English | 2024 | PDF | 5 MB | 337 Pages
Damien Janos, 3111390020, 3111389529, 9783111389523, 9783111389905, 9783111390024, 978-3111389523, 978-3111389905, 978-3111390024
In how many ways can things be said to
be one, how is oneness itself to be defined, and what is its relation
to essence and existence? This book engages with these core questions
by examining the works of Avicenna (d. 1037 CE), who is widely regarded
as the most important philosopher of the Arabic tradition. In this
monograph - the first that is exclusively devoted to Avicenna’s
henology and to Arabic henology in general - the author analyzes the
place and meaning of oneness in Avicenna’s general metaphysics and
theology and devotes particular attention to how this notion relates to
Avicenna’s theory of quiddity. He contextualizes Avicenna’s doctrines
in light of three major intellectual currents (ancient Greek
philosophy, early Arabic philosophy, and Islamic theology or kalām) and
also offers the first detailed analysis of oneness in the Bahshamite
tradition. The book challenges the prevailing interpretation of
Avicenna’s henology and adduces new textual evidence to show that
Avicenna developed an innovative theory of oneness that expresses the
essential reality and self-identity of a thing. This foundational sense
of oneness is applied to all the pure quiddities and, in an eminent
and prior way, to God.
