Power and Possibility in Early Arabic Philosophy
eBook - ePub

Power and Possibility in Early Arabic Philosophy

Three Innovators Between Philoponus and Avicenna

  1. 295 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Power and Possibility in Early Arabic Philosophy

Three Innovators Between Philoponus and Avicenna

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): Ab? l-?ayr Ibn Suw?r (d. after 1017), Ab? al-?asan al-??mir? (d. 992), and Ab? Sahl al-Mas??? (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.

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Yes, you can access Power and Possibility in Early Arabic Philosophy by Nicholas Allan Aubin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Philosophy & Ancient History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
De Gruyter
Year
2023
eBook ISBN
9783111325132
Edition
1

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Contents
  4. Introduction
  5. ChapterĀ 1 Philoponus and the Finite-Power Argument
  6. Chapter 2 Ibn Suwār on the Coming-To-Be of the World
  7. ChapterĀ 3 AbÅ« l-įø¤asan al-ʿĀmirÄ« and Philoponus on Nature
  8. Chapter 4 Abū Sahl al-MasīḄī: The Science of Nature and the Nature of Science
  9. ChapterĀ 5 Avicenna and his Influences
  10. ChapterĀ 6 Conclusions
  11. Index