Avicenna and his Legacy: A Golden Age of Science and Philosophy (review)

Avicenna and his Legacy: A Golden Age of Science and Philosophy represents a significant advance in our understanding of the significance of Avicenna (Abu Ali Avicenna, 980-1037). Avicenna was one of the principal philosophers in the medieval Hellenistic Islamic tradition. His philosophical theories were a rationalistic account of the nature of Being and God, in which the corporeal world, spirit and logical thought, including dialectic, rhetoric, and poetry, were systematically arranged. This volume examines Avicenna's impact, and that of his followers and critics, on Muslim and Jewish thinking.

The first paper by Ahmed H al-Rahim casts light on the disciples of Avicenna and the transmission of his philosophy. This paper not only assists in placing the subsequent papers into a temporal context but also demonstrates that Avicenna influenced contemporary philosophers as well as his pupils. The inclusion of his philosophy in the works of contemporary philosophers facilitated its broader transmission and acceptance.

The following four papers, by Frank Griffel, M. Afifi Al-Akiti, Binyamin Abrahamov, and Anna Akasoy, consider aspects of the work of Abu Hamid al-Ghazālī (1058-1111), a significant philosopher who made a close study of Avicenna. In a methodical paper, Heidrun Eichner examines the Avicennan distinction between 'essence' and 'existence' through Ibn Kammuna's (d. 1284) work on existence in al-Jadid fi l-hikma. Nahyan Fancy analyses Ibn al-Nafis' (d. 1288) stance on the issue of the human soul touching the divine, which conflicted with Avicenna's. David B. Burrell continues with the theme of 'existence' from the perspective of the influential seventeenth-century Muslim scholar Mulla Sadra, who was also critical of Avicenna. Robert Wisnovsky turns to Avicenna's stance on Aristotelian logic. Sari Nusseibeh considers Providence through a complex and interesting web of ideas. Leigh N. Chipman provides a critical commentary and translation of sections of the foremost commentaries on Avicenna's al-Qānūn fi al-Tibb written by Qutb al-Din al-Shīrāzī. F. Jamil Ragep examines Avicenna's impact on a work on astronomy by al-Juzjānī. Robert Morrison analyses the relationship between astronomy and philosophy through the work of Nizām al-Din al-Nisāburī (d. 1330). Steven Harvey considers Avicenna's influence on Jewish thinkers. The final paper by Paul B. Fenton reflects upon the perceived writings of the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides on metempsychosis, the transmigration of the soul, a theory that was rejected by Avicenna.

The collection of papers is diverse, of exceptional quality and covers Avicenna's work on astronomy, medicine, logic and philosophy. This volume presents a comprehensive study of his influences and his legacy, mainly focusing on the early medieval period. However, there is an important omission from the discussion. Avicenna was a significant mathematician of his time. His most important work in this field is his encyclopaedic work, the Kitab al-Shifa' (The Book of Healing) and unfortunately this work is not mentioned in this volume. Also the followers and critics, and the legacy of Avicenna mentioned in this volume are all from the 'Golden Age of Science and Philosophy' of the Jewish and Muslim tradition, yet Avicenna also had a significant legacy in Western scholarship of the Renaissance.

Avicenna's al-Qānūn fi al-Tibb (The Law of Medicine) challenged the established medical text of Galen. Although Al-Qānūn fi al-Tibb was translated into Latin in the twelfth century, it did not make an impact on Western scholarship until the fifteenth century. However, the impact was a significant one and at the end of the fifteenth century there were fifteen Latin editions and Al-Qānān fi al-Tibb had gained pre-eminence in the medical literature of the Renaissance, replacing the works of Galen. The legacy of the 'Golden Age of Science and Philosophy' of Western scholarship is totally...