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Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science Texts and Studies Edited by Hans Daiber Anna Akasoy Emilie Savage-Smith VOLUME 89 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ipts Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophical Works Second, Revised and Enlarged Edition, Including an Inventory of Avicenna’s Authentic Works By Dimitri Gutas LEIDEN • BOSTON 2014 Cover illustration: Leiden University Library Or. 4, f. 1a. Title page of Avicenna’s Kitāb aš-Šifāʾ (The Cure) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gutas, Dimitri. Avicenna and the Aristotelian tradition : introduction to reading Avicenna's philosophical works / by Dimitri Gutas. – Second, revised, and enlarged edition, including an inventory of Avicenna's authentic works. pages cm. – (Islamic philosophy, theology, and science, ISSN 0169-8729 ; VOLUME 89) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-25580-7 (hardback : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-90-04-26207-2 (e-book : alk. paper) 1. Avicenna, 980-1037. 2. Aristotle–Influence. I. Title. B751.Z7G87 2014 181'.5–dc23 2013040355 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 0169-8729 ISBN 978-90-04-25580-7 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-26207-2 (e-book) Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. To the Memory of DAVID C. REISMAN ٔرا ُﯾﺖ اﳌﻨﺎȍ َﺧ ْﺒَﻂ َﻋ ْﺸ َﻮاء َﻣﻦ ﺗُ ْﺼﺐ * ﺗُﻤ ْﺘﻪ وﻣﻦ ُﲣﻄﺊ ﯾُ َﻌ َّﻤْﺮ ِﻓﳱﺮم I have seen the Fates trample like a purblind camel; those they strike they slay, those they miss are left to live on into dotage. Zuhayr ibn-Abī-Sulmā, Muʿallaqa Translation by A.J. Arberry, The Seven Odes, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1957, 118. Τί ʼναι, μωρέ, στὸν κόσμο τὰ παιδιὰ παρὰ μπουκιὲς τοῦ Χάρου; Ἀνάθεμα τὸ ἀντρόυνο ποὺ γεννάει καὶ τὸ φονιὰ ταγίζει! What in this world are children but morsels for grim Death? Cursed be that couple that gives birth and feeds the Slayer! Νίκος Καζαντζάκης, Ὀδύσσεια Χ,1126–1127 Nikos Kazantzakis, The Odyssey. A Modern Sequel. XXII, 1126–1127. Translation into English Verse … by Kimon Friar, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1958, 705. Nell’impostazione dei problemi storico-critici, non bisogna concepire la discus- sione scientifica come un processo giudiziario, in cui c’è un imputato e c’è un procu- ratore che, per obbligo d’ufficio, deve dimostrare che l’imputato è colpevole e degno di essere tolto dalla circolazione. Nella discussione scientifica, poiché si suppone che l’interesse sia la ricerca della verità e il progresso della scienza, si dimostra piú “avanzato” chi si pone dal punto di vista che l’avversario può esprimere un’esigenza che deve essere incorporata, sia pure come un momento subordinato, nella pro- pria costruzione. Comprendere e valutare realisticamente la posizione e le ragioni dell’avversario (e talvolta è avversario tutto il pensiero passato) significa appunto essersi liberato dalla prigione delle ideologie (nel senso deteriore, di cieco fanatismo ideologico), cioè porsi da un punto di vista “critico”,l’unico fecondo nella ricerca sci- entifica. Antonio Gramsci, Il materialismo storico e la filosofia di Benedetto Croce, Torino: Einaudi, 1949, 21. In the formulation of historico-critical problems it is wrong to conceive of scientific discussion as a process at law in which there is an accused and a public prosecutor whose professional duty it is to demonstrate that the accused is guilty and has to be put out of circulation. In scientific discussion, since it is assumed that the purpose of discussion is the pursuit of truth and the progress of science, the person who shows himself most “advanced” is the one who takes up the point of view that his adversary may well be expressing a need which should be incorporated, if only as a subordinate aspect, in his own construction. To understand and to evaluate realistically one’s adversary’s position and his reasons (and sometimes one’s adversary is the whole of past thought) means precisely to be liberated from the prison of ideologies in the bad sense of the word—that of blind ideological fanaticism. It means taking up a point of view that is “critical”,which for the purpose of scientific research is the only fertile one. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, edited and translated by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith, New York: International Publishers, 1971, 343–344. CONTENTS Preface to the Second Edition (2014). xi Acknowledgments . xv Introduction to the First Edition (1988) . xix Layout of the Work . xxvii Bibliographical Note. xxvii Translation and Annotation . xxvii Technical Terms . xxviii Transliteration. xxviii Serial Numbers of Avicenna’s Works . xxix References to Avicenna’s Works and Other Primary Sources . xxix Signs and Marginal Numbers . xxx Abbreviations and Reference Works . xxx PART ONE DOCUMENTS ON AVICENNA AND THE ARISTOTELIAN TRADITION 1. Personal Texts by Avicenna and His Disciples on His Relation to the Aristotelian Tradition . 3 Introduction . 3 Text 1. From Compendium on the Soul .......................... 4 Text 2. From Philosophy for ʿAlāʾ-ad-Dawla ..................... 8 Text 3. The Autobiography . 10 Text 4. Introduction to The Provenance and Destination . 20 Text 5. Epilogue of the “Lesser” Destination..................... 22 Text 6. From The Cure: Prologue and Epilogue of Sophistics . 24 Text 7. Introduction to The Cure, by Jūzjānī . 29 Text 8. Introduction to The Easterners .......................... 34 Text 9. From The Cure: the Prologue . 41 Text 10. From Pointers and Reminders: Prologues and Epilogue 47 Text 11. From a Letter to an Anonymous Disciple (Bahmanyār) 49 Text 12. Letter to Kiyā . 53 viii contents Text 13. Memoirs of a Disciple (Ibn-Zayla?) Writing from Rayy. 59 Text 14. On the Rational Soul ..................................... 67 2. An Inventory and Relative Chronology of Avicenna’s Major Philosophical Works. Their Organization and Contents in Relation to the Aristotelian Tradition . 77 Introduction . 77 Work 1. Compendium on the Soul ................................ 80 Work 2. The Compilation, or Philosophy for ʿArūḍī. 86 Work 3. The Available and the Valid and Piety and Sin. 94 Work 4. The Provenance and Destination . 101 Work 5. The “Lesser” Destination ................................102 Work 6. The Cure .................................................103 a. Occasion of Composition and Contents. 103 b. Dates of Composition . 106 c. The Date and Purpose of Composition of Jūzjānī’s Introduction and Avicenna’s Prologue . 109 Work 7. The Salvation ............................................115 Work 8. Philosophy for ʿAlāʾ-ad-Dawla............................118 Work 9. The Easterners...........................................119 a. Testimonia . 120 b. Title of the Work . 128 c. Dates of Composition and Loss . 130 d. Contents and Transmission . 137 e. The Place of Eastern Philosophy and the Easterners in the Development of Avicenna’s Philosophy . 138 Work 10. Fair Judgment and Marginal Glosses on De anima . 144 a. Testimonia . 144 b. Dates of Composition and Loss . 147 c. Contents and Survival of the Work . 150 Work 11. Pointers and Reminders .................................155 Work 12. Discussions ..............................................159 Work 13. Appendices and Notes ...................................160 Chronology of Avicenna’s Major Philosophical Works. 165 contents ix PART TWO AVICENNA’S RECEPTION OF THE ARISTOTELIAN TRADITION 3. Avicenna’s Intellectual Upbringing: The Autobiography and Its Interpretation . 169 1. Avicenna’s Studies. The Curriculum. 169 2. Avicenna’s Studies. Methods of Learning: Guessing Correctly (the Middle Term) (ḥads) ......................................179 3. Avicenna’s Studies. Methods of Learning: Study . 201 A. Logic . 201 B. Prayer......................................................206 C. Dreams. 208 D. Wine Drinking . 209 E. Independent Verification . 213 i. taḥqīq/taḥaqquq, taḥṣīl, istinbāṭ . 214 ii. taqlīd, taʿaṣṣub .........................................217 iii. inṣāf ...................................................219 4. The Purpose and Date of the Autobiography . 220 4. Avicenna’s Conception of the History of Philosophy . 227 5. Avicenna’s Conception of the Praxis of Philosophy. 249 1. Objective Method: Fundamental Principles and Corollaries . 250 2. Social Contextuality: Customary Practice . 252 3. Social Contextuality: Withholding Knowledge . 256 PART THREE AVICENNA’S INTEGRATION OF THE ARISTOTELIAN TRADITION 6. The Resolution of the Major Points of Conflict with the Aristotelian Tradition . 269 1. The Contents of Metaphysics . 270 2. The “Fruit” of Physics:
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