The proceedings of the first meeting of the Avicenna Study Group was published on 25 April 2003 under the title Before and After Avicenna: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group as volume 52 in the series “Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science: Texts and Studies” (Leiden/Boston: Brill). The volume was edited by David C. Reisman, in close collaboration with Ahmed al-Rahim, and consisted of an introduction followed by thirteen papers divided intro three categories to a total of 302+xix pages.
Official Blurb
This volume contains the proceedings of the first meeting of the Avicenna Study Group. Each of the papers presents the most recent research conclusions in its respective topic. These conclusions include new insights into Avicenna’s revision of Aristotle and Plotinus, specific areas of his theories of psychology and metaphysics, his intellectual interaction with the theologians of his period, the historical and social context in which Avicenna worked, the reception of his thought among Syriac-writing authors, among later Ishraqi philosophers, and in Shiʿite peripatetic philosophy. These insights range from new interpretations of his extant corpus, to compelling theories on the factors contributing to his philosophical innovations. In many cases, these papers present hitherto unexamined textual evidence that will contribute greatly to a new methodology in Avicenna studies, and Arabic-Islamic philosophy in general.
Table of Contents
Before Avicenna
Asad Q. Ahmed: “Avicenna’s Treatment of Aristotelian Modals: A Study based on Conversion Rules and the Barbara Problematic” (pp. 3–24)
Amos Bertolacci: “Some Texts of Aristotle’s Metaphysics in the Ilāhīyāt of Avicenna’s Kitāb aš-Šifāʾ ” (pp. 25–47)
Robert Wisnovsky: “Towards a History of Avicenna’s Distinction between Immanent and Transcendent Causes” (pp. 49–68)
Rahim Acar: “Intellect versus Active Intellect: Plotinus and Avicenna” (pp. 69–87)
The Age of Avicenna
David C. Reisman: “Stealing Avicenna’s Books: A Study of the Historical Sources for the Life and Times of Avicenna” (pp. 91–126)
Alnoor Dhanani: “Rocks in the Heavens?! The Encounter between ʿAbd al-Ǧabbār and Ibn Sīnā” (pp. 127–144)
Dimitri Gutas: “Medical Theory and Scientific Method in the Age of Avicenna” (pp. 145–162)
Tariq Jaffer: “Bodies, Souls and Resurrection in Avicenna’s ar-Risāla al-Aḍḥawīya fī amr al-maʿād” (pp. 163–174)
After Avicenna
Jules Janssens: “Bahmanyār ibn Marzubān: A Faithful Disciple of Ibn Sina?” (pp. 177–197)
Toby Mayer: “Faḫr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī’s Critique of Ibn Sīnā’s Argument for the Unity of God in the Išārāt, and Naṣīr ad-Dīn aṭ-Ṭūsī’s Defence” (pp. 199–218)
Ahmed H. Al-Rahim: “The Twelver-Šīʿī Reception of Avicenna in the Mongol Period” (pp. 219–231)
Sajjad Rizvi: “Process Metaphysics in Islam? Avicenna and Mullā Šadrā on Intensification in Being” (pp. 233–247)
Hidemi Takahashi: “The Reception of Ibn Sīnā in Syriac: The Case of Gregory Barhebraeus” (pp. 249–281)