Before and After Avicenna: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group (Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Science)

325 Pages·2003·1.72 MB·English

by  David C. Reisman

BEFORE AND AFTER
AVICENNA: Proceedings
of the First Conference of
the Avicenna Study Group
DAVID C. REISMAN
AHMED H. AL-RAHIM
Editors
BRILL
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BEFORE AND AFTER AVICENNA
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ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY
THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE
Texts and Studies
EDITED BY
H. DAIBER and D. PINGREE
VOLUME LII
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BEFORE AND AFTER AVICENNA
Proceedings of the First Conference of the
Avicenna Study Group
EDITED BY
DAVID C. REISMAN
with the assistance of
AHMED H. AL-RAHIM
BRILL
LEIDEN •BOSTON
2003
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This book is printed on acid-free paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Conference of the Avicenna Study Group (1st : 2001 : Yale University)
Before and after Avicenna : proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study
Group / edited by David C. Reisman ; with the assistance of Ahmed H. al-Rahim.
p. cm. -- (Islamic philosophy, theology, and science ; v. 52)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 90-04-12978-2 (alk. paper)
1. Avicenna, 980-1037--Congresses. 2. Philosophy, Islamic--Congresses. I. Reisman,
David C. II. Al-Rahim. Ahmed H. III. Title. IV. Series.
B751.Z7C66 2003
181'.5--dc21
2003044300
ISSN 0169-8729
ISBN 90 04 12978 2
© Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
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v
Perhaps these solutions that we suggest will be the sources for springs that will
gush forth over many problems and great uncertainties. If that is insufficient, we
will abandon this source of explanation and move on to another. Let our col-
leagues consider carefully these subjects of investigation, relying upon the guid-
ance of the True and First One, for He is with every diligent searcher, and
His light shines on every heart.
– Ibn Sìnà, al-Mubà˙a∆àt (ed. Bìdàrfàr, Qum 1992), 139.9–12.
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CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................ ix
BEFORE AVICENNA
1. Avicenna’s Treatment of Aristotelian Modals
A Study based on Conversion Rules and the Barbara
Problematic ............................................................................ 3
A Q. A
2. Some Texts of Aristotle’s Metaphysics in the Ilàhìyàt
of Avicenna’s Kitàb a“-”ifà" .................................................. 25
A B
3. Towards a History of Avicenna’s Distinction
between Immanent and Transcendent Causes .................. 49
R W
4. Intellect versus Active Intellect: Plotinus and Avicenna .... 69
R A
THE AGE OF AVICENNA
5. Stealing Avicenna’s Books: A Study of the Historical
Sources for the Life and Times of Avicenna .................... 91
D C. R
6. Rocks in the Heavens?! The Encounter between
'Abd al-]abbàr and Ibn Sìnà ............................................ 127
A D
7. Medical Theory and Scientific Method in the Age of
Avicenna ................................................................................ 145
D G
8. Bodies, Souls and Resurrection in Avicenna’s
ar-Risàla al-A∂˙awìya fì amr al-ma'àd .................................... 163
T J
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viii 
AFTER AVICENNA
9. Bahmanyàr ibn Marzubàn: A Faithful Disciple of
Ibn Sina? ............................................................................ 177
J J
10. Fa¢r ad-Dìn ar-Ràzì’s Critique of Ibn Sìnà’s Argument
for the Unity of God in the I“àràt, and Naßìr ad-Dìn
a†-ˇùsì’s Defence ................................................................ 199
T M
11. The Twelver-”ì'ì Reception of Avicenna in the
Mongol Period .................................................................... 219
A H. A-R
12. Process Metaphysics in Islam?
Avicenna and Mullà Íadrà on Intensification in Being .... 233
S R
13. The Reception of Ibn Sìnà in Syriac:
The Case of Gregory Barhebraeus .................................. 249
H T
Note on the Contributors .......................................................... 283
Index of Names and Places ...................................................... 287
Index of Avicenna’s Works ...................................................... 297
Index of Arabic Words .............................................................. 299
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INTRODUCTION
The papers gathered in this volume represent in part the proceed-
ings of The First Graduate Student Conference on Ibn Sìnà, con-
vened at Yale University, 17–18 March 2001, along with three papers
solicited from Dimitri Gutas, Jules Janssens and Robert Wisnovsky,
all of whom served as respondents at that conference. Considered
as a whole, these papers represent the major trends and concerns
of current scholarship on the life and thought of Avicenna, perhaps
the most important and influential philosopher of the pre-modern
period in the East and West. The contributions of these scholars are
here topically divided into three sections: Before Avicenna, The Age
of Avicenna, and After Avicenna.
The section “Before Avicenna” contains four papers that address
different aspects of the influence of the Classical heritage on Avicenna’s
thought as well as the many substantive modifications that Avicenna’s
own intellectual development brought to the articulation of Greek
philosophy in Arabic. Specific issues of three of the philosophical
disciplines treated by Avicenna, viz. logic, metaphysics, and psy-
chology (theory of the soul), are taken up in these papers. A note-
worthy aspect of all of these contributions is perhaps not the collective
recognition of the degree to which Avicenna was indebted to his
first master Aristotle, but rather the exploration of the philosophical
concerns shared by the Greek commentators of Aristotle (both
Peripatetic and Neoplatonic) and Avicenna. The study of this rela-
tion between the commentary tradition and Avicenna is one that
traditionally has been undeveloped in Avicenna studies and so the
observations offered in these four contributions will undoubtedly open
up new horizons for scholars of Avicenna.
Asad Ahmed’s “Avicenna’s Treatment of Aristotelian Modals” pre-
sents an analysis of the manner in which Avicenna addressed a prob-
lematic aspect of Aristotle’s theory of modal syllogisms. For the
purposes of clarifying the background to this problem, Ahmed sets
forth useful accounts of Aristotle’s theory and its “inconsistencies”
and Avicenna’s general approach to modal syllogistics. The case of