Avicenna on the Soul’s Power to Manipulate Material Objects

Year 2015, Issue: 30, 145 - 157, 15.05.2015

Yasin R. Başaran

Abstract

In his
article on the foundations of Ficino’s ideas on magic, James Hankins observes
that, where Ficino justifies non-material causation in the universe, he is
heavily indebted to Avicenna. As Hankins also points out, this Avicennan idea
clearly violates the Aristotelian maxim that ‘physical causation requires
contact’. Because Avicenna holds the view that the soul is neither a physical
entity nor simply the form of body, Avicenna’s consent to the soul to
manipulate material objects means assignment of the soul to perform actions
upon physical nature. According to Hankins, this consent resorts to a vertical
connectivity between physical objects and the human soul. However, we do not
see in Hankins’s argument how this connection can occur according to Avicenna
and on what grounds Avicenna lets the soul cause changes on material objects.

Keywords

İbni Sina

Avicenna on the Soul’s Power to Manipulate Material Objects

Abstract

In his article on the foundations of Ficino’s ideas on magic, James Hankins observes that, where Ficino justifies non-material causation in the universe, he is heavily indebted to Avicenna. As Hankins also points out, this Avicennan idea clearly violates the Aristotelian maxim that ‘physical causation requires contact’. Because Avicenna holds the view that the soul is neither a physical entity nor simply the form of body, Avicenna’s consent to the soul to manipulate material objects means assignment of the soul to perform actions upon physical nature. According to Hankins, this consent resorts to a vertical connectivity between physical objects and the human soul. However, we do not see in Hankins’s argument how this connection can occur according to Avicenna and on what grounds Avicenna lets the soul cause changes on material objects.

Keywords

Avicenna

References

• Druart, Thérèse-Anne. “The Human Soul’s Individuation and Its Survival After the Body’s Death: Avicenna on the Causal Relation Between Body and Soul.” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 10, no. 2 (2000): 259–273.
• Goodman, Lenn Evan. “A Note on Avicenna’s Theory of the Substantiality of the Soul.” Philosophical Forum (Boston) 1 (June 1, 1969): 547–554.
• Gutas, Dimitri. “Avicenna: The Metaphysics of the Rational Soul.” The Muslim World 102, no. 3–4 (October 2012): 417–425.
• Hankins, James. “Ficino, Avicenna and the Occult Powers of the Rational Soul” (2007). http://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/3223908.
• Inati, Shams. Ibn Sina and Mysticism: Remarks and Admonitions: Part Four. 1st ed. Kegan Paul International, 1996.
• Marmura, Michael E. “Avicenna’s Psychological Proof of Prophecy.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 22, no. 1 (January 1, 1963): 49–56.