Interpreting Avicenna
Critical Essays

This volume examines many aspects of the philosophy of Avicenna, the greatest philosopher of the Islamic world.

Peter Adamson (Edited by)

9780521190732, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 July 2013

314 pages, 3 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.59 kg

'If we are to make the case for intellectual historians and historians of philosophy to bring Avicenna into a new canon, or to locate him in a curriculum that goes beyond the desire to form canons, this book is a vital offering to that cause … It is hard to quibble with the merits of this volume, and readers interested in Islamic thought, and in particular Islamic philosophy, as well as historians of philosophers will profit from a careful reading, using it to map out possible research trajectories.' Sajjad Rizvi, Journal of the American Oriental Society

Avicenna is the greatest philosopher of the Islamic world. His immense impact on Christian and Jewish medieval thought, as well as on the subsequent Islamic tradition, is charted in this volume alongside studies which provide a comprehensive introduction to and analysis of his philosophy. Contributions from leading scholars address a wide range of topics including Avicenna's life and works, conception of philosophy and achievement in logic and medicine. His ideas in the main areas of philosophy, such as epistemology, philosophy of religion and physics, are also analyzed. While serving as a general introduction to Avicenna's thought, this collection of critical essays also represents the cutting edge of scholarship on this most influential philosopher of the medieval era.

1. The life and times of Avicenna: patronage and learning in medieval Islam David C. Reisman
2. Avicenna's philosophical project Dimitri Gutas
3. Avicenna on the syllogism Tony Street
4. Avicenna's natural philosophy Jon McGinnis
5. Avicenna and medicine Peter E. Pormann
6. Avicenna's epistemological optimism Dag Nikolaus Hasse
7. Certitude, justification, and the principles of knowledge in Avicenna's epistemology Deborah Black
8. Avicenna's metaphysics Stephen Menn
9. From the necessary existent to God Peter Adamson
10. Avicenna's Islamic reception Robert Wisnovsky
11. The reception of Avicenna in Jewish cultures, East and West Gad Freudenthal and Mauro Zonta
12. Avicenna's Christian reception Amos Bertolacci.

Subject Areas: Islam [HRH], Islamic & Arabic philosophy [HPDC], Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600 [HPCB], History of Western philosophy [HPC]