Andreas Lammer - Böcker

This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the physical theory of the Islamic philosopher Avicenna (d. 1037). It seeks to understand his contribution against the developments within the preceding Greek and Arabic intellectual milieus, and to appreciate his philosophy as such by emphasising his independence as a critical and systematic thinker. Exploring Avicenna’s method of "teaching and learning," it investigates the implications of his account of the natural body as a three-dimensionally extended composite of matter and form, and examines his views on nature as a principle of motion and his analysis of its relation to soul. Moreover, it demonstrates how Avicenna defends the Aristotelian conception of place against the strident criticism of his predecessors, among other things, by disproving the existence of void and space. Finally, it sheds new light on Avicenna’s account of the essence and the existence of time. For the first time taking into account the entire range of Avicenna’s major writings, this study fills a gap in our understanding both of the history of natural philosophy in general and of the philosophy of Avicenna in particular. This monograph has been awarded the annual BRAIS – De Gruyter Prize (Kulturpreis Bayern) in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World and the Iran World Award for Book of the Year (2020).

This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the physical theory of the Islamic philosopher Avicenna (d. 1037). It seeks to understand his contribution against the developments within the preceding Greek and Arabic intellectual milieus, and to appreciate his philosophy as such by emphasising his independence as a critical and systematic thinker. Exploring Avicenna’s method of "teaching and learning," it investigates the implications of his account of the natural body as a three-dimensionally extended composite of matter and form, and examines his views on nature as a principle of motion and his analysis of its relation to soul. Moreover, it demonstrates how Avicenna defends the Aristotelian conception of place against the strident criticism of his predecessors, among other things, by disproving the existence of void and space. Finally, it sheds new light on Avicenna’s account of the essence and the existence of time. For the first time taking into account the entire range of Avicenna’s major writings, this study fills a gap in our understanding both of the history of natural philosophy in general and of the philosophy of Avicenna in particular.

Avicenna was a prolific scholar and, throughout his career, authored eight complete summae of philosophy. Although these eight "main works" vary in terms of length, content, order, and intended readership, they all profess to contain a more or less "complete" version of Avicenna’s theoretical philosophy. So far, scholarship on Avicenna either selected only one or two of these "main works" as the primary target of investigation (leaving the others aside) or considered them mainly from the perspective of their apparent similarities with each other instead of using them for the purpose of identifying changes and modifications that could indicate a development in Avicenna’s thought. This volume, which contains the proceedings of the Third International Meeting of the "Avicenna Study Group" (Trier 2021), offers fourteen case studies – from all areas of philosophy – on the relationships between the eight summae to each other. Their common goal is to gain a better sense of both Avicenna’s intellectual development and his productivity as an author by taking a comparative look at several works at once. This volume seeks to encourage more studies that critically investigate the whole range of Avicenna’s "main works" and, thereby, to open-up a new avenue of research which will undoubtedly result in a more refined understanding of Avicenna’s philosophy.