avicenna’s Psychology (1952); Avicenna’s De Anima (1959)
Evidence: AI draft
Fazlur Rahman › 1919–1988
Criticism
Criticized by 9
al-Ghazali influenced
influenced
Al-Ghazali summarised Avicenna’s philosophy in The Aims of the Philosophers and took over much of his logic and psychology, even while condemning three of his doctrines. al-Ghazali, Maqasid al-falasifa (c. 1094); F. Griffel, Al-Ghazali’s Philosophical Theology (2009); SEP “al-Ghazali”
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
Al-Ghazali’s Incoherence of the Philosophers attacked Avicenna’s system on twenty points, among them the world’s eternity, emanation and the necessary link between cause and effect (1095). al-Ghazālī, Tahāfut al-falāsifa (1095), tr. M. Marmura, 2000; SEP “al-Ghazali”
Evidence: AI draft
al-Ghazali › 1058–1111
al-Shahrastani
criticised by
In Struggling with the Philosopher al-Shahrastani attacked Ibn Sina’s division of being, his proof of the one Necessary Existent, his account of God’s knowledge and the eternity of the world. al-Shahrastānī, Muṣāraʿat al-falāsifa; W. Madelung and T. Mayer, Struggling with the Philosopher (2001)
Evidence: AI draft
al-Shahrastani › c. 1086–1153
Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
criticised by
Averroes faulted Avicenna for making existence an accident added to essence and for departing from Aristotle in concessions to the theologians (Tahafut al-tahafut). Ibn Rushd, Tahāfut al-tahāfut; Long Commentary on the Metaphysics; SEP “Ibn Rushd [Averroes]”
Evidence: AI draft
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) › 1126–1198
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi influenced
influenced
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi organised his Eastern Investigations (al-Mabahith al-mashriqiyya) around Avicenna’s philosophy and kept much of its framework even where he criticised it. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, al-Mabahith al-mashriqiyya; A. Shihadeh, “From al-Ghazali to al-Razi”, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 15 (2005)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
criticised by
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s commentary on Avicenna’s Pointers and Reminders raised so many objections that al-Tusi called it a ‘wounding’ (jarh) rather than a commentary (sharh). Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Sharḥ al-Ishārāt; Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, Ḥall mushkilāt al-Ishārāt, preface
Evidence: AI draft
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi › c. 1150–1210
Sa’d al-Din al-Taftazani
criticised by
Al-Taftazani replied to Ibn Sina’s argument that essences cannot be made by an agent, distinguishing between saying that four would not be even and that four would be non-even. SEP “Arabic and Islamic Philosophy of Essence and Existence”; al-Taftazani, Sharḥ al-Maqāṣid
Evidence: AI draft
Sa’d al-Din al-Taftazani › 1322–1390
Ibn Khaldun
criticised by
Ibn Khaldun argued that the metaphysics of the philosophers, among whom he named al-Farabi and Avicenna, cannot reach certainty about what lies beyond experience (Muqaddima VI, 1377). Ibn Khaldūn, al-Muqaddima (1377), ch. VI, ‘A refutation of philosophy’, tr. F. Rosenthal, 1958, vol. III
Evidence: AI draft
Ibn Khaldun › 1332–1406
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al-Biruni
criticised by
Al-Biruni objected to Ibn Sina’s answers in defence of Aristotle and pressed his questions again; Ibn Sina’s student al-Maʿsumi replied in his place. al-Asʾila wa-l-ajwiba, ed. Nasr and Mohaghegh (1972); Berjak and Iqbal (2003–06)
Evidence: AI draft
al-Biruni › 973–1048
Ibn Taymiyya
criticised by
Ibn Taymiyya rejected Avicenna’s God as a Necessary Existent without attributes and the Avicennan logic on which the philosophers built (Dar taarud; al-Radd ala al-mantiqiyyin). Ibn Taymiyya, Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql; al-Radd ʿalā al-manṭiqiyyīn; J. Hoover, Ibn Taymiyya, 2019
Evidence: AI draft
Ibn Taymiyya › 1263–1328
Mohammed Abed al-Jabri
criticised by
Al-Jabri cast Avicenna, above all his ‘Oriental philosophy’, as turning Arabic philosophy towards gnostic irrationalism, against the rationalism of Averroes in the Maghreb (Nahnu wa-l-turath, 1980). M. A. al-Jābirī, Naḥnu wa-l-turāth, 1980; Arab-Islamic Philosophy: A Contemporary Critique, tr. 1999
Evidence: AI draft
Mohammed Abed al-Jabri › 1935–2010
Criticizes 1
Porphyry influenced by
influenced by
Avicenna opened the logic of the Book of the Cure with an Introduction (al-Madkhal) that follows Porphyry’s Isagoge on the five predicables. Ibn Sina, al-Shifa, al-Madkhal; SEP “Porphyry”
Evidence: AI draft
criticised
Avicenna rejected the doctrine, which he attributed to Porphyry, that the knowing intellect becomes identical with what it knows (Shifa, De anima V.6; al-Isharat). Ibn Sīnā, al-Shifāʾ: al-Nafs V.6; al-Ishārāt wa-l-tanbīhāt, namaṭ 7
Evidence: AI draft
Porphyry › c. 234–305
Works
- c. 1025The Canon of Medicine
A systematic summa of Greek and Arabic medicine; in Gerard of Cremona’s Latin translation it was a university textbook in Europe into the 17th century.
An encyclopedia from logic to metaphysics – with the distinction between essence and existence.
His last summa in brief, allusive form – logic, physics and metaphysics, ending with the stations of the mystics; the object of a long tradition of commentary.
Position
Avicenna built the system that later Islamic philosophy and theology took as their main point of reference. He distinguished sharply between what a thing is (its essence) and the fact that it exists: no creature exists by its essence, so each needs a cause. This leads to God as the Necessary Being, whose essence is to exist. His “floating man” thought experiment – a person created in mid-air without any sensations would still know that he exists – argues that the soul knows itself directly and is distinct from the body. His Canon of Medicine was a standard textbook for centuries, and his metaphysics shaped Aquinas, Duns Scotus and the whole later Islamic tradition.
Life & context
Ibn Sina was born in 980 near Bukhara and was a celebrated physician while still a teenager. He served as doctor and minister at various Persian courts, including Hamadan and Isfahan, often in turbulent times, writing at night and even while travelling. He died in Hamadan in 1037, leaving a huge body of work in philosophy and medicine.
Further main works
- The Book of Salvation (c. 1027)
- Remarks and Admonitions (c. 1030)
Appears in
- Journey ‘The Journey of Aristotle’ · Stop 4 of 9
- Journey ‘From Baghdad to Isfahan’ · Stop 3 of 9
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