Persian

[3.3.3] Ibn Sina on the Soul

A. L. Komáromi7 Comments

Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037 AD) elaborates on the Soul in the book De anima of the Shifā or Healing, according to which:

  • The Soul is immaterial, separated from the body, however, linked to it.
  • Exterior and interior senses serve the Intellect as a source of knowledge, through a process of abstraction from sense perception.
  • Knowledge – Forms – is also received from the Active Intellect

The following UML Use Case diagram presents the main concepts in Avicenna’s theory of the human soul, strongly related with his Cosmology (see [3.3.2]), and Aristotle’s Psychology (see [1.3.6]):

Avicenna on the soul
FacultyUse CaseRelations
EXTERNAL SENSESUse TASTE, TOUCH, SMELL, HEAR, SEE perception: are shared by non-rational and rational animals. impressed by Object in External World
COMMON SENSE (receptive)
(al-mushtarak) 		(Use COMMON SENSE to) unify and monitor 5 senses, present in animals also.Includes all 5 extenal senses
RETENTIVE IMAGINATION (retentive)
(al-khayyāl/ al-mutasawwira)		(RETENTIVE IMAGINATION) retains sensible images provided by the External Senses and Common Sense.Includes “Use COMMON SENSE to) unify and monitor 5 senses”
ESTIMATION (receptive)
(wahm)		Instinctive sensing of intentions (is provided by ESTIMATION): “While the range of properties included under the rubric of estimative intentions appears to be quite broad, the most vivid and well-known examples that Avicenna gives are of affective qualities, such as the sheep‘s grasp of the fact that the wolf is her natural enemy, and her recognition of her offspring as an object of affection.”
Estimation is present in animals also.		Includes “Use COMMON SENSE to) unify and
MEMORY (retentive)
(ḏikr)		(MEMORY) stores intentions – whether of good or of evil.Includes “Instinctive sensing of intentions (is provided by ESTIMATION)”
COMPOSITIVE IMAGINATION (al-mutakhayyila) (COMPOSITIVE IMAGINATION) combines and divides sensible images and intentions, produces cogitation: “The compositive imagination is posited to account for the capacity to combine and divide sensible forms and images with estimative intentions without reference to the actual configuration of things in the external world, that is, without any stipulation that the external senses have previously been affected by such combinations. […] So it is necessary for there to be a faculty in us by which we do this, and this is the faculty which is called cogitative (mufakkirah) when the intellect employs it, and imaginative (mutaḫayyilah) when the animal faculty uses it.”
Compositive Imagination is present in animals also, but in humans – when controlled by the Intellect – produces cogitative thought. This, through the generalization of the images and intentions and using syllogisms, prepares the Intellect to receive forms from Agent Intellect through emanation/actualization. 		Includes “(MEMORY) stores intentions”; Includes “(RETENTIVE IMAGINATION) retains sensible images”
INTELLECT (Actual INTELLECT) controls Compositive Imagination; produces derivative propositions and concepts through cogitation.Includes “(COMPOSITIVE IMAGINATION) combines and divides sensible images and intentions, produces cogitation”
INTELLECT(Acquired INTELLECT) receives concepts/forms through actualization from the Active Intellect: “…all new intelligibles must ultimately be explained with reference to a direct emanation from the Agent [Active] Intellect.”Extends “(Acquired INTELLECT) receives concepts/forms through actualization from the Active Intellect”;
Communicates with Active Intellect
Use Cases

ActorDescriptionRelations
Object in External WorldA sensible object in the external world.
Active IntellectActive (or agent) intellect is the last, tenth member of the chain of celestial intelligencies emenated by the First Pronciple (see [3.3.2]).
User of the SoulA human person.uses (Actual INTELLECT) controls Compositive Imagination; produces derivative propositions and concepts
Actors

Sources

  • All citations from: Black, Deborah, “Rational Imagination: Avicenna on the Cogitative Power”, University of Toronto
  • Gutas, Dimitri, “Ibn Sina [Avicenna]”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
  • Herbert A. Davidson, “Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, on Intellect”, Oxford University Press 1992

First published: 15/8/2019
Updated: added use case related to Acquired Intellect on 7/3/2021
Updated: added table with Actors 7/3/2021

[3.3.2] Ibn Sina’s Cosmology

A. L. Komáromi13 Comments

Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037 AD) writes about cosmology and metaphysics in Ilāhiyyāt of Kitāb al-Šifā’ (known in English as the Metaphysics of the Book of the Healing or the Book of the Cure). The basis of his theory is a necessary chain of causation starting at the First Principle (as cause), continuing with the chain of Intelligencies and Active Intellect (as effects and intermediaries), and ending with the Sublunary Bodies (as final effects) – as shown in the following OntoUML diagram:

Avicenna cosmology
Class DescriptionRelations
FirstPrincipleThe main attributes of the First Principle are: intelligence; immaterial; one; absolutely simple; self-reflective; eternal; necessary; cause of the world’s existence.
“Avicenna considers the world to be ‘instaured” or absolutely created (mubdaʿ) and at the same time establishes that it is eternal and eternally in motion, as Aristotle’s physics and metaphysics teach. He therefore posits a Principle of the world’s existence (wuǧūd) […] the final cause is […] the same efficient cause that makes things exist (mūǧid). The First Principle is therefore a cause in every respect.

The First Principle is also referred as Necessary Existent.		associated with the (first) Intelligence of the chain
IntelligenceA chain of nine Intelligencies is necessarily emanated (fayḍ) from the First Principle, one from the other for the Heavens – the outermost sphere, one for the fixed stars, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Each Intelligence:
“- thinks of the First Principle and aims at it, a further intelligence originates;
– from the act by which it thinks of itself and aims at itself, two entities originate: a soul, which is an intelligence bound to a body and which is, in some texts, equated to the practical intellect;
– and the celestial body to which this intelligence is bound.”		emanates: next level of Intelligence; SoulOfCelestialSpere; BodyOfCelestialSpere. Lowest level emanates ActiveIntellect
ActiveIntellectActive Intellect (or Agent Intellect) is the last, tenth member of the chain of intelligencies, which emanates universal (unified, undifferentiated) forms of Sublunary Bodies, and Matter, which combines into Sublunary Bodies. Since the forms are universal, the differences, particularities of the Sublunary Bodies are caused by the influence of the Celestial Spheres.

Due to the fact, that the members of the chain of intelligencies lose their power with the increasing distance from the First Principle, the Active Intellect is not able to emanate eternal entities, so the sublunary bodies are not eternal, yet in a structure similar to celestial bodies.		emanates FormsOf
SublunaryBody; Matter
SoulOfCelestial
Sphere		Soul of Celestial Sphere is emanated by the Intellect when thinks of itself.part of CelestialSphere
BodyOfCelestial
Sphere		Body of Celestia Sphere is emanated by the Intellect when thinks of itself.part of CelestialSphere
CelestialSphereCelestial Sphere contains Soul of Celestial Sphere and Body of Celestia Sphere.influences SublunaryBody
FormOf
SublunaryBody		Form of Sublunary Body is a universal (unified, undifferentiated) form emanated by Active intellect.
E.g. Form of sea, Soul of man		part of SublunaryBody
MatterMatter is emanated by Active Intellect, has the potentiality to be actualized by Form.contained by SublunaryBody
Sublunary BodySublunary Body is composed of Form and Matter. Its particularity is due to the influence of the Celestial Spheres.

His cosmological scheme Neoplatonist, and very similar with al-Farabi’s (see [3.2.1]), but with some notable differences:

  • the Forms of Sublunary Bodies contained and emanated by Active Intellect are undifferentiated universals, not Particulars, as at al-Farabi
  • Matter is emanated by the Active Intellect (not by the Celestial Sphers as at al-Farabi)
  • the existence of the First Cause is necessary by itself, the existence of the chain of Intellects is necessary by the First Cause and contingent by itself (aspects not analyzed by al-Farabi)

Sources

  • All citations from: Lizzini, Olga, “Ibn Sina’s Metaphysics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
  • Davidson, Herbert A., “Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, on Intellect”, Oxford University Press 1992

First published: 08/08/2019