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Avicenna on Beauty

Citation: Mohamadreza Abolghassemi (2018) on Beauty. Aisthesis Mohamadreza Abolghassemi 11(1): 45-54. doi: 10.13128/Aisthe- (University of Tehran) sis-23271 [email protected] Copyright: © 2018 Author.This is an open access, peer-reviewed article published by Firenze University Press Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to study the of Avicenna (980-1073), (http://www.fupress.com/aisthesis) and in order to identify his thoughts and reflections regarding aesthetics. We try to distribuited under the terms of the analyze several texts in which he treated the notion of beauty. This analysis will allow Creative Commons Attribution License, us to compare the aesthetics of Avicenna with its main origins, namely which permits unrestricted use, distri- and . Then, the detailed presentation of his aesthetic reflections will show bution, and reproduction in any medi- us that his contributions to subjects relating to beauty, perfection, and aesthetic delight um, provided the original author and bear some originality which, despite the determining influence of Neoplatonism, has source are credited. its own independent voice. The latter is the case, since these originalities are the results Data Availability Statement: All rel- of a hybridization of two great philosophical schools, namely Aristotelianism and Neo- evant data are within the paper and its platonism. Supporting Information files. Keywords. Avicenna, beauty, perfection, Aristotelianism, Neoplatonism. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing inter- ests exist. 1. INTRODUCTION

This study concerns the philosophy of Ibn Sinâ, one of the phi- losophers, perhaps even the greatest philosopher in the history of Islamic civilization. Ibn Sinâ, known in the West by his Latinized name Avicenna, is the reference figure of . His work, translated into most Western languages, was the inexhaust- ible source for many centuries in both the Muslim and Christian West. Needless to say once more that scholastic thought was largely inspired by Avicenna’s philosophy (see: Goichon [1979]). The main question of this study concerns how ancient aesthet- ics have been transformed into a new conceptual configuration that is Islamic philosophy (falsafa). This question leads to another one, which is no less important: what are the modalities and the conse- quences of this transformation? In spite of the irrefutable conver- gences between Hellenic thought and Islamic philosophy, the thesis that we will support here will be to demonstrate that the latter has been able to create new conceptions which will continue to exist until the medieval philosophy. In an exciting passage in his Logique des Orientaux, Christian Jambet remarks how Avicenna has played a role in the founding

Aisthesis. Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell'estetico 11(1): 45-54, 2018 ISSN 2035-8466 (online) | DOI: 10.13128/Aisthesis-23271 46 Mohamadreza Abolghassemi and formation of philosophy both in the East and 2. AESTHETICS IN THE ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY in the West: «Avicenna can be considered as the common origin of Western philosophy (where the There is a tendency according to which philos- subject of is based) and Eastern philoso- ophy in the Islamic civilization was only a reduced phy (where it is the One as the subject triumphs). copy of the Greek philosophy. Is this true when [...] He is the creator of a total thought, but divid- it comes to beauty? This is true to the extent that ed, to the point that for the first time the founda- Islamic philosophy has largely been inspired by tions of Western philosophy appear, and those of Greek philosophy. There are remarkable studies Eastern philosophy» (Jambet [1983]: 72-73; high- concerning the relations between Neoplatonism lighted by author)1. and Islamic philosophy. The originality of the pre- The movement of translation, which made sent research could be the analysis of aesthetic available much of the Hellenic thought to the thoughts of Avicenna, who was, it must be said, hands of Muslim thinkers, will introduce a num- the heir of a neoplatonized . ber of notions today called “aesthetic” in the Hel- One of the main sources of Islamic philosophy lenized Islamic philosophy. Here again the role is the pseudo-theology of Aristotle, a paraphrased of the philosopher is to adapt these notions to translation of Plotinus’ Enneads IV-VI. Neopla- monotheism, and here we can see the “transplan- tonic thought is not only highly rich in terms of tation” of aesthetic conceptions of Greek origin beauty but also evocative of “aesthetic” prob- into another land. Thus, for example, the Absolute lems. This is not a surprising fact, however, since Platonic Beauty is transformed into the Beauty of Plotinus fits well into the tradition of Hellenis- the Supreme and He diffuses it in the entire tic authors, a tradition by which all philosophical through a hierarchical emanation. This is thought begins with respect to the beautiful and how monotheism joins Neoplatonism. its characteristics. This tradition influenced - This is why Oliver Leaman rightly recalls that ic thought through the translation of Enneads. «Neoplatonism had a lasting influence on Islamic Firstly, it must be remarked that one can not aesthetics during the classical period» (Leaman speak correctly of “the aesthetics of Avicenna”. [2007]: 7). It is indeed Leaman who reaffirms Nowhere in his writings does he present a system- this contextual reality in The Oxford Companion atic theory on this theme or engage in an in-depth to Philosophy, where he indicates that «a great discussion of the beautiful. His work contains only deal of Islamic aesthetics, like Islamic philoso- scattered remarks on the subject. They concern phy as a whole, is profoundly Neoplatonic» (Lea- above all beauty in its metaphysical . The man [2005]: 446). This profound influence can be definitions of beauty in Avicenna’s work testify to remarked from Al-Kindi, the philosopher of Bagh- his interest in both transcendentally intelligible dad in the 9th century, to Ṣadr al-Din Šîrâzî, an beauty and sensible beauty. However, this division Iranian philosopher of the 17th century. It is obvi- is not found as such in his writings. It is true that ous, however, that these neoplatonistic philoso- divine beauty is at the center of all his aesthetic phies have developed in a land deeply imbibed by conceptions. Avicenna always draws on the indi- the dogmas of Islam, whose is the visibility of beauty and the good. When it comes uniqueness of God (tawḥîd). Any philosophy that to the Divine, Avicenna always claims beauty and claims to be “Islamic” is incorporated in one way the good to be indivisible. In view of his ideas, or another into the inescapable principle of dog- it seems necessary to contextualize Avicennian ma. thought in order to avoid the anachronism that threatens this kind of research. It must therefore be known that the Necessary Being and its attrib- utes form the foundation of Avicennian aesthetic 1 All the translation from and French are mine conceptions. otherwise cited. Avicenna on Beauty 47

This is the why we will continue by We will see that Avicenna provides a kind of examining the divine beauty, then we will try to hybridization between these two perspectives of illustrate the definition that Avicenna provides the thought of antiquity. concerning beauty in general. But in order to have It is first in chapter VII of the th8 book of the a sufficient knowledge of the genesis of the Avi- of Al-Šifâ’ (The Book of Healing) that cennian aesthetics, we will have to evoke the phil- we find the main elements of what we may call the osophical origins in which his thought in general “aesthetics of Being”, the one that is formulated in and his aesthetics in particular are rooted. Aristo- a Neoplatonic perspective. Avicenna uses the same telian and Plotinian theories of beauty are among terminology in the 17th chapter of the second the most important possible sources of Avicenna’s book of metaphysics of Al-Nağat (The Book of Sal- theory of beauty. Finally, we will analyze Avicen- vation), as well as in the 12th chapter of his Book na’s own theory and show that these two great of Genesis and Return. We will first quote the text theories of antiquity could be summed up in form of Al-Šifâ’ at lenghth, then that of Al-Nağat and of a new individual theory in the Avicennian one. finally we will finish with theBook of Genesis and Return:

3. AVICENNA AND THE QUESTION OF There can be no greater beauty or majesty than [the BEAUTY fact] that the quiddity (mahiyya) is purely intelligi- ble and purely good, free from any deficiency (naqṣ), Avicenna considers perfection as the princi- whether it be one (wâḥida) according to all aspects. ple of all being, including man. To be beautiful in The necessarily existent therefore has pure beauty this way is to be perfect. In order to apprehend and brilliance and is the principle of the beauty of all the genealogy of the juxtaposition of beauty-per- things and the glow of all things. And [this] brilliance fection, we need to search for its roots: first, in of all things is to be according to what they must be. Plotinian metaphysics, where they characterize What then of the beauty of what must be in the nec- the structure of the universe in a twofold move- essarily existing? (Avicenna [1978]: 106) ment, namely procession (Enneads, V, 2, 2) and conversion (Enneads, V, 2, 1); second, in Aristote- There can be no beauty or magnificence superior to lian thought concerning “accomplishment” in all that of a quiddity (mahiyya) purely intelligible and purely good, free from all aspects of imperfection and the role of the final cause as the most (naqṣ), unique (wâḥida) in all respects. The Necessary important cause among the three other Aristote- Being possesses Beauty and Pure Splendor (al-ğmāl lian causes (formal, material, motor) (Metaphysics, wa-l-bahā’ al-mahḍ) and is the origin of all harmony, 1021b12; 1050a7-9). since all harmony occurs in the multiplicity of a com- These two approaches lead us to a double position (tarkîb) or a mixture and, thus, he created interpretation of the Avicennian aesthetic: on the the unity (waḥda) in its multiplicity. He is the princi- one hand, the transcendental dimension of the ple of the beauty of all things and the magnificence of beauty-perfection couple, which will be exam- all things. The beauty of everything lies in being what ined in terms of the movements of the procession it should be. What about the beauty of the One who and conversion; on the other hand, the immanent is what he must be in the Necessary Being! (Avicenna aspect of beauty-perfection as it was presented by [1985]: 281) Aristotle2. can be. Finality, perfection and beauty will then be syn- 2 According to Aristotle, beauty will also designate fulfill- onymous; in a passage of the Parts of Animals, it is clearly ment or, to use a proper Aristotelian term, it will mean stated: «absence of haphazard and conduciveness of eve- the “entelechy” of a being. From this point of view, a rything to an end are to be found in Nature’s works in the being which has not reached its end, its essential form, is highest degree, and the resultant end of her generations therefore in a state of imperfection in relation to what it and combinations is a form of the beautiful» (645a25-26). 48 Mohamadreza Abolghassemi

It is not possible for there to be any beauty or splen- ern aesthetic discourse and the ancient thought. dor superior to the fact, for a quiddity, of being pure- Nevertheless, it is a terminology reworked and ly intellectual, purely good, exempt from each of the transplanted into a new intellectual context of modes of deficiency, one in every aspect. The neces- which Avicenna was one of the founders. This ter- sary is therefore beauty, pure splendor, and minology has deeply influenced it is the principle of all equilibrium. Every equilibrium (Summa theologica, I, 39, 8) and we can trace its is established in a multiplicity consisting of a composi- presence up to to the early modern reflections on tion or a complexion; he brings about unity in mul- aesthetics. tiplicity. The beauty of everything and its splendor In the previously quoted excerpts from Avi- is for it to be such that it must necessarily be. How, cenna’s various works, in which he attempts to then, will the beauty of what is such as it must nec- essarily be, in the necessary existence? (Avicenna present his thought with regard to Divine Beauty, [2002]: 16) we have seen the frequent occurrence of certain terms that might be considered “aesthetic”: the After this identification between the beautiful terms i‘tidâl, bahâ’and ḫayr of Neoplatonic ori- and the perfect, the basic idea of which is found gin and, as we shall see shortly, tartîb and nîẓâm among Neoplatonic philosophers, Avicenna strives of Aristotelian origin (Metaphysics, 1078a36). The to fill the gap that separates the absolute beauty first three terms will exist in one way or another from the beauty found here and now in the world in medieval Western thought, especially in Thom- of generation and corruption. The question of as Aquinas. Obviously, beauty in Avicenna or beauty, as it has been evoked in Avicennian meta- Thomas Aquinas has an inseparable connection physics, is primarily a question arisen within the with luminous phenomena (Summa theologica, I, framework of the analysis of the beauty of the 39, 8), a connection that has resulted in a kind of Necessary Being; a beauty that by definition is aesthetics of light that takes root in the depth of beyond all kinds of imperfections, since only He human thought for which the metaphysics of Plato is what He must be. Otherwise put, it is a ques- is the most remarkable example. tion about a “substantial” beauty where the being, the , the good and the beautiful overlap: I‘tidâl His beauty is neither accidental nor the result of any harmony, convenience, clarity etc. for in Him The notion of equilibrium al-i’tidâl( ), close to being and essence are not divided. The Necessary that of ‘μέσον’ among the Greeks and Aristotle Being is therefore a perfectum esse. The Supreme in particular, is undoubtedly one of the key con- Being, in fact, is eternally beautiful, while the cepts of the philosophical thought of several Mus- beauty of earthly things is mutable and corrup- lim philosophers. With regard to ethics and poli- tible. The divine beauty neither increases nor tics, this evidence is quite visible. The wise man, decreases. in fact, defines himself as someone who respects the balance and the happy medium in all circum- stances. Avicenna has always insisted on the need 4. AVICENNA’S AESTHETIC TERMINOLOGY for balance in all human action. At the end of the metaphysics of Al-Šifa’ he devotes a chapter to this The aesthetic reflections of different philoso- subject. He states that justice is a “happy medium” phers, from Plato to our time, gave rise to an uni- and that the virtues are: verse of terms and expressions forming what we call today the “aesthetic discourse”. As mentioned of three kinds: the disposition of [right] middle before, being influenced by both Aristotelianism (al-tawasuṭ) for the concupiscible, as the pleasure of and Neoplatonism Avicenna’s aesthetic terminol- marriage, of food, of the garment of rest as well as ogy could be viewed as a link between the West- other sensible or imaginative pleasures. The middle Avicenna on Beauty 49

disposition in all irascibles like fear, , oppression, portion is a transcendental principle, insofar as pride, hatred, jealousy; and the middle disposition in what exists, by the very fact of having existence, is the prudential [virtues]. At the head of these virtues proportionate. are temperance, wisdom, and courage; together they are justice (al-‘idâlat). (Avicenna [1978]: 188-189) Bahâ’ In addition, balance and harmony are repeat- edly considered as the constituent elements of One of the most common terms in the Ara- beauty, either in or in poetry. What is the bic language for the beauty or essential qualities origin of this conception and towards which goal of beauty is probably the word bahâ’. It could be is it oriented? One of the most widely used terms translated as: beauty, splendor, glow, magnifi- in Islamic thought to describe the noblest virtue is cence, resplendissement, etc. In the Neoplatonic undoubtedly the word “i‘tidal”, which is translat- terminology, the word “baha’ ” will come closer to ed into balance, moderation, temperance, middle the brightness and the luminous effects, whether ground and so on. The root “ ‘a.d.l” means right- divine, intellectual or physical. eousness, honesty, and the verb “‘adala” to adjust, This idea of clarity and splendor exists in balance, equate, hence “ ‘adâlat”, justice. The hap- the Qur’an, light being quoted many times, and py medium is indeed a divine gift to those who even the Book has been described as light (64: have submitted themselves to the divine order 8). And it is in the Book that God presents him- and the . The equilibrium for Avicenna does self as “Nûrun ‘alâ Nûr”, “Light on Light” (24: 35). not result from a resemblance to any idea, it is Scholastic philosophy, on the other hand, bears rather immanent in what is equilibrium. In other the sign of the thought of Pseudo-Denys when it words, equilibrium occurs “in” (fi) the multiplic- comes to glow and its relation to Beauty. In his De Divinis Nominibus, he associates the Light, ity (kaṯrah) and not imposed from the outside to a composition. Being beautiful as a composition is the Beauty and the Truth with the names of God, therefore a self-sufficient structure that produces because it is He who confers beauty to all things, its own balance and stands on its own. Hence, the it is He who offers them harmony and clarity (De aesthetic pleasure occurs through the proportion Divinis Nominibus, chap. IV). and balance inherent in an object. Thomas Aqui- nas said it well: «sense takes pleasure in properly Ḫayr proportioned things» (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 1, 5, 4, ad. I). When the author of Al-Nağat connects the The notion of proportionality in medieval absolute good (ḫayr maḥḍ) with that which is thought has a conceptual familiarity with that of “devoid of any kind of imperfection”, he associ- Muslim thinkers. This notion, moreover, «is the ates the good with the perfect. In fact the good- most widespread aesthetic notion in all antiquity beautiful-perfect triad is pivotal to the Avicennian and during the » (Eco [1956]: 89). conception of beauty. Thus everything is “good” But beyond this undeniable aesthetic significance, as far as everything is perfect. The perfection of a Umberto Eco rightly asserts that this notion was thing is realized by its form. Hence the inclination above all a «metaphysical principle» (ibidem) and towards form is the inclination towards the end. that Plato and Aristotle give it a vast and univer- Avicenna envisages a rather synthetic conception in sal scope. This is the reason why Eco specifies that which the good and the beautiful are identified in «the proportio is presented to us, in the first place, the actualization of a being by its form. It could be as ontologically constitutive of existing things, and therefore possible to deduce that the ultimate per- it is therefore in these strictly objective manifesta- fection of each being will only be attained by the tions that we must first identify it» (ivi, 100). Pro- identification of the beautiful and the good. 50 Mohamadreza Abolghassemi

Tartîb, Niẓâm, I‘tidâl namely “συμμετρία”, “ὡρισμένον” and “τάξις” (Metaphysics, 1078a36). Aristotle explains that order, symmetry, and It is, therefore, an Avicennian hybridization limit are the most essential elements of beauty, of the theory of Aristotelian actualization and the and since they are impeccably found in math- doctrine of the double movement of procession- ematics, then the beautiful par excellence will be conversion of Plotinian origin. For Avicenna, in the mathematical beautiful. This consideration fact, perfection is in a way the a priori of the defi- was taken up in the metaphysics of Al-Šifâ’, where nition of beauty. It is an original definition and yet Avicenna declares that «mathematical objects are it fits into the tradition of Aristotle’s Neoplatonic not separate from the good and that, because in commentaries. It is a conception of beauty that is themselves they possess a large part of organiza- not found as such neither in Aristotle nor in Ploti- tion (tartîb), order (niẓâm) and harmony (i‘tidâl). nus’ Enneads. Each of them is according to what it must be and that is the good of all things (ḫayr kull šay’)» (Avicenna [1978]: vol. II, 68). The first part of this 5. THE DEFINITION OF BEAUTY quotation clearly shows the influence of Aristo- tle (Metaphysics, 1078a36); but what interests us The first definition appearing in Al-Šifâ’ is more is the last sentence, which shows that Avi- limited to the attributes of the Necessary Being, cenna is trying to build his own theory of beauty while the second, that of Al-Nağât, is addressed and perfection. to all kinds of beauty. Thus far we have seen that If we compare these remarks with the pas- for Avicenna the question of beauty arises first sages already quoted above from the metaphysics and foremost in his discourse on the attributes of of Al-Šifâ’ (VIII, 7) and Al-Nağât (II, 17), we find the Necessary Being, which is the most beautiful that Avicenna always tries to remain faithful to his and the most brilliant of all beings. Following this conception of perfection as being a priori for all analysis, he is interested in beauty in general but beauty. It is a conception, once again, that we do always in correlation with the Beauty of Being. not find as such either in Aristotle or in Plotinus, This interest manifests itself both in Al-Šifâ’ and in because it particularly pertains to Avicenna’s defi- Al-Nağât. We will see how he evokes the question nition of the beauty. Furthermore, this terminol- of the beautiful to testify to the originality of his ogy shows that he has changed the terms used by aesthetic thought. Aristotle in Metaphysics. Avicenna seems profoundly influenced by “Organization” (tartîb), which can also be the aesthetic thought of Al-Fârâbî (On the Perfect translated as “arrangement”, and “harmony” or State, II), for whom the beauty, glow and magnifi- “equilibrium” (i‘tidal) are new terms that Avicen- cence in each existent consist in its existence in the na uses instead of Aristotelian “συμμετρία” (sym- best way and in reaching its last perfection. This metria) and “ὡρισμένον” (horismenon), but he “perfectionist” conception remains at the heart of keeps “τάξις” (taxis) translated as al-nîẓâm. Fur- the Avicennian aesthetics and thus forms a hybrid- thermore, he says that a thing is good when it is ization between Neoplatonism and Aristotelianism. according to what it should be. It is here that the But before turning to Avicenna’s thought about thought of Aristotle, seen through a Neoplatonic beauty, we need to understand what he means by perspective, is clearly presented. For in the rel- perfection. It is in the metaphysics Al-Šifâ’ that one evant passage of Aristotle’s Metaphysics (1078a36), should seek the answer: «perfection (al-tamam) is the philosopher does not demand that something harmony, determination (al-taḥdîd), and order» must become something else to accomplish beau- (Avicenna [1978]: Vol. II, 47). ty. Mathematical beings are beautiful because they It is in order to explain the properties of math- are supposed to have the main criteria of beauty, ematical questions that Avicenna proposes this Avicenna on Beauty 51 definition of perfection because, having these two great “idealist” and “realistic” approaches to three qualities, they will serve as examples of per- Hellenic thought. fection. But the idea comes from Aristotle’s Meta- This is a theory that appropriates the Aris- physics, in which, as we have seen, the philosopher totelian idea of perfection, but at the same time uses these three properties to present the param- applies it on a completely different ground. Aris- eters of the beautiful. But in order to better under- totle, as we have just seen, does not directly evoke stand Avicenna’s aesthetics and his viewpoints the link between the beautiful and the perfect. about the beautiful, we need to go back to Greek Avicenna is moving towards a perspective in philosophy to discover the common thread that which one can witness the interweaving of two connects the Avicennian philosophy to antiquity. streams of Hellenic thought. On the one hand As we have already pointed out, Avicenna’s expla- Aristotelism, on the other hand Neoplatonism. It nation is a part of his debate on transcendental would seem possible to interpret Avicenna’s view beauty and through which he proposes a rather on the beautiful through two different approaches, surprising definition of beauty as we shall shortly those that were in the time of Avicenna largely find out why. crossed through the neoplatonic comments of In Al-Nağât Avicenna states that «the beauty Aristotle. (ğamâl) and magnificence (bahâ’) of everything Could there be any affinity between Plotinian lies in being as they should be» (Avicenna [1985]: theory of beauty and the Avicennian definition of 281-282). It could also be translated as: «the beau- beauty? The quick answer would be affirmative, ty (ğamāl) and magnificence (bahâ’) of everything but with some reservations. Firstly, this affinity is to be according to what they must be» or «beau- only manifests itself in the description of the One ty (ğamāl) and glow (bahâ’) of everything is that (Plotinus) and the Necessary Being (Avicenna). In everything is as it should be». But, precisely, how other words, the unicity (waḥda) is at the center is it that one thing is what it must be? Alas! Avi- of both the Avicennian conception of the Neces- cenna does not specify it. This lack of precision sary Being and the Plotinian metaphysics of the has allowed us to endeavor to reconstruct what Beautiful. Secondly, Avicenna, unlike Plotinus, he might possibly intends from this definition. It never evokes the notion of imitation or mimesis of is interesting to note that, according to Umberto the Form of the Beauty. In order to grasp the orig- Eco, Thomas Aquinas also believes that inality of the Avicenian definition of beauty, we will deepen the notion of perfection and we will the beauty of a thing is identified with its perfection, try to show that this notion has two different ori- with the fullness of its being. The coefficient of perfec- gins, namely Aristotelian accomplishment and the tion is the transcendental norm of proportion, which Plotinian procession-conversion. makes the thing a structured organism following an The general ground on which Avicenne devel- order. In its purely formal aspect, the perfect thing is ops his aesthetic is to frame the beautiful in the complete and proportionate: it needs nothing more. principle of actualization. Therefore, what is in a (Eco [1956]: 133) state of power always has the possibility of mov- It seems that Avicenna, as a peripatetic phi- ing towards its accomplishment, its actuality. The losopher, does not have a real interest in Plato’s system is not closed and each being has the pos- “idealism” of the beautiful. Thus he always tries sibility of perfecting his true being, either of his to stay within the framework of a Neoplatonized interior or ab extra. But the beautiful as an acci- Aristotelianism. This is precisely the originality of dent of the being of things is realized all the better his doctrine of the beautiful, since it is based on in a movement towards perfection. In short, from the Aristotelian theory of the accomplishment of this point of view, becoming beautiful is becoming being, but at the same time it combines it with actual. Neoplatonic notions, in order to to harmonize the 52 Mohamadreza Abolghassemi

6. IMPLICATIONS OF AVICENNA’S DEFINITION to say that something has reached its ultimate OF THE BEAUTIFUL perfection? It seems Avicenna accepts what in today’s language of philosophy may be called a Having studied the Avicennian conception of sort of “subjectivism”4. For to designate a thing beauty in its metaphysical context, we will try to as being beautiful, there must be a thinking sub- examine some results that can be drawn from it. ject capable firstly of discerning the perfection Primarily, we should recall once again that accord- from imperfection and, secondly, of appreciating ing to Avicenna the beauty of all things lies in the degree of attainment of perfection, which is, being as they should be. This definition, which is after all, the very beauty of the thing. It is obvi- specific to Avicenna, shows that beauty depends ous that beauty is above all a human issue. This on becoming: in other words, for there to be beau- does not mean that without man there can not ty, the object must become what it must become. be beauty, but the idea is that the beautiful is a From this point of view, the beautiful is not human “invention” for discerning, distinguishing, an immutable and fixed property, as it is always a separating, in short categorizing certain things quality to reach. Since Avicenna affirms that the in a “highly valuable” category. Thomas Aquinas beauty of everything lies in an accomplishment, who, in his Summa theologica (I, 91, 3), supports he suggests that beauty is a property that belongs the fact that the beautiful belongs to man and that to every thing, the idea that we could call the “rel- other living beings have no understanding of the ativity of beauty”. This relativity naturally requires beautiful: «Solus homo delectatur in ipsa pulchritu- a perfection which, in turn, occurs in a temporal dine sensibilium secundum seipsam» (only man is process. At this point we should analyze the direct able to delight the sensible beauty in itself). and implicit consequences of these two characters The originality of the Avicennian conception of the beautiful. of the beautiful remains in the fact that it leaves open, even implicitly, the way of individual appre- ciation of the beautiful. It is obvious that for him 7. THE RELATIVITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL it is in relation to the distance between the thing Unlike Plato, who defended the unchangeable and its Good that one distinguishes and appreci- and unchanging idea of the beautiful3, Avicenna ates the beautiful. It is a question of a ladder – to discards any idea of a beautiful unique for eve- return to Plato’s Symposium – which has several rything. The beautiful thus becomes a property stages starting from evil (pure material without relative to each entity in the world. There would form and ugly) to the Good (the ultimate perfec- not be a unique and yet sharable beauty for any tion, Beauty). Each level has an ontological value object. Beauty for a marble block has nothing to specific for it, a value determined in relation to do with beauty for a tulip or a poem. Everything the Good, the latter being the first / last link of the has its own beauty and this is the point at which hierarchies of beings. Avicenna’s Neoplatonism manifests itself, this Man therefore always evaluates beauty in rela- beauty will be attained in a conversion to the ulti- tion to the thing concerned, to the perfection mate perfection. it can acquire, to the distance that separates the But how is it that we realize that something thing from its Good. This is how beauty is defined has become what it should become? In other in relation to something other than itself. The words, according to what criteria are we able appreciation of beauty is therefore relative to the image that each individual has of perfection which is the ultimate goal of all beauty. 3 «First of all, it is ever-existent, and neither comes to be nor perishes, neither waxes nor wanes […] it grows nei- ther greater nor less, and is affected by nothing» (Sympo- 4 That is the beauty is not an objective quality but, as it sium, 211a-b). were, it is in the eye of the beholder. Avicenna on Beauty 53

Even ontologically, the perfect precedes the think of the etymology of this word: res in Latin) beautiful. That is why perfection is even more uni- occurs in the physical world; then it would be the versal than beauty. However, at this stage a question temporalization of the beautiful. emerges: does perfection bring beauty? Conversely, Perfection then understood as a process of does beauty require perfection? To avoid the trap accomplishment passes through several relays. of the vicious circle, perhaps it is better not to inte- There is not a sudden, total improvement; there grate them into a succession scheme. The overlap of is only a development towards perfection. But the the perfect and the beautiful would be the success- beauty that comes with every stage of perfection ful representation of this interaction between the is different from another stage. Thus the concep- perfect and the beautiful. The perfect and the beau- tion of beauty is relative to perfection. But this tiful can be ontologically one and the same, while reciprocal relationship does not stop there. The the distinction between them is an epistemological perfect to be known needs an ostensible sign rec- necessity. Beauty is the affair of the , of sen- ognizable by everything and for all. It is for the sibility; the perfect, on the other hand, is connected same reason that in most religions the gods have with knowledge. But there is yet another element in been imagined as both the most perfect and, the “perfectionist” conception of beauty to consid- therefore, the most beautiful. They needed a sign, er, namely time. For the process of accomplishing a mark, a simple, universal index and, paradoxi- beauty to take place, it takes time. cally, to be profoundly human to address mortals quickly and easily. And what is more powerful and more enduring than beauty? So the medium itself 8. THE TEMPORALITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL becomes a message. When the beautiful and the perfect are appre- hended as two aspects of the same reality, a third REFERENCES element is essential, namely time. Time is the link that connects, in a way, beauty and perfection. In Aristotle, 1911: De Partibus Animalium, transl. by other words, the beauty of a being is realized in W. Ogle, , Oxford. the horizon of time, it is therefore temporal. The Avicenna (Ibn Sînâ), 1978: La métaphysique du beautiful as a metaphysical concept is timeless, Shifâ’, transl. by G. Anawati, Vrin, Paris. while the perfection constitutes temporally a way Avicenna (Ibn Sînâ), 1985: Kitâb al-nağât fî of which one of the hoped ends is the beauty. l-ḥikma al-manṭiqiyya wa-l-ṭabî’iyya wa-l- In order to achieve a transcendence from the ilâhiyya, ed. by M. Faḫrî, D. al-Âfâq al-Ğadîda, physical to the metaphysical and vice versa, we Beyrouth. need an intermediary, a relay that approaches Avicenna (Ibn Sînâ), 2002: Livre de genèse et du these two dimensions of human thought. This retour, transl. by Y.J. Michot, Oxford Center link that facilitates this approach is time. Move- for Islamic Studies, Oxford. ment, as the most essential element of the physi- Dionysius the Areopagite, 1897: De Divinis cal world, and the concept as the foundation of all Nominibus, transl. by J. Parker, James Parker metaphysical thought are jointed through time. and Co., London. The metaphysical concept of the beautiful, or what Eco, U., 1956: Le problème esthétique chez Thomas one would call after Plato the Idea, the Form of d’Aquin, transl. by M. Javion, PUF Paris, 1993. the Beautiful, is universal and timeless. This con- Goichon, A.-M., 1979: La philosophie d’Avicenne cept, however, manifests itself one way or another et son influence en Europe médiévale, Adrien in order to make itself known. This making-know- Maisonneuve, Paris. ing of the Idea of Beauty is realized, among other Jambet, C., 1983: La logique des Orientaux : Henry ways, in the work of art. This realization (we could Corbin et la science des formes, Seuil, Paris. 54 Mohamadreza Abolghassemi

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