Avicenna's Theory of Science: Logic, Metaphysics, Epistemology

Riccardo Strobino

Univ of California Press, Nov 9, 2021 - Language Study - 456 pages

Avicenna is the most influential figure in the intellectual history of the Islamic world. This book is the first comprehensive study of his theory of science, which profoundly shaped his philosophical method and indirectly influenced philosophers and theologians not only in the Islamic world but also throughout Christian Europe and the medieval Jewish tradition. 

A sophisticated interpreter of Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics, Avicenna took on the ambitious task of reorganizing Aristotelian philosophy of science into an applicable model of scientific reasoning, striving to identify conditions of certainty for scientific assertions and conditions of adequacy for real definitions. Riccardo Strobino combines philosophical and textual analysis to explore the scope and nature of Avicenna’s contributions to the logic of scientific reasoning in his effort to recalibrate Aristotle’s model and overcome some of its internal limitations. Focusing on a broad array of philosophical innovations at the intersection of logic, metaphysics, and epistemology, this book casts light on an essential aspect of the thought of the preeminent philosopher and physician of the Islamic world.
 

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• scientific Knowledge and scientific inquiry: 9
• the organization of scientific Knowledge: 81
• modality: 133
• causality and exPlanation: 213
• Explanation across Sciences Subordination and the Transfer: 239
• The Four Causes in Demonstration and Definition: 264
• definition: 283
• The Epistemology of Essence: 305
• Conclusion: 331
• Appendix A Conditions of Certainty: 347
• A Map of Kitāb al Burhān Book of Demonstration: 357
• English Arabic Glossary: 373
• References: 387
• Index of Subjects: 407
• Index of Lemmata: 413
• Index of Aristotles Works with Passages Cited: 425

About the author

Riccardo Strobino is Mellon Assistant Professor in the Departments of Classical Studies and Philosophy at Tufts University. His research interests include the history of ancient and medieval philosophy and the history of logic in the Greek, Latin, and Arabic traditions.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Avicenna's Theory of Science: Logic, Metaphysics, Epistemology; Volume 4 of Berkeley Series in Postclassical Islamic Scholarship; The Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literature
• Author: Riccardo Strobino
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Univ of California Press, 2021
• ISBN: 0520297474, 9780520297470
• Length: 456 pages
• Subjects: Language Study / Arabic; Philosophy / General; Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical; Philosophy / Logic; Religion / Islam / History