What do you think?
Rate this book
A Compendium On The Soul
About the author:
Avicenna (980 – 1037) was an atheist Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. Of the 450 works he is known to have written, around 240 have survived, including 150 on philosophy and 40 on medicine.
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").
Avicenna's psychology requires that connection between the body and soul be strong enough to ensure the soul's individuation, but weak enough to allow for its immortality. Avicenna grounds his psychology on physiology, which means his account of the soul is one that deals almost entirely with the natural science of the body and its abilities of perception. Thus, the philosopher's connection between the soul and body is explained almost entirely by his understanding of perception; in this way, bodily perception interrelates with the immaterial human intellect. In sense perception, the perceiver senses the form of the object; first, by perceiving features of the object by our external senses. This sensory information is supplied to the internal senses, which merge all the pieces into a whole, unified conscious experience. This process of perception and abstraction is the nexus of the soul and body, for the material body may only perceive material objects, while the immaterial soul may only receive the immaterial, universal forms. The way the soul and body interact in the final abstraction of the universal from the concrete particular is the key to their relationship and interaction, which takes place in the physical body.[72]
The soul completes the action of intellection by accepting forms that have been abstracted from matter. This process requires a concrete particular (material) to be abstracted into the universal intelligible (immaterial). The material and immaterial interact through the Active Intellect, which is a "divine light" containing the intelligible forms. The Active Intellect reveals the universals concealed in material objects much like the sun makes color available to our eyes.
This translation published in 1906 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
Avicenna (980 – 1037) was an atheist Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. Of the 450 works he is known to have written, around 240 have survived, including 150 on philosophy and 40 on medicine.
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").
Avicenna's psychology requires that connection between the body and soul be strong enough to ensure the soul's individuation, but weak enough to allow for its immortality. Avicenna grounds his psychology on physiology, which means his account of the soul is one that deals almost entirely with the natural science of the body and its abilities of perception. Thus, the philosopher's connection between the soul and body is explained almost entirely by his understanding of perception; in this way, bodily perception interrelates with the immaterial human intellect. In sense perception, the perceiver senses the form of the object; first, by perceiving features of the object by our external senses. This sensory information is supplied to the internal senses, which merge all the pieces into a whole, unified conscious experience. This process of perception and abstraction is the nexus of the soul and body, for the material body may only perceive material objects, while the immaterial soul may only receive the immaterial, universal forms. The way the soul and body interact in the final abstraction of the universal from the concrete particular is the key to their relationship and interaction, which takes place in the physical body.[72]
The soul completes the action of intellection by accepting forms that have been abstracted from matter. This process requires a concrete particular (material) to be abstracted into the universal intelligible (immaterial). The material and immaterial interact through the Active Intellect, which is a "divine light" containing the intelligible forms. The Active Intellect reveals the universals concealed in material objects much like the sun makes color available to our eyes.
This translation published in 1906 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1906
22 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Avicenna
313 books891 followers(Arabic: ابن سينا)
(Persian: ابوعلی سینا، پورسینا)
(Greek: Aβιτζιανός, Avitzianós)
Europeans used Canon of Medicine , a standard textbook of noted Persian physician and Neoplatonist philosopher Avicenna, also ibn Sina, fully named Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdullah ibn Sina, until the 17th century.
Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sīnā, known more commonly as Pour Sina but mostly in English under Avicenna, his Latinized name, a foremost polymath of his time, originated. He also qualifies as an astronomer, chemist, geologist, Hafiz, logician, paleontologist, mathematician, Maktab teacher, physicist, poet, and scientist.
Ibn Sīnā studied under a named Koushyar. He wrote almost four hundred fifty treatises on a wide range of subjects; two hundred forty works survive. His most famous works include The Book of Healing , a vast scientific encyclopedia at many medieval universities. The universities of Montpellier and Louvain used his books as late as 1650.
Ibn Sīnā provides a complete system according to the principles of Galen and Hippocrates.
(Persian: ابوعلی سینا، پورسینا)
(Greek: Aβιτζιανός, Avitzianós)
Europeans used Canon of Medicine , a standard textbook of noted Persian physician and Neoplatonist philosopher Avicenna, also ibn Sina, fully named Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdullah ibn Sina, until the 17th century.
Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sīnā, known more commonly as Pour Sina but mostly in English under Avicenna, his Latinized name, a foremost polymath of his time, originated. He also qualifies as an astronomer, chemist, geologist, Hafiz, logician, paleontologist, mathematician, Maktab teacher, physicist, poet, and scientist.
Ibn Sīnā studied under a named Koushyar. He wrote almost four hundred fifty treatises on a wide range of subjects; two hundred forty works survive. His most famous works include The Book of Healing , a vast scientific encyclopedia at many medieval universities. The universities of Montpellier and Louvain used his books as late as 1650.
Ibn Sīnā provides a complete system according to the principles of Galen and Hippocrates.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 5, 2020
Despite the shortness of the read this is not something that should be skimmed through. Avicenna is the most fascinating philosopher I know of and to read this compendium on the soul that he wrote, as an active doctor at the mere age of 16, is an experience. I made so many markings along the way while reading this. I wondered how he would have thought about it all if he lived today. I wondered a lot about the parts where we completely disagreed.
The added commentary by the translator Edward Dyck was insightful and dripping of admiration and respect for the original thinker and it was a pleasure to read all of it, often twice over.
The added commentary by the translator Edward Dyck was insightful and dripping of admiration and respect for the original thinker and it was a pleasure to read all of it, often twice over.
February 26, 2023
You would be hard pressed to mix science with religion and proceed to craft a definite statement.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews