Course Syllabus
Studying Avicenna’s philosophy is important and beneficial for different reasons. First, because of the role he had in the Islamic Philosophy, as consolidating its past and directing its future – similar to the role of Islamic philosophy itself; mediation between ancient Greek and the Enlightened Europe. Second, for his position in the Islamic Golden Age, not just as a philosopher, but also as a predominant scientist whose influential thoughts and works continued to shape and affect various philosophical systems and scientific disciplines for centuries, and beyond borders. And third, for the way he encountered, and answers he provided to profound philosophical questions. Different attitudes toward and newer readings of ancient philosophical heritage can bring into light potential solutions to our modern problems. This course aims at providing students with a general outlook on Avicenna’s philosophy. After a brief introduction to Islamic philosophy, its origin and historical significance, lectures will focus on the systematic philosophy of Avicenna and treat each subject by illustrating its historical background, Avicenna’s debt to his processors and then the developments and contributions he made in that particular area. In each discussion, after addressing the influences he had on later philosophers, the relevance of their critical method and philosophical insights to contemporary questions and problems are discussed.
To familiarize students with the general themes and systematic philosophy of Avicenna
Students are supposed to gain basic information about and acquaintance with:
Papers, class presentations or mid-term quizzes (depending on regulations or other conditions)
Lectures, Presentations and Tutorials
Adamson, P. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Adamson, P. (2013). Interpreting Avicenna_ Critical Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Avicenna. (1971). Treatise on Logic. (F. Zabeeh, Trans.) Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Avicenna. (2009). The Physics of the Healing. (J. McGinnis, Trans.) Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press.
Avicenna. (2014). Remarks and Admonitions, Physics & Metaphysics. (S. Inati, Trans.) New York: Columbia University Press.
Bertolacci, A. (2006). The Reception of Aristotle's Metaphysics in Avicenna's Kitab al-Sifa. Leiden: Brill.
Gohlman, W. E. (1974). life of Ibn Sina_ a critical edition and annotated translation. New York: SUNY Press.
Goodman, L. (1992). Avicenna. London: Routledge.
Gutas, D. (2014). Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition. Leiden: Brill.
Gutas, D. (n.d.). Ibn Sina [Avicenna]. (E. N. Zalta, Editor) Retrieved from The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2016 Edition): https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2016/entries/ibn-sina/
Hassa, D. N. (2012). The Arabic, Hebrew and Latin Reception of Avicenna's Metaphysics. Berlin: Gruyter.
Heath, P. (1992). Allegory and Philosophy in Avicenna (Ibn Sina). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Janssens, J. L. (1991). An Annotated Bibliography on Ibn Sina. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Lagerlund, H. (2011). Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Heidelberg: Springer.
Langermann, Y. T. (2009). Avicenna and His Legacy. Turnhout: Brepols.
Leaman, O. (2005). Avicenna. In D. M. Borchert, Encyclopedia of Philosophy (pp. 432-436). New York: Thomson Gale.
McGinnis, J. (2010). Avicenna (Great Medieval Thinkers). New York: Oxford University Press.
Nasr, S. H. (1976). Three Muslim Sages_ Avicenna-Suhrawardi-Ibn Arabi. New York: Caravan Books.
Reisman, D. C. (2002). The Making of the Avicennan Tradition. Leiden: Brill.
Reisman, D. C., & McGinnis , J. (2004). Interpreting Avicenna. Leiden: Brill.
Reisman, D. C., & al-Rahim, A. H. (2003). Before and After Avicenna. Leiden: Brill.
Shehaby, N. (1973). The Propositional Logic of Avicenna. Boston: Reidel Publishing Company.
Tahiri, H. (2016). Metaphysics and the Mind, an Introduction into Ibn Sina's Theory of Knowledge. Heidelberg: Springer.
Wisnovsky, R. (2003). Avicenna’s Metaphysics in Context. New York: Cornell University Press.
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