Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition

650 Pages·2014·2.87 MB·English

by  Gutas, Dimitri

Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition
Islamic Philosophy, Theology
and Science
Texts and Studies
Editedby
HansDaiber
AnnaAkasoy
EmilieSavage-Smith
VOLUME89
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/ipts
Avicenna
and
the Aristotelian Tradition
Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophical Works
Second,RevisedandEnlargedEdition,
Includingan
InventoryofAvicenna’sAuthenticWorks
By
DimitriGutas
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2014
Coverillustration:LeidenUniversityLibraryOr.4,f.1a.TitlepageofAvicenna’sKitābaš-Šifāʾ(The
Cure)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Gutas,Dimitri.
AvicennaandtheAristoteliantradition:introductiontoreadingAvicenna'sphilosophicalworks
/byDimitriGutas.–Second,revised,andenlargededition,includinganinventoryofAvicenna's
authenticworks.
pagescm.–(Islamicphilosophy,theology,andscience,ISSN0169-8729;VOLUME89)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-25580-7(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-26207-2(e-book:alk.paper)
1.Avicenna,980-1037.2.Aristotle–Influence.I.Title.
B751.Z7G872014
181'.5–dc23
2013040355
Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100characters
coveringLatin,IPA,Greek,andCyrillic,thistypefaceisespeciallysuitableforuseinthehumanities.
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ISSN0169-8729
ISBN978-90-04-25580-7(hardback)
ISBN978-90-04-26207-2(e-book)
Copyright2014byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
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TotheMemoryof
DAVIDC.REISMAN
مِﺮﳱﻓ ﺮْﻤَّ ﻌَ ُﯾ ﺊﻄﲣُ ﻦﻣو ﻪﺘْ ﻤُﺗ*ﺐْ ﺼُﺗ ﻦﻣَ ءَ اﻮﺸْ ﻋَ ﻂَ ﺒْﺧَ 󰈍ﺎﻨﳌا ﺖُ ﯾأر
IhaveseentheFatestramplelikeapurblindcamel;thosetheystrike
theyslay,thosetheymissarelefttoliveonintodotage.
Zuhayribn-Abī-Sulmā,Muʿallaqa
TranslationbyA.J.Arberry,TheSevenOdes,London:GeorgeAllen&
Unwin,1957,118.
Τίʼναι,μωρέ,στὸνκόσμοτὰπαιδιὰπαρὰμπουκιὲςτοῦΧάρου;
Ἀνάθεματὸἀντρόυνοποὺγεννάεικαὶτὸφονιὰταγίζει!
WhatinthisworldarechildrenbutmorselsforgrimDeath?
CursedbethatcouplethatgivesbirthandfeedstheSlayer!
ΝίκοςΚαζαντζάκης,ὈδύσσειαΧ,1126–1127
NikosKazantzakis,TheOdyssey.AModernSequel.XXII,1126–1127.
TranslationintoEnglishVerse…byKimonFriar,NewYork:Simonand
Schuster,1958,705.
Nell’impostazione dei problemi storico-critici, non bisogna concepire la discus-
sionescientificacomeunprocessogiudiziario,incuic’èunimputatoec’èunprocu-
ratoreche,perobbligod’ufficio,devedimostrarechel’imputatoècolpevoleedegno
diesseretoltodallacircolazione.Nelladiscussionescientifica,poichésisuppone
chel’interessesialaricercadellaveritàeilprogressodellascienza,sidimostrapiú
“avanzato”chisiponedalpuntodivistachel’avversariopuòesprimereun’esigenza
chedeveessereincorporata,siapurecomeunmomentosubordinato,nellapro-
priacostruzione.Comprendereevalutarerealisticamentelaposizioneeleragioni
dell’avversario(etalvoltaèavversariotuttoilpensieropassato)significaappunto
essersiliberatodallaprigionedelleideologie(nelsensodeteriore,diciecofanatismo
ideologico),cioèporsidaunpuntodivista“critico”,l’unicofecondonellaricercasci-
entifica.
Antonio Gramsci, IlmaterialismostoricoelafilosofiadiBenedettoCroce, Torino:
Einaudi,1949,21.
Intheformulationofhistorico-criticalproblemsitiswrongtoconceiveofscientific
discussionasaprocessatlawinwhichthereisanaccusedandapublicprosecutor
whose professional duty it is to demonstrate that the accused is guilty and has
tobeputoutofcirculation.Inscientificdiscussion,sinceitisassumedthatthe
purposeofdiscussionisthepursuitoftruthandtheprogressofscience,theperson
who shows himself most “advanced” is the one who takes up the point of view
thathisadversarymaywellbeexpressinganeedwhichshouldbeincorporated,
if only as a subordinate aspect, in his own construction. To understand and to
evaluate realistically one’s adversary’s position and his reasons (and sometimes
one’sadversaryisthewholeofpastthought)meanspreciselytobeliberatedfrom
the prison of ideologies in the bad sense of the word—that of blind ideological
fanaticism.Itmeanstakingupapointofviewthatis“critical”,whichforthepurpose
ofscientificresearchistheonlyfertileone.
SelectionsfromthePrisonNotebooksofAntonioGramsci,editedandtranslatedby
QuintinHoareandGeoffreyNowellSmith,NewYork:InternationalPublishers,1971,
343–344.
CONTENTS
PrefacetotheSecondEdition(2014).................................... xi
Acknowledgments...................................................... xv
IntroductiontotheFirstEdition(1988)............................... xix
LayoutoftheWork ................................................... xxvii
BibliographicalNote.............................................. xxvii
TranslationandAnnotation...................................... xxvii
TechnicalTerms ..................................................xxviii
Transliteration....................................................xxviii
SerialNumbersofAvicenna’sWorks ............................. xxix
ReferencestoAvicenna’sWorksandOtherPrimarySources ..... xxix
SignsandMarginalNumbers..................................... xxx
AbbreviationsandReferenceWorks ............................. xxx
PARTONE
DOCUMENTSONAVICENNAAND
THEARISTOTELIANTRADITION
1. PersonalTextsbyAvicennaandHisDisciplesonHisRelationto
theAristotelianTradition .......................................... 3
Introduction........................................................ 3
Text1. FromCompendiumontheSoul.......................... 4
Text2. FromPhilosophyforʿAlāʾ-ad-Dawla ..................... 8
Text3. TheAutobiography ..................................... 10
Text4. IntroductiontoTheProvenanceandDestination........ 20
Text5. Epilogueofthe“Lesser”Destination..................... 22
Text6. FromTheCure:PrologueandEpilogueofSophistics.... 24
Text7. IntroductiontoTheCure,byJūzjānī .................... 29
Text8. IntroductiontoTheEasterners.......................... 34
Text9. FromTheCure:thePrologue............................ 41
Text10. FromPointersandReminders:ProloguesandEpilogue 47
Text11. FromaLettertoanAnonymousDisciple(Bahmanyār) 49
Text12. LettertoKiyā............................................ 53
viii contents
Text13. MemoirsofaDisciple(Ibn-Zayla?)WritingfromRayy.. 59
Text14. OntheRationalSoul..................................... 67
2. AnInventoryandRelativeChronologyofAvicenna’sMajor
PhilosophicalWorks.TheirOrganizationandContentsin
RelationtotheAristotelianTradition .............................. 77
Introduction........................................................ 77
Work1. CompendiumontheSoul ................................ 80
Work2. TheCompilation,orPhilosophyforʿArūḍī................ 86
Work3. TheAvailableandtheValidandPietyandSin............ 94
Work4. TheProvenanceandDestination......................... 101
Work5. The“Lesser”Destination ................................ 102
Work6. TheCure................................................. 103
a. OccasionofCompositionandContents.............. 103
b. DatesofComposition ................................ 106
c. TheDateandPurposeofCompositionofJūzjānī’s
IntroductionandAvicenna’sPrologue ............... 109
Work7. TheSalvation............................................ 115
Work8. PhilosophyforʿAlāʾ-ad-Dawla............................ 118
Work9. TheEasterners........................................... 119
a. Testimonia ........................................... 120
b. TitleoftheWork ..................................... 128
c. DatesofCompositionandLoss ...................... 130
d. ContentsandTransmission .......................... 137
e. ThePlaceofEasternPhilosophyandtheEasterners
intheDevelopmentofAvicenna’sPhilosophy ....... 138
Work10. FairJudgmentandMarginalGlossesonDeanima....... 144
a. Testimonia ........................................... 144
b. DatesofCompositionandLoss ...................... 147
c. ContentsandSurvivaloftheWork................... 150
Work11. PointersandReminders ................................. 155
Work12. Discussions.............................................. 159
Work13. AppendicesandNotes ................................... 160
ChronologyofAvicenna’sMajorPhilosophicalWorks.............. 165
contents ix
PARTTWO
AVICENNA’SRECEPTIONOFTHEARISTOTELIANTRADITION
3. Avicenna’sIntellectualUpbringing:TheAutobiographyandIts
Interpretation ...................................................... 169
1. Avicenna’sStudies.TheCurriculum............................ 169
2. Avicenna’sStudies.MethodsofLearning:GuessingCorrectly
(theMiddleTerm)(ḥads) ...................................... 179
3. Avicenna’sStudies.MethodsofLearning:Study ............... 201
A. Logic....................................................... 201
B. Prayer...................................................... 206
C. Dreams..................................................... 208
D. WineDrinking ............................................. 209
E. IndependentVerification .................................. 213
i. taḥqīq/taḥaqquq,taḥṣīl,istinbāṭ ....................... 214
ii. taqlīd,taʿaṣṣub......................................... 217
iii. inṣāf ................................................... 219
4. ThePurposeandDateoftheAutobiography................... 220
4. Avicenna’sConceptionoftheHistoryofPhilosophy ............... 227
5. Avicenna’sConceptionofthePraxisofPhilosophy................. 249
1. ObjectiveMethod:FundamentalPrinciplesandCorollaries... 250
2. SocialContextuality:CustomaryPractice...................... 252
3. SocialContextuality:WithholdingKnowledge................. 256
PARTTHREE
AVICENNA’SINTEGRATIONOFTHEARISTOTELIANTRADITION
6. TheResolutionoftheMajorPointsofConflictwiththe
AristotelianTradition .............................................. 269
1. TheContentsofMetaphysics .................................. 270
2. The“Fruit”ofPhysics:MetaphysicsoftheRationalSoul ....... 288
3. PhysicsorMetaphysics:PrimeMoverversusNecessary
Existent ........................................................ 296
4. LogicorMetaphysics:TheProblemoftheCategories.......... 300
5. LogicasOrganon:NamingThingsandNamingLogic.......... 303