Avicenna
1130
225608661
2008-07-14T15:15:13Z
Sardanaphalus
427947
updating link using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]]
{{about||the lunar crater|Avicenna (crater)|the mountain peak|Avicenna Peak}}
<!--Beginning of the [[Template:Infobox Muslim scholars]]-->
{{Infobox Muslim scholars |
<!-- Scroll down to edit this page -->
<!-- Philosopher Category -->
notability = [[Persian scholar]]|
era = [[Islamic golden age]]|
color = #cef2e0 |
<!-- Images -->
image_name = Avicenna Persian Physician.jpg|
image_caption = |
signature = |
<!-- Information -->
name = {{transl|ar|ALA|Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Sīnā}}|
title= Sharaf al-Mulk, Hujjat al-Haq, Sheikh al-Rayees|
birth = approximately 980 CE / [[370 AH]]|
death = 1037 CE / [[428 AH]]|
Ethnicity = [[Persian peoples|Persian]]<ref name="Britannica"/>
|Region = [[Central Asia]] and [[Persia]]|
Maddhab = [[Twelvers|Twelver]] [[Shi'a Muslim]]<ref>Corbin, (1993) p.170</ref>
|school tradition= [[Avicennism]]<ref>Corbin,(1993) p. 174</ref>|
main_interests = [[Islamic medicine]], [[alchemy and chemistry in Islam]], [[Islamic astronomy]], [[Islamic ethics]], [[early Islamic philosophy]], [[Islamic studies]], [[logic in Islamic philosophy]], [[Islamic geography]], [[Islamic mathematics]], [[Islamic psychological thought]], [[Islamic physics]], [[Arabic poetry]], [[Persian poetry]], [[Islamic science]], [[Kalam]]|
notable idea= Father of modern [[medicine]] and the concept of [[momentum]], founder of [[Avicennism]] and [[Avicennism#Avicennian logic|Avicennian logic]], forerunner of [[psychoanalysis]], pioneer of [[aromatherapy]] and [[neuropsychiatry]], and important contributer to [[geology]].
|works = ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'' <br> ''[[The Book of Healing]]''
|influences = [[Hippocrates]], [[Sushruta]], [[Charaka]], [[Aristotle]], [[Galen]], [[Plotinus]], [[Neoplatonism]], [[Indian mathematics]], [[Muhammad]], [[Ja'far al-Sadiq]], [[Wasil ibn Ata]], [[al-Kindi]], [[al-Farabi]], [[al-Razi]], [[al-Biruni]], [[Islamic medicine|Muslim physicians]]|
influenced = [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]], [[Omar Khayyám]], [[Algazel]], [[Abubacer]], [[Averroes]], [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī]], [[Ibn al-Nafis]], [[Averroism]], [[Scholasticism]], [[Albertus Magnus]], [[Duns Scotus]], [[Thomas Aquinas]], [[Jean Buridan]], [[Giambattista Benedetti]], [[Galileo Galilei]], [[William Harvey]], [[René Descartes]], [[Spinoza]]
}}
<!--End of the template-->
'''{{transl|ar|ALA|Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā}}''' ({{PerB|ابو علی الحسین ابن عبدالله ابن سینا}}; c. 980 in [[Bukhara]],<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433 Avicenna], [[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Von Dehsen |first=Christian D. |authorlink= |coauthors=Scott L. Harris |editor= |others= |title=Philosophers and Religious Leaders|publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=1-5735-6152-5|pages=p. 19}}</ref> [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]]{{ndash}} 1037 in [[Hamedan]]<ref name="almashriq">[http://almashriq.hiof.no/ddc/projects/saab/avicenna/introduction.html] [http://www.amazon.com/dp/906022485X]</ref>), also known as '''Ibn Seena'''<ref name="pharmacorner">{{cite web
|url=http://www.pharmacorner.com/default.asp?action=article&ID=121
|title=Extracts from the history of Islamic pharmacy
|accessdate=2007-11-11
|work=Pharmacy History
|publisher=Pharma Corner}}</ref> and commonly known in English by his Latinized name '''Avicenna''' (Greek ''{{Polytonic| Aβιτζιανός}}''),<ref>{{Citation
|last=Greenhill
|first=William Alexander
|contribution=Abitianus
|editor-last=Smith
|editor-first=William
|title=[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]
|volume=1
|pages=3
|publisher=
|place=
|year=1867
|contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0012.html }}</ref> was a [[Persian peoples|Persian]]<ref>''"Avicenna"'', in [[Encyclopaedia Britannica]], Concise Online Version, 2006 ([http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna]); D. Gutas, ''"Avicenna"'', in [[Encyclopaedia Iranica]], Online Version 2006, ([http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v3f1/v3f1a046.html LINK]); Avicenna in (Encyclopedia of Islam: © 1999 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands)</ref> [[polymath]] and the foremost [[Islamic medicine|physician]] and [[Early Islamic philosophy|Islamic philosopher]] of his time. He was also an [[Islamic astronomy|astronomer]], [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|chemist]], [[Islamic geography|geologist]], [[Hafiz (Quran)|Hafiz]], [[Logic in Islamic philosophy|logician]], [[Islamic mathematics|mathematician]], [[Islamic physics|physicist]], [[Islamic poetry|poet]], [[Muslim psychology|psychologist]], [[Islamic science|scientist]], [[Sheikh]], [[Muslim conquests|soldier]], [[statesman]] and [[Kalam|Islamic theologian]].<ref>Charles F. Horne (1917), ed., ''The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East Vol. VI: Medieval Arabia'', p. 90-91. Parke, Austin, & Lipscomb, New York. ([[cf.]] [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1020Avicenna-Medicine.html Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (973-1037): On Medicine, c. 1020 CE], Medieval Sourcebook.)
{{quote|"Avicenna (973-1037) was a sort of universal genius, known first as a physician. To his works on medicine he afterward added religious tracts, poems, works on philosophy, on logic, as physics, on mathematics, and on astronomy.}}</ref>
Ibn Sīnā wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on [[Early Islamic philosophy|philosophy]] and 40 of them concentrate on [[Islamic medicine|medicine]].<ref>{{MacTutor Biography|id=Avicenna}}</ref><ref>[http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/Museum/avicen.html Avicenna (Abu Ali Sina)]</ref> His most famous works are ''[[The Book of Healing]]'', a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'',<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Nasr |first=Seyyed Hossein | authorlink=Seyyed Hossein Nasr |title=Avicenna |year=2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online |accessdate=2007-11-05|location=|publisher=|http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna}}
</ref> which was a standard medical text at many Islamic and European universities up until the early 19th century.<ref>[http://hcs.osu.edu/hort/history/023.html Avicenna 980-1037]</ref> The ''Canon of Medicine'' was used as a text-book in the universities of [[University of Montpellier|Montpellier]] and [[Université catholique de Louvain|Louvain]] as late as 1650.<ref>[http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/etexts/medicine/#MD02007 Medicine : an exhibition of books relating to medicine and surgery from the collection formed by J.K. Lilly.]</ref> Ibn Sīnā developed a medical system that combined his own personal experience with that of [[Islamic medicine]], the medical system of the [[Greeks|Greek]] physician [[Galen]],<ref>[http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/arabic/galen.html Islamic Medical Manuscripts: Catalogue - Galen]</ref> [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] [[metaphysics]]<ref>[http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~jdhatley/MedArabPhil.htm ARTICLES ON AVICENNA, AVERROES and MAIMONIDES]</ref> (Avicenna was one of the main interpreters of [[Aristotle]])<ref>[http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/Museum/avicen.html Avicenna (Abu Ali Sina)]</ref>, and [[Ancient Iranian Medicine|ancient Persian]], [[Mesopotamia]]n and [[Ayurveda|Indian medicine]]. He was also the founder of [[Avicennism#Avicennian logic|Avicennian logic]] and the philosophical school of [[Avicennism]], which were influential among both Muslim and [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] thinkers.
Ibn Sīnā is regarded as a father of early modern [[medicine]],<ref>Cas Lek Cesk (1980). "The father of medicine, Avicenna, in our science and culture: Abu Ali ibn Sina (980-1037)", ''Becka J.'' '''119''' (1), p. 17-23.</ref><ref>[https://eee.uci.edu/clients/bjbecker/PlaguesandPeople/lecture5.html Medical Practitioners]</ref> and [[clinical pharmacology]]<ref>D. Craig Brater and Walter J. Daly (2000), "Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century", ''Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics'' '''67''' (5), p. 447-450 [448-449].</ref> particularly for his introduction of systematic [[experiment]]ation and [[quantification]] into the study of [[physiology]],<ref name=Park>Katharine Park (March 1990). "''Avicenna in Renaissance Italy: The Canon and Medical Teaching in Italian Universities after 1500'' by Nancy G. Siraisi", ''The Journal of Modern History'' '''62''' (1), p. 169-170.
{{quote|"Students of the history of medicine know him for his attempts to introduce systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology".}}</ref> his discovery of the contagious nature of [[infectious disease]]s,<ref name=Zahoor/> the introduction of [[quarantine]] to limit the spread of contagious [[disease]]s, the introduction of [[experimental medicine]], [[evidence-based medicine]], [[clinical trial]]s,<ref name=Tschanz>David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD (August 2003). "Arab Roots of European Medicine", ''Heart Views'' '''4''' (2).</ref>
[[randomized controlled trial]]s,<ref name=Eldredge>Jonathan D. Eldredge (2003), "The Randomised Controlled Trial design: unrecognized opportunities for health sciences librarianship", ''Health Information and Libraries Journal'' '''20''', p. 34–44 [36].</ref><ref name=Bloom>Bernard S. Bloom, Aurelia Retbi, Sandrine Dahan, Egon Jonsson (2000), "Evaluation Of Randomized Controlled Trials On Complementary And Alternative Medicine", ''International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care'' '''16''' (1), p. 13–21 [19].</ref>
[[efficacy]] tests,<ref name=Brater-449>D. Craig Brater and Walter J. Daly (2000), "Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century", ''Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics'' '''67''' (5), p. 447-450 [449].</ref><ref name=Daly>Walter J. Daly and D. Craig Brater (2000), "Medieval contributions to the search for truth in clinical medicine", ''Perspectives in Biology and Medicine'' '''43''' (4), p. 530–540 [536], [[Johns Hopkins University Press]].</ref>
[[clinical pharmacology]],<ref name=Brater-448>D. Craig Brater and Walter J. Daly (2000), "Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century", ''Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics'' '''67''' (5), p. 447-450 [448].</ref> [[neuropsychiatry]],<ref name=Workman/> [[risk factor]] analysis, and the idea of a [[syndrome]],<ref name=Goodman/>
and the importance of [[dietetics]] and the influence of climate and environment on health.<ref name=Unani>[http://www.unani.com/avicenna%20story%203.htm The Canon of Medicine], The American Institute of Unani Medicine, 2003.</ref> He is also considered the father of the fundamental concept of [[momentum]] in [[Islamic physics|physics]],<ref name=Nasr>[[Hossein Nasr|Seyyed Hossein Nasr]], "Islamic Conception Of Intellectual Life", in Philip P. Wiener (ed.), ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'', Vol. 2, p. 65, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1973-1974.</ref> and regarded as a pioneer of [[aromatherapy]].<ref name=Marlene>Marlene Ericksen (2000). ''Healing with Aromatherapy'', p. 9. McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0658003828.</ref> He also developed the concept of [[Uniformitarianism (science)|uniformitarianism]] and [[law of superposition]] in [[Islamic geography|geology]].<ref name=Hassani/>
[[George Sarton]], an author of the [[history of science]], wrote in the ''Introduction to the History of Science'':
{{quote|"One of the most famous exponents of Muslim [[universalism]] and an eminent figure in [[Islamic science|Islamic learning]] was Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna (981-1037). For a thousand years he has retained his original renown as one of the greatest thinkers and [[Islamic medicine|medical scholars]] in history. His most important medical works are the [[The Canon of Medicine|Qanun (Canon)]] and a treatise on [[Heart|Cardiac]] [[drug]]s. The '[[The Canon of Medicine|Qanun fi-l-Tibb]]' is an immense encyclopedia of medicine. It contains some of the most illuminating thoughts pertaining to distinction of [[mediastinitis]] from [[pleurisy]]; [[Infectious disease|contagious nature]] of [[Tuberculosis|phthisis]]; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description of skin troubles; of [[sexual disease]]s and [[perversion]]s; of [[Anxiety|nervous ailments]]."<ref name=Zahoor>[[George Sarton]], ''Introduction to the History of Science''.<br>([[cf.]] Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq (1997). [http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/Introl1.html Quotations From Famous Historians of Science], Cyberistan.)</ref>}}
==Circumstances==
Avicenna created an extensive corpus of works during what is commonly known as Islam's Golden Age (ca 10-11 century CE), in which the translations of Graeco-Roman, Neo- and Mid-Platonic, and Aristotelian texts by the Kindi schools were commented, redacted and developed substantially by Islamic intellectuals, as well as building upon Persian and Indian mathematical systems, astronomy, algebra, trigonometry, and medicine.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last= |first= | authorlink= |title=Major periods of Muslim education and learning |year=2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online |accessdate=2007-12-16|location=|publisher=|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-47496/education}}</ref>
[[Samanid dynasty]] in [[Greater Khorasan]] and [[central Asia]] as well as [[Buwayhid]] on in western part of [[Persia]] and [[Iraq]] could provide a thriving atmosphere for scholarly and cultural development. Under the Samanids, [[Bukhara]] rivalled [[Baghdad]] as a cultural capital of Islam.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Afary |first=Janet | authorlink=Janet Afary |title=Iran |year=2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online |accessdate=2007-12-16|location=|publisher=|url=http://p2.www.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=106324&fullArticle=true&tocId=9106324}}</ref>
The study of [[Quran]] and [[Hadith]] throve in such a scholarly atmosphere. Philosophy [[Fiqh]] and theology [[kalam]] were further developed, most noticeably by Avicenna and his opponents. [[al-Razi]] and [[Al-Farabi]] had provided methodology and knowledge in medicine and philosophy. Avicenna could use the great libraries of [[Balkh]], [[Khwarezm]], [[Gorgan]], [[Rey]], [[Isfahan]] and [[Hamedan]]. As various texts, such as the 'Ahd with Bahmanyar show, he debated philosophical points with the greatest scholars of the time. As [[Aruzi Samarqandi]] describes in his [[four articles]] before Avicenna left Khwarezm he had met [[al-Biruni]] (a noted scientist and astronomer), [[Abu Nasr Iraqi]] (a renowned mathematician), [[Abu Sahl Masihi]] (a respected philosopher) and [[Abu al-Khayr Khammar]] (a great physician).
==Biography==
{{Avicenna}}
===Early life===
He was born in [[Persia]] around 980 in Afshana, in [[Bukhara]] province, his mother's home, a small city now part of [[Uzbekistan]]. His father, a respected [[Ismaili]]<ref>Corbin, (1993) p. 170</ref> <ref>''Avicenna (Ibn Sina): Muslim Physician And Philosopher of the Eleventh Century'', p. 38, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 1404205098.</ref> scholar of Balkh, an important town of the [[Persian Empire|Persian]] state of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]], now part of [[Afghanistan]], was at the time of his son's birth the governor in one of the [[Samanid]] Nuh ibn Mansur's estates. He had his son very carefully educated at [[Bukhara]]. Ibn Sina himself was a [[Twelvers|Twelver]] [[Shia Islam|Shia]]<ref>Corbin, (1993) p.170</ref>. Ibn Sina's independent thought was served by an extraordinary intelligence and memory, which allowed him to overtake his teachers at the age of fourteen. As he said in his autobiography there wasn't anything which he hadn't learned when he reached eighteen.
Ibn Sīnā was put under the charge of a tutor, and his precocity soon made him the marvel of his neighbours; he displayed exceptional [[intellect]]ual behaviour and was a [[child prodigy]] who had [[Hafiz (Quran)|memorized the Qur'an]] by the age of 10 and a great deal of [[Persian poetry]] as well.<ref name=Britannica>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-92902/The-Canon-of-Medicine|title=“The Canon of Medicine” (work by Avicenna)|publisher=''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''|date=2008|accessdate=2008-06-11}}</ref> He learned [[Indian mathematics|Indian arithmetic]] from an [[History of India|Indian]] greengrocer, and he began to learn more from a wandering scholar who gained a livelihood by curing the sick and teaching the young. He also studied [[Fiqh]] (Islamic jurisprudence) under the Hanafi scholar Ismail al-Zahid.<ref name=Khan>Khan, Aisha (2006), ''Avicenna (Ibn Sina): Muslim Physician And Philosopher of the Eleventh Century'', p. 38, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 1404205098.</ref><ref name=Gracia>Jorge J. E. Gracia and Timothy B. Noone (2003), ''A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages'', p. 196, [[Blackwell Publishing]], ISBN 0631216731.</ref>
As a teenager, he was greatly troubled by the ''[[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Metaphysics]]'' of [[Aristotle]], which he could not understand until he read [[al-Farabi]]'s commentary on the work.<ref>Corbin, (1993) p. 168</ref> For the next year and a half, he studied [[philosophy]], in which he encountered greater obstacles. In such moments of baffled inquiry, he would leave his books, perform the requisite ablutions ([[wudu]]), then go to the [[mosque]], and continue in prayer ([[salah]]) till light broke on his difficulties. Deep into the night he would continue his studies, and even in his dreams problems would pursue him and work out their solution. Forty times, it is said, he read through the ''Metaphysics'' of [[Aristotle]], till the words were imprinted on his memory; but their meaning was hopelessly obscure, until one day they found illumination, from the little commentary by [[Farabi]], which he bought at a bookstall for the small sum of three dirhams. So great was his joy at the discovery, thus made by help of a work from which he had expected only mystery, that he hastened to return thanks to God, and bestowed alms upon the poor.
He turned to [[medicine]] at 16, and not only learned medical theory, but also by gratuitous attendance of the sick had, according to his own account, discovered new methods of treatment. The teenager achieved full status as a qualified physician at age 18,<ref name=Britannica/> and found that "Medicine is no hard and thorny science, like [[mathematics]] and [[metaphysics]], so I soon made great progress; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies." The youthful physician's fame spread quickly, and he treated many patients without asking for payment.
===Adulthood===
His first appointment was that of physician to the [[emir]], who owed him his recovery from a dangerous illness (997). Ibn Sina's chief reward for this service was access to the royal [[library]] of the [[Samanids]], well-known patrons of scholarship and scholars. When the library was destroyed by fire not long after, the enemies of Ibn Sina accused him of burning it, in order for ever to conceal the sources of his knowledge. Meanwhile, he assisted his father in his financial labours, but still found time to write some of his earliest works.
When Ibn Sina was 22 years old, he lost his father. The [[Samanid dynasty]] came to its end in December 1004. Ibn Sina seems to have declined the offers of [[Mahmud of Ghazni]], and proceeded westwards to [[Urgench]] in the modern [[Uzbekistan]], where the [[vizier]], regarded as a friend of scholars, gave him a small monthly stipend. The pay was small, however, so Ibn Sina wandered from place to place through the districts of [[Nishapur]] and [[Merv]] to the borders of [[Khorasan]], seeking an opening for his talents. [[Shams al-Ma'äli Kavuus]], the generous ruler of [[Dailam]] and central [[Persia]], himself a poet and a scholar, with whom Ibn Sina had expected to find an asylum, was about that date (1052) starved to death by his troops who had revolted. Ibn Sina himself was at this season stricken down by a severe illness. Finally, at [[Gorgan]], near the [[Caspian Sea]], Ibn Sina met with a friend, who bought a dwelling near his own house in which Ibn Sina lectured on [[logic]] and [[astronomy]]. Several of Ibn Sina's treatises were written for this patron; and the commencement of his ''Canon of Medicine'' also dates from his stay in [[Hyrcania]].
<!-- Image with questionable fair-use claim removed: [[image:Avicenna2.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Poland commemorated Avicenna's life and work in this postage stamp]] -->
Ibn Sina subsequently settled at [[Ray, Iran|Rai]], in the vicinity of modern [[Tehran]], (present day capital of Iran), the home town of [[Al-Razi|Rhazes]]; where [[Abu Taleb Rostam|Majd Addaula]], a son of the last [[Buwayhid]] [[emir]], was nominal ruler under the regency of his mother ([[Seyyedeh Khatun]]). About thirty of Ibn Sina's shorter works are said to have been composed in [[Ray, Iran|Rai]]. Constant feuds which raged between the regent and her second son, [[Shams al-Daula]], however, compelled the scholar to quit the place. After a brief sojourn at [[Qazvin (city)|Qazvin]] he passed southwards to Hamadãn where [[Shams al-Daula]], another [[Buwayhid]] emir, had established himself. At first, Ibn Sina entered into the service of a high-born lady; but the emir, hearing of his arrival, called him in as medical attendant, and sent him back with presents to his dwelling. Ibn Sina was even raised to the office of [[vizier]]. The emir consented that he should be banished from the country. Ibn Sina, however, remained hidden for forty days in a [[shaikh|sheikh]] Ahmed Fadhel's house, until a fresh attack of illness induced the emir to restore him to his post. Even during this perturbed time, Ibn Sina persevered with his studies and teaching. Every evening, extracts from his great works, the ''Canon'' and the ''Sanatio'', were dictated and explained to his pupils. On the death of the emir, Ibn Sina ceased to be vizier and hid himself in the house of an [[apothecary]], where, with intense assiduity, he continued the composition of his works.
Meanwhile, he had written to [[Abu Ya'far]], the [[prefect]] of the dynamic city of [[Isfahan (city)|Isfahan]], offering his services. The new emir of Hamadan, hearing of this correspondence and discovering where Ibn Sina was hidden, incarcerated him in a fortress. War meanwhile continued between the rulers of Isfahan and Hamadãn; in 1024 the former captured Hamadan and its towns, expelling the Tajik [[mercenary|mercenaries]]. When the storm had passed, Ibn Sina returned with the emir to Hamadan, and carried on his literary labours. Later, however, accompanied by his brother, a favourite pupil, and two slaves, Ibn Sina escaped out of the city in the dress of a [[Sufi]] [[ascetic]]. After a perilous journey, they reached Isfahan, receiving an honourable welcome from the prince.
===Later life and Death===
[[Image:Hamadan1.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Avicenna's tomb in [[Hamedan]], [[Iran]]]]
The remaining ten or twelve years of Ibn Sīnā's life were spent in the service of [[Abu Ja'far 'Ala Addaula]], whom he accompanied as physician and general literary and scientific adviser, even in his numerous campaigns.
During these years he began to study [[literature|literary]] matters and [[philology]], instigated, it is asserted, by criticisms on his style. He contrasts with the nobler and more intellectual character of [[Averroes]]. A severe [[colic]], which seized him on the march of the army against Hamadan, was checked by remedies so violent that Ibn Sina could scarcely stand. On a similar occasion the disease returned; with difficulty he reached Hamadan, where, finding the disease gaining ground, he refused to keep up the regimen imposed, and resigned himself to his fate.
His friends advised him to slow down and take life moderately. He refused, however, stating that: ''"I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length"''. On his deathbed remorse seized him; he bestowed his goods on the poor, restored unjust gains, freed his slaves, and every third day till his death listened to the reading of the Qur'an. He died in June 1037, in his fifty-eighth year, and was buried in [[Hamedan]], [[Iran]].
==Avicennian science==
===Medicine and pharmacology===
Though the threads which comprise [[Unani]] healing can be traced all the way back to [[Claudius Galenus of Pergamum]], who lived in the second century of the [[Christian Era]], the basic knowledge of Unani medicine as a healing system was developed by Hakim Ibn Sina in his medical encyclopedia ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]''. The time of origin is thus dated at ''circa'' 1025 AD, when Avicenna wrote ''The Canon of Medicine'' in [[Persian Empire|Persia]]. While he was primarily influenced by [[Ancient Greek medicine|Greek]] and [[Islamic medicine]], he was also influenced by the [[Ayurveda|Indian medical]] teachings of [[Sushruta]] and [[Charaka]].<ref>Hakeem Abdul Hameed, [http://www.salaam.co.uk/knowledge/hakeems.php Exchanges between India and Central Asia in the field of Medicine]</ref>
====''The Canon of Medicine''====
[[Image:Canons of medicine.JPG|thumb|right|A [[Latin]] copy of the Canon of Medicine, dated 1484, located at the P.I. Nixon Medical Historical Library of The [[University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio]].]]
{{main|The Canon of Medicine}}
About 100 treatises were ascribed to Ibn Sina. Some of them are tracts of a few pages, others are works extending through several volumes. The best-known amongst them, and that to which Ibn Sina owed his European reputation, is his 14-volume ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'', which was a standard medical text in Europe and the Islamic world up until the 18th century.<ref>[[Ziauddin Sardar]], [http://www.cgcu.net/imase/islam_science_philosophy.htm Science in Islamic philosophy]</ref>
The book is known for its introduction of systematic [[experiment]]ation and [[quantification]] into the study of [[physiology]],<ref name=Park/> the discovery of [[Infectious disease|contagious diseases]] and [[sexually transmitted disease]]s,<ref name=Zahoor/> the introduction of [[quarantine]] to limit the spread of [[infectious disease]]s, the introduction of [[experimental medicine]], [[clinical trial]]s,<ref name=Tschanz/> [[neuropsychiatry]],<ref name=Workman>S Safavi-Abbasi, LBC Brasiliense, RK Workman (2007), "The fate of medical knowledge and the neurosciences during the time of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire", ''Neurosurg Focus'' '''23''' (1), E13, p. 3.</ref> [[risk factor]] analysis, and the idea of a [[syndrome]] in the [[diagnosis]] of specific diseases,<ref name=Goodman/> and hypothesized the existence of microrganisms.<ref name=Unani/> It classifies and describes [[disease]]s, and outlines their assumed causes. [[Hygiene]], simple and complex medicines, and functions of parts of the body are also covered. In this, Ibn Sīnā is credited as being the first to correctly document the anatomy of the human eye, along with descriptions of eye afflictions such as [[cataracts]]. It asserts that [[tuberculosis]] was contagious, which was later disputed by Europeans, but turned out to be true. It also describes the symptoms and complications of [[diabetes]]. Both forms of facial paralysis were described in-depth. In addition, the workings of the [[heart]] as a valve are described. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
''The Canon of Medicine'' was the first book dealing with [[experimental medicine]], [[evidence-based medicine]], [[randomized controlled trial]]s,<ref name=Eldredge/><ref name=Bloom/> and [[efficacy]] tests,<ref name=Brater-449/><ref name=Daly/> and it laid out the following rules and principles for testing the effectiveness of new [[drug]]s and [[medication]]s, which still form the basis of [[clinical pharmacology]]<ref name=Brater-448/> and modern [[clinical trial]]s:<ref name=Tschanz/>
#"The drug must be free from any extraneous accidental quality."
#"It must be used on a simple, not a composite, disease."
#"The drug must be tested with two contrary types of diseases, because sometimes a drug cures one disease by Its essential qualities and another by its accidental ones."
#"The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease. For example, there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases, so that they would have no effect on them."
#"The time of action must be observed, so that essence and accident are not confused."
#"The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases, for if this did not happen, it was an accidental effect."
#"The experimentation must be done with the human body, for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man."
[[Image:Canon ibnsina arabic.jpg|thumb|left|A copy of the Canon of Medicine, dated 1593]]
An Arabic edition of the ''Canon'' appeared at Rome in 1593, and a Hebrew version at Naples in 1491. Of the Latin version there were about thirty editions, founded on the original translation by [[Gerard de Sabloneta]]. In the 15th century a commentary on the text of the ''Canon'' was composed. Other medical works translated into Latin are the ''Medicamenta Cordialia'', ''Canticum de Medicina'', and the ''Tractatus de Syrupo Acetoso''.
It was mainly accident which determined that from the 12th to the 18th century, Ibn Sīnā should be the guide of medical study in European universities, and eclipse the names of Rhazes, [[Ali ibn Abbas al-Magusi|Ali ibn al-Abbas]] and [[Averroes]]. His work is not essentially different from that of his predecessor Rhazes, because he presented the doctrine of [[Galen]], and through Galen the doctrine of [[Hippocrates]], modified by the system of [[Aristotle]], as well as the [[Ayurveda|Indian doctrines]] of [[Sushruta]] and [[Charaka]].<ref>Hakeem Abdul Hameed, [http://www.salaam.co.uk/knowledge/hakeems.php Exchanges between India and Central Asia in the field of Medicine]</ref> But the ''Canon'' of Ibn Sīnā is distinguished from the ''Al-Hawi'' (Continens) or ''Summary'' of Rhazes by its greater method, due perhaps to the logical studies of the former.
The work has been variously appreciated in subsequent ages, some regarding it as a treasury of wisdom, and others, like [[Averroes]], holding it useful only as waste paper. In modern times it has been seen of mainly historic interest as most of its tenets have been disproved or expanded upon by scientific medicine. The vice of the book is excessive classification of bodily faculties, and over-subtlety in the discrimination of diseases. It includes five books; of which the first and second discuss [[physiology]], [[pathology]] and [[hygiene]], the third and fourth deal with the methods of treating disease, and the fifth describes the composition and preparation of remedies. This last part contains some personal observations.
He is, like all his countrymen, ample in the enumeration of symptoms, and is said to be inferior to Ali in practical medicine and [[surgery]]. He introduced into medical theory the ''four causes of the [[Peripatetic]] system''. Of [[natural history]] and [[botany]] he pretended to no special knowledge. Up to the year 1650, or thereabouts, the ''Canon'' was still used as a textbook in the universities of [[Leuven]] and [[Montpellier]].
In the museum at [[Bukhara]], there are displays showing many of his writings, [[surgical instruments]] from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment. Ibn Sīnā was interested in the effect of the [[mind]] on the [[body]], and wrote a great deal on [[psychology]], likely influencing [[Ibn Tufayl]] and [[Ibn Bajjah]]. He also introduced medical herbs.
Avicenna extended the theory of temperaments in ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'' to encompass "[[emotion]]al aspects, mental capacity, [[moral]] attitudes, [[self-awareness]], movements and [[dream]]s." He summarized his version of the [[Humorism|four humours]] and temperaments in a table as follows:<ref name=Lutz>{{citation|first=Peter L.|last=Lutz|year=2002|title=The Rise of Experimental Biology: An Illustrated History|page=60|publisher=[[Humana Press]]|isbn=0896038351}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|bgcolor="#00FFFF" colspan="5" | <center>'''[[Avicenna]]'s four humours and [[temperament]]s'''<center>
|-
|bgcolor="#77AAFF" | Evidence
|bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Hot
|bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Cold
|bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Moist
|bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Dry
|-
| bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Morbid states
| [[inflammation]]s become [[Fever|febrile]]
| [[fever]]s related to serious humour, [[rheumatism]]
| [[Fatigue (medical)|lassitude]]
| loss of [[wiktionary:vigour|vigour]]
|-
| bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Functional power
| deficient [[energy]]
| deficient [[Digestion|digestive]] power
| difficult [[digestion]]
|
|-
| bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Subjective sensations
| [[Taste#Bitterness|bitter taste]], excessive [[thirst]], burning at [[cardia]]
| Lack of desire for [[fluid]]s
| [[Mucous connective tissue|mucoid]] [[saliva]]tion, [[Somnolence|sleepiness]]
| [[insomnia]], [[wakefulness]]
|-
| bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Physical signs
| high [[pulse]] rate, [[Fatigue (medical)|lassitude]]
| [[flaccid]] joints
| [[diarrhea]], [[Eye puffiness|swollen eyelids]], [[Roughness|rough]] skin, acquired [[Habit (psychology)|habit]]
| [[Roughness|rough]] skin, acquired [[Habit (psychology)|habit]]
|-
| bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Foods & medicines
| [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/calefacient calefacients] harmful, [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Infrigidate infrigidants] beneficial
| [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Infrigidate infrigidants] harmful, [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/calefacient calefacients] beneficial
| [[Moisture|moist]] articles harmful
| [[wiktionary:dry|dry]] regimen harmful, [[humectant]]s beneficial
|-
| bgcolor="#B0C4DE" | Relation to weather
| worse in summer
| worse in winter
|
| bad in autumn
|}
===Avicennian psychology===
{{main|Avicennism|The Canon of Medicine|The Book of Healing}}
In [[Muslim psychology]] and the [[neuroscience]]s, Avicenna was a pioneer of [[neuropsychiatry]]. He first described numerous neuropsychiatric conditions, including [[hallucination]], [[insomnia]], [[mania]], [[nightmare]], [[melancholia]], [[dementia]], [[epilepsy]], [[paralysis]], [[stroke]], [[Vertigo (medical)|vertigo]] and [[tremor]].<ref name=Workman/>
Avicenna was also a pioneer in [[psychophysiology]] and [[psychosomatic medicine]]. He recognized '[[physiological psychology]]' in the treatment of illnesses involving [[emotion]]s, and developed a system for associating changes in the [[pulse]] rate with inner feelings, which is seen as an anticipation of the [[word association]] test attributed to [[Carl Jung]]. Avicenna is reported to have treated a very ill patient by "feeling the patient's pulse and reciting aloud to him the names of provinces, districts, towns, streets, and people." He noticed how the patient's pulse increased when certain names were mentioned, from which Avicenna deduced that the patient was in love with a girl whose home Avicenna was "able to locate by the digital examination." Avicenna advised the patient to marry the girl he is in love with, and the patient soon recovered from his illness after his marriage.<ref>Ibrahim B. Syed PhD, "Islamic Medicine: 1000 years ahead of its times", ''[[The Islamic Medical Association of North America|Journal of the Islamic Medical Association]]'', 2002 (2), p. 2-9 [7].</ref>
Avicenna's legacy in classical [[psychology]] is primarily embodied in the ''Kitab al-nafs'' parts of his ''Kitab al-shifa''' (''The Book of Healing'') and ''Kitab al-najat'' (''The Book of Deliverance''). These were known in Latin under the title ''De Anima'' (treatises "on the soul"). The main thesis of these tracts is represented in his so-called "flying man" argument, which resonates with what was centuries later entailed by [[Descartes]]'s ''cogito'' argument (or what [[phenomenology]] designates as a form of an "''epoche''").<ref> Nader El-Bizri, ''The Phenomenological Quest between Avicenna and Heidegger'' (Binghamton, N.Y.: Global Publications SUNY, 2000), pp. 149-171.</ref><ref> Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna’s De Anima between Aristotle and Husserl," in ''The Passions of the Soul in the Metamorphosis of Becoming'', ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003), pp. 67-89.</ref>
In the ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'', Avicenna dealt with [[neuropsychiatry]] and described a number of neuropsychiatric conditions, including [[melancholia]].<ref>S Safavi-Abbasi, LBC Brasiliense, RK Workman (2007), "The fate of medical knowledge and the neurosciences during the time of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire", ''Neurosurgical Focus'' '''23''' (1), E13, p. 3.</ref> He described melancholia as a [[Depression (mood)|depressive]] type of [[mood disorder]] in which the person may become suspicious and develop certain types of [[phobia]]s.<ref name=Amber-366>Amber Haque (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists", ''Journal of Religion and Health'' '''43''' (4): 357-377 [366].</ref>
===Astronomy and astrology===
In 1070, [[Juzjani, Abu Ubaid|Abu Ubayd al-Juzjani]], a pupil of Ibn Sīnā, claimed that his teacher Ibn Sīnā had solved the [[equant]] problem in [[Ptolemy]]'s planetary model.<ref>[[A. I. Sabra]] (1998). "Configuring the Universe:
Aporetic, Problem Solving, and Kinematic Modeling as Themes of Arabic Astronomy", ''Perspectives on Science'' '''6''' (3), p. 288-330 [305-306].</ref>
The study of [[Islamic astrology|astrology]] was refuted by Avicenna. His reasons were both due to the methods used by astrologers being [[conjectural]] rather than [[empirical]] and also due to the views of astrologers conflicting with orthodox [[Islam]]. He also cited passages from the [[Qur'an]] in order to justify his refutation of astrology on both scientific and religious grounds.<ref>[[George Saliba]] (1994), ''A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam'', p. 60, 67-69. [[New York University Press]], ISBN 0814780237.</ref>
===Chemistry ===
In [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|chemistry]], [[steam distillation]] was described by Ibn Sīnā. The technique was used to produce [[alcohol]] and [[essential oil]]s. The latter was fundamental to [[aromatherapy]].<ref name=Marlene/>
As a [[chemist]], Avicenna was one of the first to write refutations on [[Alchemy (Islam)|alchemy]], after [[al-Kindi]]. Four of his works on the refutation of alchemy were translated into [[Latin]] as:<ref name=Anawati>Georges C. Anawati (1996), "Arabic alchemy", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., ''[[Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science]]'', Vol. 3, p. 853-885 [875]. [[Routledge]], London and New York.</ref>
*''Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae''
*''Declaratio Lapis physici Avicennae filio sui Aboali''
*''Avicennae de congelatione et conglutinatione lapifum''
*''Avicennae ad Hasan Regem epistola de Re recta''
In one of these works, Ibn Sīnā discredited the theory of the [[Philosopher's stone|transmutation of substances]] commonly believed by [[alchemy|alchemists]]:
{{quote|"Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce the appearance of such change."<ref>[[Robert Briffault]] (1938). ''The Making of Humanity'', p. 196-197.</ref>}}
Among his works refuting alchemy, ''Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae'' was the most influential, having influenced later [[medieval]] chemists and alchemists such as [[Vincent of Beauvais]].<ref name=Anawati/>
===Earth sciences===
{{main|The Book of Healing}}
Ibn Sīnā wrote on the [[earth science]]s in ''[[The Book of Healing]]'', in which he developed the concept of [[Uniformitarianism (science)|uniformitarianism]] and [[law of superposition]] in [[Islamic geography|geology]].<ref name=Hassani>{{cite web|author=Munim M. Al-Rawi and [[Salim Al-Hassani]]|title=The Contribution of Ibn Sina (Avicenna) to the development of Earth sciences|publisher=FSTC|url=http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/ibnsina.pdf|date=November 2002|accessdate=2008-07-01}}</ref> He hypothesized on two geological causes of [[mountain]]s:
{{quote|"Either they are the effects of upheavals of the [[Crust (geology)|crust]] of the [[earth]], such as might occur during a violent [[earthquake]], or they are the effect of [[water]], which, cutting itself a new route, has denuded the [[valley]]s, the [[Stratum|strata]] being of different kinds, some soft, some hard... It would require a long period of time for all such changes to be accomplished, during which the mountains themselves might be somewhat diminished in size."<ref>Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield (1965). ''The Discovery of Time'', p. 64. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.</ref>}}
===Physics===
{{see also|Islamic physics|Theory of impetus}}
In [[physics]], Ibn Sīnā was the first to employ an air [[thermometer]] to measure air [[temperature]] in his scientific [[experiment]]s.<ref>[[Robert Briffault]] (1938). ''The Making of Humanity'', p. 191.</ref>
In [[mechanics]], Ibn Sīnā developed an elaborate theory of [[Motion (physics)|motion]], in which he made a distinction between the inclination (tendency to motion) and [[force]] of a [[projectile]], and concluded that motion was a result of an inclination (''mayl'') transferred to the projectile by the thrower, and that [[projectile motion]] in a vacuum would not cease.<ref name=Espinoza>Fernando Espinoza (2005). "An analysis of the historical development of ideas about motion and its implications for teaching", ''Physics Education'' '''40''' (2), p. 141.</ref> He viewed inclination as a permanent force whose effect is dissipated by external forces such as [[air resistance]].<ref>A. Sayili (1987), "Ibn Sīnā and Buridan on the Motion of the Projectile", ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'' '''500''' (1), p. 477 – 482:
{{quote|"It was a permanent force whose effect got dissipated only as a result of external agents such as air resistance. He is apparently the first to conceive such a permanent type of impressed virtue for non-natural motion."}}</ref> His theory of motion was thus consistent with the concept of [[inertia]] in [[Newton's laws of motion|Newton's first law of motion]].<ref name=Espinoza/> Ibn Sīnā also referred to ''mayl'' to as being proportional to [[weight]] times [[velocity]], a precursor to the concept of [[momentum]] in [[Newton's laws of motion|Newton's second law of motion]].<ref>A. Sayili (1987), "Ibn Sīnā and Buridan on the Motion of the Projectile", ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'' '''500''' (1), p. 477 – 482:
{{quote|"Thus he considered impetus as proportional to weight times velocity. In other words, his conception of impetus comes very close to the concept of momentum of Newtonian mechanics."}}</ref> Ibn Sīnā's theory of ''mayl'' was further developed by [[Jean Buridan]] in his theory of [[impetus]].
In [[optics]], Ibn Sina reasoned that the [[speed of light]] is finite, as he "observed that if the perception of [[light]] is due to the emission of some sort of [[Subatomic particle|particle]]s by a luminous source, the speed of light must be finite."<ref>[[George Sarton]], ''Introduction to the History of Science'', Vol. 1, p. 710.</ref> He also provided a sophisticated explanation for the [[rainbow]] phenomenon. [[Carl Benjamin Boyer]] described Ibn Sīnā's theory on the rainbow as follows:
{{quote|"Independent observation had demonstrated to him that the bow is not formed in the dark cloud but rather in the very thin mist lying between the cloud and the sun or observer. The cloud, he thought, serves simply as the background of this thin substance, much as a quicksilver lining is placed upon the rear surface of the glass in a mirror. Ibn Sīnā would change the place not only of the bow, but also of the color formation, holding the iridescence to be merely a subjective sensation in the eye."<ref>[[Carl Benjamin Boyer]] (1954). "Robert Grosseteste on the Rainbow", ''Osiris'' '''11''', p. 247-258 [248].</ref>}}
==Avicennian philosophy==
{{main|Avicennism}}
Ibn Sīnā wrote extensively on [[early Islamic philosophy]], especially the subjects [[logic]], [[ethics]], and [[metaphysics]], including treatises named ''Logic'' and ''Metaphysics''. Most of his works were written in [[Arabic language|Arabic]] - which was the ''de facto'' scientific [[language]] of that time, and some were written in the [[Persian language]]. Of linguistic significance even to this day are a few books that he wrote in nearly pure Persian language (particularly the Danishnamah-yi 'Ala', Philosophy for Ala' ad-Dawla'). Ibn Sīnā's commentaries on Aristotle often corrected the philosopher, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of [[ijtihad]].
In the [[Islamic Golden Age|medieval Islamic world]], due to Avicenna's successful reconciliation between [[Aristotelianism]] and [[Neoplatonism]] along with [[Kalam]], Avicennism eventually became the leading school of [[Islamic philosophy]] by the 12th century, with Avicenna becoming a central authority on philosophy.<ref>Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), p. 80-81, "Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafīs (d. 1288)", ''Electronic Theses and Dissertations'', [[University of Notre Dame]].[http://etd.nd.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-11292006-152615]</ref>
Avicennism was also influential in [[medieval Europe]], particular his doctrines on the nature of the [[soul]] and his [[existence]]-[[essence]] distinction, along with the debates and censure that they raised in [[Scholasticism|scholastic Europe]]. This was particularly the case in [[Paris]], where Avicennism was later [[proscribed]] in 1210. Nevertheless, his [[psychology]] and theory of knowledge influenced [[William of Auvergne]] and [[Albertus Magnus]], while his [[metaphysics]] had an impact on the thought of [[Thomas Aquinas]].<ref>[http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/avicenna.htm#H5 The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Avicenna/Ibn Sina (CA. 980-1037)]</ref>
===Metaphysical doctrine===
[[Early Islamic philosophy]], imbued as it is with [[Kalam|Islamic theology]], distinguishes more clearly than [[Aristotelianism]] the difference between [[essence]] and [[existence]]. Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental, essence endures within a being beyond the accidental. The philosophy of Ibn Sīnā, particularly that part relating to [[metaphysics]], owes much to [[al-Farabi]]. The search for a truly definitive Islamic philosophy can be seen in what is left to us of his work.
Following al-Farabi's lead, Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of [[being]], in which he distinguished between [[essence]] (''Mahiat'') and [[existence]] (''Wujud''). He argued that the fact of existence can not be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence must, therefore, be due to an [[Causality|agent-cause]] that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with its effect. <ref name="Islam in Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|last= |first= | authorlink= |title=Islam |year=2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online |accessdate=2007-11-27|location=|publisher=|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-69190/Islam}}</ref>
Avicenna’s consideration of the essence-attributes question may be elucidated in terms of his ontological analysis of the modalities of being; namely impossibility, contingency, and necessity. Avicenna argued that the impossible being is that which cannot exist, while the contingent in itself (''mumkin bi-dhatihi'') has the potentiality to be or not to be without entailing a contradiction. When actualized, the contingent becomes a ‘necessary existent due to what is other than itself’ (''wajib al-wujud bi-ghayrihi''). Thus, contingency-in-itself is potential beingness that could eventually be actualized by an external cause other than itself. The metaphysical structures of necessity and contingency are different. Necessary being due to itself (''wajib al-wujud bi-dhatihi'') is true in itself, while the contingent being is ‘false in itself’ and ‘true due to something else other than itself’. The necessary is the source of its own being without borrowed existence. It is what always exists. <ref> Avicenna, ''Kitab al-shifa’, Metaphysics II'', (eds.) G. C. Anawati, Ibrahim Madkour, Sa’id Zayed (Cairo, 1975), p. 36 </ref><ref> Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna and Essentialism," ''Review of Metaphysics'', Vol. 54 (2001), pp. 753-778 </ref> The Necessary exists ‘due-to-Its-Self’, and has no quiddity/essence (''mahiyya'') other than existence (''wujud''). Furthermore, It is ‘One’ (''wahid ahad'') <ref> Avicenna, ''Metaphysica of Avicenna'', trans. Parviz Morewedge (New York, 1973), p. 43. </ref> since there cannot be more than one ‘Necessary-Existent-due-to-Itself’ without differentia (fasl) to distinguish them from each other. Yet, to require differentia entails that they exist ‘due-to-themselves’ as well as ‘due to what is other than themselves’; and this is contradictory. However, if no differentia distinguishes them from each other, then there is no sense in which these ‘Existents’ are not one and the same. <ref> Nader El-Bizri, ''The Phenomenological Quest between Avicenna and Heidegger'' (Binghamton, N.Y.: Global Publications SUNY, 2000)</ref> Avicenna adds that the ‘Necessary-Existent-due-to-Itself’ has no genus (''jins''), nor a definition (''hadd''), nor a counterpart (''nadd''), nor an opposite (''did''), and is detached (''bari’'') from matter (''madda''), quality (''kayf''), quantity (''kam''), place (''ayn''), situation (''wad’''), and time (''waqt''). <ref> Avicenna, ''Kitab al-Hidaya'', ed. Muhammad ‘Abdu (Cairo, 1874), pp. 262-3 </ref><ref> Salem Mashran, ''al-Janib al-ilahi ‘ind Ibn Sina'' (Damascus, 1992), p. 99 </ref><ref> Nader El-Bizri, "Being and Necessity: A Phenomenological Investigation of Avicenna’s Metaphysics and Cosmology," in ''Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm'', ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2006), pp. 243-261 </ref>
===Avicennian logic===
Avicenna discussed the topic of [[logic in Islamic philosophy]] extensively in his works, and developed his own system of logic known as "Avicennian logic" as an alternative to [[Aristotelian logic]]. By the 12th century, Avicennian logic had replaced Aristotelian logic as the dominant system of logic in the Islamic world.<ref>I. M. Bochenski (1961), "On the history of the history of logic", ''A history of formal logic'', p. 4-10. Translated by I. Thomas, Notre Dame, [[Indiana University Press]]. ([[cf.]] [http://www.formalontology.it/islamic-philosophy.htm Ancient Islamic (Arabic and Persian) Logic and Ontology])</ref> After the [[Latin translations of the 12th century]], Avicennian logic was also influential in Europe.
Ibn Sina developed an early theory on [[hypothetical syllogism]], which formed the basis of his early [[risk factor]] analysis.<ref name=Goodman/> He also developed an early theory on [[propositional calculus]], which was an area of logic not covered in the Aristotelian tradition.<ref>Lenn Evan Goodman (1992), ''Avicenna'', p. 188, [[Routledge]], ISBN 041501929X.</ref> The first criticisms of [[Aristotelian logic]] were also written by Ibn Sina, who developed an original theory on [[Temporal logic|temporal]] [[Modal logic|modal]] [[syllogism]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-65928 History of logic: Arabic logic], ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.</ref> Ibn Sina also contributed inventively to the development of [[inductive reasoning|inductive logic]], being the first to describe the [[Mill's Methods|methods of agreement, difference and concomitant variation]] which are critical to inductive logic and the [[scientific method]].<ref name=Goodman>Lenn Evan Goodman (2003), ''Islamic Humanism'', p. 155, [[Oxford University Press]], ISBN 0195135806.</ref>
===Natural philosophy===
Ibn Sina and [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]] engaged in a written debate, with al-Biruni mostly criticizing [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] [[natural philosophy]] and the [[Peripatetic school]], while Avicenna and his student Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Ma'sumi respond to al-Biruni's criticisms in writing. Al-Biruni began by asking Avicenna eighteen questions, ten of which were criticisms of [[Aristotle]]'s ''[[On the Heavens]]''.<ref>Rafik Berjak and Muzaffar Iqbal, "Ibn Sina--Al-Biruni correspondence", ''Islam & Science'', June 2003.</ref>
===Philosophy of science===
{{see|Avicennism|The Book of Healing|The Canon of Medicine}}
In the ''Al-Burhan'' (''On Demonstration'') section of ''[[The Book of Healing]]'', Avicenna discussed the [[philosophy of science]] and described an early [[scientific method]] of [[inquiry]]. He discusses [[Aristotle]]'s ''[[Posterior Analytics]]'' and significantly diverged from it on several points. Avicenna discussed the issue of a proper methodology for scientific inquiry and the question of "How does one acquire the first principles of a science?" He asked how a scientist would arrive at "the initial [[axiom]]s or [[Hypothesis|hypotheses]] of a [[Deductive reasoning|deductive]] science without inferring them from some more basic premises?" He explains that the ideal situation is when one grasps that a "relation holds between the terms, which would allow for absolute, universal certainty." Avicenna then adds two further methods for arriving at the [[first principle]]s: the ancient [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] method of [[induction]] (''istiqra''), and the method of [[examination]] and [[experiment]]ation (''tajriba''). Avicenna criticized Aristotelian induction, arguing that "it does not lead to the absolute, universal, and certain premises that it purports to provide." In its place, he develops a "method of experimentation as a means for scientific inquiry."<ref>{{citation|last=McGinnis|first=Jon|title=Scientific Methodologies in Medieval Islam|journal=Journal of the History of Philosophy|volume=41|issue=3|date=July 2003|pages=307-327}}</ref>
===Theology===
Ibn Sīnā was a devout Muslim and sought to reconcile rational philosophy with [[Islamic theology]]. His aim was to prove the existence of God and his creation of the world scientifically and through [[reason]] and [[logic]].<ref name=Goodman-8-9>Lenn Evan Goodman (2003), ''Islamic Humanism'', p. 8-9, [[Oxford University Press]], ISBN 0195135806.</ref> Avicenna wrote a number of treatises dealing with Islamic theology. These included treatises on the [[Islamic prophet]]s, who he viewed as "inspired philosophers", and on various scientific and philosophical interpretations of the [[Qur'an]], such as how Quranic [[cosmology]] corresponds to his own philosophical system.<ref>James W. Morris (1992), "The Philosopher-Prophet in Avicenna's Political Philosophy", in C. Butterworth (ed.), ''The Political Aspects of Islamic PhIlosophy'', Chapter 4, Cambridge [[Harvard University Press]], p. 142-188 [159-161].</ref>
Ibn Sīnā [[Hafiz (Quran)|memorized the Qur'an]] by the age of seven, and as an adult, he wrote five treatises commenting on [[sura]]s from the [[Qur'an]]. One of these texts included the ''Proof of Prophecies'', in which he comments on several Quranic verses and holds the Qur'an in high esteem. Avicenna argued that the [[Islamic prophet]]s should be considered higher than philosophers.<ref>Jules Janssens (2004), "Avicenna and the Qur'an: A Survey of his Qur'anic commentaries", ''MIDEO'' '''25''', p. 177-192.</ref>
===Thought experiments===
While he was imprisoned in the castle of Fardajan near [[Hamadhan]], Avicenna wrote his famous "Floating Man" [[thought experiment]] to demonstrate human [[self-awareness]] and the substantiality of the [[soul]]. He referred to the living human [[intelligence]], particularly the [[active intellect]], which he believed to be the [[Hypostatic abstraction|hypostasis]] by which God communicates [[truth]] to the human [[mind]] and imparts order and [[intelligibility]] to [[nature]]. His "Floating Man" thought experiment tells its readers to imagine themselves suspended in the air, isolated from all [[sensation]]s, which includes no [[Sense|sensory]] contact with even their own bodies. He argues that, in this scenario, one would still have [[self-consciousness]]. He thus concludes that the idea of the [[Self (philosophy)|self]] is not logically dependent on any physical [[Object (philosophy)|thing]], and that the soul should not be seen in [[relative term]]s, but as a primary [[given]], a [[Substance theory|substance]].<ref>Nasr (1996), pp. 315, 1022 and 1023</ref><ref> Nader El-Bizri, ''The Phenomenological Quest between Avicenna and Heidegger'' (Binghamton, N.Y.: Global Publications SUNY, 2000), pp. 149-171.</ref><ref> Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna’s De Anima between Aristotle and Husserl," in ''The Passions of the Soul in the Metamorphosis of Becoming'', ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003), pp. 67-89.</ref>
==Other contributions==
===Engineering===
In the chapters on [[mechanics]] and [[engineering]] in his encyclopedia ''Mi'yar al-'aql'' (''The Measure of the Mind''), Avicenna writes an analysis on the ''ilm al-hiyal'' (science of ingenious devices) and makes the first successful attempt to classify simple [[machine]]s and their combinations. He first describes and [[Illustration|illustrates]] the five constituent simple [[machine]]s: the [[lever]], [[pulley]], [[screw]], [[Wedge (mechanical device)|wedge]], and [[windlass]]. He then analyzes all the combinations of these simple machines, such as the windlass-screw, windlass-pulley and windlass-lever for example. He is also the first to describe a [[mechanism]] which is essentially a combination of all of these simple machines (except for the wedge).<ref>Mariam Rozhanskaya and I. S. Levinova (1996), "Statics", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., ''[[Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science]]'', Vol. 2, p. 614-642 [633]. [[Routledge]], London and New York.</ref>
===Poetry===
Almost half of Ibn Sīnā's works are versified.<ref>[[Edward Granville Browne|E.G. Browne]], ''Islamic Medicine'' (sometimes also printed under the title ''Arabian medicine''), 2002, Goodword Pub., ISBN 81-87570-19-9, p61</ref> His poems appear in both Arabic and Persian. As an example, [[Edward Granville Browne]] claims that the following verses are incorrectly attributed to [[Omar Khayyám]], and were originally written by Ibn Sīnā:<ref>[[Edward Granville Browne|E.G. Browne]], ''Islamic Medicine'' (sometimes also printed under the title ''Arabian medicine''), 2002, Goodword Pub., ISBN 81-87570-19-9, p60-61)</ref>
از قعر گل سیاه تا اوج زحل,<br>
'''Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate'''
کردم همه مشکلات گیتی را حل,<br>
'''I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,'''
بیرون جستم زقید هر مکر و حیل,<br>
'''And many Knots unravel'd by the Road;'''
هر بند گشاده شد مگر بند اجل.<br>
'''But not the Master-Knot of Human Fate.'''
When some of his opponents blame him for blasphemy, he says <ref>[http://safa121.blogfa.com/post-166.aspx ملاقات تاریخی ابوسعید ابوالخیر و ابو علی سینا]
</ref>
کفر چو منی گزاف و آسان نبود
The blasphemy of somebody like me is not easy and exorbitant
محکمتر از ایمان من ایمان نبود
There isn't any stronger faith than my faith
در دهر چو من یکی و آن هم کافر
If there is just one person like me in the world and that one is impious
پس در همه دهر یک مسلمان نبود
So there are no Muslims in the whole world.
==Legacy==
[[Image:Avicenna2.jpg|thumb|right|Ibn Sīnā commemorated on a [[Poland|Polish]] stamp]]
{{see|Avicennism}}
As early as the 1300s when [[Dante Alighieri]] showed him experiencing a perfect eternity with some the greatest men in history in his [[Divine Comedy]] such as [[Virgil]], [[Averroes]], [[Homer]], [[Horace]], [[Ovid]], [[Lucan]], [[Socrates]], [[Plato]], and [[Saladin]], Avicenna has been recognized by both East and West, as one of history's great figures.
[[George Sarton]], the father of the history of science, described Ibn Sīnā as "one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history"<ref name=Zahoor/> and called him "the most famous [[Islamic science|scientist of Islam]] and one of the most famous of all races, places, and times." He was one of the [[Islamic Golden Age|Islamic world]]'s leading writers in the field of medicine. He was influenced by the approach of [[Hippocrates]] and [[Galen]], as well as [[Sushruta]] and [[Charaka]]. Along with [[al-Razi|Rhazes]], [[Abu al-Qasim|Abulcasis]], [[Ibn al-Nafis]], and [[al-Ibadi]], Ibn Sīnā is considered an important compiler of [[Islamic medicine|early Muslim medicine]]. He is remembered in Western history of medicine as a major historical figure who made important contributions to medicine and the European [[Renaissance]]. Ibn Sīnā is also considered the father of the fundamental concept of [[momentum]] in [[physics]].<ref name=Nasr/>
In [[Iran]], he is considered a national icon, and is often regarded as one of the greatest Persians to have ever lived. Many portraits and statues remain in Iran today. An impressive monument to the life and works of the man who is known as the 'doctor of doctors' still stands outside the Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall of the Avicenna Faculty of Medicine in the [[University of Paris]]. There is also a crater on the moon named the [[Avicenna (crater)|Avicenna crater]]. [[Bu-Ali Sina University]] in [[Hamedan]] ([[Iran]]), the ''ibn Sīnā'' Tajik State Medical University in [[Dushanbe]] (The capital of the [[Republic of Tajikistan]]), [[Avicenna School]] in [[Karachi]], [[Pakistan]] and Ibne Sina Balkh Medical School in his native province of [[Balkh]] in [[Afghanistan]] are all named in his honor.
[[Image:Avicenna dushanbe.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Avicenna monument in Dushanbe]]
In 1980, the former [[Soviet Union]], which then ruled his birthplace Bukhara, celebrated the thousandth anniversary of Avicenna's birth by circulating various [[commemorative stamp]]s with artistic illustrations, and by erecting a [[bust]] of Avicenna based on [[anthropological]] research by Soviet scholars.<ref name=Aydin>Professor Dr. İbrahim Hakkı Aydin (2001), "Avicenna And Modern Neurological Sciences", ''Journal of Academic Researches in Religious Sciences'' '''1''' (2): 1-4.</ref>
In March 2008, it was announced <ref>Educating health professionals: the Avicenna project ''The Lancet'', Volume 371 pp 966 – 967</ref> that Avicenna’s name would be used for new Directories of education institutions for health care professionals, worldwide. The [[Avicenna Directories]] will list universities and schools where doctors, public health practitioners, pharmacists and others, are educated. The project team stated “Why Avicenna? Avicenna … was … noted for his synthesis of knowledge from both east and west. He has had a lasting influence on the development of medicine and health sciences. The use of Avicenna’s name symbolises the worldwide partnership that is needed for the promotion of health services of high quality.”
==Works==
[[Image:Avicenna.jpg|thumb|Avicenna celebrated on a stamp printed in [[Dubai]].]]
Scarcely any member of the Muslim circle of the sciences, including [[theology]], [[philology]], [[mathematics]], [[astronomy]], [[physics]], and [[music]], was left untouched by the treatises of Ibn Sīnā. This vast quantity of works - be they full-blown treatises or opuscula - vary so much in style and content (if one were to compare between the '''ahd'' made with his disciple Bahmanyar to uphold philosophical integrity with the ''Provenance and Direction'', for example) that Yahya (formerly Jean) Michot has accused him of "neurological bipolarity".
Ibn Sīnā's works numbered almost 450 volumes on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 volumes of his surviving works concentrate on [[Early Islamic philosophy|philosophy]] and 40 of them concentrate on [[Islamic medicine|medicine]].<ref>{{MacTutor Biography|id=Avicenna}}</ref> His most famous works are ''[[The Book of Healing]]'', a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'',<ref name="Britannica"/>
Ibn Sīnā wrote at least one treatise on [[alchemy]], but several others have been falsely attributed to him. His book on [[animal]]s was translated by [[Michael Scot]]. His ''Logic'', ''Metaphysics'', ''Physics'', and ''De Caelo'', are treatises giving a synoptic view of Aristotelian doctrine, though the Metaphysics demonstrates a significant departure from the brand of Neoplatonism known as Aristotelianism in Ibn Sīnā's world; Arabic philosophers have hinted at the idea that Ibn Sīnā was attempting to "re-Aristotelianise" Muslim philosophy in its entirety, unlike his predecessors, who accepted the conflation of Platonic, Aristotelian, Neo- and Middle-Platonic works transmitted into the Muslim world.
The ''Logic'' and ''Metaphysics'' have been printed more than once, the latter, e.g., at Venice in 1493, 1495, and 1546. Some of his shorter essays on medicine, logic, etc., take a poetical form (the poem on logic was published by Schmoelders in 1836). Two encyclopaedic treatises, dealing with philosophy, are often mentioned. The larger, [[The Book of Healing|Al-Shifa']] (''Sanatio''), exists nearly complete in manuscript in the [[Bodleian Library]] and elsewhere; part of it on the ''De Anima'' appeared at Pavia (1490) as the ''Liber Sextus Naturalium'', and the long account of Ibn Sina's philosophy given by [[Muhammad al-Shahrastani]] seems to be mainly an analysis, and in many places a reproduction, of the Al-Shifa'. A shorter form of the work is known as the [[An-najat]] (''Liberatio''). The Latin editions of part of these works have been modified by the corrections which the monastic editors confess that they applied. There is also a '''حكمت مشرقيه''' (''hikmat-al-mashriqqiyya'', in Latin ''Philosophia Orientalis''), mentioned by [[Roger Bacon]], the majority of which is lost in antiquity, which according to Averroes was pantheistic in tone.
===List of Works===
This is the list of some of Avicenna's well-known works:<ref name="Works">[http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/sina/art/ibn%20Sina-REP.htm#islw IBN SINA ABU ‘ALI AL-HUSAYN]</ref>
* ''Sirat al-shaykh al-ra’is'' (''The Life of Ibn Sina''), ed. and trans. WE. Gohlman, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1974. (The only critical edition of Ibn Sina’s autobiography, supplemented with material from a biography by his student Abu ‘Ubayd al-Juzjani. A more recent translation of the Autobiography appears in D. Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophical Works, Leiden: Brill, 1988.)<ref name="Works"/>
* ''Al-Isharat wa-‘l-tanbihat'' (''Remarks and Admonitions''), ed. S. Dunya, Cairo, 1960; parts translated by S.C. Inati, Remarks and Admonitions, Part One: Logic, Toronto, Ont.: Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, 1984, and Ibn Sina and Mysticism, Remarks and Admonitions: Part 4, London: Kegan Paul International, 1996. <ref name="Works"/>
* ''Al-Qanun fi’l-tibb'' (''[[The Canon of Medicine]]''), ed. I. a-Qashsh, Cairo, 1987. (Encyclopedia of medicine.)<ref name="Works"/>
* ''Risalah fi sirr al-qadar'' (''Essay on the Secret of Destiny''), trans. G. Hourani in Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. <ref name="Works"/>
* ''Danishnama-i ‘ala’i'' (''The Book of Scientific Knowledge''), ed. and trans. P Morewedge, The Metaphysics of Avicenna, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. <ref name="Works"/>
* ''Kitab al-Shifa’'' (''[[The Book of Healing]]''). (Ibn Sina’s major work on philosophy. He probably began to compose al-Shifa’ in 1014, and completed it in 1020.) Critical editions of the Arabic text have been published in Cairo, 1952-83, originally under the supervision of I. Madkour<ref name="Works"/>
* ''[[Hayy ibn Yaqdhan]]'' a [[Persian language|Persian]] myth. A [[novel]] called ''Hayy ibn Yaqdhan'', based on Avicenna's story, was later written by [[Ibn Tufail]] (Abubacer) in the 12th century and translated into Latin and English as ''Philosophus Autodidactus'' in the 17th and 18th centuries respectively. In the 13th century, [[Ibn al-Nafis]] wrote his own novel ''Fadil ibn Natiq'', known as ''Theologus Autodidactus'' in the West, as a critical response to ''Hayy ibn Yaqdhan''.<ref>Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), "Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafīs (d. 1288)", pp. 95-102, ''Electronic Theses and Dissertations'', [[University of Notre Dame]].[http://etd.nd.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-11292006-152615]</ref>
==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}
==References==
;Books
*{{cite book|last=Corbin|first=Henry|authorlink=Henry Corbin|coauthors=|title=History of Islamic Philosophy, Translated by Liadain Sherrard, Philip Sherrard|publisher=London; Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies |year=1993 (original French 1964)|isbn=0710304161|pages=p. 167-175}}
*{{cite book|last=Nasr|first=Seyyed Hossein|authorlink=Seyyed Hossein Nasr|coauthors=[[Oliver Leaman]]|title=History of Islamic Philosophy|publisher=Routledge |year=1996|isbn=0415131596}}
*{{cite book|last=Nasr|first=Seyyed Hossein|authorlink=Seyyed Hossein Nasr|coauthors=|title=Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of prophecy|publisher=SUNY Press |year=2006|isbn=0791467996}}
*{{cite book|last=Von Dehsen|first=Christian D.|coauthors=Scott L. Harris|title=Philosophers and religious leaders|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=|isbn=1-5735-6152-5}}
;Encyclopedia
*{{cite encyclopedia|last=Nasr |first=Seyyed Hossein | authorlink=Seyyed Hossein Nasr |title=Avicenna |year=2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online |accessdate=2007-11-05|location=|publisher=|http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna}}
*{{cite encyclopedia|last= |first= | authorlink= |title=Islam |year=2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica Online |accessdate=2007-11-27|location=|publisher=|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-69190/Islam}}
== Further reading==
* A good introduction to his life and philosophical thought is ''Avicenna'' by Lenn E. Goodman (Cornell University Press: 1992, updated edition 2006)
* For Ibn Sina's life, see [[Ibn Khallikan]]'s ''Biographical Dictionary'', translated by [[de Slane]] (1842); [[F. Wüstenfeld]]'s ''Geschichte der arabischen Aerzte und Naturforscher'' (Gottingen, 1840).
* [[Muhammad al-Shahrastani|Shahrastani]], German translation, vol. ii. 213-332
* For a list of extant works, [[C. Brockelmann]]'s ''Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur'' (Weimar, 1898), vol. i. pp. 452-458. (XV. W.; G. W. T.)
* For an overview of his career see [[Shams Inati]], "Ibn Sina" in ''History of Islamic Philosophy'', ed. Hossein Seyyed Nasr and Oliver Leaman, New York: Routledge (1996).
* For a new understanding of his early career, based on a newly discovered text, see also: Michot, Yahya, ''Ibn Sînâ: Lettre au vizir Abû Sa'd''. ''Editio princeps'' d'après le manuscrit de Bursa, traduction de l'arabe, introduction, notes et lexique (Beirut-Paris: Albouraq, 2000) ISBN 2-84161-150-7.
* Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna and Essentialism," ''Review of Metaphysics'', Vol. 54 (June 2001), pp. 753-778
* Nader El-Bizri, "Being and Necessity: A Phenomenological Investigation of Avicenna’s Metaphysics and Cosmology," in ''Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm'', ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2006), pp. 243-261
* Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna’s ''De Anima'' between Aristotle and Husserl," in ''The Passions of the Soul in the Metamorphosis of Becoming'', ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003), pp. 67-89
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Avicenna|title=Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (Avicenna)}}
* For his medicine, see:
* [[Sprengel]], ''Histoire de la Medicine''
* [[Edward Granville Browne|Edward G. Browne]], ''Islamic Medicine'', 2002, Goodword Pub., ISBN 81-87570-19-9
* For his philosophy, see:
* Michot, Jean R., ''La destinée de l'homme selon Avicenne'' (Leuven: Peeters, 1986) ISBN 90-6381-071-2.
* [[Dimitri Gutas]], "Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna's Philosophical Works" (Leiden: Brill 1988)
* [[Reisman, David C.]] (ed.), "Before and After Avicenna: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group" (Leiden: Brill 2003)
* The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, edited by P. Adamson and R. Taylor, (Cambridge: Cambridge: University Press 2005)
* Amos Bertolacci, The reception of Aristotle's Metaphysics in Avicenna's Kitab al-Sifa'. A milestone of Western metaphysical thought (Leiden: Brill 2006)
* Avicenne: ''Réfutation de l'astrologie''. Edition et traduction du texte arabe, introduction, notes et lexique par Yahya Michot. Préface d'Elizabeth Teissier (Beirut-Paris: Albouraq, 2006) ISBN 2-84161-304-6.
* Shoja MM, Tubbs RS. The disorder of love in the Canon of Avicenna (A.D. 980-1037). Am J Psychiatry 2007; 164:228–229.
* Gordon, Stewart. ''When Asia was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks who created the "Riches of the East"'' Da Capo Press, Perseus Books, 2008. ISBN 0-306-81556-7.
* Nader El-Bizri, ''The Phenomenological Quest between Avicenna and Heidegger'' (Binghamton, N.Y.: Global Publications SUNY, 2000).
==External links==
{{commonscat}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna Avicenna] an article by [[Seyyed Hossein Nasr]] on Encyclopedia Britannica Online
*[http://nigelwarburton.typepad.com/philosophy_bites/2007/09/peter-adamson-o.html ''Philosophy Bites'' podcast on Avicenna].
* [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v3f1/v3f1a046.html Avicenna] An article by [[encyclopedia Iranica]]
* [http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/sina/art/ibn%20Sina-REP.htm Biography & Works] from Routledge
* [http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/sina/index.html Ibn Sina (Islamic Philosophy Online)]
* [http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/sina/art/ei-is.htm Ibn Sina] from the [[Encyclopedia of Islam]]
* [http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/avicenna.htm Avicenna/Ibn Sina] at the [[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]
* [http://www.irandokht.com/editorial/print.php?area=pro§ionID=9&editorialID=2153 Physician's Day in Iran: A Reference Article on Pur Sina (Avicenna) by Manouchehr Saadat Noury]'''
* [http://www.farhangsara.com/ibn_sina.htm Biography of Avicenna (in English)]
* [http://www.ummah.net/history/scholars/ibn_sina/ Biography of Avicenna]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02157a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Avicenna]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20071108.shtml ''In Our Time'', BBC 4 Radio podcast, 45 minutes on Avicenna]
==See also==
<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;">
* ''[[The Book of Healing]]''
* ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]''
* [[Abu al-Qasim]]
* [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]]
* [[Islamic science]]
** [[Islamic medicine]]
** [[List of Muslim scientists]]
* [[Science and technology in Iran]]
** [[Ancient Iranian Medicine]]
** [[List of Iranian scientists and scholars]]
* [[Eastern philosophy]]
* [[Iranian philosophy]]
* [[Islamic philosophy]]
** [[Early Islamic philosophy]]
** [[Sufi philosophy]]
* [[Scholasticism]]
* [[History of medicine]]
* [[Islamic scholars]]
* [[Al-Qumri]]
* [[Avicenna Peak]]
* ''[[Avicennia]]'', a genus of [[mangrove]] named after Ibn Sīnā
</div>
</br>
{{Islamic mathematics}}
{{Islamic philosophy}}
{{Medieval Philosophy}}
{{Philosophy topics}}
{{Logic}}
{{ancient anaesthesia-footer}}
[[Category:11th century philosophers]]
[[Category:Islamic mathematics]]
[[Category:Medieval physicians of Persia]]
[[Category:Persian people]]
[[Category:Aristotelian philosophers]]
[[Category:Muslim philosophers]]
[[Category:Persian philosophers]]
[[Category:History of medicine]]
[[Category:Alchemists]]
[[Category:Shi'a Muslim scholars of Islam]]
[[Category:Classical humanists]]
[[Category:980 births]]
[[Category:1037 deaths]]
[[Category:Iranian scientists]]
[[Category:Shi'a Muslims]]
[[ar:ابن سينا]]
[[az:İbn Sina]]
[[bn:ইবন সিনা]]
[[bs:Ibn Sina]]
[[br:Avisenna]]
[[bg:Авицена]]
[[ca:Avicenna]]
[[cs:Avicenna]]
[[cy:Avicenna]]
[[da:Avicenna]]
[[de:Avicenna]]
[[et:Ibn Sīnā]]
[[el:Αβικέννας]]
[[es:Avicena]]
[[eo:Aviceno]]
[[eu:Avizena]]
[[fa:ابن سینا]]
[[fr:Avicenne]]
[[gl:Avicena]]
[[ko:이븐 시나]]
[[hy:Ավիցեննա]]
[[hr:Ibn Sina]]
[[id:Ibnu Sina]]
[[is:Avicenna]]
[[it:Avicenna]]
[[he:אבן סינא]]
[[ky:Авиценна]]
[[ku:Îbn-î Sîna]]
[[la:Avicenna]]
[[lt:Avicena]]
[[hu:Avicenna]]
[[ms:Abu Ali Al-Hussain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina]]
[[nl:Avicenna]]
[[ja:イブン=スィーナー]]
[[no:Avicenna]]
[[ug:Ibin sina]]
[[uz:Abu Ali ibn Sino]]
[[ps:ابن سينا بلخي]]
[[pl:Awicenna]]
[[pt:Avicena]]
[[ro:Avicenna]]
[[ru:Авиценна]]
[[simple:Avicenna]]
[[sk:Ibn Síná]]
[[sr:Ибн Сина]]
[[sh:Ibn Sina]]
[[su:Ibnu Sina]]
[[fi:Avicenna]]
[[sv:Avicenna]]
[[te:ఇబ్నె సీనా]]
[[tg:Абӯалӣ Сино]]
[[tr:İbn-i Sina]]
[[uk:Авіценна]]
[[ur:ابن سینا]]
[[bat-smg:Avėcena]]
[[zh:阿维森纳]]