Necessary Existence and the Doctrine of Being in Avicenna’s Metaphysics of the Healing

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In Necessary Existence and the Doctrine of Being in Avicenna’s Metaphysics of the Healing Daniel De Haan explicates the central argument of Avicenna’s metaphysical masterpiece. De Haan argues that the most fundamental primary notion in Avicenna’s metaphysics is neither being nor thing but is the necessary (wājib), which Avicenna employs to demonstrate the existence and true-nature of the divine necessary existence in itself. This conclusion is established through a systematic investigation of how Avicenna’s theory of a demonstrative science is employed in the organization of his metaphysical science into its subject, first principles, and objects of enquiry. The book examines the essential role the first principles as primary notions and primary hypotheses play in the central argument of Avicenna’s metaphysics.

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Copyright Year:
2020
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978-90-04-43452-3
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10 Aug 2020
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978-90-04-43037-2
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13 Aug 2020
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Daniel D. De Haan, Ph.D. (2015) University of St Thomas and KU Leuven, is a Research Fellow at Oxford University. He has published in The Journal of the History of Philosophy, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, The Thomist, Quaestio, Documenti e studi.
'Avicenna scholars know well that Avicenna (980–1037) aspired to present his metaphysics in the form of an Aristotelian science. The mélange of topics that make up Avicenna’s Metaphysics often appears disjointed and rambling, making it difficult to see how successful he was in this aspiration. Daniel D. De Haan’s book provides an aerial view of Avicenna’s Metaphysics, which argues that Avicenna succeeded. More specifically, De Haan suggests how Avicenna’s conception of the “necessary” links the general subject of metaphysics (namely, being qua being) to its ultimate goal (namely, a scientific study of God). In this respect, De Haan’s work is less of a commentary on Avicenna’s Metaphysics than a metacommentary [...] De Haan’s study overall is rich and rewarding for anyone who intends to take a deep dive into Avicenna’s Metaphysics of the Healing.'
Jon McGinnis, in Journal of the History of Philosophy 60 (2021).
 Acknowledgements
 Abbreviations
 Primary Sources and Translations
 Works of Avicenna
 Other Primary Works
 Introduction: Avicenna’sMetaphysics of the Healing
 The Problematic
 An Outline of the Contents
 Summary

Part 1: The Logical Context of the Metaphysics of the Healing


 1Logic, Knowledge, and Questions
 1.1Avicenna’s Logic in Context
 1.2Knowledge by Conceptualization and Assent
 1.3The Heuristic Order of Questions
 Concluding Remarks
 2Conceptualization, Assent, and Scientific Knowledge
 2.1Primary and Acquired Knowledge by Conceptualization
 2.2Primary and Acquired Knowledge by Assent
 2.3Logic, Knowledge, and Demonstrative Science
 Concluding Remarks

Part 2: Scientific Order of the Metaphysics of the Healing


 3Subject & Goal of the Science of Metaphysics
 3.1Avicenna’s Metaphysics of the Healing in Context
 3.2The Subject & Goal of a Scientific Metaphysics
 3.3The Objects of Enquiry of a Scientific Metaphysics
 Concluding Remarks
 4The Scientific First Principles of the Science of Metaphysics
 4.1Scientific First Principles and Interpretations ofssIlahiyyatsssI.5–8
 4.2Conceptualization, Assent, and the Textual Division ofIlahiyyatI.5–8
 4.3The Goal ofIlahiyyatI.5–8
 Concluding Remarks

Part 3: Scientific Principles and the Senses of Being


 5The Four Senses of Being and the Scientific Principles of Metaphysics: A Formal Approach
 5.1The Four Senses of Being in Aristotle, al-Farabi, & Avicenna
 5.2Avicenna’s Integration of the Four Senses of Being and the Scientific Principles
 Concluding Remarks
 6The Four Senses of Being and the Scientific Principles of Metaphysics: A Material Approach to the Principles of Conceptualization
 6.1Primary Notions
 6.2A Comparison of the Primary Notions
 Concluding Remarks
 7The Four Senses of Being and the Scientific Principles of Metaphysics: A Material Approach to the Principles of Assent
 7.1Primary Hypotheses
 7.2Primary Axioms
 Concluding Remarks
 8Beingper se & Beingper accidens: On the Analogy & Accidentality of Existence
 8.1Beingper se & the Analogy of Existence
 8.2Beingper accidens & the Accidentality of Existence
 Concluding Remarkss

Part 4: Basic & Fundamental Principles in the


 9The Basic Primary Notions in Avicenna’s Metaphysics
 9.1The Primary Notions as Prior to their Opposites
 9.2Primary Notions: Subordination by Intensional Priority
 9.3The Intensional Subordination of One(wa?id)
 9.4The Intensional Subordination of Thing(šay?)to Being(mawjud)
 Concluding Remarks
 10The Fundamental Primary Notion in Avicenna’s Metaphysics
 10.1The Necessary as the Fundamental Primary Notion in Ontology
 10.2The Necessary as the Fundamental Primary Notion in Aitiology
 10.3The Necessary as the Fundamental Primary Notion in Theology
 Concluding Remarks
 Conclusion
 Bibliography
 Primary Sources and Translations
 Secondary Sources
 Index
All interested in the philosophy of Avicenna, medieval philosophy, the history of Aristotelian metaphysics, the transcendentals of being, and anyone interested in medieval Islamic philosophical theology.
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