Power and Possibility in Early Arabic Philosophy: Three Innovators Between Philoponus and Avicenna

Nicholas Allan Aubin

Published by De Gruyter 2024

Power and Possibility in Early Arabic Philosophy

Three Innovators Between Philoponus and Avicenna

Nicholas Allan Aubin

Volume 37 in the series Scientia Graeco-Arabica

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111325088

Overview
Contents

About this book

"The world is a finite body, and therefore has finite power." John Philoponus is remembered for using this Aristotelian premise to break ranks with Aristotle and argue that the world is not everlasting. This investigation reconsiders Philoponus’s arguments from finite power, and then explores the aftermath of this line of thinking in the works of three lesser-known Arabic intellectuals active in the generation before Avicenna (d. 1037): Abū l-Ḫayr Ibn Suwār (d. after 1017), Abū al-Ḥasan al-ʿĀmirī (d. 992), and Abū Sahl al-Masīḥī (d. after 1025). Each engaged with this dictum in unique and novel ways, and in so doing anticipated a number of central features of Avicenna’s writings. The history of this argument is of crucial importance for understanding the evolution of natural philosophy and metaphysics in this formative period, away from tedious and simplistic arguments about creation and towards a more robust modal ontology based on intrinsic and extrinsic necessity.

Author / Editor information

Nicholas Allan Aubin, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 Philoponus and the Finite-Power Argument Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
Chapter 2 Ibn Suwār on the Coming-To-Be of the World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Chapter 3 Abū l-Ḥasan al-ʿĀmirī and Philoponus on Nature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
Chapter 4 Abū Sahl al-Masīḥī: The Science of Nature and the Nature of Science Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Chapter 5 Avicenna and his Influences Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Chapter 6 Conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Appendix. Abu Sahl al-Masīḥī’s Principles of the Science of the Pulse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	270
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars and students in the fields of history of philosophy, Arabic studies, Graeco-Arabic studies
Pages
- Front matter: 9
- Main content: 286
Keywords: contingency; natural philosophy; demonstration; epistemology

eBook

Published: December 31, 2023
ISBN: 9783111325088

Hardcover

Published: December 31, 2023
ISBN: 9783111324920