From al-kindi to al-farabi: Avicenna's progressive knowledge of aristotle's metaphysics according to his autobiography

Arabic Sciences and Philosophy

Volumn 11, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 257-295

  Bertolacci, Amos ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 62449185184     PISSN: 09574239     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0957423901001114     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. The Life of Ibn Sina. A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation by W. E. Gohlman (Albany, New York, 1974). Cf. the critical review by M. Ullman in Der Islam, 52 (1975): 148-51, and the observations by D. Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition. Introduction to Reading Avicenna's Philosophical Works (Leiden-New York-København-Köln, 1988), p. 22, n. a.
2. Gutas, Avicenna, pp. 22-30, 149-98.
3. Gutas, Avicenna, p. 22.
4. Gutas, Avicenna, p. 145, pp. 194-8. M. E. Marmura, in his critical review of Gutas’ monograph (“Plotting the course of Avicenna's thought”, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 111 [1991]: 333-42, p. 336), rejects the dating of the autobiography proposed by Gutas, and asserts that “the date of its writing remains uncertain”. The question of chronology does not affect the interpretation of the autobiography I propose in the present article.
5. D. Gutas, “Avicenna. Biography”, in E. Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. III (New York, 1987), pp. 67a-70b.
6. Gutas, Avicenna, pp. 152-4.
7. On this topic in Aristotle, see A. Mansion, “Philosophie première, philosophie seconde et métaphysique chez Aristote”, Revue Philosophique de Louvain, 56 (1958): 165-221; G. Patzig, “Theologie und Ontologie in der ‘Metaphysik’ des Aristoteles”, Kant-Studien, 52 (1960-61): 185-205 (Engl. transl: “Theology and ontology in Aristotle's Metaphysics”, in J. Barnes, M. Schofield and R. Sorabji (eds.), Articles on Aristotle, vol. III [London, 1979], pp. 33-49); W. Leszl, Aristotle's Conception of Ontology (Padua, 1975); C. H. Kahn, “On the intended interpretation of Aristotle's Metaphysics”, in J. Wiesner (ed.), Aristoteles. Werk und Wirkung. Paul Moraux gewidmet, vol. I: Aristoteles und seine Schule (Berlin-New York 1985), pp. 311-38; M. Frede, “The unity of general and special metaphysics: Aristotle's conception of metaphysics”, in Id., Essays in Ancient Philosophy (Oxford, 1987), pp. 81-95; R. Bolton, “Aristotle's conception of metaphysics as a science”, in T. Scaltsas, D. Charles and M. L. Gill (eds.), Unity, Identity and Explanation in Aristotle's Metaphysics (Oxford, 1994), pp. 321-54. On the same topic in Avicenna, see M. Fakhry, “The subject-matter of metaphysics: Aristotle and Ibn Sina (Avicenna)”, in M. E. Marmura (ed.), Islamic Theology and Philosophy: Studies in Honor of G. F. Hourani (Albany, N. Y., 1984), pp. 137-47; A. Hasnawi, “Aspects de la synthèse avicennienne”, in M. A. Sinaceur (ed.), Penser avec Aristote (Toulouse, 1991), pp. 227-44.
8. The Life of Ibn Sina, pp. 20, 4-24, 4.
9. The Life of Ibn Sina, pp. 24, 7-26, 4.
10. The Life of Ibn Sina, p. 20, 7.
11. The Life of Ibn Sina, p. 22, 6; cf. Gutas, Avicenna, p. 26.
12. The Life of Ibn Sina, p. 22, 7.
13. The Life of Ibn Sina, p. 24, 1.
14. The Life of Ibn Sina, p. 22, 6.
15. E. W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon (London, 1863-1893), vol. I, 6, p. 2403 a-b.
16. The Life of Ibn Sina, pp. 26, 5-30, 6.
17. Gutas, Avicenna, pp. 177-81.
18. Gutas, Avicenna, pp. 237-42.
19. Namely in the problems of psychology and cosmology mentioned in the previous part of the letter.
20. For a comprehensive description of the KitRb al-In.Rf, cf. Gutas, Avicenna, pp. 130-40.
21. Badawi, Arisfl., p. 59, 12 and n. 8.
22. Vajda, “Les notes d'Avicenne”, p. 383, n. 1: “[…] ces pages représentent en somme une rédaction du commentaire sur des passages choisis de la ThA (i.e. Theologia Aristotelis)”.
23. Zimmermann, “The origins”, p. 183, n. 287.
24. IlRhiyyRt, VIII, 2, p. 332, 6 (cf. Alpha Elatton, 2, 994 a 11-19; 994 a 19-b 6); p. 333, 7, p. 335, 3, p. 336, 17, p. 339, 3, p. 339, 15 (cf. Alpha Elatton, 2, 994 a 19-b 6).
25. Gutas, Avicenna, p. 215.
26. MS Leiden Acad. 44, fols. 2v-12r; summary in Gutas, Avicenna, pp. 149-52.
27. Gutas, Avicenna, p. 152.
28. Gutas, “Notes and texts”, p. 14a.
29. Gutas, Avicenna, p. 315.
30. b 28. The Complete Works of Aristotle, p. 1570.