Avicenna’s concept of the soul: not despite Aristotle, but rather through Aristotle
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2014.3.22781Keywords:
Avicenna. Soul. Aristotelianism. Neoplatonism. Substance.Abstract
In this paper, we analyze Avicenna’s (Ibn Sina’s) concept of the soul as it was presented in The Book of the Soul, with special attention to the experiment of the Suspended Man in Space (HSE) and the issues that arise from it. These issues relate to the connection of Avicenna to Aristotelianism or Neoplatonism, the two major philosophical influences on the author. Although Avicenna makes use
primarily of Aristotelian concepts, with the experiment just mentioned
Avicenna breaks off with the Aristotelian conception of soul, affirming
its strict substantiality. In this article, we make the attempt of showing that, notwithstanding the notion of substantiality being strange to the Aristotelian framework, Avicenna is better understood, regarding the doctrine of the soul, when interpreted in an Aristotelian, instead of a Neoplatonic perspective.
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