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His works numbered almost 450 volumes on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 volumes of his surviving works concentrate on [[Early Islamic philosophy|philosophy]] and 40 of them concentrate on [[Islamic medicine|medicine]].<ref>{{MacTutor Biography|id=Avicenna}}</ref> His most famous works are ''[[The Book of Healing]]'', a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'',<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Nasr |first=Seyyed Hossein | authorlink=Seyyed Hossein Nasr | title=Avicenna |year=2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online | accessdate=2007-11-5|location=|publisher=|http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna}} |
His works numbered almost 450 volumes on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 volumes of his surviving works concentrate on [[Early Islamic philosophy|philosophy]] and 40 of them concentrate on [[Islamic medicine|medicine]].<ref>{{MacTutor Biography|id=Avicenna}}</ref> His most famous works are ''[[The Book of Healing]]'', a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'',<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Nasr |first=Seyyed Hossein | authorlink=Seyyed Hossein Nasr | title=Avicenna |year=2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online | accessdate=2007-11-5|location=|publisher=|http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna}} |
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</ref> which was a standard medical text at many Islamic and European universities up until the early 19th century. Ibn Sīnā developed a medical system that combined his own personal experience with that of [[Islamic medicine]], the medical system of [[Galen]], [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] [[metaphysics]], and [[Ancient Iranian Medicine|ancient Persian]], [[Mesopotamia]]n and [[Ayurveda|Indian medicine]]. |
</ref> which was a standard medical text at many Islamic and European universities up until the early 19th century. Ibn Sīnā developed a medical system that combined his own personal experience with that of [[Islamic medicine]], the medical system of [[Galen]], [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] [[metaphysics]], and [[Ancient Iranian Medicine|ancient Persian]], [[Mesopotamia]]n and [[Ayurveda|Indian medicine]]. |
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Ibn Sīnā is regarded as the father of modern [[medicine]],<ref>Cas Lek Cesk (1980). "The father of medicine, Avicenna, in our science and culture: Abu Ali ibn Sina (980-1037)", ''Becka J.'' '''119''' (1), p. 17-23.</ref> particularly for his introduction of systematic [[experiment]]ation and [[quantification]] into the study of [[physiology]],<ref name=Park>Katharine Park (March 1990). "''Avicenna in Renaissance Italy: The Canon and Medical Teaching in Italian Universities after 1500'' by Nancy G. Siraisi", ''The Journal of Modern History'' '''62''' (1), p. 169-170. |
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{{quote|"Students of the history of medicine know him for his attempts to introduce systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology".}}</ref> his discovery of the contagious nature of [[infectious disease]]s,<ref name=Zahoor/> the introduction of [[quarantine]] to limit the spread of contagious [[disease]]s, the introduction of [[experimental medicine]], [[evidence-based medicine]], [[clinical trial]]s,<ref name=Tschanz>David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD (August 2003). "Arab Roots of European Medicine", ''Heart Views'' '''4''' (2).</ref> |
{{quote|"Students of the history of medicine know him for his attempts to introduce systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology".}}</ref> his discovery of the contagious nature of [[infectious disease]]s,<ref name=Zahoor/> the introduction of [[quarantine]] to limit the spread of contagious [[disease]]s, the introduction of [[experimental medicine]], [[evidence-based medicine]], [[clinical trial]]s,<ref name=Tschanz>David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD (August 2003). "Arab Roots of European Medicine", ''Heart Views'' '''4''' (2).</ref> |
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[[randomized controlled trial]]s,<ref name=Eldredge>Jonathan D. Eldredge (2003), "The Randomised Controlled Trial design: unrecognized opportunities for health sciences librarianship", ''Health Information and Libraries Journal'' '''20''', p. 34–44 [36].</ref><ref name=Bloom>Bernard S. Bloom, Aurelia Retbi, Sandrine Dahan, Egon Jonsson (2000), "Evaluation Of Randomized Controlled Trials On Complementary And Alternative Medicine", ''International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care'' '''16''' (1), p. 13–21 [19].</ref> |
[[randomized controlled trial]]s,<ref name=Eldredge>Jonathan D. Eldredge (2003), "The Randomised Controlled Trial design: unrecognized opportunities for health sciences librarianship", ''Health Information and Libraries Journal'' '''20''', p. 34–44 [36].</ref><ref name=Bloom>Bernard S. Bloom, Aurelia Retbi, Sandrine Dahan, Egon Jonsson (2000), "Evaluation Of Randomized Controlled Trials On Complementary And Alternative Medicine", ''International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care'' '''16''' (1), p. 13–21 [19].</ref> |
Revision as of 22:10, 27 November 2007
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) | |
---|---|
Era | Islamic Golden Age |
Region | Persian scholar |
School | Avicennism[1] |
Main interests | Medicine, alchemy and chemistry, astronomy, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy, Islamic studies, logic, mathematics, physics and science, poetry, theology |
Notable ideas | Father of modern medicine and the concept of momentum, founder of Avicennism and Avicennian logic, and pioneer of aromatherapy and neuropsychiatry. His works were long used in Islamic and European medical education, and also influenced many European physicists and philosophers. |
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā (Persian: ابن سينا) (c. 980 in Balkh,[2] Khorasan – 1037 in Hamedan[3]), also known as Ibn Seena[4] and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna (Gr. Ἀβιτζιανός),[5] was a Persian[6] Muslim polymath: an astronomer, chemist, hafiz, logician, mathematician, poet, physicist, scientist, soldier, statesman, theologian, and foremost physician and philosopher of his time.[7]
His works numbered almost 450 volumes on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 volumes of his surviving works concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.[8] His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and The Canon of Medicine,[9] which was a standard medical text at many Islamic and European universities up until the early 19th century. Ibn Sīnā developed a medical system that combined his own personal experience with that of Islamic medicine, the medical system of Galen, Aristotelian metaphysics, and ancient Persian, Mesopotamian and Indian medicine.
Ibn Sīnā is regarded as the father of modern medicine,[10] particularly for his introduction of systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology,[11] his discovery of the contagious nature of infectious diseases,[12] the introduction of quarantine to limit the spread of contagious diseases, the introduction of experimental medicine, evidence-based medicine, clinical trials,[13] randomized controlled trials,[14][15] efficacy tests,[16][17] clinical pharmacology,[18] neuropsychiatry,[19] risk factor analysis, and the idea of a syndrome,[20] and the importance of dietetics and the influence of climate and environment on health.[21] He is also considered the father of the fundamental concept of momentum in physics,[22] and regarded as a pioneer of aromatherapy.[23]
George Sarton, the father of the history of science, wrote in the Introduction to the History of Science:
"One of the most famous exponents of Muslim universalism and an eminent figure in Islamic learning was Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna (981-1037). For a thousand years he has retained his original renown as one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history. His most important medical works are the Qanun (Canon) and a treatise on Cardiac drugs. The 'Qanun fi-l-Tibb' is an immense encyclopedia of medicine. It contains some of the most illuminating thoughts pertaining to distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy; contagious nature of phthisis; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description of skin troubles; of sexual diseases and perversions; of nervous ailments."[12]
Biography
Early life
Ibn Sīnā's life is known to us from authoritative sources. A biography, which is widely considered by foremost Arabicists to have been composed by a disciple and later redacted, covers his first thirty years, and the rest are documented by his disciple al-Juzjani, who was also his secretary and his friend.
He was born in Persia around 980 (370 AH) in Balkh present day Afghanistan. His father, a respected Ismaili[24] or Sunni[25] scholar of Balkh, an important town of the Persian state of Khorasan, was at the time of his son's birth the governor in one of the Samanid Nuh ibn Mansur's estates. He had his son very carefully educated at Bukhara. Ibn Sina himself may have been either a Hanafi Sunni[25][26] or Twelver Shia.[27] Ibn Sina's independent thought was served by an extraordinary intelligence and memory, which allowed him to overtake his teachers at the age of fourteen. As he said in his autobiography there wasn't anything which he hadn't learned when he reached eighteen.
Ibn Sīnā was put under the charge of a tutor, and his precocity soon made him the marvel of his neighbours; he displayed exceptional intellectual behaviour and was a child prodigy who had memorized the Qur'an by the age of 7 and a great deal of Persian poetry as well. He learned Indian arithmetic from an Indian greengrocer, and he began to learn more from a wandering scholar who gained a livelihood by curing the sick and teaching the young. He also studied Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) under the Hanafi scholar Ismail al-Zahid.[25][26]
He was greatly troubled by the Metaphysics of Aristotle, which he could not understand until he read al-Farabi's commentary on the work.[28] For the next year and a half, he studied philosophy, in which he encountered greater obstacles. In such moments of baffled inquiry, he would leave his books, perform the requisite ablutions (wudu), then go to the mosque, and continue in prayer (salah) till light broke on his difficulties. Deep into the night he would continue his studies, and even in his dreams problems would pursue him and work out their solution. Forty times, it is said, he read through the Metaphysics of Aristotle, till the words were imprinted on his memory; but their meaning was hopelessly obscure, until one day they found illumination, from the little commentary by Farabi, which he bought at a bookstall for the small sum of three dirhams. So great was his joy at the discovery, thus made by help of a work from which he had expected only mystery, that he hastened to return thanks to God, and bestowed alms upon the poor.
He turned to medicine at 16, and not only learned medical theory, but also by gratuitous attendance on the sick had, according to his own account, discovered new methods of treatment. The teenager achieved full status as a physician at age 18 and found that "Medicine is no hard and thorny science, like mathematics and metaphysics, so I soon made great progress; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies." The youthful physician's fame spread quickly, and he treated many patients without asking for payment.
Adulthood
His first appointment was that of physician to the emir, who owed him his recovery from a dangerous illness (997). Ibn Sina's chief reward for this service was access to the royal library of the Samanids, well-known patrons of scholarship and scholars. When the library was destroyed by fire not long after, the enemies of Ibn Sina accused him of burning it, in order for ever to conceal the sources of his knowledge. Meanwhile, he assisted his father in his financial labours, but still found time to write some of his earliest works.
When Ibn Sina was 22 years old, he lost his father. The Samanid dynasty came to its end in December 1004. Ibn Sina seems to have declined the offers of Mahmud of Ghazni, and proceeded westwards to Urgench in the modern Uzbekistan, where the vizier, regarded as a friend of scholars, gave him a small monthly stipend. The pay was small, however, so Ibn Sina wandered from place to place through the districts of Nishapur and Merv to the borders of Khorasan, seeking an opening for his talents. Shams al-Ma'äli Kavuus, the generous ruler of Dailam and central Persia, himself a poet and a scholar, with whom Ibn Sina had expected to find an asylum, was about that date (1052) starved to death by his troops who had revolted. Ibn Sina himself was at this season stricken down by a severe illness. Finally, at Gorgan, near the Caspian Sea, Ibn Sina met with a friend, who bought a dwelling near his own house in which Ibn Sina lectured on logic and astronomy. Several of Ibn Sina's treatises were written for this patron; and the commencement of his Canon of Medicine also dates from his stay in Hyrcania.
Ibn Sina subsequently settled at Rai, in the vicinity of modern Tehran, (present day capital of Iran), the home town of Rhazes; where Majd Addaula, a son of the last Buwayhid emir, was nominal ruler under the regency of his mother (Seyyedeh Khatun). About thirty of Ibn Sina's shorter works are said to have been composed in Rai. Constant feuds which raged between the regent and her second son, Amir Shamsud-Dawala, however, compelled the scholar to quit the place. After a brief sojourn at Qazvin he passed southwards to Hamadãn, where another Deylamite emir had established himself. At first, Ibn Sina entered into the service of a high-born lady; but the emir, hearing of his arrival, called him in as medical attendant, and sent him back with presents to his dwelling. Ibn Sina was even raised to the office of vizier. The emir consented that he should be banished from the country. Ibn Sina, however, remained hidden for forty days in a sheikh's house, till a fresh attack of illness induced the emir to restore him to his post. Even during this perturbed time, Ibn Sina persevered with his studies and teaching. Every evening, extracts from his great works, the Canon and the Sanatio, were dictated and explained to his pupils. On the death of the emir, Ibn Sina ceased to be vizier and hid himself in the house of an apothecary, where, with intense assiduity, he continued the composition of his works.
Meanwhile, he had written to Abu Ya'far, the prefect of the dynamic city of Isfahan, offering his services. The new emir of Hamadan, hearing of this correspondence and discovering where Ibn Sina was hidden, incarcerated him in a fortress. War meanwhile continued between the rulers of Isfahan and Hamadãn; in 1024 the former captured Hamadan and its towns, expelling the Tajik mercenaries. When the storm had passed, Ibn Sina returned with the emir to Hamadan, and carried on his literary labours. Later, however, accompanied by his brother, a favourite pupil, and two slaves, Ibn Sina escaped out of the city in the dress of a Sufi ascetic. After a perilous journey, they reached Isfahan, receiving an honourable welcome from the prince.
Later life
The remaining ten or twelve years of Ibn Sīnā's life were spent in the service of Abu Ja'far 'Ala Addaula, whom he accompanied as physician and general literary and scientific adviser, even in his numerous campaigns.
During these years he began to study literary matters and philology, instigated, it is asserted, by criticisms on his style. He contrasts with the nobler and more intellectual character of Averroes. A severe colic, which seized him on the march of the army against Hamadãn, was checked by remedies so violent that Ibn Sina could scarcely stand. On a similar occasion the disease returned; with difficulty he reached Hamadãn, where, finding the disease gaining ground, he refused to keep up the regimen imposed, and resigned himself to his fate.
His friends advised him to slow down and take life moderately. He refused, however, stating that: "I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length". On his deathbed remorse seized him; he bestowed his goods on the poor, restored unjust gains, freed his slaves, and every third day till his death listened to the reading of the Qur'an. He died in June 1037, in his fifty-eighth year, and was buried in Hamedan, Iran.
Works
Scarcely any member of the Muslim circle of the sciences, including theology, philology, mathematics, astronomy, physics, and music, was left untouched by the treatises of Ibn Sīnā. This vast quantity of works - be they full-blown treatises or opuscula - vary so much in style and content (if one were to compare between the 'ahd made with his disciple Bahmanyar to uphold philosophical integrity with the Provenance and Direction, for example) that Yahya (formerly Jean) Michot has accused him of "neurological bipolarity".
Ibn Sīnā wrote at least one treatise on alchemy, but several others have been falsely attributed to him. His book on animals was translated by Michael Scot. His Logic, Metaphysics, Physics, and De Caelo, are treatises giving a synoptic view of Aristotelian doctrine, though the Metaphysics demonstrates a significant departure from the brand of Neoplatonism known as Aristotelianism in Ibn Sīnā's world; Arabic philosophers have hinted at the idea that Ibn Sīnā was attempting to "re-Aristotelianise" Muslim philosophy in its entirety, unlike his predecessors, who accepted the conflation of Platonic, Aristotelian, Neo- and Middle-Platonic works transmitted into the Muslim world.
The Logic and Metaphysics have been printed more than once, the latter, e.g., at Venice in 1493, 1495, and 1546. Some of his shorter essays on medicine, logic, etc., take a poetical form (the poem on logic was published by Schmoelders in 1836). Two encyclopaedic treatises, dealing with philosophy, are often mentioned. The larger, Al-Shifa' (Sanatio), exists nearly complete in manuscript in the Bodleian Library and elsewhere; part of it on the De Anima appeared at Pavia (1490) as the Liber Sextus Naturalium, and the long account of Ibn Sina's philosophy given by Muhammad al-Shahrastani seems to be mainly an analysis, and in many places a reproduction, of the Al-Shifa'. A shorter form of the work is known as the An-najat (Liberatio). The Latin editions of part of these works have been modified by the corrections which the monastic editors confess that they applied. There is also a حكمت مشرقيه (hikmat-al-mashriqqiyya, in Latin Philosophia Orientalis), mentioned by Roger Bacon, the majority of which is lost in antiquity, which according to Averroes was pantheistic in tone.
Sciences
Medicine
About 100 treatises were ascribed to Ibn Sina. Some of them are tracts of a few pages, others are works extending through several volumes. The best-known amongst them, and that to which Ibn Sina owed his European reputation, is his 14-volume The Canon of Medicine, which was a standard medical text in Europe and the Islamic world up until the 18th century.[29] The book is known for its introduction of systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology,[11] the discovery of contagious diseases and sexually transmitted diseases,[12] the introduction of quarantine to limit the spread of infectious diseases, the introduction of experimental medicine, clinical trials,[13] neuropsychiatry,[19] risk factor analysis, and the idea of a syndrome in the diagnosis of specific diseases,[20] and the first descriptions on bacteria and viral organisms.[21] It classifies and describes diseases, and outlines their assumed causes. Hygiene, simple and complex medicines, and functions of parts of the body are also covered. In this, Ibn Sīnā is credited as being the first to correctly document the anatomy of the human eye, along with descriptions of eye afflictions such as cataracts. It asserts that tuberculosis was contagious, which was later disputed by Europeans, but turned out to be true. It also describes the symptoms and complications of diabetes. Both forms of facial paralysis were described in-depth. In addition, the workings of the heart as a valve are described. [citation needed]
The Canon of Medicine was the first book dealing with experimental medicine, evidence-based medicine, randomized controlled trials,[14][15] and efficacy tests,[16][17] and it laid out the following rules and principles for testing the effectiveness of new drugs and medications, which still form the basis of clinical pharmacology[18] and modern clinical trials:[13]
- "The drug must be free from any extraneous accidental quality."
- "It must be used on a simple, not a composite, disease."
- "The drug must be tested with two contrary types of diseases, because sometimes a drug cures one disease by Its essential qualities and another by its accidental ones."
- "The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease. For example, there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases, so that they would have no effect on them."
- "The time of action must be observed, so that essence and accident are not confused."
- "The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases, for if this did not happen, it was an accidental effect."
- "The experimentation must be done with the human body, for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man."
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Canon_ibnsina_arabic.jpg/220px-Canon_ibnsina_arabic.jpg)
An Arabic edition of the Canon appeared at Rome in 1593, and a Hebrew version at Naples in 1491. Of the Latin version there were about thirty editions, founded on the original translation by Gerard de Sablonetta. In the 15th century a commentary on the text of the Canon was composed. Other medical works translated into Latin are the Medicamenta Cordialia, Canticum de Medicina, and the Tractatus de Syrupo Acetoso.
It was mainly accident which determined that from the 12th to the 18th century, Ibn Sīnā should be the guide of medical study in European universities, and eclipse the names of Rhazes, Ali ibn al-Abbas and Averroes. His work is not essentially different from that of his predecessor Rhazes, because he presented the doctrine of Galen, and through Galen the doctrine of Hippocrates, modified by the system of Aristotle, as well as the Indian doctrines of Sushruta and Charaka.[30] But the Canon of Ibn Sīnā is distinguished from the Al-Hawi (Continens) or Summary of Rhazes by its greater method, due perhaps to the logical studies of the former.
The work has been variously appreciated in subsequent ages, some regarding it as a treasury of wisdom, and others, like Averroes, holding it useful only as waste paper. In modern times it has been seen of mainly historic interest as most of its tenets have been disproved or expanded upon by scientific medicine. The vice of the book is excessive classification of bodily faculties, and over-subtlety in the discrimination of diseases. It includes five books; of which the first and second discuss physiology, pathology and hygiene, the third and fourth deal with the methods of treating disease, and the fifth describes the composition and preparation of remedies. This last part contains some personal observations.
He is, like all his countrymen, ample in the enumeration of symptoms, and is said to be inferior to Ali in practical medicine and surgery. He introduced into medical theory the four causes of the Peripatetic system. Of natural history and botany he pretended to no special knowledge. Up to the year 1650, or thereabouts, the Canon was still used as a textbook in the universities of Leuven and Montpellier.
In the museum at Bukhara, there are displays showing many of his writings, surgical instruments from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment. Ibn Sīnā was interested in the effect of the mind on the body, and wrote a great deal on psychology, likely influencing Ibn Tufayl and Ibn Bajjah. He also introduced medical herbs.
Astronomy
In 1070, Abu Ubayd al-Juzjani, a pupil of Ibn Sīnā, claimed that his teacher Ibn Sīnā had solved the equant problem in Ptolemy's planetary model.[31]
Astrology
The study of astrology was refuted by Avicenna. His reasons were both due to the methods used by astrologers being conjectural rather than empirical and also due to the views of astrologers conflicting with orthodox Islam. He also cited passages from the Qur'an in order to justify his refutation of astrology on both scientific and religious grounds.[32]
Chemistry
In chemistry, steam distillation was invented by Ibn Sīnā in the early 11th century, which he used to produce essential oils.[23]
Alchemy
As a chemist, Avicenna was the first to write refutations on alchemy. Four of these works were translated into Latin as:[33]
- Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae
- Declaratio Lapis physici Avicennae filio sui Aboali
- Avicennae de congelatione et conglutinatione lapifum
- Avicennae ad Hasan Regem epistola de Re recta
In one of these works, Ibn Sīnā was the first to discredit the theory of the transmutation of substances commonly believed by alchemists:
"Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce the appearance of such change."[34]
Among his works refuting alchemy, Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae was the most influential, having influenced later medieval chemists and alchemists such as Vincent of Beauvais.[33]
Aromatherapy
Ibn Sīnā used steam distillation to produce the first essential oils. As a result, he is regarded as a pioneer of aromatherapy.[23]
Earth sciences
Ibn Sīnā wrote on the earth sciences in The Book of Healing, in which he hypothesized on two geological causes of mountains:
"Either they are the effects of upheavals of the crust of the earth, such as might occur during a violent earthquake, or they are the effect of water, which, cutting itself a new route, has denuded the valleys, the strata being of different kinds, some soft, some hard... It would require a long period of time for all such changes to be accomplished, during which the mountains themselves might be somewhat diminished in size."[35]
Physics
In physics, Ibn Sīnā was the first to employ an air thermometer to measure air temperature in his scientific experiments.[36]
Mechanics
In mechanics, Ibn Sīnā developed an elaborate theory of motion, in which he made a distinction between the inclination and force of a projectile, and concluded that motion was a result of an inclination (mayl) transferred to the projectile by the thrower, and that projectile motion in a vacuum would not cease.[37] He viewed inclination as a permanent force whose effect is dissipated by external forces such as air resistance.[38] His theory of motion was thus consistent with the concept of inertia in Newton's first law of motion.[37] Ibn Sīnā also referred to mayl to as being proportional to weight times velocity, a precursor to the concept of momentum in Newton's second law of motion.[39] Ibn Sīnā's theory of mayl was further developed by Jean Buridan in his theory of impetus.
Optics
In optics, Ibn Sina discovered that the speed of light is finite, as he "observed that if the perception of light is due to the emission of some sort of particles by a luminous source, the speed of light must be finite."[40] He also provided a sophisticated explanation for the rainbow phenomenon. Carl Benjamin Boyer described Ibn Sīnā's theory on the rainbow as follows:
"Independent observation had demonstrated to him that the bow is not formed in the dark cloud but rather in the very thin mist lying between the cloud and the sun or observer. The cloud, he thought, serves simply as the background of this thin substance, much as a quicksilver lining is placed upon the rear surface of the glass in a mirror. Ibn Sīnā would change the place not only of the bow, but also of the color formation, holding the iridescence to be merely a subjective sensation in the eye."[41]
Philosophy
Ibn Sīnā wrote extensively on the subjects of philosophy, logic, ethics, metaphysics, and other disciplines, including treatises named Logic and Metaphysics. Most of his works were written in Arabic - which was the de facto scientific language of that time, and some were written in the Persian language. Of linguistic significance even to this day are a few books that he wrote in nearly pure Persian language (particularly the Danishnamah-yi 'Ala', Philosophy for Ala' ad-Dawla'). Ibn Sīnā's commentaries on Aristotle often corrected the philosopher, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of ijtihad.
Ibn Sīnā's philosophical tenets have become of great interest to critical Western scholarship and to those engaged in the field of Muslim philosophy, in both the West and the East. However, it is still the case that the West only pays attention to a portion of his philosophy known as the Latin Avicennian School. Ibn Sīnā's philosophical contributions have been overshadowed by Orientalist scholarship (for example that of Henri Corbin), which has sought to define him as a mystic rather than an Aristotelian philosopher. The so-called حكمت مشرقيه (hikmat-al-mashriqqiyya) remains a source of huge irritation to contemporary Arabic scholars, in particular Reisman, Gutas, Street, and Bertolacci.
The original work, entitled The Easterners (al-mashriqiyun), was probably lost during Ibn Sīnā's lifetime; Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) appended it to a romantic philosophical work of his own in the twelfth century, the Hayy ibn Yaqzan, in order to validate his philosophical system, and, by the time that the work was transmitted into the West, appended as it was to a set of "mystical" opusculae and sundry essays, it was firmly accepted as a demonstration of Ibn Sīnā's "esoteric" orientation, which he concealed out of necessity from his peers.
Some argue that such interpretations of Ibn Sīnā's "true" state of mind ignore the vast corpus of work that he produced, from major treatises to slurs on his enemies and rivals, misrepresent him utterly. It also detracts attention from the fact that Muslim philosophy flourished during the ten centuries after Ibn Sīnā's death, emerging from Ibn Sīnā's inflammatory pronouncements on all matters within the world, whether physical or metaphysical; the works of the post-Avicennian Baghdadi Peripatetics and anti-Peripatetics, for example, remain to be studied in much greater detail.
Metaphysical doctrine
Early Islamic philosophy, imbued as it is with Islamic theology, distinguishes more clearly than Aristotelianism the difference between essence and existence. Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental, essence endures within a being beyond the accidental. However, Ibn Sīnā's commentaries upon the Metaphysics in particular demonstrate that he was much more clearly aligned with a philosophical comprehension of the metaphysical world rather than one that was grounded in theology. The philosophy of Ibn Sīnā, particularly that part relating to metaphysics, owes much to Aristotle and to al-Farabi. The search for a truly definitive Islamic philosophy can be seen in what is left to us of his work.
Distinguishing between essence and existence
Following al-Farabi's lead, Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of being, in which he distinguished between essence(Mahiat) and existence(Wujud). He argued that the fact of existence can not be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence must, therefore, be due to an agent-cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with its effect. [42]
The significance of the issue is that there is no issue more central for Islamic philosophy than Wujud (at once being and existence) and its relation to essence.[43] The major ontological distinction made by Avicenna between these two is so central to the whole structure of Islamic philosophy for the past millennium and finally led to division of the philosophers into two groups, one believe in Existentialism or the principiality of existence like Mulla Sadra and the other believe in Essetialism or or the principiality of essence like Suhrawardy.[44]
God as the first cause of all things
The universe consists of a chain of actual beings, each giving existence to the one below it and responsible for the existence of the rest of the chain below. Because an actual infinite is deemed impossible by Avicenna, this chain as a whole must terminate in a being that is wholly simple and one, whose essence is its very existence, and therefore is self-sufficient and not in need of something else to give it existence. Because its existence is not contingent on or necessitated by something else but is necessary and eternal in itself, it satisfies the condition of being the necessitating cause of the entire chain that constitutes the eternal world of contingent existing things.[42] Thus his ontological system rests on the conception of God as the necessary existent(Wajib al-Wujud). There is a gradual multiplication of beings through a timeless emanation from God as a result of his self-knowledge.[9][45]
This view has a profound impact on the monotheistic concept of creation. Existence is not seen by Ibn Sīnā as the work of a capricious deity, but of a divine, self-causing thought process. The movement from this to existence is necessary, and not an act of will per se. The world emanates from God by virtue of his abundant intellect - an immaterial cause as found in the neoplatonic concept of emanation.
Ibn Sīnā found inspiration for this metaphysical view in the works of Al-Farabi, but his innovation is in his account a single and necessary first cause of all existence. Whether this view can be reconciled with Islam, particularly given the question of what role is left for God's will, was to become a subject of considerable controversy within intellectual Islamic discourse.
The Ten Intellects
In Ibn Sīnā's account of creation (largely derived from Al-Farabi), from this first cause (or First Intellect) proceeds the creation of the material world.
The First Intellect, in contemplating the necessity of its existence, gives rise to the Second Intellect. In contemplating its emanation from God, it then gives rise to the First Spirit, which animates the Sphere of Spheres (the universe). In contemplating itself as a self-caused essence (that is, as something that could potentially exist), it gives rise to the matter that fills the universe and forms the Sphere of the Planets (the First Heaven in al-Farabi).
This triple-contemplation establishes the first stages of existence. It continues, giving rise to consequential intellects which create between them two celestial hierarchies: the Superior Hierarchy of Cherubim (Kerubim) and the Inferior Hierarchy, called by Ibn Sīnā "Angels of Magnificence". These angels animate the heavens, but are deprived of all sensory perception, but have imagination which allows them to desire the intellect from which they came. Their vain quest to join this intellect causes an eternal movement in heaven. They also cause prophetic visions in humans.
The angels created by each of the next seven Intellects are associated with a different body in the Sphere of the Planets. These are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon. The last of these is of particular importance, since its association is with the Angel Gabriel ("The Angel").
This Ninth Intellect occurs at a step so removed from the First Intellect that the emanation that then arises from it explodes into fragments, creating not a further celestial entity, but instead creating human souls, which have the sensory functions lacked by the Angels of Magnificence.
The Angel and the minds of humans
For Ibn Sīnā, human minds were not in themselves formed for abstract thought. Humans are intellectual only potentially, and only illumination by the Angel confers upon them the ability to make from this potential a real ability to think. This is the Tenth Intellect, identified with the "active intellect" of Aristotle's De Anima.
The degree to which minds are illuminated by the Angel varies. Prophets are illuminated to the point that they posses not only rational intellect, but also an imagination and ability which allows them to pass on their superior wisdom to others. Some receive less, but enough to write, teach, pass laws, and contribute to the distribution of knowledge. Others receive enough for their own personal realisation, and others still receive less.
On this view, all humanity shares a single agent intellect - a collective consciousness. The final stage of human life, according to Ibn Sīnā, is reunion with the emanation of the Angel. Thus, the Angel confers upon those imbued with its intellect the certainty of life after death. For Ibn Sīnā, as for the neoplatonists who influenced him, the immortality of the soul is a consequence of its nature, and not a purpose for it to fulfill.
Definition of truth
Avicenna defined truth as:
"What corresponds in the mind to what is outside it."[46]
Avicenna elaborated on his definition of truth in his Metaphysics:
"The truth of a thing is the property of the being of each thing which has been established in it."[47]
In his Quodlibeta, Thomas Aquinas wrote a commentary on Avicenna's definition of truth in his Metaphysics and explained it as follows:
"The truth of each thing, as Avicenna says in his Metaphysica, is nothing else than the property of its being which has been established in it. So that is called true gold which has properly the being of gold and attains to the established determinations of the nature of gold. Now, each thing has properly being in some nature because it stands under the complete form proper to that nature, whereby being and species in that nature is."[47]
Criticism
Ibn Sīnā's heterodox beliefs, namely his belief that bodily resurrection is impossible but that only spiritual resurrection may be possible, placed him at odds with traditionalist Muslim scholars of his time. This departure from orthodox thought led the prominent Ash'ari scholar al-Ghazali to consider Ibn Sīnā a disbeliever of Islam and he even argued that it was fard to consider him a Kafir,[48] despite Avicenna being a devout Muslim.[49]
Avicennian logic
Avicenna discussed the topic of logic in Islamic philosophy and Islamic medicine extensively in his works, and developed his own system of logic known as "Avicennian logic".
Hypothetical syllogism
Ibn Sina developed an early theory on hypothetical syllogism, which formed the basis of his early risk factor analysis.[20]
Propositional calculus
Avicenna developed an early theory on propositional calculus, which was an area of logic not covered in the Aristotelian tradition.[50]
Temporal modal logic
The first criticisms of Aristotelian logic were written by Ibn Sina, who produced independent treatises on logic rather than commentaries. He criticized the logical school of Baghdad for their devotion to Aristotle at the time. He investigated the theory of definition and classification and the quantification of the predicates of categorical propositions, and developed an original theory on temporal modal syllogism. Its premises included modifiers such as "at all times", "at most times", and "at some time".[51]
Inductive logic
While Ibn Sina often relied on deductive reasoning in philosophy, he used a different approach in medicine. Ibn Sina contributed inventively to the development of inductive logic, which he used to pioneer the idea of a syndrome in the diagnosis of specific diseases. In his medical writings, Avicenna was the first to describe the methods of agreement, difference and concomitant variation which are critical to inductive logic and the scientific method.[20]
Natural philosophy
Ibn Sina and Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, who are both regarded as two of the greatest polymaths in Persian history, engaged in a written debate, with al-Biruni mostly criticizing Aristotelian natural philosophy and the Peripatetic school, while Avicenna and his student Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Ma'sumi respond to al-Biruni's criticisms in writing. Al-Biruni began by asking Avicenna eighteen questions, ten of which were criticisms of Aristotle's On the Heavens. After Avicenna responded to the questions, al-Biruni was unsatisfied with some of the answers and wrote back commenting on them, after which Avicenna's student Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Ma'sumi wrote back on behalf of Avicenna.[52]
Theology
Avicenna was a devout Muslim and sought to reconcile rational philosophy with Islamic theology. His aim was to prove the existence of God and his creation of the world scientifically and through reason and logic.[49]
Avicenna wrote a number of treatises dealing with Islamic theology. These included treatises on the Islamic prophets, who he viewed as "inspired philosophers", and on various scientific and philosophical interpretations of the Qur'an, such as how Quranic cosmology corresponds to his own philosophical system. He attempted to use philosophy in order to prove the realities established by the Islamic prophetic tradition.[53]
Quranic commentaries
Avicenna wrote five treatises commenting on suras from the Qur'an. One of these texts included the Proof of Prophecies, in which he comments on several Quranic verses and holds the Qur'an in high esteem. Avicenna argued that the Islamic prophets should be considered higher than philosophers, and in his Autobiography, he considered both religion and philosophy as necessary parts of the entire truth.[54]
Engineering
In the chapters on mechanics and engineering in his encyclopedia Mi'yar al-'aql (The Measure of the Mind), Avicenna writes an analysis on the ilm al-hiyal (science of ingenious devices) and makes the first successful attempt to classify simple machines and their combinations. He first describes and illustrates the five constituent simple machines: the lever, pulley, screw, wedge, and windlass. He then analyzes all the combinations of these simple machines, such as the windlass-screw, windlass-pulley and windlass-lever for example. He is also the first to describe a mechanism which is essentially a combination of all of these simple machines (except for the wedge).[55]
Poetry
Almost half of Ibn Sīnā's works are versified.[56] His poems appear in both Arabic and Persian. As an example, Edward Granville Browne claims that the following verses are incorrectly attributed to Omar Khayyám, and were originally written by Ibn Sīnā [57]:
از قعر گل سیاه تا اوج زحل,
Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate
کردم همه مشکلات گیتی را حل,
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,
بیرون جستم زقید هر مکر و حیل,
And many Knots unravel'd by the Road;
هر بند گشاده شد مگر بند اجل.
But not the Master-Knot of Human Fate.
When some of his opponents blame him for blasphemy, he says [58]
کفر چو منی گزاف و آسان نبود
The blasphemy of somebody like me is not easy and exorbitant
محکمتر از ایمان من ایمان نبود
There isn't any stronger faith than my faith
در دهر چو من یکی و آن هم کافر
There is just one person like me in the world and that one is blasphemer
پس در همه دهر یک مسلمان نبود
Then there isn't one Muslim in the whole world.
Legacy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Avicenna.jpg/220px-Avicenna.jpg)
George Sarton, the father of the history of science, described Ibn Sīnā as "one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history"[12] and called him "the most famous scientist of Islam and one of the most famous of all races, places, and times." He was one of the Islamic world's leading writers in the field of medicine. He was influenced by the approach of Hippocrates and Galen, as well as Sushruta and Charaka. Along with Rhazes, Abulcasis, Ibn al-Nafis, and al-Ibadi, Ibn Sīnā is considered an important compiler of early Muslim medicine. He is remembered in Western history of medicine as a major historical figure who made important contributions to medicine and the European Renaissance. Ibn Sīnā is also considered the father of the fundamental concept of momentum in physics.[22]
In Iran, he is considered a national icon, and is often regarded as one of the greatest Persians to have ever lived. Many portraits and statues remain in Iran today. An impressive monument to the life and works of the man who is known as the 'doctor of doctors' still stands outside the Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall of the Avicenna Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris. There is also a crater on the moon named the Avicenna crater. Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamedan (Iran), the ibn Sīnā Tajik State Medical University in Dushanbe (The capital of the Republic of Tajikistan), Avicenna School in Karachi, Pakistan and Ibne Sina Balkh Medical School in his native province of Balkh in Afghanistan are all named in his honor.
See also
- The Book of Healing
- The Canon of Medicine
- Abu al-Qasim
- Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī
- Islamic science
- Science and technology in Iran
- List of Iranian scientists and scholars
- Iranian philosophy
- Early Islamic philosophy
- Islamic medicine
- History of medicine
- Islamic scholars
- Al-Qumri
- Avicenna Peak
- Avicennia, a genus of mangrove named after Ibn Sīnā
Footnotes
- ^ Corbin,(1993) p. 174
- ^ Von Dehsen, p. 19
- ^ [1] [2]
- ^ "Extracts from the history of Islamic pharmacy". Pharmacy History. Pharma Corner. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
- ^ Greenhill, William Alexander (1867), "Abitianus", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, p. 3
- ^ "Avicenna", in Encyclopaedia Britannica, Concise Online Version, 2006 ([3]); D. Gutas, "Avicenna", in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Version 2006, (LINK); Avicenna in (Encyclopedia of Islam: © 1999 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands)
- ^ Charles F. Horne (1917), ed., The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East Vol. VI: Medieval Arabia, p. 90-91. Parke, Austin, & Lipscomb, New York. (cf. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (973-1037): On Medicine, c. 1020 CE, Medieval Sourcebook.)
"Avicenna (973-1037) was a sort of universal genius, known first as a physician. To his works on medicine he afterward added religious tracts, poems, works on philosophy, on logic, as physics, on mathematics, and on astronomy. He was also a statesman and a soldier."
- ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Avicenna", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- ^ a b Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2007). "Avicenna". Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
{{cite encyclopedia}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help); Check date values in:|accessdate=
(help); Text "http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna" ignored (help) - ^ Cas Lek Cesk (1980). "The father of medicine, Avicenna, in our science and culture: Abu Ali ibn Sina (980-1037)", Becka J. 119 (1), p. 17-23.
- ^ a b Katharine Park (March 1990). "Avicenna in Renaissance Italy: The Canon and Medical Teaching in Italian Universities after 1500 by Nancy G. Siraisi", The Journal of Modern History 62 (1), p. 169-170.
"Students of the history of medicine know him for his attempts to introduce systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology".
- ^ a b c d George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science.
(cf. Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq (1997). Quotations From Famous Historians of Science, Cyberistan.) - ^ a b c David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD (August 2003). "Arab Roots of European Medicine", Heart Views 4 (2).
- ^ a b Jonathan D. Eldredge (2003), "The Randomised Controlled Trial design: unrecognized opportunities for health sciences librarianship", Health Information and Libraries Journal 20, p. 34–44 [36].
- ^ a b Bernard S. Bloom, Aurelia Retbi, Sandrine Dahan, Egon Jonsson (2000), "Evaluation Of Randomized Controlled Trials On Complementary And Alternative Medicine", International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care 16 (1), p. 13–21 [19].
- ^ a b D. Craig Brater and Walter J. Daly (2000), "Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century", Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics 67 (5), p. 447-450 [449].
- ^ a b Walter J. Daly and D. Craig Brater (2000), "Medieval contributions to the search for truth in clinical medicine", Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 43 (4), p. 530–540 [536], Johns Hopkins University Press.
- ^ a b D. Craig Brater and Walter J. Daly (2000), "Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century", Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics 67 (5), p. 447-450 [448].
- ^ a b S Safavi-Abbasi, LBC Brasiliense, RK Workman (2007), "The fate of medical knowledge and the neurosciences during the time of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire", Neurosurg Focus 23 (1), E13, p. 3.
- ^ a b c d Lenn Evan Goodman (2003), Islamic Humanism, p. 155, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195135806.
- ^ a b The Canon of Medicine, The American Institute of Unani Medicine, 2003.
- ^ a b Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "Islamic Conception Of Intellectual Life", in Philip P. Wiener (ed.), Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Vol. 2, p. 65, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1973-1974.
- ^ a b c Marlene Ericksen (2000). Healing with Aromatherapy, p. 9. McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0658003828.
- ^ Corbin, (1993) p. 170
- ^ a b c Khan, Aisha (2006), Avicenna (Ibn Sina): Muslim Physician And Philosopher of the Eleventh Century, p. 38, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 1404205098.
- ^ a b Jorge J. E. Gracia and Timothy B. Noone (2003), A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, p. 196, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 0631216731.
- ^ Corbin, (1993) p.170
- ^ Corbin, (1993) p. 168}}
- ^ Ziauddin Sardar, Science in Islamic philosophy
- ^ Hakeem Abdul Hameed, Exchanges between India and Central Asia in the field of Medicine
- ^ A. I. Sabra (1998). "Configuring the Universe: Aporetic, Problem Solving, and Kinematic Modeling as Themes of Arabic Astronomy", Perspectives on Science 6 (3), p. 288-330 [305-306].
- ^ George Saliba (1994), A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam, p. 60, 67-69. New York University Press, ISBN 0814780237.
- ^ a b Georges C. Anawati (1996), "Arabic alchemy", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 3, p. 853-885 [875]. Routledge, London and New York.
- ^ Robert Briffault (1938). The Making of Humanity, p. 196-197.
- ^ Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield (1965). The Discovery of Time, p. 64. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
- ^ Robert Briffault (1938). The Making of Humanity, p. 191.
- ^ a b Fernando Espinoza (2005). "An analysis of the historical development of ideas about motion and its implications for teaching", Physics Education 40 (2), p. 141.
- ^ A. Sayili (1987), "Ibn Sīnā and Buridan on the Motion of the Projectile", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 500 (1), p. 477 – 482:
"It was a permanent force whose effect got dissipated only as a result of external agents such as air resistance. He is apparently the first to conceive such a permanent type of impressed virtue for non-natural motion."
- ^ A. Sayili (1987), "Ibn Sīnā and Buridan on the Motion of the Projectile", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 500 (1), p. 477 – 482:
"Thus he considered impetus as proportional to weight times velocity. In other words, his conception of impetus comes very close to the concept of momentum of Newtonian mechanics."
- ^ George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, Vol. 1, p. 710.
- ^ Carl Benjamin Boyer (1954). "Robert Grosseteste on the Rainbow", Osiris 11, p. 247-258 [248].
- ^ a b "Islam". Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ^ Nasr,(2006) p. 63
- ^ Nasr,(2006) pp. 85-88
- ^ AVICENNA'S COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FOR GOD'S EXISTENCE
- ^ Osman Amin (2007), "Influence of Muslim Philosophy on the West", Monthly Renaissance 17 (11).
- ^ a b Jan A. Aertsen (1988), Nature and Creature: Thomas Aquinas's Way of Thought, p. 152. BRILL, ISBN 9004084517.
- ^ Keller, Nuh Ha mim (2006), Kalam and Islam [4]
- ^ a b Lenn Evan Goodman (2003), Islamic Humanism, p. 8-9, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195135806.
- ^ Lenn Evan Goodman (1992), Avicenna, p. 188, Routledge, ISBN 041501929X.
- ^ History of logic: Arabic logic, Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ Rafik Berjak and Muzaffar Iqbal, "Ibn Sina--Al-Biruni correspondence", Islam & Science, June 2003.
- ^ James W. Morris (1992), "The Philosopher-Prophet in Avicenna's Political Philosophy", in C. Butterworth (ed.), The Political Aspects of Islamic PhIlosophy, Chapter 4, Cambridge Harvard University Press, p. 142-188 [159-161].
- ^ Jules Janssens (2004), "Avicenna and the Qur'an: A Survey of his Qur'anic commentaries", MIDEO 25, p. 177-192.
- ^ Mariam Rozhanskaya and I. S. Levinova (1996), "Statics", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 2, p. 614-642 [633]. Routledge, London and New York.
- ^ E.G. Browne, Islamic Medicine (sometimes also printed under the title Arabian medicine), 2002, Goodword Pub., ISBN 81-87570-19-9, p61
- ^ E.G. Browne, Islamic Medicine (sometimes also printed under the title Arabian medicine), 2002, Goodword Pub., ISBN 81-87570-19-9, p60-61)
- ^ ملاقات تاریخی ابوسعید ابوالخیر و ابو علی سینا
References
- Books
- Corbin, Henry. History of Islamic Philosophy, Translated by Liadain Sherrard, Philip Sherrard. London; Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies. pp. p. 167-175. ISBN 0710304161.
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- Encyclopedia
- Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2007). "Avicenna". Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Further reading
- A good introduction to his life and philosophical thought is Avicenna by Lenn E. Goodman (Cornell University Press: 1992, updated edition 2006)
- For Ibn Sina's life, see Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, translated by de Slane (1842); F. Wüstenfeld's Geschichte der arabischen Aerzte und Naturforscher (Gottingen, 1840).
- Shahrastani, German translation, vol. ii. 213-332
- For a list of extant works, C. Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (Weimar, 1898), vol. i. pp. 452-458. (XV. W.; G. W. T.)
- For an overview of his career see Shams Inati, "Ibn Sina" in History of Islamic Philosophy, ed. Hossein Seyyed Nasr and Oliver Leaman, New York: Routledge (1996).
- For a new understanding of his early career, based on a newly discovered text, see also: Michot, Yahya, Ibn Sînâ: Lettre au vizir Abû Sa'd. Editio princeps d'après le manuscrit de Bursa, traduction de l'arabe, introduction, notes et lexique (Beirut-Paris: Albouraq, 2000) ISBN 2-84161-150-7.
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (Avicenna)", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- For his medicine, see:
- Sprengel, Histoire de la Medicine
- Edward G. Browne, Islamic Medicine, 2002, Goodword Pub., ISBN 81-87570-19-9
- For his philosophy, see:
- Michot, Jean R., La destinée de l'homme selon Avicenne (Leuven: Peeters, 1986) ISBN 90-6381-071-2.
- Dimitri Gutas, "Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna's Philosophical Works" (Leiden: Brill 1988)
- Reisman, David C. (ed.), "Before and After Avicenna: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group" (Leiden: Brill 2003)
- The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, edited by P. Adamson and R. Taylor, (Cambridge: Cambridge: University Press 2005)
- Amos Bertolacci, The reception of Aristotle's Metaphysics in Avicenna's Kitab al-Sifa'. A milestone of Western metaphysical thought (Leiden: Brill 2006)
- Avicenne: Réfutation de l'astrologie. Edition et traduction du texte arabe, introduction, notes et lexique par Yahya Michot. Préface d'Elizabeth Teissier (Beirut-Paris: Albouraq, 2006) ISBN 2-84161-304-6.
- Shoja MM, Tubbs RS. The disorder of love in the Canon of Avicenna (A.D. 980-1037). Am J Psychiatry 2007; 164:228–229.
External links
![]() | This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. |
- Avicenna an article by Seyyed Hossein Nasr on Encyclopedia Britannica Online
- Philosophy Bites podcast interview with Peter Adamson on Avicenna.
- Photos from Avicenna Mausoleum from Online Photo Gallery of Aryo
- History of Islamic Philosophy by Henry Corbin (pp. 167-175)
- Biography & Works from Routledge
- Ibn Sina (Islamic Philosophy Online)
- Ibn Sina from the Encyclopedia of Islam
- Avicenna/Ibn Sina at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Antioch Gate has published the entire text (in English translation) of Ibn Sina's rare work "A Compendium on the Soul" (keywords: Ibn Sina.pdf, Avicenna.pdf, Avicena.pdf, Ibn Sina - A Compendium on the Soul.pdf).
- Physician's Day in Iran: A Reference Article on Pur Sina (Avicenna) by Manouchehr Saadat Noury
- Biography of Avicenna (in English)
- Biography of Avicenna
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Avicenna
- Avicenna on the subject and the object of metaphysics with annotated bibliography
- Biography of Avicenna (in Persian)