The Physics of The Healing (Kitāb al-shifāʾ): A Parallel English-Arabic Text in Two Volumes

1137 Pages·2010·4.7 MB·English

by  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā)

THE PHYSICS
OF THE HEALING
※
BOOKS I & II
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
MIDDLE EASTERN TEXTS INITIATIVE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Daniel C. Peterson
T r anslati
o
ic n
m S
e
a r
lsI(cid:2) sie
(cid:2)
Al–Hik m a
EDITOR
D. Morgan Davis
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Muḥammad Eissa
ACADEMIC BOARD
Charles E. Butterworth
William C. Chittick
Farhad Daftary
Majid F. Fakhry
Michael E. Marmura
Ismail K. Poonawala
John Walbridge
Hossein Ziai
CO-FOUNDING EDITOR
Parviz Morewedge
※
This publication was funded through the support
of the U.S. Congress and the Library of Congress
Avicenna
The Physics of The Healing
يعيبﻄﻟﺍ ﻉامﺴﻟﺍ :ﺀافﺸﻟﺍ
ﹼ
Books I & II
A parallel English-Arabic text
translated, introduced, and annotated by
Jon McGinnis
Brigham Young University Press ※ Provo, Utah ※ 2009
©2009 by Brigham Young University Press. All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN: 978–0–8425–2747–7 (alk. paper)
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
First Edition
To
EVERETT ROWSON
and
JAMES ROSS
for teaching me how to read Avicenna’s Physics
and how to appreciate what I read

Contents
Volume 1
Foreword to the Series xiii
Foreword to the Volume xv
Acknowledgments xix
Translator’s Introduction xxi
A Note on the Source Texts xxxi
Sigla and Conventions xxxiv
※ ※ ※
First Book
On the Causes and Principles of Natural Things
Chapter One 1
E xplaining the means by which to arrive at the science
of natural things from their first principles
Chapter Two 13
Enumerating the principles of natural things by assertion
and supposition
Chapter Three 27
How these principles are common
Chapter Four 33
Examination of what Parmenides and Melissus said regarding
the principles of being
– vii –
viii Contents
Chapter Five 37
On defining nature
Chapter Six 45
On nature’s relation to matter, form, and motion
Chapter Seven 50
Of certain terms derived from nature and an explanation of their status
Chapter Eight 54
On how the science of physics conducts investigation and what,
if anything, it shares in common with the other sciences
Chapter Nine 61
On defining the causes that are of the greatest interest to the
natural philosopher in his investigation
Chapter Ten 64
On defining each of the four kinds of causes
Chapter Eleven 71
On the interrelations of causes
Chapter Twelve 74
On the divisions of causal states
Chapter Thirteen 81
Discussion of luck and chance: The difference between them and
an explanation of their true state
Chapter Fourteen 91
Some of the arguments of those who were in error concerning
chance and luck and the refutation of their views
Chapter Fifteen 103
How causes enter into investigating and seeking the why-question
and the answer to it
※ ※ ※
Second Book
On Motion and That Which Follows It
Chapter One 107
On motion