The Third International Meeting of the Avicenna Study Group “Surveying the summae: Comparisons and Contrasts among Avicenna‘s Eight Main Works” (hosted by Trier University) will be held online. It will feature seven weekly sessions from 01 June to 13 July (every Tuesday), consisting of two presentations each. Including the Q&A and breaks, sessions will not exceed a total time of 3 hours.
Download the programme booklet here as a PDF [12 MB].
Please register if you want to attend the conference and receive the password for the link to the stream.
- Time Slot A: 8am PDT/11am EDT/4pm BST/5pm CEST (German time)/6pm EEST/7.30pm IRDT/midnight JST
- Time Slot B: 9.30am PDT/12.30pm EDT/5.30pm BST/6.30pm CEST (German time)/7.30pm EEST/9pm IRDT/1.30am JST
The first presentation (Time Slot A) will last for 45 minutes with just the quickest of breaks after 25-30 minutes. – Afterwards we will have further 30 minutes for discussion, followed by a 10 minute break. – After that break, we will begin with the second presentation (Time Slot B) will likewise last for 45 minutes, again with a quick break after 25-30 minutes. – After the presentation we will have further 30 minutes for discussion. – After the discussion (around 8pm CEST), the official session will be closed, but we invite you to enter our permanent discussion rooms to have a cup of coffee or tea, to continue talking about the presentations, or to drift off to further topics.
01 June 2021: Session One
Time Slot A
Welcome address by Prof. Dr. Michael Jäckel (President of Trier University)
Introduction by Andreas Lammer
Jon McGinnis (University of Missouri – St. Louis): “Elementary Physics: Exploratory Thoughts on Avicenna’s Theory of the Elements”
Time Slot B + 15 minutes
Silvia Di Vincenzo (IMT Lucca): “Bigger Books on Logic: A Comparative Analysis of Avicenna’s Šifāʾ, Naǧāt, and Išārāt”
08 June 2021: Session Two
Time Slot A
Olga Lizzini (Université Aix-Marseille): “The Book of the Guidance: Doctrinal Points and Communicational Methods – Introducing Avicenna’s Kitāb al-Hidāya”
Time Slot B
Yuta Komura (Waseda University, Tokyo): “Avicenna on Divine Providence and its Relationship to the Problem of God’s Knowledge of Particulars”
15 June 2021: Session Three
Time Slot A
Mohammad Saleh Zarepour (University of Birmingham): “Avicenna’s Treatment of the Mapping Argument in ʿUyūn al-ḥikma, al-Šifāʾ, al-Naǧāt, and Dānešnāme-ye ʿAlāʾī”
Time Slot B
Dustin Klinger (Harvard University): “The Analysis of Simple Categorical Statements across Avicenna’s Main Works”
22 June 2021: Session Four
Time Slot A
Dimitri Gutas (Yale University, emeritus): “‘The Qurʾān of the Elite’: Avicenna’s Išārāt as it Relates to his Earlier summae and Determines Later (Para-)Philosophy”
Time Slot B
Tommaso Alpina (LMU Munich): “One summa within Another? The Case of Ḥayawān between Qānūn and Šifāʾ ”
29 June 2021: Session Five
Time Slot A
Amos Bertolacci (IMT Lucca): “The Doctrine of Causality in the Šifāʾ and in Avicenna’s Previous summae: Dynamics of Selection and Appropriation”
Time Slot B
Shahrzad Irannejad (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz): “Avicenna’s Inner Senses and their Ventricular Localization in the summae”
06 July 2021: Session Six
Time Slot A
Jules Janssens (De Wulf–Mansion Centre, Leuven): “Avicenna on Dreams (Especially Visionary Dreams): A Doctrinal and Terminological Survey of his Major Works”
Time Slot B
Alexander Lamprakis (LMU Munich): “Avicenna’s View(s) on Dialectic”
13 July 2021: Seventh and last Session
Time Slot A
Mostafa Najafi (University of Lucerne) & Nadja Germann (ALU Freiburg): “Connecting Minds – Constructing Knowledge: Avicenna on Signification and Understanding”
Time Slot B
Wahid Amin (Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham): “Avicenna, the Soul, and the Pursuit of Happiness”
