Where Does Avicenna Demonstrate the Existence of God

Bibliographic Data

ID20399959
AuthorsDaniel D De Haan (0000-0001-8656-3610, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume26
Issue1
Pages97-128
Publication date2016-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueArabic Sciences and Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0957-4239 • E-ISSN: 1474-0524
PublisherLiverpool University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1017/s0957423915000132
OpenAlexW2522716051
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited4

This study examines a number of different answers to the question: where does Avicenna demonstrate the existence of God within the Metaphysics of the Healing ? Many interpreters have contended that there is an argument for God's existence in Metaphysics of the Healing I.6–7. In this study I show that such views are incorrect and that the only argument for God's existence in the Metaphysics of the Healing is found in VIII.1–3. My own interpretation relies upon a careful consideration of the scientific order and first principles of the Metaphysics of the Healing , paying attention to Avicenna's own explicit statements concerning the goals and intentions of different books and chapters, and a close analysis of the structure of the different arguments found in the relevant texts of the Metaphysics of the Healing . I conclude that Avicenna's explicit goal in I.6–7 is to establish the properties that belong to necessary existence and possible existence, which consists, not in a demonstration of God's existence, but in a dialectical treatment of the first principles of metaphysics

Dialectic · Epistemology · Interpreter · Linguistics · Metaphysics · Computer Science · Families in Therapy and Culture · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Medicine · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy

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