Jewish philosopher and poet Solomon ben Judah Ibn Gabirol (or Ibn Jabirul in Arabic; Avicebron in Latin, 1021/2-1057/8 AD) in his work Fons Vitae envisioned a cosmology, which is:
- emanationist in a neoplatonist sense, like that of Plotinus, al-Farabi, Avicenna (see [2.4.2], [3.2.1], [3.3.2])
- emphasizes the importance of the Devine Will
- and distinctively introduces universal hylomorphism (for hylomorphism see [1.3.5] and [1.3.7]), meaning that the (universal) intellect and soul – not just the bodies – are compound of matter and form.
Here is a OntoUML representation of Ibn Gabirol’s cosmology:
| Class | Description | Relations |
| God | “Ibn Gabirol’s God is described as a Creator God who is an absolute simple unity—so simple as to exceed the grasp of the human mind and tongue.” | relates to Matter and DivineWill |
| Matter | “God’s formative act begins with creating matter and form (possibly a creation ex nihilo, but described fluidly enough as to leave open other interpretations)” | |
| Form | “God’s formative act begins with creating…form… form, on the contrary, arising somewhat secondarily from the Divine Will.” | relates to DivineWill |
| DivineWill | Will is identified also with Wisdom and Word. “Turning further to Will’s mediating cosmic role, while the Latin text translates “intermediary between the extremes,” the Arabic text uses a dual grammatical form, translating more specifically as “intermediary between the two extremes…, Ibn Gabirol might mean that Will intermediates between (1) matter and (2) form, the two cosmic “building blocks” out of which all reality is comprised.” | mediates between Matter and Form |
| UniversalIntellect | “In Ibn Gabirol’s cosmology, Intellect is highlighted as the first created being, as the Divine Glory (Kavod),and as the first occurrence of “form in matter” composition… Pure universal matter is thus coupled—in a process overseen by Divine Will—with a pure universal form to yield the first fully existing substance, Universal Intellect.” | |
| PureMatter | “Ibn Gabirol describes pure matter as stemming directly from the Divine Essence itself… existent in and of itself, of a single essence, sustaining diversity, and giving to everything its essence and name” | is contained by UniversalIntellect; is Matter |
| PureForm | The closest Form to the Devine Will, contained in the Universal Intellect. | is component of UniversalIntellect; is Form |
| UniversalSoul | Ibn Gabirol also envisions not one but three Universal Souls | relates to UniversalIntellect and itself (there are 3 souls in a chain of emanation) |
| MatterS | Matter of the Universal Soul | is contained by UniversalSoul; is Matter |
| FormS | Form of the Universal Soul | is component of UniversalSoul; is Form |
| CeletialBody | Celestial Bodies are: Fixed Stars, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon | relates to UniversalSoul and itself (there are 8 bodies in a chain of emanation) |
| MatterC | Matter of the Celestial Body | is contained by CelestialBody; is Matter |
| FormC | Form of the Celestial Body | is component of CelestialBody; is Form |
| TerrestrialBody | All bodies on the Earth | relates to CeletialBody |
| LowerMatter | Form of the Celestial Body | is contained by TerrestrialBody; is Matter |
| LowerForm | Form of the Celestial Body | is component of TerrestrialBody; is Form |
The following triplets present hylomorphic structure:
- PureMatter – UniversalIntellect – PureForm
- MatterS – UniversalSoul – FormS
- MatterC – CeletialBody – FormC
- LowerMatter – TerrestrialBody – LowerForm
Sources
- All citations from: Pessin, Sarah, “Solomon Ibn Gabirol [Avicebron]”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
First published: 12/09/2019
Philosophy Models 