Avicenna
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Avicenna
(Arabic, Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina) (980-1037), Iranian
Islamic philosopher and physician, born near Bukhoro (now in Uzbekistan).
The son of a government official, Avicenna studied medicine and philosophy
in Bukhoro. At the age of 18 he was rewarded for his medical abilities
with the post of court physician to the Samanid ruler of Bukhoro. He remained
in this position until the fall (999) of the Samanid Empire, and spent
the last 14 years of his life as scientific adviser and physician to the
ruler of Esfahan (Isfahan).
Regarded by Muslims as one of the greatest Islamic philosophers, Avicenna
is an important figure in the fields of medicine and philosophy. His work
The Canon of Medicine was long preeminent in the Middle East and in Europe
as a textbook. It is significant as a systematic classification and summary
of medical and pharmaceutical knowledge up to and including Avicenna's
time. The first Latin translation of the work was made in the 12th century,
the Hebrew version appeared in 1491, and the Arabic text in 1593, the second
text ever printed in Arabic.
Avicenna's best-known philosophical work is Kitab ash-Shifa (Book of
Healing), a collection of treatises on Aristotelian logic, metaphysics,
psychology, the natural sciences, and other subjects. Avicenna's own philosophy
was based on a combination of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. Contrary
to orthodox Islamic thought, Avicenna denied personal immortality, God's
interest in individuals, and the creation of the world in time. Because
of his views, Avicenna became the main target of an attack on such philosophy
by the Islamic philosopher al-Ghazali. Nevertheless, Avicenna's philosophy
remained influential throughout the Middle Ages.
"Avicenna," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 97 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1996 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
