The Philosophy Book

76

THE SOUL

IS DISTINCT

FROM

THE BODY

AVICENNA (980–1037)

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Metaphysics

APPROACH

Arabic Aristotelianism

BEFORE

c.400 BCE Plato argues that

mind and body are distinct

substances.

4th century BCE Aristotle

argues that mind is the “form”

of the body.

c.800–950 CE Aristotle’s works

are translated into Arabic for

the first time.

AFTER

1250s–60s Thomas Aquinas

adapts Aristotle’s account of

the mind and body.

1640 René Descartes argues

for dualism in his Meditations.

1949 Gilbert Ryle describes

dualism as a “category mistake”

in The Concept of Mind.

A

vicenna, also known as

Ibn Sînâ, is the most

important philosopher in

the Arabic tradition, and one of the

world’s greatest thinkers. Like his

predecessors, al-Kindî and al-Fârâbî,

and his successor, Averroes,

Avicenna self-consciously marked

himself out as a philosopher rather

than an Islamic theologian, choosing

to follow Greek wisdom and the

path of reasoning and proof. In

particular, he saw himself as a

follower of Aristotle, and his main

writings are encyclopedias of

Aristotelian philosophy.

However, these works explain

Aristotle’s philosophy as re-thought

and synthesized by Avicenna. On