Jon McGinnis
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195331479
- eISBN:
- 9780199868032
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331479.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The aim of the present work is threefold. One, it intends to place the thought of Avicenna within its proper historical context, whether the philosophical-scientific tradition inherited from the ...
More
The aim of the present work is threefold. One, it intends to place the thought of Avicenna within its proper historical context, whether the philosophical-scientific tradition inherited from the Greeks or the indigenous influences coming from the medieval Islamic world. Thus, in addition to a substantive introductory chapter on the Greek and Arabic sources and influences to which Avicenna was heir, the historical and philosophical context central to Avicenna’s own thought is provided in order to assess and appreciate his achievement in the specific fields treated in that chapter. Two, the present volume aims to offer a philosophical survey of Avicenna’s entire system of thought ranging from his understanding of the interrelation of logic, physics, psychology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and medicine. The emphasis here is on how, using a relatively small handful of novel insights, Avicenna was not only able to address a whole series of issues that had troubled earlier philosophers working in both the ancient Hellenistic and medieval Islamic world, but also how those insights fundamentally changed the direction philosophy took, certainly in the Islamic East, but even in the Jewish and Christian milieus. Three, the present volume will provide philosophers, historians of science, and students of medieval thought with a starting point from which to assess the place, significance, and influence of Avicenna and his philosophy within the history of ideas.Less
The aim of the present work is threefold. One, it intends to place the thought of Avicenna within its proper historical context, whether the philosophical-scientific tradition inherited from the Greeks or the indigenous influences coming from the medieval Islamic world. Thus, in addition to a substantive introductory chapter on the Greek and Arabic sources and influences to which Avicenna was heir, the historical and philosophical context central to Avicenna’s own thought is provided in order to assess and appreciate his achievement in the specific fields treated in that chapter. Two, the present volume aims to offer a philosophical survey of Avicenna’s entire system of thought ranging from his understanding of the interrelation of logic, physics, psychology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and medicine. The emphasis here is on how, using a relatively small handful of novel insights, Avicenna was not only able to address a whole series of issues that had troubled earlier philosophers working in both the ancient Hellenistic and medieval Islamic world, but also how those insights fundamentally changed the direction philosophy took, certainly in the Islamic East, but even in the Jewish and Christian milieus. Three, the present volume will provide philosophers, historians of science, and students of medieval thought with a starting point from which to assess the place, significance, and influence of Avicenna and his philosophy within the history of ideas.
Jennifer Radden
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195151657
- eISBN:
- 9780199849253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195151657.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter presents Avicenna's discussion of melancholy. Avicenna is the Latinized form of the Arabic Ibn Sina, an abbreviation of Abu Ali al Husain ibn Abd, Allah ib Sina. Avicenna lived between ...
More
This chapter presents Avicenna's discussion of melancholy. Avicenna is the Latinized form of the Arabic Ibn Sina, an abbreviation of Abu Ali al Husain ibn Abd, Allah ib Sina. Avicenna lived between 980 and 1037. He was born near Bukhara and was of Persian origin. Avicenna's masterpiece, written in Arabic, was the four-volume Canon of Medicine. The writing on melancholy in the Canon illustrates the way humoral theory and the symptom descriptions of melancholia traveled between ancient and medieval (western European) medicine by way of Arabic medicine. Arabic medical authorities such as Avicenna and his immediate influences Ishaq ibn Imran and Haly Abbas knew Greek medical lore, and, although there were also more direct sources through the Latin translations of the Greek works, were to a significant extent responsible for its return to western Europe to influence medieval medicine.Less
This chapter presents Avicenna's discussion of melancholy. Avicenna is the Latinized form of the Arabic Ibn Sina, an abbreviation of Abu Ali al Husain ibn Abd, Allah ib Sina. Avicenna lived between 980 and 1037. He was born near Bukhara and was of Persian origin. Avicenna's masterpiece, written in Arabic, was the four-volume Canon of Medicine. The writing on melancholy in the Canon illustrates the way humoral theory and the symptom descriptions of melancholia traveled between ancient and medieval (western European) medicine by way of Arabic medicine. Arabic medical authorities such as Avicenna and his immediate influences Ishaq ibn Imran and Haly Abbas knew Greek medical lore, and, although there were also more direct sources through the Latin translations of the Greek works, were to a significant extent responsible for its return to western Europe to influence medieval medicine.
Christopher I. Beckwith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155319
- eISBN:
- 9781400845170
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155319.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This book tells how key cultural innovations from Central Asia revolutionized medieval Europe and gave rise to the culture of science in the West. Medieval scholars rarely performed scientific ...
More
This book tells how key cultural innovations from Central Asia revolutionized medieval Europe and gave rise to the culture of science in the West. Medieval scholars rarely performed scientific experiments, but instead contested issues in natural science, philosophy, and theology using the recursive argument method. This highly distinctive and unusual method of disputation was a core feature of medieval science, the predecessor of modern science. We know that the foundations of science were imported to Western Europe from the Islamic world, but until now the origins of such key elements of Islamic culture have been a mystery. This book traces how the recursive argument method was first developed by Buddhist scholars and was spread by them throughout ancient Central Asia. It shows how the method was adopted by Islamic Central Asian natural philosophers—most importantly by Avicenna, one of the most brilliant of all medieval thinkers—and transmitted to the West when Avicenna's works were translated into Latin in Spain in the twelfth century by the Jewish philosopher Ibn Da'ud and others. During the same period the institution of the college was also borrowed from the Islamic world. The college was where most of the disputations were held, and became the most important component of medieval Europe's newly formed universities. As the book demonstrates, the Islamic college also originated in Buddhist Central Asia. Using in-depth analysis of ancient Buddhist, Classical Arabic, and Medieval Latin writings, this book will help to transform our understanding of the origins of medieval scientific culture.Less
This book tells how key cultural innovations from Central Asia revolutionized medieval Europe and gave rise to the culture of science in the West. Medieval scholars rarely performed scientific experiments, but instead contested issues in natural science, philosophy, and theology using the recursive argument method. This highly distinctive and unusual method of disputation was a core feature of medieval science, the predecessor of modern science. We know that the foundations of science were imported to Western Europe from the Islamic world, but until now the origins of such key elements of Islamic culture have been a mystery. This book traces how the recursive argument method was first developed by Buddhist scholars and was spread by them throughout ancient Central Asia. It shows how the method was adopted by Islamic Central Asian natural philosophers—most importantly by Avicenna, one of the most brilliant of all medieval thinkers—and transmitted to the West when Avicenna's works were translated into Latin in Spain in the twelfth century by the Jewish philosopher Ibn Da'ud and others. During the same period the institution of the college was also borrowed from the Islamic world. The college was where most of the disputations were held, and became the most important component of medieval Europe's newly formed universities. As the book demonstrates, the Islamic college also originated in Buddhist Central Asia. Using in-depth analysis of ancient Buddhist, Classical Arabic, and Medieval Latin writings, this book will help to transform our understanding of the origins of medieval scientific culture.
Jon McGinnis
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195331479
- eISBN:
- 9780199868032
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331479.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This introductory chapter covers the historical, cultural, and intellectual background up to and during the time of Avicenna. It begins by presenting the Greek course curriculum taught at the ...
More
This introductory chapter covers the historical, cultural, and intellectual background up to and during the time of Avicenna. It begins by presenting the Greek course curriculum taught at the Academies in Athens and Alexandria, with its emphasis on Aristotle in logic and the natural sciences, and then its increasing reliance on Plato, particularly as read through his Neoplatonic interpreters, for metaphysics, ethics, and politics. This course curriculum was in turn inherited by philosophers working in the medieval Islamic world, and provided the basis of Avicenna’s own education. The chapter then considers the factors and institutions indigenous to the Arabic-Islamic milieu in which Avicenna worked, such as Islamic theology and law, as well the immediate historical and political situation in which Avicenna found himself. It concludes with a detailed presentation of the life and works of Avicenna.Less
This introductory chapter covers the historical, cultural, and intellectual background up to and during the time of Avicenna. It begins by presenting the Greek course curriculum taught at the Academies in Athens and Alexandria, with its emphasis on Aristotle in logic and the natural sciences, and then its increasing reliance on Plato, particularly as read through his Neoplatonic interpreters, for metaphysics, ethics, and politics. This course curriculum was in turn inherited by philosophers working in the medieval Islamic world, and provided the basis of Avicenna’s own education. The chapter then considers the factors and institutions indigenous to the Arabic-Islamic milieu in which Avicenna worked, such as Islamic theology and law, as well the immediate historical and political situation in which Avicenna found himself. It concludes with a detailed presentation of the life and works of Avicenna.
Frank Griffel
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195331622
- eISBN:
- 9780199867998
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331622.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Islam
Al-Ghazali (d. 1111) is one of the most important theologians, philosophers, and Sufis of Islam. Born around 1056 in northeastern Iran, he became the holder of the most prestigious academic post in ...
More
Al-Ghazali (d. 1111) is one of the most important theologians, philosophers, and Sufis of Islam. Born around 1056 in northeastern Iran, he became the holder of the most prestigious academic post in Islamic theology in Baghdad, only to renounce that position and teach at small schools in the provinces for no money. His contributions to Islamic scholarship range from responding to the challenges of Aristotelian philosophy to creating a new type of mysticism in Islam, and integrating both these traditions—falsafa and Sufism—into the Sunni mainstream. Using the most authoritative sources, including reports of his students, his contemporaries, and his own letters, this book reconstructs every stage in al-Ghazali’s turbulent career. The al-Ghazali that emerges still offers many surprises, particularly on his motives for leaving Baghdad and the nature of his “seclusion” afterwards. In its close study of al-Ghazali’s cosmology—meaning, how God creates things and events in the world, how human acts relate to God’s power, and how the universe is structured—the book reveals the significant philosophical influence on al-Ghazali. His cosmology has always been one of the most challenging aspects of his work. This book shows how al-Ghazali created a new discourse on cosmology that moved away from concerns held earlier among Muslim theologians and Arab philosophers. This new cosmology was structured to provide a framework for the pursuit of the natural sciences and a basis for science and philosophy in Islam to continue to flourish beyond the 12th century.Less
Al-Ghazali (d. 1111) is one of the most important theologians, philosophers, and Sufis of Islam. Born around 1056 in northeastern Iran, he became the holder of the most prestigious academic post in Islamic theology in Baghdad, only to renounce that position and teach at small schools in the provinces for no money. His contributions to Islamic scholarship range from responding to the challenges of Aristotelian philosophy to creating a new type of mysticism in Islam, and integrating both these traditions—falsafa and Sufism—into the Sunni mainstream. Using the most authoritative sources, including reports of his students, his contemporaries, and his own letters, this book reconstructs every stage in al-Ghazali’s turbulent career. The al-Ghazali that emerges still offers many surprises, particularly on his motives for leaving Baghdad and the nature of his “seclusion” afterwards. In its close study of al-Ghazali’s cosmology—meaning, how God creates things and events in the world, how human acts relate to God’s power, and how the universe is structured—the book reveals the significant philosophical influence on al-Ghazali. His cosmology has always been one of the most challenging aspects of his work. This book shows how al-Ghazali created a new discourse on cosmology that moved away from concerns held earlier among Muslim theologians and Arab philosophers. This new cosmology was structured to provide a framework for the pursuit of the natural sciences and a basis for science and philosophy in Islam to continue to flourish beyond the 12th century.
Frank Griffel
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195331622
- eISBN:
- 9780199867998
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331622.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Islam
This chapter presents the two most important views about cosmology held by Muslims in the era of al-Ghazali. The first is the cosmology of the Ash’arite school of Muslim theology, which developed ...
More
This chapter presents the two most important views about cosmology held by Muslims in the era of al-Ghazali. The first is the cosmology of the Ash’arite school of Muslim theology, which developed earlier ideas of the Mu’tazilites into what has become knows as occasionalism. Its main components are the atomism of the earlier Mu’tazilites plus the idea that time is a leaped sequence of moments. The latter idea is sometimes called an “atomism of time.” In every moment, God rearranges all the atoms of this world and creates their accidents anew—thus creating a new world every moment that is not causally connected to the one in the moment before. The Muslim philosophers subscribed to a different cosmology where God is regarded as the first cause of all events in this work. Here, God does not act directly on all its creatures but only through the mediation of so-called secondary causes. Every cause is caused by another cause etc. until this chain ends in God, the first cause. The chapter shows how the usual view that these two cosmologies are diametrically opposed to one another cannot be maintained and that al-Juwayni, for instance, al-Ghazali’s teacher, already applies a cosmology where he applies elements of both systems.Less
This chapter presents the two most important views about cosmology held by Muslims in the era of al-Ghazali. The first is the cosmology of the Ash’arite school of Muslim theology, which developed earlier ideas of the Mu’tazilites into what has become knows as occasionalism. Its main components are the atomism of the earlier Mu’tazilites plus the idea that time is a leaped sequence of moments. The latter idea is sometimes called an “atomism of time.” In every moment, God rearranges all the atoms of this world and creates their accidents anew—thus creating a new world every moment that is not causally connected to the one in the moment before. The Muslim philosophers subscribed to a different cosmology where God is regarded as the first cause of all events in this work. Here, God does not act directly on all its creatures but only through the mediation of so-called secondary causes. Every cause is caused by another cause etc. until this chain ends in God, the first cause. The chapter shows how the usual view that these two cosmologies are diametrically opposed to one another cannot be maintained and that al-Juwayni, for instance, al-Ghazali’s teacher, already applies a cosmology where he applies elements of both systems.
Christopher I. Beckwith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155319
- eISBN:
- 9781400845170
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155319.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This chapter examines Islamization in Classical Arabic Central Asia. The Arab Empire founded by the prophet Muhammad expanded rapidly, defeating the Byzantine Empire and capturing Syria (637) and ...
More
This chapter examines Islamization in Classical Arabic Central Asia. The Arab Empire founded by the prophet Muhammad expanded rapidly, defeating the Byzantine Empire and capturing Syria (637) and Egypt (640). At the same time, the Arabs defeated the Sasanid Persian Empire (637) and raced across Persia into Central Asia. Within a very short time, early Arab Islamic culture came into direct, intimate contact with several major civilized areas, including the Graeco-Roman-influenced cultures of the Levant and North Africa, Persian culture, and the Buddhist cultures of Central Asia. From them the Muslims adopted various cultural elements. This chapter considers when, where, and how the Muslims acquired the recursive argument method and the Islamic college or madrasa. It shows that the recursive argument method is used in Arabic works by the Central Asian scientist and philosopher Avicenna.Less
This chapter examines Islamization in Classical Arabic Central Asia. The Arab Empire founded by the prophet Muhammad expanded rapidly, defeating the Byzantine Empire and capturing Syria (637) and Egypt (640). At the same time, the Arabs defeated the Sasanid Persian Empire (637) and raced across Persia into Central Asia. Within a very short time, early Arab Islamic culture came into direct, intimate contact with several major civilized areas, including the Graeco-Roman-influenced cultures of the Levant and North Africa, Persian culture, and the Buddhist cultures of Central Asia. From them the Muslims adopted various cultural elements. This chapter considers when, where, and how the Muslims acquired the recursive argument method and the Islamic college or madrasa. It shows that the recursive argument method is used in Arabic works by the Central Asian scientist and philosopher Avicenna.
Christopher I. Beckwith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155319
- eISBN:
- 9781400845170
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155319.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This chapter examines how the recursive argument method was transmitted to medieval Western Europe. The appearance of the recursive argument method in Latin texts was preceded by more than a century ...
More
This chapter examines how the recursive argument method was transmitted to medieval Western Europe. The appearance of the recursive argument method in Latin texts was preceded by more than a century in which Classical Arabic learning was increasingly translated and introduced to the Medieval Latin world. A trickle of translations of Arabic scholarly books into Latin had already begun to appear in Italy and Spain by the mid-eleventh century, but none of the works known to have been translated at that time seem to use the Arabic version of the recursive argument method. The recursive argument method first appears in Western Europe in Avicenna's De anima “On the Soul” or “Psychology.” The chapter considers other examples of the recursive argument method in Latin, including works by Robert of Curzon, Alexander of Hales, Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great), and Thomas Aquinas.Less
This chapter examines how the recursive argument method was transmitted to medieval Western Europe. The appearance of the recursive argument method in Latin texts was preceded by more than a century in which Classical Arabic learning was increasingly translated and introduced to the Medieval Latin world. A trickle of translations of Arabic scholarly books into Latin had already begun to appear in Italy and Spain by the mid-eleventh century, but none of the works known to have been translated at that time seem to use the Arabic version of the recursive argument method. The recursive argument method first appears in Western Europe in Avicenna's De anima “On the Soul” or “Psychology.” The chapter considers other examples of the recursive argument method in Latin, including works by Robert of Curzon, Alexander of Hales, Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great), and Thomas Aquinas.
Taneli Kukkonen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199890576
- eISBN:
- 9780199980031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199890576.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
This chapter surveys the reception of Aristotle's Categories in the late ancient and Arabic traditions. There is a puzzle when it comes to philosophical encyclopedias and compendia in the later ...
More
This chapter surveys the reception of Aristotle's Categories in the late ancient and Arabic traditions. There is a puzzle when it comes to philosophical encyclopedias and compendia in the later Islamic tradition: Aristotle's categories gradually recede in importance before disappearing from sight altogether. This chapter shows that Avicenna initiates a move of the categories within the philosophical curriculum from logic to metaphysics, where he claims they rightfully belong. Avicenna nonetheless fails to follow through on his promise to carry out a full metaphysical investigation of the categories. This chapter shows that Avicenna is responding to certain problems regarding the Aristotelian categories which had their origins in late antiquity and the late ancient Platonists' appropriation of Aristotelian logic in their school teaching. While Avicenna managed to resolve many of these problems successfully, the categories ended up a casualty of this reordering of the way Aristotelian logic and ontology relate to one another.Less
This chapter surveys the reception of Aristotle's Categories in the late ancient and Arabic traditions. There is a puzzle when it comes to philosophical encyclopedias and compendia in the later Islamic tradition: Aristotle's categories gradually recede in importance before disappearing from sight altogether. This chapter shows that Avicenna initiates a move of the categories within the philosophical curriculum from logic to metaphysics, where he claims they rightfully belong. Avicenna nonetheless fails to follow through on his promise to carry out a full metaphysical investigation of the categories. This chapter shows that Avicenna is responding to certain problems regarding the Aristotelian categories which had their origins in late antiquity and the late ancient Platonists' appropriation of Aristotelian logic in their school teaching. While Avicenna managed to resolve many of these problems successfully, the categories ended up a casualty of this reordering of the way Aristotelian logic and ontology relate to one another.
Kurt Flasch
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300204865
- eISBN:
- 9780300216370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300204865.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter examines Meister Eckhart's commentary on Exodus in the Bible. Exodus, about the flight out of Egypt, is filled with dramatic stories, from God calling to Moses out of the burning bush ...
More
This chapter examines Meister Eckhart's commentary on Exodus in the Bible. Exodus, about the flight out of Egypt, is filled with dramatic stories, from God calling to Moses out of the burning bush and telling him his name “I am who I am,” to the Israelites leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea with dry feet, and God supplying the Ten Commandments with thunder and lightning. However, none of these events are of much interest to Eckhart. His method of reading is rather “scholastic”: he is looking for universal theoretical issues. God tells Moses his name, and it raises the question of the relation between names and things. This chapter discusses Eckhart's interpretation of God's name based on his statement “I am who I am” using two sources: Avicenna and the Pseudo-Hermetic Book of the Twenty-Four Philosophers. It also considers Eckhart's explanation of the sentence from Exodus “Moses approached the darkness in which God was,” with particular emphasis on his argument that God's light blinds our intellect.Less
This chapter examines Meister Eckhart's commentary on Exodus in the Bible. Exodus, about the flight out of Egypt, is filled with dramatic stories, from God calling to Moses out of the burning bush and telling him his name “I am who I am,” to the Israelites leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea with dry feet, and God supplying the Ten Commandments with thunder and lightning. However, none of these events are of much interest to Eckhart. His method of reading is rather “scholastic”: he is looking for universal theoretical issues. God tells Moses his name, and it raises the question of the relation between names and things. This chapter discusses Eckhart's interpretation of God's name based on his statement “I am who I am” using two sources: Avicenna and the Pseudo-Hermetic Book of the Twenty-Four Philosophers. It also considers Eckhart's explanation of the sentence from Exodus “Moses approached the darkness in which God was,” with particular emphasis on his argument that God's light blinds our intellect.
Ruth Glasner
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199567737
- eISBN:
- 9780191721472
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199567737.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
Chapter 3 is a brief summary of the main sources, Greek and Arabic, that Averroes used in the three commentaries. The sometimes very long notes of this chapter provide lists of the references to ...
More
Chapter 3 is a brief summary of the main sources, Greek and Arabic, that Averroes used in the three commentaries. The sometimes very long notes of this chapter provide lists of the references to these sources in the three commentaries. In the case of the long commentary the lists may not be complete, but still cover the major part of the references.Less
Chapter 3 is a brief summary of the main sources, Greek and Arabic, that Averroes used in the three commentaries. The sometimes very long notes of this chapter provide lists of the references to these sources in the three commentaries. In the case of the long commentary the lists may not be complete, but still cover the major part of the references.
Samuel K. Cohn
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199574025
- eISBN:
- 9780191722530
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574025.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter shows another side of the intellectual vitality stimulated by the 1575–8 crisis. An unprecedented denial of ‘true plague’ suddenly swept medical circles. Best known are the arguments ...
More
This chapter shows another side of the intellectual vitality stimulated by the 1575–8 crisis. An unprecedented denial of ‘true plague’ suddenly swept medical circles. Best known are the arguments voiced by the Paduan academic Girolamo Mercuriale, invited to Venice to diagnose the disease and which resulted in rescinding health board policies such as quarantine. Similar arguments raced through the peninsula, from Trent to Palermo, but everywhere were met head‐on with impassioned rebuttals from those within and outside the medical profession. Questioning long‐held models of medieval and renaissance medicine with admixtures of Galen, Avicenna, and God, they focused instead on what was observable to understand the causes of plague and recommend new remedies lodged in public policy.Less
This chapter shows another side of the intellectual vitality stimulated by the 1575–8 crisis. An unprecedented denial of ‘true plague’ suddenly swept medical circles. Best known are the arguments voiced by the Paduan academic Girolamo Mercuriale, invited to Venice to diagnose the disease and which resulted in rescinding health board policies such as quarantine. Similar arguments raced through the peninsula, from Trent to Palermo, but everywhere were met head‐on with impassioned rebuttals from those within and outside the medical profession. Questioning long‐held models of medieval and renaissance medicine with admixtures of Galen, Avicenna, and God, they focused instead on what was observable to understand the causes of plague and recommend new remedies lodged in public policy.
Martin Pickavé and Lisa Shapiro (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199579914
- eISBN:
- 9780191745959
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579914.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This volume has three aims. First, historians of philosophy have typically focused on the discussions of the moral relevance of emotions, and with the exception of scholars of ancient philosophy, ...
More
This volume has three aims. First, historians of philosophy have typically focused on the discussions of the moral relevance of emotions, and with the exception of scholars of ancient philosophy, neglected the place of emotions in cognitive life. This collection of articles refocuses the discussion of emotion in the medieval and early modern periods to their role in cognition. Second, though many have aimed to clarify relationship between the later thinkers and their predecessors with regard to issues in metaphysics and epistemology, there has been very little effort at tracing similar lines of thought about emotion. As a whole, the contributions to this volume serve to begin a discussion about the continuities between medieval and early modern thinking about the emotions. In this regard, there is also a discussion of the emotions of cognitive life of the Renaissance. Though we get only a snapshot of a period of philosophical work often passed over, even this snapshot invites questions about how to weave an intellectual history about accounts of our emotions in our cognitive lives. Finally, attention to the concerns that engage philosophers of the medieval, renaissance and early modern periods can inform the contemporary debate regarding the relationship between emotions, cognition, and reason. The thirteen contributions explore this from the point of view of four key themes: the situation of emotions within the human mind; the intentionality of emotions and their role in cognition; emotions and action; the role of emotion in self-understanding and the social situation of individuals.Less
This volume has three aims. First, historians of philosophy have typically focused on the discussions of the moral relevance of emotions, and with the exception of scholars of ancient philosophy, neglected the place of emotions in cognitive life. This collection of articles refocuses the discussion of emotion in the medieval and early modern periods to their role in cognition. Second, though many have aimed to clarify relationship between the later thinkers and their predecessors with regard to issues in metaphysics and epistemology, there has been very little effort at tracing similar lines of thought about emotion. As a whole, the contributions to this volume serve to begin a discussion about the continuities between medieval and early modern thinking about the emotions. In this regard, there is also a discussion of the emotions of cognitive life of the Renaissance. Though we get only a snapshot of a period of philosophical work often passed over, even this snapshot invites questions about how to weave an intellectual history about accounts of our emotions in our cognitive lives. Finally, attention to the concerns that engage philosophers of the medieval, renaissance and early modern periods can inform the contemporary debate regarding the relationship between emotions, cognition, and reason. The thirteen contributions explore this from the point of view of four key themes: the situation of emotions within the human mind; the intentionality of emotions and their role in cognition; emotions and action; the role of emotion in self-understanding and the social situation of individuals.
Peter Biller
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199265596
- eISBN:
- 9780191699085
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199265596.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Ideas
This chapter deals firstly with works which supplied a dense backcloth for ‘demographic’ thought, providing very detailed and plausible data about reproduction, and then secondly with one ...
More
This chapter deals firstly with works which supplied a dense backcloth for ‘demographic’ thought, providing very detailed and plausible data about reproduction, and then secondly with one ‘demographic’ theme, life-span. It focuses on the treatises by Aristotle which were known in the middle ages as On animals, and in particular among these the History of Animals and the Generation of animals; Aristotle's tract Length and Shortness of Life; and a work attributed to Aristotle, the Problems. In addition there are Avicenna's On Animals, which contains much from Aristotle, and Averroes's epitome of Length and Shortness of Life. Set alongside these is just one representative and important example of medical texts, Avicenna's Canon of Medicine.Less
This chapter deals firstly with works which supplied a dense backcloth for ‘demographic’ thought, providing very detailed and plausible data about reproduction, and then secondly with one ‘demographic’ theme, life-span. It focuses on the treatises by Aristotle which were known in the middle ages as On animals, and in particular among these the History of Animals and the Generation of animals; Aristotle's tract Length and Shortness of Life; and a work attributed to Aristotle, the Problems. In addition there are Avicenna's On Animals, which contains much from Aristotle, and Averroes's epitome of Length and Shortness of Life. Set alongside these is just one representative and important example of medical texts, Avicenna's Canon of Medicine.
JT Paasch
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199646371
- eISBN:
- 9780191739293
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646371.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Church History
This chapter introduces the central problem of the book: how exactly does one divine person produce another (e.g. how does the Father “beget” a Son)? It would seem that a divine person would have to ...
More
This chapter introduces the central problem of the book: how exactly does one divine person produce another (e.g. how does the Father “beget” a Son)? It would seem that a divine person would have to be produced with materials (which seems implausible, since God is supposed to be entirely immaterial), or without materials (which cannot be either, for that would amount to creation from nothing, which the earliest Christian Creeds deny). This chapter also discusses the philosophical and theological background to the problem. On the philosophical side, Aristotle and Avicenna are particularly important because they articulate some key philosophical intuitions about production. On the theological side, the Creed of Nicea and the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 are significant, for they set the theological boundaries of the playing field.Less
This chapter introduces the central problem of the book: how exactly does one divine person produce another (e.g. how does the Father “beget” a Son)? It would seem that a divine person would have to be produced with materials (which seems implausible, since God is supposed to be entirely immaterial), or without materials (which cannot be either, for that would amount to creation from nothing, which the earliest Christian Creeds deny). This chapter also discusses the philosophical and theological background to the problem. On the philosophical side, Aristotle and Avicenna are particularly important because they articulate some key philosophical intuitions about production. On the theological side, the Creed of Nicea and the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 are significant, for they set the theological boundaries of the playing field.
JT Paasch
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199646371
- eISBN:
- 9780191739293
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646371.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Church History
Henry of Ghent offered a provocative answer to the question: how is a divine person produced? Henry insists (against Peter Lombard) that the Father must produce the Son or Spirit from materials––or ...
More
Henry of Ghent offered a provocative answer to the question: how is a divine person produced? Henry insists (against Peter Lombard) that the Father must produce the Son or Spirit from materials––or at least something that plays the role of materials––because otherwise the Son or Spirit would be produced from nothing, and that is something the Nicene Creed denies. But how can a divine person be produced “with materials”? According to Henry, the divine essence plays the role of the materials, and the personal properties play the role of the forms, for the divine essence is not produced in the Son or Spirit, whereas the Son’s and Spirit’s personal properties are, analogous to the way that sculptors do not produce the clay in their statues, but they do produce the forms of their statues.Less
Henry of Ghent offered a provocative answer to the question: how is a divine person produced? Henry insists (against Peter Lombard) that the Father must produce the Son or Spirit from materials––or at least something that plays the role of materials––because otherwise the Son or Spirit would be produced from nothing, and that is something the Nicene Creed denies. But how can a divine person be produced “with materials”? According to Henry, the divine essence plays the role of the materials, and the personal properties play the role of the forms, for the divine essence is not produced in the Son or Spirit, whereas the Son’s and Spirit’s personal properties are, analogous to the way that sculptors do not produce the clay in their statues, but they do produce the forms of their statues.
JT Paasch
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199646371
- eISBN:
- 9780191739293
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646371.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Church History
Scotus believes the divine essence must play the role of the formal terminus of production––that is, it must be the shared form of the persons, not a shared lump of matter. For Scotus, there simply ...
More
Scotus believes the divine essence must play the role of the formal terminus of production––that is, it must be the shared form of the persons, not a shared lump of matter. For Scotus, there simply are no materials in the Godhead. But this does not mean that the Son is created from nothing. As Scotus sees it, something is not created if it is produced with at least one pre-existing ingredient, and that need not be a material entity (it could be a form, as the divine essence is in the production of a divine person). According to Scotus, the divine essence and the personal properties are both like “forms,” as it were, that combine by perfect identity (a very tight bond between formally distinct entities) to constitute the divine persons.Less
Scotus believes the divine essence must play the role of the formal terminus of production––that is, it must be the shared form of the persons, not a shared lump of matter. For Scotus, there simply are no materials in the Godhead. But this does not mean that the Son is created from nothing. As Scotus sees it, something is not created if it is produced with at least one pre-existing ingredient, and that need not be a material entity (it could be a form, as the divine essence is in the production of a divine person). According to Scotus, the divine essence and the personal properties are both like “forms,” as it were, that combine by perfect identity (a very tight bond between formally distinct entities) to constitute the divine persons.
Mark Byron
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781942954408
- eISBN:
- 9781786944337
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781942954408.003.0023
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
Canto 36 functions as a kind of still point amidst the political and historical material imbuing Eleven New Cantos: the Continental Congress of 1774-89 and Siena under the rule of Leopold, Grand Duke ...
More
Canto 36 functions as a kind of still point amidst the political and historical material imbuing Eleven New Cantos: the Continental Congress of 1774-89 and Siena under the rule of Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Holy Roman Emperor. The greater part of the poem comprises Pound’s final authoritative translation of Guido Cavalcanti’s canzone ‘Donna mi prega,’ followed by two verse paragraphs dealing with the intellectual and poetic provenance of Guido’s ideas. The nature of these ideas is broadly well known: for Pound, Guido’s philosophical vocabulary transmits certain aspects of Neoplatonism as well as the psychology implied in Aristotle’s De anima. As Pound explains in his essay ‘Cavalcanti’ in Make It New (1934), Guido received these ideas directly or otherwise from a variety of sources, notably John Scottus Eriugena and Robert Grosseteste on one hand, and the great medieval Islamic tradition of Avicenna and Averroes on the other. This essay explores this terrain in more detail, providing greater context for Pound’s claims of intellectual provenance in a close reading of the poem. The Islamic inheritance in particular is far more complex than has been acknowledged, and certainly well beyond Pound’s explicit understanding of the matter. However he was right to place great emphasis on Cavalcanti’s vocabulary: attention to the ways in which Avicenna and Averroes understood the concepts of the diafan, the agent and possible intellects, and the mechanism by which the individual soul makes contact with divine intelligence, all clarify the argument as set out in Cavalcanti’s poem and represented in Pound’s translation. This clarification also makes more explicit the links with the lines following Pound’s translation concerning Eriugena and the Italian Troubadour Sordello da Goito.Less
Canto 36 functions as a kind of still point amidst the political and historical material imbuing Eleven New Cantos: the Continental Congress of 1774-89 and Siena under the rule of Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Holy Roman Emperor. The greater part of the poem comprises Pound’s final authoritative translation of Guido Cavalcanti’s canzone ‘Donna mi prega,’ followed by two verse paragraphs dealing with the intellectual and poetic provenance of Guido’s ideas. The nature of these ideas is broadly well known: for Pound, Guido’s philosophical vocabulary transmits certain aspects of Neoplatonism as well as the psychology implied in Aristotle’s De anima. As Pound explains in his essay ‘Cavalcanti’ in Make It New (1934), Guido received these ideas directly or otherwise from a variety of sources, notably John Scottus Eriugena and Robert Grosseteste on one hand, and the great medieval Islamic tradition of Avicenna and Averroes on the other. This essay explores this terrain in more detail, providing greater context for Pound’s claims of intellectual provenance in a close reading of the poem. The Islamic inheritance in particular is far more complex than has been acknowledged, and certainly well beyond Pound’s explicit understanding of the matter. However he was right to place great emphasis on Cavalcanti’s vocabulary: attention to the ways in which Avicenna and Averroes understood the concepts of the diafan, the agent and possible intellects, and the mechanism by which the individual soul makes contact with divine intelligence, all clarify the argument as set out in Cavalcanti’s poem and represented in Pound’s translation. This clarification also makes more explicit the links with the lines following Pound’s translation concerning Eriugena and the Italian Troubadour Sordello da Goito.
Robert Pasnau (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- August 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198806035
- eISBN:
- 9780191843938
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198806035.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy showcases the best scholarly research in this flourishing field. The series covers all aspects of medieval philosophy, including the Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew ...
More
Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy showcases the best scholarly research in this flourishing field. The series covers all aspects of medieval philosophy, including the Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew traditions, and runs from the end of antiquity into the Renaissance. It publishes new work by leading scholars in the field, and combines historical scholarship with philosophical acuteness. Papers in this volume look at Anselm on necessity; Avicenna on the origination of the human soul; emanation in the psychologies of Avicenna, Albert the Great, and Aquinas; Aquinas on the individuation of substances; Peter Auriol on the intuitive cognition of nonexistents; and Ockham on the parts of the continuum. It also includes a newly edited text from Yaḥyā Ibn ʿAdī on a Kalām argument for Creation.Less
Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy showcases the best scholarly research in this flourishing field. The series covers all aspects of medieval philosophy, including the Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew traditions, and runs from the end of antiquity into the Renaissance. It publishes new work by leading scholars in the field, and combines historical scholarship with philosophical acuteness. Papers in this volume look at Anselm on necessity; Avicenna on the origination of the human soul; emanation in the psychologies of Avicenna, Albert the Great, and Aquinas; Aquinas on the individuation of substances; Peter Auriol on the intuitive cognition of nonexistents; and Ockham on the parts of the continuum. It also includes a newly edited text from Yaḥyā Ibn ʿAdī on a Kalām argument for Creation.
Robert Pasnau (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198743798
- eISBN:
- 9780191821011
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198743798.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This series annually collects the best current work in the field of medieval philosophy. Each book features original chapters that contribute to an understanding of a wide range of themes and ...
More
This series annually collects the best current work in the field of medieval philosophy. Each book features original chapters that contribute to an understanding of a wide range of themes and problems in all aspects of the field, from late antiquity into the Renaissance, and extending over the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions. Material published includes analysis, book reviews, translations, and editions of texts. This volume includes chapters on Augustine on understanding; Abelard and the Porphyrian tree; Avicenna’s flying man; Aquinas and the resurrection; Scotus and divine necessity; Ockham’s mental language; Stern’s Maimonides; and a response to a review by Patrick Toner.Less
This series annually collects the best current work in the field of medieval philosophy. Each book features original chapters that contribute to an understanding of a wide range of themes and problems in all aspects of the field, from late antiquity into the Renaissance, and extending over the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions. Material published includes analysis, book reviews, translations, and editions of texts. This volume includes chapters on Augustine on understanding; Abelard and the Porphyrian tree; Avicenna’s flying man; Aquinas and the resurrection; Scotus and divine necessity; Ockham’s mental language; Stern’s Maimonides; and a response to a review by Patrick Toner.
