Avicenna's Metaphysics in Context

The eleventh-century philosopher and physician Abu Ali ibn Sina (d. A.D. 1037) was known in the West by his Latinized name Avicenna. An analysis of the sources and evolution of Avicenna's metaphysics, this book focuses on the answers he and his predecessors gave to two fundamental pairs of questions: what is the soul and how does it cause the body; and what is God and how does He cause the world? To respond to these challenges, Avicenna invented new concepts and distinctions and reinterpreted old ones. The author concludes that Avicenna's innovations are a turning point in the history of metaphysics. Avicenna's metaphysics is the culmination of a period of synthesis during which philosophers fused together a Neoplatonic project (reconciling Plato with Aristotle) with a Peripatetic project (reconciling Aristotle with himself). Avicenna also stands at the beginning of a period during which philosophers sought to integrate the Arabic version of the earlier synthesis with Islamic doctrinal theology (kalam). Avicenna's metaphysics significantly influenced European scholastic thought, but it had an even more profound impact on Islamic intellectual history—the philosophical problems and opportunities associated with the Avicennian synthesis continued to be debated up to the end of the nineteenth century.

Robert Wisnovsky's Avicenna's Metaphysics in Context is arguably one of the most important works to come out on Avicenna to date. Wisnovsky has a superb mastery of the philological, historical, and philosophical tools necessary for tackling some of the most central and deepest issues in Avicenna's philosophy. His study is history of ideas done at its best. The work is must reading for anyone studying Avicenna today and likewise will be of interest to those with broader interests, whether in Arabic philosophy and intellectual history, Hellenistic and Neoplatonic studies, medieval Latin philosophy, or the history of philosophy in general., Wisnovsky's approach epitomizes what I see as the three most fruitful avenues for the study of the first few centuries of Arabic philosophy: taking late-antique thought (especially the commentators) into account and being attentive to details of the Arabic translations of philosophical works rather than imagining Avicenna and others as engaging directly with Greek sources. Wisnovsky's outstanding book should serve as a model for future research on Avicenna, and on the formative period of Arabic philosophy in general., Wisnovsky's effort, then, is a resounding success. His study will provide specialists with years' worth of materials to mine and digest, while newcomers are treated to a challenging yet thoroughly engaging introduction to the central metaphysical issues being discussed in late ancient philosophy and the first bloom of Arabic thought. Wisnovsky's book represents the state of the art; it comes highly recommended to anyone interested in the interface between ancient and medieval thought.

Robert Wisnovsky is Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University.