, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , (c. 980 - 1037) was a PersianThe Persian people are the majority ethnic group in Iran. However, there are sub-groups who speak the Persian language as their mother tongue throughout the Iranian plateau. The term Persian has also a supra-ethnic significance and has been historically referred to a part of Iranian peoples...
polymathA polymath is a person whose expertise fills a significant number of subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply refer to someone who is very knowledgeable...
and the foremost physician and philosopher of his timeIslamic philosophy is a branch of Islamic studies, and is a longstanding attempt to create harmony between philosophy and the religious teachings of Islam .-Definition:...
. He was also an astronomerIn the history of astronomy, Islamic astronomy or Arabic astronomy refers to the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age , and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia,...
, chemistAlchemy and chemistry in Islam refers to the study of both traditional alchemy and early practical chemistry by Muslim scientists in the medieval Islamic world...
, geologistIslamic geography includes the advancement of geography, cartography and earth sciences under various Islamic civilizations. During the medieval ages, Islamic geography was driven by a number of factors: the Islamic Golden Age, parallel development of Islamic astronomy, translation of ancient texts...
, logicianLogic played an important role in Islamic philosophy. Islamic law and jurisprudence placed importance on formulating standards of argument, which gave rise to a novel approach to logic in Kalam, as seen in the method of qiyas...
, paleontologist, mathematicianIn the history of mathematics, mathematics in medieval Islam, sometimes termed Islamic mathematics, is the mathematics developed in the Islamic world between 622 and 1600, during what is known as the Islamic Golden Age...
, physicist, poetIslamic poetry is poetry written by Muslims on the topic of Islam. Islamic poetry has been written in many languages.-Islamic poetry in different languages:* Arabic poetry* Bengali poetry* Persian poetry* Turkish poetry* Urdu poetry...
, psychologist, scientistScience in medieval Islam, also known as Islamic science, is a term used in the history of science to refer to the science developed in the Islamic world between the 7th and 16th centuries, a period also known as the Islamic Golden Age. Scientists from the region were also known to develop many...
and teacherIn education, a teacher is a person who educates others. A teacher who educates an individual student may also be described as a personal tutor....
.
Ibn Sīnā studied medicine under a physician named Koushyar. He wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine. His most famous works are The Book of HealingThe Book of Healing is a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by the Persian polymath Abū Alī ibn Sīnā from Asfahana, near Bukhara in Greater Persia...
, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and The Canon of MedicineThe Canon of Medicine is a 14-volume medical encyclopedia written by Islamic scientist and physician Ibn Sīnā...
, which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. The Canon of Medicine was used as a text-book in the universities of MontpellierThe University of Montpellier was a French university in Montpellier in the Languedoc-Roussillon région of the south of France. Its present-day successor universities are the University of Montpellier 1, Montpellier 2 University and Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III.-History:The university...
and LouvainThe Université catholique de Louvain, sometimes known as UCL, is Belgium's largest French-speaking university, and a successor institution to the oldest university in the Low Countries. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve and in Brussels...
as late as 1650.
Ibn Sīnā developed a medical system that combined his own personal experience with that of Islamic medicine, the medical system of the GreekThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
physician GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
, AristotelianAristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato’s theories. Most particularly, Aristotelianism brings Plato’s ideals down to Earth as goals and goods internal...
metaphysicsMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
(Avicenna was one of the main interpreters of AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
), and ancient PersianThe practice and study of medicine in Persia has a long and prolific history. The Iranian academic centers like Jundishapur University were a breeding ground for the union among great scientists from different civilizations...
, MesopotamiaMesopotamia "land between the rivers" is a name for the Tigris–Euphrates region in the eastern Mediterranean, largely corresponding to Iraq, as well as northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khūzestān Province of southwestern...
n and Indian medicineAyurveda is a system of traditional medicine native to India and practiced in other parts of the world as a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, the word Ayurveda consists of the words , meaning 'life', and , meaning 'related to knowledge' or 'science'...
. Ibn Sīnā is considered a father of modern medicineMedicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, and clinical pharmacologyClinical pharmacology is the science of drugs and their clinical use. It is underpinned by the basic science of pharmacology, with added focus on the application of pharmacological principles and methods in the real world...
particularly for his introduction of systematic experimentIn scientific research, an experiment is a method of investigating causal relationships among variables, or to test a hypothesis. An experiment is a cornerstone of the empirical approach to acquiring data about the world and is used in both natural sciences and social sciences...
ation and quantificationQuantification has two distinct sense. In mathematics and empirical science, it is the act of counting and measuring that maps human sense observations and experiences into members of some set of numbers. Quantification in this sense is fundamental to the scientific method.In logic, quantification...
into the study of physiologyPhysiology is the science of the functioning of living systems. It is a subcategory of biology...
, his discovery of the contagious nature of infectious diseaseAn infectious disease is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions...
s, the introduction of quarantineQuarantine is voluntary or compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease...
to limit the spread of contagious diseaseA disease or medical condition isan abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and signs...
s, the introduction of experimental medicine, evidence-based medicineEvidence-based medicine aims to apply the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to medical decision making. It seeks to assess the quality of evidence of the risks and benefits of treatments ....
, clinical trialClinical trials are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for new drugs or devices. These trials can only take place once satisfactory information has been gathered on the quality of the product and its non-clinical safety, and Health Authority/Ethics Committee approval is...
s, randomized controlled trialA randomized controlled trial is a type of scientific experiment most commonly used in testing the efficacy or effectiveness of healthcare services or health technologies . RCTs are also employed in other research areas, such as judicial, educational, and social research...
s, efficacyEfficacy is the capacity to produce an effect. It is used to mean different specific things in different fields.- Healthcare :In a healthcare context, efficacy indicates the capacity for beneficial change of a given intervention Efficacy is the capacity to produce an effect. It is used to mean...
tests, clinical pharmacology, neuropsychiatryNeuropsychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system.It preceded the current disciplines of psychiatry and neurology, in as much as psychiatrists and neurologists had a common training . However, neurology and psychiatry subsequently...
, risk factorA risk factor is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection. Risk factors are correlational and not necessarily causal, because correlation does not imply causation...
analysis, the idea of the syndromeIn medicine and psychology, the term syndrome refers to the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs , symptoms , phenomena or characteristics that often occur together, so that the presence of one feature alerts the physician to the presence of the others...
, and the importance of dietetics and the influence of climate and environment on health.
He was also the founder of Avicennian logic and the philosophical school of AvicennismAvicennism is a school of early Persian Islamic philosophy which began during the middle of the Islamic Golden Age. The school was founded by Avicenna , an 11th-century Persian philosopher who attempted to redefine the course of Islamic philosophy and channel it into new directions...
, which were influential among both Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
and ScholasticScholasticism is derived from the Latin word scholasticus , which means "that [which] belongs to the school," and was a method of learning taught by the academics of medieval universities circa 1100–1500...
thinkers. He is also considered the father of the fundamental concept of momentumIn classical mechanics, momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object . For more accurate measures of momentum, see the section "modern definitions of momentum" on this page...
in physicsPhysics in medieval Islam included experimental physics, mathematical physics and theoretical physics.The fields of physics that were studied by Muslim scientists during this time also included optics and magnetism , mechanics , and astrophysics .These studies...
, and regarded as a pioneer of aromatherapyAromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile plant materials, known as essential oils, and similar aromatic compounds from plants, for the purpose of improving a person's mood, cognitive function or health. Preliminary scientific evidence is growing in all these areas. An...
for his invention of steam distillationSteam distillation is a special type of distillation for temperature sensitive materials like natural aromatic compounds....
and extraction of essential oilAn essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile or ethereal oils, or simply as the "oil of" the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove. An oil is "essential" in the sense that it...
s. He also developed the concept of uniformitarianismUniformitarianism, in the philosophy of science, assumes that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe...
and law of superpositionThe law of superposition is a key axiom based on observations of natural history that is a foundational principle of sedimentary stratigraphy and so of other geology dependent natural sciences:...
in geologyGeology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed...
, for which he is considered to be the 'father of geology'.
George SartonGeorge Sarton is considered by some to be the "father" of the history of science, having established the history of science as a discipline in its own right...
, an early author of the history of scienceScience is a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural world, produced by a global community of researchers making use of scientific methods, which emphasize the observation, explanation, and adequate prediction of real world phenomena by experiment...
, wrote in the Introduction to the History of Science:
Circumstances
Avicenna created an extensive corpus of works during what is commonly known as Islam's Golden Age, in which the translations of Graeco-Roman, Neo- and Mid-Platonic, and Aristotelian texts by the Kindi schools were commented, redacted and developed substantially by Islamic intellectuals, as well as building upon Persian and Indian mathematical systems, astronomy, algebra, trigonometry, and medicine. The Samanid dynasty in Greater KhorasanGreater Khorasan is a modern term for a historical geographic region spanning north-eastern and east of Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, western and northern Afghanistan and the North Western Areas of Pakistan...
and central AsiaAsia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.Various definitions of its...
as well as BuwayhidBuyid dynasty, also known as the Buyid Empire or the Buyids , also known as Buwaihids, Buyahids, or Buyyids, were a Shī‘ah Persian dynasty that originated from Daylaman...
in the western part of Persia and IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
could provide a thriving atmosphere for scholarly and cultural development. Under the Samanids, BukharaBukhara , also transliterated Bukhoro and Bokhara, from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 237,900...
rivalled BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
as a cultural capital of Islam.
The study of Quran and HadithHadith are oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hadith are regarded by traditional schools of jurisprudence as important tools for determining the Muslim way of life, the sunnah. Hadith were originally oral traditions of Muhammad's actions and customs...
thrived in such a scholarly atmosphere. Philosophy FiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the Sharia Islamic law—based directly on the Quran and Sunnah—that complements Shariah with evolving rulings/interpretations of Islamic jurists....
and theology kalamKalām is the Islamic philosophy of seeking Islamic theological principles through dialectic. In Arabic the word means "words, discussion, discourse". A scholar of kalam is referred to as a mutakallim...
were further developed, most noticeably by Avicenna and his opponents. al-RaziAbū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian alchemist, chemist, physician, philosopher and scholar...
and Al-FarabiAbū Naṣr al-Fārābi , known in the West as Alpharabius Abū Naṣr al-Fārābi (أبو نصر محمد الفارابي - Abū Naṣr Muḥammad al-Fārābi; in some sources also mentioned as محمد بن محمد بن أوزلغ الفارابي - Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad (ibn Tarḫān) ibn Awzlaġ al-Fārābi), known in the West as...
had provided methodology and knowledge in medicine and philosophy. Avicenna could use the great libraries of BalkhBalkh , known as Bactra to the Greeks and Baktri or Bagdhi to the Persians, was an ancient city and centre of Zoroastrianism in Northern Afghanistan...
, KhwarezmKhwarezm were a series of states centered on the Amu Darya river delta of the former Aral Sea, in Greater Iran , extending across the Ust-Urt plateau and possibly as far west as the eastern shores of the northern Caspian Sea....
, GorganGorgan is the capital of the Golestan Province, Iran. It lies approximately 400 km to the north east of Tehran, some 30 km away from the Caspian Sea. It had an estimated population of 241,000 in 2005.
...
, ReyRey means "king" in Spanish and Occitan, derived from the Latin rex. It is used as a surname throughout the world. It is also used as a given name for both males and females, sometimes as an alternative to Raymond.-People with the given name Rey:...
, Isfahan and HamedanHamedān or Hamadān is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. It had an estimated population of 550,284 in 2005....
. As various texts, such as the 'Ahd with Bahmanyar show, he debated philosophical points with the greatest scholars of the time. As Aruzi Samarqandi describes in his four articles before Avicenna left Khwarezm he had met Abu Rayhan Biruni (a noted scientist and astronomer), Abu Nasr Iraqi (a renowned mathematician), Abu Sahl Masihi (a respected philosopher) and Abu al-Khayr Khammar (a great physician).
Early life
His full name was Hussain ibn Abdullah ibn Hassan ibn Ali ibn Sina. He was born around 980 in Afshana, near BukharaBukhara , also transliterated Bukhoro and Bokhara, from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 237,900...
,which was his mother's hometown, in Greater KhorasanGreater Khorasan is a modern term for a historical geographic region spanning north-eastern and east of Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, western and northern Afghanistan and the North Western Areas of Pakistan...
, to a Persian family. His father, Abdullah, was a respected Ismaili' is a branch of the Islamic faith. It is the second largest part of the Shī‘ah community, after the mainstream Twelvers...
scholar from BalkhBalkh , known as Bactra to the Greeks and Baktri or Bagdhi to the Persians, was an ancient city and centre of Zoroastrianism in Northern Afghanistan...
, an important town of the Samanid Emirate, in what is today AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
. Prominent theologian Henry CorbinHenry Corbin was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, France....
believed that Ibn Sina himself was a good ismaili. His mother was named Setarah. His father was at the time of his son's birth the governor in one of the SamanidThe Samanid dynasty , also known as the Samanid Empire or simply Samanids was an important Persian state and empire in Central Asia and Greater Khorasan, named after its founder Saman Khuda who converted to Sunni Islam despite being from Zoroastrian theocratic nobility...
Nuh ibn Mansur's estates. He had his son very carefully educated at BukharaBukhara , also transliterated Bukhoro and Bokhara, from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 237,900...
. Ibn Sina's independent thought was served by an extraordinary intelligence and memory, which allowed him to overtake his teachers at the age of fourteen. As he said in his autobiography, there was nothing that he had not learned when he reached eighteen.
Ibn Sīnā was put under the charge of a tutor, and his precocity soon made him the marvel of his neighbours; he displayed exceptional intellectual behaviour and was a child prodigyA child prodigy is someone who at an early age masters one or more skills at an adult level. One heuristic for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 15 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding field of endeavor...
who had memorized the Qur'an by the age of 10 and a great deal of Persian poetry as well. He learned Indian arithmeticIndian mathematics is the mathematics that emerged in South Asia from ancient times until the end of the 18th century. In the classical period of Indian mathematics , important contributions were made by scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara II. The decimal number system in use today ...
from an IndianThe known history of India - the name in this context includes the areas now known as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE. Its Mature Harappan period...
greengrocer, and he began to learn more from a wandering scholar who gained a livelihood by curing the sick and teaching the young. He also studied FiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the Sharia Islamic law—based directly on the Quran and Sunnah—that complements Shariah with evolving rulings/interpretations of Islamic jurists....
(Islamic jurisprudence) under the Hanafi scholar Ismail al-Zahid.
As a teenager, he was greatly troubled by the MetaphysicsMetaphysics is one of the principal works of Aristotle and the first major work of the branch of philosophy with the same name. The principal subject is "being qua being", or being understood as being. It examines what can be asserted about anything that exists just because of its existence and...
of AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
, which he could not understand until he read al-FarabiAbū Naṣr al-Fārābi , known in the West as Alpharabius Abū Naṣr al-Fārābi (أبو نصر محمد الفارابي - Abū Naṣr Muḥammad al-Fārābi; in some sources also mentioned as محمد بن محمد بن أوزلغ الفارابي - Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad (ibn Tarḫān) ibn Awzlaġ al-Fārābi), known in the West as...
's commentary on the work. For the next year and a half, he studied philosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
, in which he encountered greater obstacles. In such moments of baffled inquiry, he would leave his books, perform the requisite ablutions (wuduWudu is the Islamic act of washing parts of the body using water. Muslims are required to be clean in preparation for ritual prayers. The Quran says "For Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean."...
), then go to the mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
, and continue in prayer (salah) till light broke on his difficulties. Deep into the night he would continue his studies, and even in his dreams problems would pursue him and work out their solution. Forty times, it is said, he read through the Metaphysics of AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
, till the words were imprinted on his memory; but their meaning was hopelessly obscure, until one day they found illumination, from the little commentary by Farabi, which he bought at a bookstall for the small sum of three dirhams. So great was his joy at the discovery, thus made by help of a work from which he had expected only mystery, that he hastened to return thanks to God, and bestowed alms upon the poor.
He turned to medicineMedicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at 16, and not only learned medical theory, but also by gratuitous attendance of the sick had, according to his own account, discovered new methods of treatment. The teenager achieved full status as a qualified physician at age 18, and found that "Medicine is no hard and thorny science, like mathematicsMathematics is the science and study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions....
and metaphysicsMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
, so I soon made great progress; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies." The youthful physician's fame spread quickly, and he treated many patients without asking for payment.
Adulthood
His first appointment was that of physician to the emirEmir , is a high title of nobility or office, used throughout the Arab World and historically in 19th-century Afghanistan and also in the medieval Muslim World...
, who owed him his recovery from a dangerous illness (997). Ibn Sina's chief reward for this service was access to the royal libraryA library is a collection of sources, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is housed; it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. In the more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. It can mean the collection,...
of the Samanids, well-known patrons of scholarship and scholars. When the library was destroyed by fire not long after, the enemies of Ibn Sina accused him of burning it, in order for ever to conceal the sources of his knowledge. Meanwhile, he assisted his father in his financial labours, but still found time to write some of his earliest works.
When Ibn Sina was 22 years old, he lost his father. The Samanid dynasty came to its end in December 1004. Ibn Sina seems to have declined the offers of Mahmud of GhazniMahmud of Ghazni , also known as ' was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty and ruled from 997 until his death in 1030...
, and proceeded westwards to UrgenchUrgench is a city in north-western Uzbekistan. It is the capital of the Khorezm Province, on the Amu Darya River and the Shavat canal. The city is situated 450 km west of Bukhara across the Kyzyl Kum Desert...
in the modern UzbekistanUzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union...
, where the vizierA vizier is a high-ranking political advisor or minister, often to a Persian Empire's monarchs such as Shah and Shahenshah. It sometimes refers to ministers and advisors of the Muslim's caliph, or sultan...
, regarded as a friend of scholars, gave him a small monthly stipend. The pay was small, however, so Ibn Sina wandered from place to place through the districts of NishapurNishapur, or Neyshābūr , is a city in the Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Binalud Mountains, near the regional capital of Mashhad....
and MervMerv , formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana , was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today's Mary in Turkmenistan...
to the borders of KhorasanGreater Khorasan is a modern term for a historical geographic region spanning north-eastern and east of Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, western and northern Afghanistan and the North Western Areas of Pakistan...
, seeking an opening for his talents. QabusShams al-Mo'ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir was the Ziyarid ruler of Gurgan and Tabaristan . He was the son of Vushmgir and a daughter of the Bavandi Ispahbad Sharvin....
, the generous ruler of Dailam and central Persia, himself a poet and a scholar, with whom Ibn Sina had expected to find an asylum, was about that date (1012) starved to death by his troops who had revolted. Ibn Sina himself was at this season stricken down by a severe illness. Finally, at GorganGorgan is the capital of the Golestan Province, Iran. It lies approximately 400 km to the north east of Tehran, some 30 km away from the Caspian Sea. It had an estimated population of 241,000 in 2005.
...
, near the Caspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres...
, Ibn Sina met with a friend, who bought a dwelling near his own house in which Ibn Sina lectured on logicLogic, from the Greek λογική is the art and science of reasoning. More specifically, it is defined by the Penguin Encyclopedia to be "The formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning". As a discipline, logic dates back to Aristotle, who established its...
and astronomyAstronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
. Several of Ibn Sina's treatises were written for this patron; and the commencement of his Canon of Medicine also dates from his stay in HyrcaniaHyrcania was the name of a satrapy located in the territories of present day Golestan, Mazandaran, Gilan and part of Turkmenistan, lands south of the Caspian Sea. To the Greeks, the Caspian Sea was the "Hyrcanian Sea".-Etymology:...
.
Ibn Sina subsequently settled at RaiRey, Rayy, Rhages or Rages also known as Shahr-e Rey , is the oldest existing city in the province of Tehran, Iran.-History and culture:...
, in the vicinity of modern TehranTehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
, (present day capital of Iran), the home town of RhazesAbū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī , known as Rhazes or Rasis after medieval Latinists, was a Persian alchemist, chemist, physician, philosopher and scholar...
; where Majd Addaula, a son of the last BuwayhidBuyid dynasty, also known as the Buyid Empire or the Buyids , also known as Buwaihids, Buyahids, or Buyyids, were a Shī‘ah Persian dynasty that originated from Daylaman...
emirEmir , is a high title of nobility or office, used throughout the Arab World and historically in 19th-century Afghanistan and also in the medieval Muslim World...
, was nominal ruler under the regency of his mother (Seyyedeh KhatunSeyyedeh Malek Khatun was a Sultaness of Buwayhids of Ray , Isfahan and Hamadan . After the death of her husband Fakhr od-Dowleh the Deylamid, her 4-year old son, Majd od-Dowleh , officially inherited the reign, however she was the true ruler up until her death.During her rule she was able to...
). About thirty of Ibn Sina's shorter works are said to have been composed in RaiRey, Rayy, Rhages or Rages also known as Shahr-e Rey , is the oldest existing city in the province of Tehran, Iran.-History and culture:...
. Constant feuds which raged between the regent and her second son, Shams al-DaulaAbu Taher was the Buyid ruler of Hamadan from 997 to 1021. He was the son of Fakhr al-Daula.Fakhr al-Daula died in 997; his elder son Abu Taleb Rostam took power in the bulk of his father's possessions in Jibal. Abu Taher himself gained the governorships of Hamadan and Kirmanshah, and was hence...
, however, compelled the scholar to quit the place. After a brief sojourn at Qazvin he passed southwards to Hamadãn where Shams al-DaulaAbu Taher was the Buyid ruler of Hamadan from 997 to 1021. He was the son of Fakhr al-Daula.Fakhr al-Daula died in 997; his elder son Abu Taleb Rostam took power in the bulk of his father's possessions in Jibal. Abu Taher himself gained the governorships of Hamadan and Kirmanshah, and was hence...
, another BuwayhidBuyid dynasty, also known as the Buyid Empire or the Buyids , also known as Buwaihids, Buyahids, or Buyyids, were a Shī‘ah Persian dynasty that originated from Daylaman...
emir, had established himself. At first, Ibn Sina entered into the service of a high-born lady; but the emir, hearing of his arrival, called him in as medical attendant, and sent him back with presents to his dwelling. Ibn Sina was even raised to the office of vizierA vizier is a high-ranking political advisor or minister, often to a Persian Empire's monarchs such as Shah and Shahenshah. It sometimes refers to ministers and advisors of the Muslim's caliph, or sultan...
. The emir consented that he should be banished from the country. Ibn Sina, however, remained hidden for forty days in a sheikh Ahmed Fadhel's house, until a fresh attack of illness induced the emir to restore him to his post. Even during this perturbed time, Ibn Sina persevered with his studies and teaching. Every evening, extracts from his great works, the Canon and the Sanatio, were dictated and explained to his pupils. On the death of the emir, Ibn Sina ceased to be vizier and hid himself in the house of an apothecaryApothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist ....
, where, with intense assiduity, he continued the composition of his works.
Meanwhile, he had written to Abu Ya'far, the prefectPrefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
of the dynamic city of IsfahanIsfahan or Esfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan or Hispahan, is located about 340 km south of Tehran and is the capital of Isfahan Province and Iran's third largest city...
, offering his services. The new emir of Hamadan, hearing of this correspondence and discovering where Ibn Sina was hidden, incarcerated him in a fortress. War meanwhile continued between the rulers of Isfahan and Hamadãn; in 1024 the former captured Hamadan and its towns, expelling the Tajik mercenariesA mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of a sovereign state. He or she takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain...
. When the storm had passed, Ibn Sina returned with the emir to Hamadan, and carried on his literary labors. Later, however, accompanied by his brother, a favorite pupil, and two slaves, Ibn Sina escaped out of the city in the dress of a Sufi ascetic. After a perilous journey, they reached Isfahan, receiving an honorable welcome from the prince.
Later life and death
The remaining ten or twelve years of Ibn Sīnā's life were spent in the service of Abu Ja'far 'Ala Addaula, whom he accompanied as physician and general literary and scientific adviser, even in his numerous campaigns.
During these years he began to study literaryLiterature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" , and therefore the academic study of literature is known as Letters...
matters and philologyPhilology considers both form and meaning in linguistic expression, combining linguistics and literary studies.Classical philology is the philology of the Greek, Latin and Sanskrit languages...
, instigated, it is asserted, by criticisms on his style. He contrasts with the nobler and more intellectual character of AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
. A severe colicColic is a form of pain in the abdomen which starts and stops abruptly.-Types:Types include:*Baby colic, a condition, usually in infants, characterized by incessant crying*Renal colic, a pain in the flank, characteristic of kidney stones...
, which seized him on the march of the army against Hamadan, was checked by remedies so violent that Ibn Sina could scarcely stand. On a similar occasion the disease returned; with difficulty he reached Hamadan, where, finding the disease gaining ground, he refused to keep up the regimen imposed, and resigned himself to his fate.
His friends advised him to slow down and take life moderately. He refused, however, stating that: "I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length". On his deathbed remorse seized him; he bestowed his goods on the poor, restored unjust gains, freed his slaves, and spent every third day till his death listening to the reading of the Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
. He died in June 1037, in his fifty-eighth year, and was buried in HamedanHamedān or Hamadān is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. It had an estimated population of 550,284 in 2005....
, IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
.
Medicine and pharmacology
Though the threads which comprise UnaniUnani or Yunani means "Greek", and has its origins in the Greek word Ἰωνία or Ἰωνίη , a placename given to a Greek populated coastal region of Anatolia....
healing can be traced all the way back to Claudius Galenus of Pergamum, who lived in the second century of the Christian Era, the basic knowledge of Unani medicine as a healing system was developed by Hakim Ibn Sina in his medical encyclopedia The Canon of MedicineThe Canon of Medicine is a 14-volume medical encyclopedia written by Islamic scientist and physician Ibn Sīnā...
. The time of origin is thus dated at circa 1025 AD, when Avicenna wrote The Canon of Medicine in Persia. While he was primarily influenced by Greek and Islamic medicineIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine or Arabic medicine refers to medicine developed in the medieval Islamic civilization and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization. Despite these names, a significant number of scientists during this period were not Arab...
, he was also influenced by the Indian medicalAyurveda is a system of traditional medicine native to India and practiced in other parts of the world as a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, the word Ayurveda consists of the words , meaning 'life', and , meaning 'related to knowledge' or 'science'...
teachings of Sushruta and CharakaCharak, sometimes spelled Caraka, born c. 300 BC in a Maga Brahmin family was one of the principal contributors to the ancient art and science of Ayurveda, a system of medicine and lifestyle developed in Ancient India...
.
The Canon of Medicine
About 100 treatises were ascribed to Ibn Sina. Some of them are tracts of a few pages, others are works extending through several volumes. The best-known amongst them, and that to which Ibn Sina owed his European reputation, is his 14-volume The Canon of MedicineThe Canon of Medicine is a 14-volume medical encyclopedia written by Islamic scientist and physician Ibn Sīnā...
, which was a standard medical text in Europe and the Islamic world up until the 18th century.
The book is known for its introduction of systematic experimentIn scientific research, an experiment is a method of investigating causal relationships among variables, or to test a hypothesis. An experiment is a cornerstone of the empirical approach to acquiring data about the world and is used in both natural sciences and social sciences...
ation and quantificationQuantification has two distinct sense. In mathematics and empirical science, it is the act of counting and measuring that maps human sense observations and experiences into members of some set of numbers. Quantification in this sense is fundamental to the scientific method.In logic, quantification...
into the study of physiologyPhysiology is the science of the functioning of living systems. It is a subcategory of biology...
, the discovery of contagious diseasesAn infectious disease is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions...
and sexually transmitted diseaseA sexually transmitted disease , also known as sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans or animals by means of sexual contact, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
s, the introduction of quarantineQuarantine is voluntary or compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease...
to limit the spread of infectious diseaseAn infectious disease is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions...
s, the introduction of experimental medicine, clinical trialClinical trials are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for new drugs or devices. These trials can only take place once satisfactory information has been gathered on the quality of the product and its non-clinical safety, and Health Authority/Ethics Committee approval is...
s, neuropsychiatryNeuropsychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system.It preceded the current disciplines of psychiatry and neurology, in as much as psychiatrists and neurologists had a common training . However, neurology and psychiatry subsequently...
, risk factorA risk factor is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection. Risk factors are correlational and not necessarily causal, because correlation does not imply causation...
analysis, and the idea of a syndromeIn medicine and psychology, the term syndrome refers to the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs , symptoms , phenomena or characteristics that often occur together, so that the presence of one feature alerts the physician to the presence of the others...
in the diagnosisIn medicine, diagnosis is a label given for a medical condition or disease identified by its signs, symptoms, and from the results of various diagnostic procedures...
of specific diseases, and hypothesized the existence of microrganisms. It classifies and describes diseaseA disease or medical condition isan abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and signs...
s, and outlines their assumed causes. HygieneHygiene, refers to the set of practices associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. Hygiene is a concept related to medicine, as well as to personal and professional care practices related to most aspects of living, although it is most often associated with cleanliness and...
, simple and complex medicines, and functions of parts of the body are also covered. In this, Ibn Sīnā is credited as being the first to correctly document the anatomy of the human eye, along with descriptions of eye afflictions such as cataracts. It asserts that tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
was contagious, which was later disputed by Europeans, but turned out to be true. It also describes the symptoms and complications of diabetes. Both forms of facial paralysis were described in-depth. In addition, the workings of the heartThe heart is a muscular organ found in all vertebrates that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
as a valve are described.
The Canon of Medicine was the first book dealing with experimental medicine, evidence-based medicineEvidence-based medicine aims to apply the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to medical decision making. It seeks to assess the quality of evidence of the risks and benefits of treatments ....
, randomized controlled trialA randomized controlled trial is a type of scientific experiment most commonly used in testing the efficacy or effectiveness of healthcare services or health technologies . RCTs are also employed in other research areas, such as judicial, educational, and social research...
s, and efficacyEfficacy is the capacity to produce an effect. It is used to mean different specific things in different fields.- Healthcare :In a healthcare context, efficacy indicates the capacity for beneficial change of a given intervention Efficacy is the capacity to produce an effect. It is used to mean...
tests, and it laid out the following rules and principles for testing the effectiveness of new drugA drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
s and medicationA pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...
s, which still form the basis of clinical pharmacologyClinical pharmacology is the science of drugs and their clinical use. It is underpinned by the basic science of pharmacology, with added focus on the application of pharmacological principles and methods in the real world...
and modern clinical trialClinical trials are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for new drugs or devices. These trials can only take place once satisfactory information has been gathered on the quality of the product and its non-clinical safety, and Health Authority/Ethics Committee approval is...
s:
- The drug must be free from any extraneous accidental quality.
- It must be used on a simple, not a composite, disease.
- The drug must be tested with two contrary types of diseases, because sometimes a drug cures one disease by Its essential qualities and another by its accidental ones.
- The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease. For example, there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases, so that they would have no effect on them.
- The time of action must be observed, so that essence and accident are not confused.
- The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases, for if this did not happen, it was an accidental effect.
- The experimentation must be done with the human body, for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man.
It was mainly accident which determined that from the 12th to the 18th century, Ibn Sīnā should be the guide of medical study in European universities, and eclipse the names of Rhazes, Ali ibn al-Abbas and AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
. His work is not essentially different from that of his predecessor Rhazes, because he presented the doctrine of GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
, and through Galen the doctrine of HippocratesHippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos - Greek: ; Hippokrátēs was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles, and was considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
, modified by the system of AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
, as well as the Indian doctrinesAyurveda is a system of traditional medicine native to India and practiced in other parts of the world as a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, the word Ayurveda consists of the words , meaning 'life', and , meaning 'related to knowledge' or 'science'...
of Sushruta and CharakaCharak, sometimes spelled Caraka, born c. 300 BC in a Maga Brahmin family was one of the principal contributors to the ancient art and science of Ayurveda, a system of medicine and lifestyle developed in Ancient India...
. But the Canon of Ibn Sīnā is distinguished from the Al-Hawi (Continens) or Summary of Rhazes by its greater method, due perhaps to the logical studies of the former.
The work has been variously appreciated in subsequent ages, some regarding it as a treasury of wisdom, and others, like AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
, holding it useful only as waste paper. In modern times it has been mainly of historic interest as most of its tenets have been disproved or expanded upon by scientific medicine. The vice of the book is excessive classification of bodily faculties, and over-subtlety in the discrimination of diseases. It includes five books; of which the first and second discuss physiologyPhysiology is the science of the functioning of living systems. It is a subcategory of biology...
, pathologyPathology is the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of organs, tissues, bodily fluids, and whole bodies...
and hygieneHygiene, refers to the set of practices associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. Hygiene is a concept related to medicine, as well as to personal and professional care practices related to most aspects of living, although it is most often associated with cleanliness and...
, the third and fourth deal with the methods of treating disease, and the fifth describes the composition and preparation of remedies. This last part contains some personal observations.
He is ample in the enumeration of symptoms, and is said to be inferior in practical medicine and surgerySurgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, or sometimes for some other reason...
. He introduced into medical theory the four causes of the PeripateticThe Peripatetics were members of a school of philosophy in ancient Greece. Their teachings derived from their founder, the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, and Peripatetic is a name given to his followers. The name refers to the act of walking, and as an adjective, "peripatetic" is often used to mean...
system. Of natural historyNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, Natural history is the systematic...
and botanyBotany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the scientific study of plant life and development...
he pretended to no special knowledge. Up to the year 1650, or thereabouts, the Canon was still used as a textbook in the universities of LeuvenLeuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium. It is located about 30 kilometers east of Brussels, with as other neighbouring cities Mechelen, Aarschot, Tienen, and Wavre.The township comprises the historical city of Leuven and the former municipalities of...
and MontpellierMontpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, as well as the Hérault department.-Population:...
.
In the museum at BukharaBukhara , also transliterated Bukhoro and Bokhara, from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 237,900...
, there are displays showing many of his writings, surgical instrumentsA surgical instrument is a specially designed tool or device for performing specific actions of carrying out desired effects during a surgery or operation, such as modifying biological tissue, or to provide access for viewing it. Over time, many different kinds of surgical instruments and tools...
from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment. Ibn Sīnā was interested in the effect of the mindMind is the aspect of intellect and consciousness experienced as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination, including all unconscious cognitive processes. The term is often used to refer, by implication, to the thought processes of reason. Mind manifests itself...
on the bodyWith regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death...
, and wrote a great deal on psychologyPsychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior...
, likely influencing Ibn Tufayl and Ibn BajjahAbū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh , known as Ibn Bājjah , was an Andalusian-Arab Muslim polymath: an astronomer, logician, musician, philosopher, physician, physicist, psychologist, poet and scientist. He was known in the West by his Latinized name, Avempace...
. He also introduced medical herbs.
Avicenna extended the theory of temperaments in The Canon of MedicineThe Canon of Medicine is a 14-volume medical encyclopedia written by Islamic scientist and physician Ibn Sīnā...
to encompass "emotionAn emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behavior. Emotions are subjective experiences, often associated with mood, temperament, personality, and disposition. The English word 'emotion' is derived from the French word émouvoir...
al aspects, mental capacity, moralA moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...
attitudes, self-awarenessSelf-awareness is literally consciousness of one's self. It is related to but not identical with self-consciousness-A philosophical view:I think, therefore I am...
, movements and dreamDreams are a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, though they have been a topic of speculation and interest throughout recorded history. The scientific study of dreams is known as...
s." He summarized his version of the four humoursHumorism, or humoralism, was a theory of the makeup and workings of the human body adopted by Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers...
and temperaments in a table as follows:
Avicenna's four humours and temperamentIn psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learnt...
s
| Evidence |
Hot |
Cold |
Moist |
Dry |
| Morbid states |
inflammation Inflammation is the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. Inflammation is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli as well as initiate the healing process for the tissue. Inflammation is not a...
s become febrileFever is a frequent medical sign that describes an increase in internal body temperature to levels above normal...
|
feverFever is a frequent medical sign that describes an increase in internal body temperature to levels above normal...
s related to serious humour, rheumatismRheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...
|
lassitude |
loss of vigour |
| Functional power |
deficient energyIn physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of work that can be performed by a force, an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law...
|
deficient digestiveDigestion is the mechanical and chemical breaking down of food into smaller components, to a form that can be absorbed, for instance, by a blood stream. Digestion is a form of catabolism.that means break down of macro food molecules to smaller one....
power |
difficult digestionDigestion is the mechanical and chemical breaking down of food into smaller components, to a form that can be absorbed, for instance, by a blood stream. Digestion is a form of catabolism.that means break down of macro food molecules to smaller one....
|
|
| Subjective sensations |
bitter taste, excessive thirstThirst is the craving for fluids, resulting in the basic instinct of animals to drink. It is an essential mechanism involved in fluid balance. It arises from a lack of fluids and/or an increase in the concentration of certain osmolites such as salt...
, burning at cardiaThe cardia is the anatomical term for the junction orifice of the stomach and the esophagus...
|
Lack of desire for fluid A fluid is a substance that continually deforms under an applied shear stress. All gases are fluids, but not all liquids are fluids. Fluids are a subset of the phases of matter and include liquids, gases, plasmas and, to some extent, plastic solids....
s |
mucoid Mucous connective tissue is a type of connective tissue found during fetal development.It is most easily found as a component of Wharton's jelly.It forms the umbilical cord....
salivaSaliva is the watery and usually frothy substance produced in the mouths of humans and most other animals. Saliva is produced in and secreted from the salivary glands...
tion, sleepinessSomnolence is a state of near-sleep, a strong desire for sleep, or sleeping for unusually long periods . It has two distinct meanings, referring both to the usual state preceding falling asleep, and the chronic condition referring to being in that state independent of a circadian rhythm...
|
insomnia Insomnia is a symptom of any of several sleep disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. Insomnia is a symptom, not a stand-alone diagnosis or a disease. By definition, insomnia is "difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or both"...
, wakefulness |
| Physical signs |
high pulseIn medicine, a person's pulse is the arterial palpation of a heartbeat. It can be palpated in any place that allows for an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at the neck , at the wrist , behind the knee , on the inside of the elbow , and near the ankle joint...
rate, lassitude |
flaccid joints |
diarrhea In medicine, diarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea , is the condition of having frequent loose or liquid bowel movements. Acute diarrhea is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide...
, swollen eyelidsEye puffiness, also known as "puffy eyes" or swelling around the eyes, refers to the appearance of swelling in the tissues around the eyes, called the orbits...
, roughRoughness is a measure of the texture of a surface. It is quantified by the vertical deviations of a real surface from its ideal form. If these deviations are large, the surface is rough; if they are small the surface is smooth...
skin, acquired habitHabits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly, tend to occur subconsciously, without directly thinking consciously about them. Habitual behavior sometimes goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting them, because it is often unnecessary to engage in self-analysis when undertaking in routine...
|
roughRoughness is a measure of the texture of a surface. It is quantified by the vertical deviations of a real surface from its ideal form. If these deviations are large, the surface is rough; if they are small the surface is smooth...
skin, acquired habitHabits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly, tend to occur subconsciously, without directly thinking consciously about them. Habitual behavior sometimes goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting them, because it is often unnecessary to engage in self-analysis when undertaking in routine...
|
| Foods & medicines |
calefacients harmful, infrigidants beneficial |
infrigidants harmful, calefacients beneficial |
moistMoisture generally refers to the presence of water, often in trace amounts.The moisture content is often an important aspect of foodstuffs including cheese and many dried goods such as tea where excess moisture can promote bacterial growth, decay, molding, or rotting over time.Excessive moisture...
articles harmful |
dry regimen harmful, humectant A humectant is a hygroscopic substance. It is often a molecule with several hydrophilic groups, most often hydroxyl groups, but amines and carboxyl groups, sometimes esterified, can be encountered as well; the affinity to form hydrogen bonds with molecules of water is crucial here.Since hygroscopic...
s beneficial |
| Relation to weather |
worse in summer |
worse in winter |
|
bad in autumn |
Avicennian psychology
In Muslim psychology and the neuroscienceNeuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Such studies span the structure, function, evolutionary history, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, informatics, computational neuroscience and pathology of the nervous system.The International Brain Research...
s, Avicenna was a pioneer of neuropsychiatryNeuropsychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system.It preceded the current disciplines of psychiatry and neurology, in as much as psychiatrists and neurologists had a common training . However, neurology and psychiatry subsequently...
. He first described numerous neuropsychiatric conditions, including hallucinationA hallucination, in the broadest sense, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and...
, insomniaInsomnia is a symptom of any of several sleep disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. Insomnia is a symptom, not a stand-alone diagnosis or a disease. By definition, insomnia is "difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or both"...
, maniaMania is a severe medical condition characterized by extremely elevated mood, energy, unusual thought patterns and sometimes psychosis...
, nightmareA nightmare is an unpleasant dream. Nightmares cause a strong unpleasant emotional response from the sleeper, typically fear or horror. The dream may contain a situation of extreme danger, or sensations of pain, bad events, falling, drowning, being raped, becoming disabled, losing loved ones,...
, melancholiaMelancholia , also lugubriousness, from the Latin lugere, to mourn; moroseness, from the Latin morosus, self-willed, fastidious habit; wistfulness, from old English wist: intent, or saturnine, , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression,...
, dementiaDementia is a serious cognitive disorder. It may be static, the result of a unique global brain injury or progressive, resulting in long-term decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the body beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
, epilepsyEpilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures...
, paralysisParalysis is the complete loss of muscle function for one or more muscle groups. Paralysis can cause loss of feeling or loss of mobility in the affected area.-Causes:Paralysis is most often caused by damage to the nervous system, especially the spinal cord...
, strokeA stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage...
, vertigoVertigo is a specific type of dizziness, a major symptom of a balance disorder. It is the sensation of spinning or swaying while the body is actually stationary with respect to the surroundings.The effects of vertigo may be slight...
and tremorA tremor is an unintentional, somewhat rhythmic, muscle movement involving to-and-fro movements of one or more body parts. It is the most common of all involuntary movements and can affect the hands, arms, head, face, vocal cords, trunk, and legs. Most tremors occur in the hands. In some people,...
.
Avicenna was also a pioneer in psychophysiologyPsychophysiology the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes...
and psychosomatic medicine. He recognized 'physiological psychologyPhysiological psychology is a subdivision of behavioral neuroscience or biological psychology that studies the neural mechanisms of perception and behavior through direct manipulation of the brains of nonhuman animal subjects in controlled experiments...
' in the treatment of illnesses involving emotionAn emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behavior. Emotions are subjective experiences, often associated with mood, temperament, personality, and disposition. The English word 'emotion' is derived from the French word émouvoir...
s, and developed a system for associating changes in the pulseIn medicine, a person's pulse is the arterial palpation of a heartbeat. It can be palpated in any place that allows for an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at the neck , at the wrist , behind the knee , on the inside of the elbow , and near the ankle joint...
rate with inner feelings, which is seen as an anticipation of the word associationWord Association is a common word game involving an exchange of words that are associated together. The game is based on the noun phrase word association, meaning "stimulation of an associative pattern by a word" or "the connection and production of other words in response to a given word, done...
test attributed to Carl JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology known as Jungian psychology. Jung's approach to psychology has been influential in the field of depth psychology and in countercultural movements across the globe...
. Avicenna is reported to have treated a very ill patient by "feeling the patient's pulse and reciting aloud to him the names of provinces, districts, towns, streets, and people." He noticed how the patient's pulse increased when certain names were mentioned, from which Avicenna deduced that the patient was in love with a girl whose home Avicenna was "able to locate by the digital examination." Avicenna advised the patient to marry the girl he is in love with, and the patient soon recovered from his illness after his marriage.
Avicenna's legacy in classical psychologyPsychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior...
is primarily embodied in the Kitab al-nafs parts of his Kitab al-shifa (The Book of Healing) and Kitab al-najat (The Book of Deliverance). These were known in Latin under the title De Anima (treatises "on the soul"). The main thesis of these tracts is represented in his so-called "flying man" argument, which resonates with what was centuries later entailed by Descartes's cogito argument (or what phenomenology designates as a form of an "epoche").
In the The Canon of MedicineThe Canon of Medicine is a 14-volume medical encyclopedia written by Islamic scientist and physician Ibn Sīnā...
, Avicenna dealt with neuropsychiatryNeuropsychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system.It preceded the current disciplines of psychiatry and neurology, in as much as psychiatrists and neurologists had a common training . However, neurology and psychiatry subsequently...
and described a number of neuropsychiatric conditions, including melancholiaMelancholia , also lugubriousness, from the Latin lugere, to mourn; moroseness, from the Latin morosus, self-willed, fastidious habit; wistfulness, from old English wist: intent, or saturnine, , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression,...
. He described melancholia as a depressiveIn psychology and psychiatry, depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity. While most often described as a disease or dysfunction, there are also strong arguments for seeing depression as an adaptive defense mechanism....
type of mood disorderA mood disorder is the term given for a group of diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classification system where a disturbance in the person's mood is hypothesized to be the main underlying feature...
in which the person may become suspicious and develop certain types of phobiaA phobia , is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject...
s.
Astronomy and astrology
The study of astrologyAstrology was a subject of study and debate by early Muslims. In early Arabic sources, ilm al-nujum was used to refer to both astronomy and astrology...
was refuted by Avicenna. His reasons were both due to the methods used by astrologers being conjectural rather than empiricalThe word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation, experience, or experiment. A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses...
and also due to the views of astrologers conflicting with orthodox IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
. He also cited passages from the Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
in order to justify his refutation of astrology on both scientific and religious grounds.
In astronomy, he criticized AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
's view of the starA star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun...
s receiving their light from the SunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
. Ibn Sīnā stated that the stars are self-luminous, and believed that the planetA planet , is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s are also self-luminous. On May 24, 1032, he observed the transit of VenusA transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, obscuring a small portion of the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun. The duration of such transits is...
. Soon after, he wrote the Compendium of the Almagest, a commentary on PtolemyClaudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Greek ancestry. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire, and is believed to have been born in the town of...
's AlmagestAlmagest is the Latin form of the Arabic name of a mathematical and astronomical treatise proposing the complex motions of the stars and planetary paths, originally written in Greek as by Ptolemy of Alexandria, Egypt, written in the 2nd century...
. Avicenna concluded that VenusVenus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6...
is closer to the Earth than the SunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
. In 1070, Abu Ubayd al-JuzjaniAbu Ubaid al-Juzjani, sometimes spelled Abu Ubayd or Abu Abyid al-Juzjani, was a Persian physician from Juzjan in Afghanistan.He was the famous pupil of Avicenna, whom he first met in Gorgan....
, a pupil of Ibn Sīnā, claimed that his teacher Ibn Sīnā had solved the equantEquant is a mathematical concept developed by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD to account for the observed motion of heavenly bodies....
problem in the Ptolemaic model.
Chemistry
In chemistryAlchemy and chemistry in Islam refers to the study of both traditional alchemy and early practical chemistry by Muslim scientists in the medieval Islamic world...
, the chemical process of steam distillationSteam distillation is a special type of distillation for temperature sensitive materials like natural aromatic compounds....
was first described by Ibn Sīnā. The technique was used to produce alcoholIn chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group. An important group of acohols is formed by the simple acyclic alcohols, the general formula for which is C
nH
2n+1OH...
and essential oilAn essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile or ethereal oils, or simply as the "oil of" the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove. An oil is "essential" in the sense that it...
s; the latter was fundamental to aromatherapyAromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile plant materials, known as essential oils, and similar aromatic compounds from plants, for the purpose of improving a person's mood, cognitive function or health. Preliminary scientific evidence is growing in all these areas. An...
. He also invented the refrigerated coil, which condenses the aromaticIn organic chemistry, the structures of some rings of atoms are unexpectedly stable. Aromaticity is a chemical property in which a conjugated ring of unsaturated bonds, lone pairs, or empty orbitals exhibit a stabilization stronger than would be expected by the stabilization of conjugation alone...
vapours. This was a breakthrough in distillationDistillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
technology and he made use of it in his steam distillation process, which requires refrigeratedRefrigeration is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space, or from a substance, and moving it to a place where it is unobjectionable. The primary purpose of refrigeration is lowering the temperature of the enclosed space or substance and then maintaining that lower temperature.The term...
tubing, to produce essential oils.
As a chemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the science of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density, acidity, size and shape. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component...
, Avicenna was one of the first to write refutations on alchemy, after al-Kindi' , also known to the West by the Latinized version of his name Alkindus, was an Arab Iraqi polymath: an Islamic philosopher, scientist, astrologer, astronomer, cosmologist, chemist, logician, mathematician, musician, physician, physicist, psychologist, and meteorologist...
. Four of his works on the refutation of alchemy were translated into LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
as:
- Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae
- Declaratio Lapis physici Avicennae filio sui Aboali
- Avicennae de congelatione et conglutinatione lapifum
- Avicennae ad Hasan Regem epistola de Re recta
In one of these works, Ibn Sīnā discredited the theory of the transmutation of substancesThe philosopher's stone is a legendary alchemical substance, supposedly capable of turning base metals, especially lead, into gold; it was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality....
commonly believed by alchemistsAlchemy is both a philosophy and a practice with an aim of achieving ultimate wisdom as well as immortality, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing unusual properties...
:
Among his works refuting alchemy, Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae was the most influential, having influenced later medieval chemists and alchemists such as Vincent of BeauvaisThe Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais wrote the Speculum Maius, the main encyclopedia that was used in the Middle Ages.-Early life:...
.
In another work, translated into Latin as De congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum, Ibn Sina proposed a four-part classification of inorganic bodies, which was a significant improvement over the two-part classification of AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
(into orycta and metalA metal is a chemical element that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat, forms cations and ionic bonds with non-metals. In chemistry, a metal is an element, compound, or alloy characterized by high electrical conductivity. In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions...
s) and three-part classification of GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
(into terraIn astronomy:*The Latin, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Occitan, and Catalan name for the planet Earth*Terra , a research satellite launched by NASA in 1999...
e, lapides and metals). The four parts of Ibn Sina's classification were: lapides, sulfurSulfur or sulphur is the chemical element that has the atomic number 16. It is denoted with the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Sulfur, in its native form, is a yellow crystalline solid. In nature, it can be found as the pure element and as sulfide and sulfate minerals...
, salts and metalA metal is a chemical element that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat, forms cations and ionic bonds with non-metals. In chemistry, a metal is an element, compound, or alloy characterized by high electrical conductivity. In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions...
s.
Earth sciences
Ibn Sīnā wrote on Earth scienceEarth science , is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet...
s such as geologyGeology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed...
in The Book of HealingThe Book of Healing is a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by the Persian polymath Abū Alī ibn Sīnā from Asfahana, near Bukhara in Greater Persia...
, in which he developed the concept of uniformitarianismUniformitarianism, in the philosophy of science, assumes that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe...
and law of superpositionThe law of superposition is a key axiom based on observations of natural history that is a foundational principle of sedimentary stratigraphy and so of other geology dependent natural sciences:...
in geologyIslamic geography includes the advancement of geography, cartography and earth sciences under various Islamic civilizations. During the medieval ages, Islamic geography was driven by a number of factors: the Islamic Golden Age, parallel development of Islamic astronomy, translation of ancient texts...
. While discussing the formation of mountainA mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill. The adjective montane is used to describe mountainous areas and things associated with them...
s, he explained:
Due to his fundamental contributions to the development of geologyGeology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed...
, particularly regarding the origins of mountains, Avicenna has been called the 'Father of Geology'.
Physics
In physicsPhysics is a natural science; it is the study of matter and its motion through spacetime and all that derives from these, such as energy and force...
, Ibn Sīnā was the first to employ an air thermometerA thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor A thermometer (from the Greek θερμός (thermo) meaning "warm" and meter, "to measure") is a device that measures...
to measure air temperatureIn physics, temperature is a physical property of a system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the higher temperature. Temperature is one of the principal parameters of thermodynamics...
in his scientific experimentIn scientific research, an experiment is a method of investigating causal relationships among variables, or to test a hypothesis. An experiment is a cornerstone of the empirical approach to acquiring data about the world and is used in both natural sciences and social sciences...
s. In 1253, a LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
text entitled Speculum Tripartitum stated the following regarding Avicenna's theory on heatIn physics and thermodynamics, heat is the process of energy transfer from one body or system due to thermal contact, which in turn is defined as an energy transfer to a body in any other way than due to work performed on the body....
:
In mechanicsMechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behaviour of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effect of the bodies on their environment....
, Ibn Sīnā developed an elaborate theory of motionIn physics, motion means a change in the location of a body. Change in motion is the result of applied force. Motion is typically described in terms of velocity, acceleration, displacement, and time. An object's velocity cannot change unless it is acted upon by a force, as described by Newton's...
, in which he made a distinction between the inclination (tendency to motion) and forceIn physics, a force is any agent that causes a change in the motion of a free body, or that causes stress in a fixed body. It can also be described by intuitive concepts such as a push or pull that can cause an object with mass to change its velocity , i.e., to accelerate, or which can cause a...
of a projectileA projectile is any object propelled through space by the exertion of a force which ceases after launch. Although a thrown baseball could be considered a projectile, the word more often refers to a weapon...
, and concluded that motion was a result of an inclination (mayl) transferred to the projectile by the thrower, and that projectile motionProjectile motion is one of the traditional branches of classical mechanics, with applications to ballistics.A projectile is any body that is given an initial velocity and then follows a path determined by the effect of the gravitational acceleration and by air resistance...
in a vacuum would not cease. He viewed inclination as a permanent force whose effect is dissipated by external forces such as air resistance.
His theory of motion was thus consistent with the concept of inertiaInertia is the resistance of any physical object, to a change in its state of motion. It is represented numerically by an object's mass. The principle of inertia is one of the fundamental principles of classical physics which are used to describe the motion of matter and how it is affected by...
in Newton's first law of motionNewton's laws of motion are three physical laws that form the basis for classical mechanics. They are:# In the absence of force, a body either is at rest or moves in a straight line with constant speed....
. Ibn Sīnā also referred to mayl to as being proportional to weightIn the physical sciences, the weight of an object is the magnitude, W, of the force that must be applied to an object in order to support it in a gravitational field. The weight of an object in static equilibrium equals the magnitude of the gravitational force acting on the object, less the effect...
times velocityIn physics, velocity is the rate of change of position. It is a vector physical quantity; both speed and direction are required to define it. In the SI system, it is measured in meters per second: or ms-1. The scalar absolute value of velocity is speed...
, a precursor to the concept of momentumIn classical mechanics, momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object . For more accurate measures of momentum, see the section "modern definitions of momentum" on this page...
in Newton's second law of motionNewton's laws of motion are three physical laws that form the basis for classical mechanics. They are:# In the absence of force, a body either is at rest or moves in a straight line with constant speed....
. Ibn Sīnā's theory of mayl was further developed by Jean BuridanJean Buridan was a French priest who sowed the seeds of the Copernican revolution in Europe. Although he was one of the most famous and influential philosophers of the late Middle Ages, he is today among the least well known...
in his theory of impetusImpetus may refer to:* Impetus , a re-release of the EP Passive Restraints* Impetus , a concept very similar to momentum* Jean Buridan#Impetus Theory, middle-ages treatment on impetus and its originator Jean Buridan...
.
In opticsOptics is the branch of physics which studies the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
, Ibn Sina "observed that if the perception of lightLight is electromagnetic radiation, particularly radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye ....
is due to the emission of some sort of particleIn physics, subatomic particles are the particles composing nucleons and atoms. There are two types of subatomic particles: elementary particles, which are not made of other particles, and composite particles...
s by a luminous source, the speed of light must be finite." He also provided a wrong explanation of the rainbowA rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere...
phenomenon. Carl Benjamin BoyerCarl Benjamin Boyer was an historian of sciences, and especially mathematics. David Foster Wallace called him the "Gibbon of math history"....
described Avicenna's ("Ibn Sīnā") theory on the rainbow as follows:
Avicennian philosophy
Ibn Sīnā wrote extensively on early Islamic philosophyEarly Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and lasting until the 6th century AH...
, especially the subjects logicLogic, from the Greek λογική is the art and science of reasoning. More specifically, it is defined by the Penguin Encyclopedia to be "The formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning". As a discipline, logic dates back to Aristotle, who established its...
, ethicsEthics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is , how moral values should be determined , how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations , how moral...
, and metaphysicsMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
, including treatises named Logic and Metaphysics. Most of his works were written in ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
- which was the de facto scientific languageA language is a system for encoding and decoding information. In its most common use, the term refers to so-called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. In linguistics the term is extended to refer to the human cognitive facility of creating and using...
of that time, and some were written in the Persian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
. Of linguistic significance even to this day are a few books that he wrote in nearly pure Persian language (particularly the Danishnamah-yi 'Ala', Philosophy for Ala' ad-Dawla'). Ibn Sīnā's commentaries on Aristotle often corrected the philosopher, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of ijtihadIjtihad is a technical term of Islamic law that describes the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the legal sources, the Qur'an and the Sunnah...
.
In the medieval Islamic worldThe Islamic Golden Age or the Islamic Renaissance, is traditionally dated from the 9th to 13th centuries for 400 years C.E., but has been extended to the 15th century by recent scholarship...
, due to Avicenna's successful reconciliation between AristotelianismAristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato’s theories. Most particularly, Aristotelianism brings Plato’s ideals down to Earth as goals and goods internal...
and NeoplatonismNeoplatonism is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, founded by Plotinus and based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists...
along with KalamKalām is the Islamic philosophy of seeking Islamic theological principles through dialectic. In Arabic the word means "words, discussion, discourse". A scholar of kalam is referred to as a mutakallim...
, Avicennism eventually became the leading school of Islamic philosophyIslamic philosophy is a branch of Islamic studies, and is a longstanding attempt to create harmony between philosophy and the religious teachings of Islam .-Definition:...
by the 12th century, with Avicenna becoming a central authority on philosophy.
Avicennism was also influential in medieval Europe, particular his doctrines on the nature of the soulThe soul, in many religions, spiritual traditions, and philosophies, is the spiritual and eternal part of a living being, commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; distinct from the physical part. It is typically thought to consist of ones consciousness and personality, and can be...
and his existenceExistence can be defined as simply being or continuing in time.In common usage, existence is the world of which we are aware through our senses, but in philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, and is often contrasted with essence...
-essenceIn philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...
distinction, along with the debates and censure that they raised in scholastic EuropeScholasticism is derived from the Latin word scholasticus , which means "that [which] belongs to the school," and was a method of learning taught by the academics of medieval universities circa 1100–1500...
. This was particularly the case in ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where Avicennism was later proscribed in 1210. Nevertheless, his psychologyPsychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior...
and theory of knowledge influenced William of AuvergneWilliam of Auvergne may refer to:* William of Auvergne, Bishop of Paris * William IV of Auvergne * William V of Auvergne...
and Albertus MagnusSaint Albertus Magnus, O.P. , also known as Saint Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, was a Dominican friar and bishop who achieved fame for his comprehensive knowledge of and advocacy for the peaceful coexistence of science and religion. He is considered to be the greatest German philosopher...
, while his metaphysicsMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
had an impact on the thought of Thomas AquinasSaint Thomas Aquinas, O.P. was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Order from Italy, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis...
.
Metaphysical doctrine
Early Islamic philosophyEarly Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and lasting until the 6th century AH...
, imbued as it is with Islamic theologyKalām is the Islamic philosophy of seeking Islamic theological principles through dialectic. In Arabic the word means "words, discussion, discourse". A scholar of kalam is referred to as a mutakallim...
, distinguishes more clearly than AristotelianismAristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato’s theories. Most particularly, Aristotelianism brings Plato’s ideals down to Earth as goals and goods internal...
the difference between essenceIn philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...
and existenceExistence can be defined as simply being or continuing in time.In common usage, existence is the world of which we are aware through our senses, but in philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, and is often contrasted with essence...
. Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental, essence endures within a being beyond the accidental. The philosophy of Ibn Sīnā, particularly that part relating to metaphysicsMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
, owes much to al-FarabiAbū Naṣr al-Fārābi , known in the West as Alpharabius Abū Naṣr al-Fārābi (أبو نصر محمد الفارابي - Abū Naṣr Muḥammad al-Fārābi; in some sources also mentioned as محمد بن محمد بن أوزلغ الفارابي - Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad (ibn Tarḫān) ibn Awzlaġ al-Fārābi), known in the West as...
. The search for a truly definitive Islamic philosophy can be seen in what is left to us of his work.
Following al-Farabi's lead, Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of beingBeing is the object of study of metaphysics, and more specifically ontology. In its most indeterminate sense, being could be understood as anything that can be said to be, which is opposed to nonexistence...
, in which he distinguished between essenceIn philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...
(Mahiat) and existenceExistence can be defined as simply being or continuing in time.In common usage, existence is the world of which we are aware through our senses, but in philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, and is often contrasted with essence...
(Wujud). He argued that the fact of existence can not be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence must, therefore, be due to an agent-causeCausality is the relationship between an event and a second event , where the second event is a direct consequence of the first....
that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with its effect.
Avicenna’s consideration of the essence-attributes question may be elucidated in terms of his ontological analysis of the modalities of being; namely impossibility, contingency, and necessity. Avicenna argued that the impossible being is that which cannot exist, while the contingent in itself (mumkin bi-dhatihi) has the potentiality to be or not to be without entailing a contradiction. When actualized, the contingent becomes a ‘necessary existent due to what is other than itself’ (wajib al-wujud bi-ghayrihi). Thus, contingency-in-itself is potential beingness that could eventually be actualized by an external cause other than itself. The metaphysical structures of necessity and contingency are different. Necessary being due to itself (wajib al-wujud bi-dhatihi) is true in itself, while the contingent being is ‘false in itself’ and ‘true due to something else other than itself’. The necessary is the source of its own being without borrowed existence. It is what always exists. The Necessary exists ‘due-to-Its-Self’, and has no quiddity/essence (mahiyya) other than existence (wujud). Furthermore, It is ‘One’ (wahid ahad) since there cannot be more than one ‘Necessary-Existent-due-to-Itself’ without differentia (fasl) to distinguish them from each other. Yet, to require differentia entails that they exist ‘due-to-themselves’ as well as ‘due to what is other than themselves’; and this is contradictory. However, if no differentia distinguishes them from each other, then there is no sense in which these ‘Existents’ are not one and the same. Avicenna adds that the ‘Necessary-Existent-due-to-Itself’ has no genus (jins), nor a definition (hadd), nor a counterpart (nadd), nor an opposite (did), and is detached (bari’) from matter (madda), quality (kayf), quantity (kam), place (ayn), situation (wad’), and time (waqt).
Avicennian logic
Avicenna discussed the topic of logic in Islamic philosophyLogic played an important role in Islamic philosophy. Islamic law and jurisprudence placed importance on formulating standards of argument, which gave rise to a novel approach to logic in Kalam, as seen in the method of qiyas...
extensively in his works, and developed his own system of logic known as "Avicennian logic" as an alternative to Aristotelian logic. By the 12th century, Avicennian logic had replaced Aristotelian logic as the dominant system of logic in the Islamic world. After the Latin translations of the 12th century, Avicennian logic was also influential in Europe.
Ibn Sina developed an early theory on hypothetical syllogismIn logic, a hypothetical syllogism has two uses. In propositional logic it expresses one of the rules of inference, while in the history of logic, it is a short-hand for the theory of consequence.-Propositional logic:...
, which formed the basis of his early risk factorA risk factor is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection. Risk factors are correlational and not necessarily causal, because correlation does not imply causation...
analysis. He also developed an early theory on propositional calculusIn logic and mathematics, a propositional calculus or logic is a formal system in which formulae representing propositions can be formed by combining atomic propositions using logical connectives, and a system of formal proof rules allows certain formulae to be established as theorems.-...
, which was an area of logic not covered in the Aristotelian tradition. The first criticisms of Aristotelian logic were also written by Ibn Sina, who developed an original theory on temporalIn logic, the term temporal logic is used to describe any system of rules and symbolism for representing, and reasoning about, propositions qualified in terms of time. It is sometimes also used to refer to tense logic, a particular modal logic-based system of temporal logic introduced by Arthur...
modalA modal logic is any system of formal logic that attempts to deal with modalities. Modals qualify the truth of a judgment. For example, if it is true that "John is happy," we might qualify this statement by saying that "John is very happy," in which case the term "very" would be a modality...
syllogismA syllogism or logical appeal is a kind of logical argument in which one proposition is inferred from two others of a certain form....
. Ibn Sina also contributed inventively to the development of inductive logicInduction, also known as inductive reasoning or inductive logic, is a type of reasoning which involves moving from a set of specific facts to a general conclusion. It can also be seen as a form of theory-building, in which specific facts are used to create a theory that explains relationships...
, being the first to describe the methods of agreement, difference and concomitant variationMill's Methods are five methods of induction described by philosopher John Stuart Mill in his 1843 book A System of Logic. They are intended to illuminate issues of causation....
which are critical to inductive logic and the scientific methodScientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific...
.
Natural philosophy
Ibn Sina and Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī engaged in a written debate, with Abu Rayhan Biruni mostly criticizing AristotelianAristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato’s theories. Most particularly, Aristotelianism brings Plato’s ideals down to Earth as goals and goods internal...
natural philosophyNatural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
and the Peripatetic school, while Avicenna and his student Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Ma'sumi respond to Biruni's criticisms in writing. Abu Rayhan began by asking Avicenna eighteen questions, ten of which were criticisms of AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
's On the HeavensOn the Heavens is Aristotle's chief cosmological treatise: it contains his astronomical theory.According to him, the heavenly bodies are the most perfect realities, , whose motions are ruled by principles other than those of bodies in the sublunary sphere...
.
Philosophy of science
In the Al-Burhan (On Demonstration) section of The Book of HealingThe Book of Healing is a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by the Persian polymath Abū Alī ibn Sīnā from Asfahana, near Bukhara in Greater Persia...
, Avicenna discussed the philosophy of scienceThe philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, and implications of science. The field is defined by an interest in one of a set of "traditional" problems or an interest in central or foundational concerns in science...
and described an early scientific methodScientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific...
of inquiryInquiry is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of inquiry and a treatment of the ways that each type of inquiry achieves its aim.-Deduction:When three terms are so related to one...
. He discusses AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
's Posterior AnalyticsThe "Posterior Analytics" is a text from Aristotle's Organon that deals with demonstration, definition, and scientific knowledge. The demonstration is distinguished as a syllogism productive of scientific knowledge, while the definition marked as the statement of a thing's nature, .....
and significantly diverged from it on several points. Avicenna discussed the issue of a proper methodology for scientific inquiry and the question of "How does one acquire the first principles of a science?" He asked how a scientist would arrive at "the initial axiomIn traditional logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be either self-evident, or subject to necessary decision...
s or hypothesesA hypothesis is a proposed explanation for an observable phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι - hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose." For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
of a deductiveDeductive reasoning, sometimes called deductive logic, is reasoning which constructs or evaluates deductive arguments.In logic, an argument is said to be deductive when the truth of the conclusion is purported to follow necessarily or be a logical consequence of the premises and its corresponding...
science without inferring them from some more basic premises?" He explains that the ideal situation is when one grasps that a "relation holds between the terms, which would allow for absolute, universal certainty." Avicenna then adds two further methods for arriving at the first principles: the ancient AristotelianAristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato’s theories. Most particularly, Aristotelianism brings Plato’s ideals down to Earth as goals and goods internal...
method of inductionInduction, also known as inductive reasoning or inductive logic, is a type of reasoning which involves moving from a set of specific facts to a general conclusion. It can also be seen as a form of theory-building, in which specific facts are used to create a theory that explains relationships...
(istiqra), and the method of examinationTo examine somebody or something is to inspect it closely; hence, an examination is a detailed inspection or analysis of an object or person....
and experimentIn scientific research, an experiment is a method of investigating causal relationships among variables, or to test a hypothesis. An experiment is a cornerstone of the empirical approach to acquiring data about the world and is used in both natural sciences and social sciences...
ation (tajriba). Avicenna criticized Aristotelian induction, arguing that "it does not lead to the absolute, universal, and certain premises that it purports to provide." In its place, he develops a "method of experimentation as a means for scientific inquiry."
Theology
Ibn Sīnā was a devout Muslim and sought to reconcile rational philosophy with Islamic theologyIslamic theology is a branch of Islamic studies regarding the beliefs associated with the Islamic faith.-Types of theology:Muslim theology is the theology that derived from the Qur'an, Hadith, and Muhammad's life...
. His aim was to prove the existence of God and his creation of the world scientifically and through reasonReason is the mental faculty that is able to generate conclusions from assumptions or premisses.Reason in this sense is often contrasted with authority, intuition, emotion, mysticism, superstition, and faith, and is thought by rationalists to be more reliable than these in discovering what is true...
and logicLogic, from the Greek λογική is the art and science of reasoning. More specifically, it is defined by the Penguin Encyclopedia to be "The formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning". As a discipline, logic dates back to Aristotle, who established its...
. Avicenna wrote a number of treatises dealing with Islamic theology. These included treatises on the Islamic prophets, whom he viewed as "inspired philosophers", and on various scientific and philosophical interpretations of the Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
, such as how Quranic cosmologyCosmology is the study of the Universe in its totality, and by extension, humanity's place in it...
corresponds to his own philosophical system.
Ibn Sīnā memorized the Qur'an by the age of seven, and as an adult, he wrote five treatises commenting on suraA Surah is a "chapter" of the Qur'an, traditionally arranged roughly in order of decreasing length...
s from the Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
. One of these texts included the Proof of Prophecies, in which he comments on several Quranic verses and holds the Qur'an in high esteem. Avicenna argued that the Islamic prophets should be considered higher than philosophers.
Thought experiments
While he was imprisoned in the castle of Fardajan near Hamadhan, Avicenna wrote his famous "Floating Man" thought experimentA thought experiment, sometimes called a gedankenexperiment in German, is a proposal for an experiment that would test or illuminate a hypothesis or theory....
to demonstrate human self-awarenessSelf-awareness is literally consciousness of one's self. It is related to but not identical with self-consciousness-A philosophical view:I think, therefore I am...
and the substantiality of the soulThe soul, in many religions, spiritual traditions, and philosophies, is the spiritual and eternal part of a living being, commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; distinct from the physical part. It is typically thought to consist of ones consciousness and personality, and can be...
. He referred to the living human intelligenceIntelligence is an umbrella term used to describe a property of the mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to learn. There are several ways to define intelligence...
, particularly the active intellectActive intellect or agent intellect is a term used in philosophy to refer to the formal aspect of the intellect , in accordance with the theory of hylomorphism.-Aristotle:...
, which he believed to be the hypostasisHypostatic abstraction, also known as hypostasis or subjectal abstraction, is a formal operation that takes an element of information, such as might be expressed in a proposition of the form X is Y, and conceives its information to consist in the relation between a subject and another subject,...
by which God communicates truthTruth can have a variety of meanings, from the state of being the case, being in accord with a particular fact or reality, being in accord with the body of real things, events, actuality, or fidelity to an original or to a standard. In archaic usage it could be fidelity, constancy or sincerity in...
to the human mindMind is the aspect of intellect and consciousness experienced as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination, including all unconscious cognitive processes. The term is often used to refer, by implication, to the thought processes of reason. Mind manifests itself...
and imparts order and intelligibilityIn phonetics, Intelligibility is a measure of how comprehendible speech is, or the degree to which speech can be understood. Intelligibility is affected by spoken clarity, explicitness, lucidity, comprehensibility, perspicuity, and precision.-Noise levels:...
to natureNature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
. His "Floating Man" thought experiment tells its readers to imagine themselves suspended in the air, isolated from all sensations, which includes no sensorySenses are the physiological methods of perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology , and philosophy of perception...
contact with even their own bodies. He argues that, in this scenario, one would still have self-consciousnessSelf-consciousness is an acute sense of self-awareness. It is a preoccupation with oneself, as opposed to the philosophical state of self-awareness, which is the awareness that one exists as an individual being; although some writers use both terms interchangeably or synonymously...
. He thus concludes that the idea of the selfSelf is broadly defined as the essential qualities that make a person distinct from all others. The task in philosophy is defining what these qualities are, and there have been a number of different approaches...
is not logically dependent on any physical thingIn philosophy, an object is a thing, an entity, or a being. This may be taken in several senses. In its weakest sense, the word "object" is the most all-purpose of nouns, and can replace a noun in any sentence at all...
, and that the soul should not be seen in relative termA relative term, also called a rhema or a rheme, is a logical term that requires reference to any number of other objects, called the correlates of the term, in order to denote a definite object, called the relate of the relative term in question...
s, but as a primary givenGiven may refer to:* Given, West Virginia, United States* Shay Given , Irish footballer...
, a substanceSubstance theory, or substance attribute theory, is an ontological theory about objecthood, positing that a substance is distinct from its properties. This is part of essentialism in that ousia as a substance can also be a descriptor of an object's being and/or nature...
.
Engineering
In the chapters on mechanicsMechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behaviour of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effect of the bodies on their environment....
and engineeringEngineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or inventions.The American Engineers' Council...
in his encyclopedia Mi'yar al-'aql (The Measure of the Mind), Avicenna writes an analysis on the ilm al-hiyal (science of ingenious devices) and makes the first successful attempt to classify simple machineA machine is any device that uses energy to perform some activity. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work. A simple machine is a device that transforms the direction or magnitude of a force without consuming any energy...
s and their combinations. He first describes and illustratesAn illustration is a visualization such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses subject more than form. The aim of an illustration is to elucidate or decorate textual information by providing a visual representation.- Overview :Illustrations can:* give faces to...
the five constituent simple machineA machine is any device that uses energy to perform some activity. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work. A simple machine is a device that transforms the direction or magnitude of a force without consuming any energy...
s: the leverIn physics, a lever is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object....
, pulleyA pulley, also called a sheave or a drum, is a mechanism composed of a wheel on an axle or shaft that may have a groove between two flanges around its circumference. A rope, cable, belt, or chain usually runs over the wheel and inside the groove, if present...
, screwA screw, or bolt, is a type of fastener characterized by a helical ridge, known as an external thread or just thread, wrapped around a cylinder. Some screw threads are designed to mate with a complementary thread, known as an internal thread, often in the form of a nut or a object that has the...
, wedge, and windlassA windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder , which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt...
. He then analyzes all the combinations of these simple machines, such as the windlass-screw, windlass-pulley and windlass-lever for example. He is also the first to describe a mechanismMechanism may refer to:*Mechanism , explaining how a feature is created* Mechanism , explaining a reaction pathway*Mechanism , a theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes...
which is essentially a combination of all of these simple machines (except for the wedge).
Poetry
Almost half of Ibn Sīnā's works are versified. His poems appear in both Arabic and Persian. As an example, Edward Granville BrowneEdward Granville Browne , born in Stouts Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire, England, was a British orientalist who published numerous articles and books of academic value, mainly in the areas of history and literature...
claims that the following PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
verses are incorrectly attributed to Omar KhayyámOmar Khayyám , , was a Persian polymath, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, music and was a physicist....
, and were originally written by Ibn Sīnā:
showed him experiencing a perfect eternity with some of the greatest men in history in his Divine Comedy such as
, Avicenna has been recognized by both East and West, as one of history's great figures.
, described Ibn Sīnā as "one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history" and called him "the most famous
's leading writers in the field of medicine. He was influenced by the approach of
. Along with
. He is remembered in Western history of medicine as a major historical figure who made important contributions to medicine and the European
. Ibn Sīnā is also considered the father of the fundamental concept of
, he is considered a national icon, and is often regarded as one of the greatest Persians to have ever lived. Many portraits and statues remain in Iran today. An impressive monument to the life and works of the man who is known as the 'doctor of doctors' still stands outside the Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall of the Avicenna Faculty of Medicine in the
. There is also a crater on the Moon named
.
, and Ibn Siena Integrated School in Marawi City (Philippines) are all named in his honour.
, which then ruled his birthplace Bukhara, celebrated the thousandth anniversary of Avicenna's birth by circulating various
In March 2008, it was announced that Avicenna’s name would be used for new Directories of education institutions for health care professionals, worldwide. The
will list universities and schools where doctors, public health practitioners, pharmacists and others, are educated. The project team stated “Why Avicenna? Avicenna … was … noted for his synthesis of knowledge from both east and west. He has had a lasting influence on the development of medicine and health sciences. The use of Avicenna’s name symbolises the worldwide partnership that is needed for the promotion of health services of high quality.”
, was left untouched by the treatises of Ibn Sīnā. This vast quantity of works - be they full-blown treatises or opuscula - vary so much in style and content (if one were to compare between the ahd
De Caelo, are treatises giving a synoptic view of Aristotelian doctrine, though the Metaphysics demonstrates a significant departure from the brand of Neoplatonism known as Aristotelianism in Ibn Sīnā's world; Arabic philosophers have hinted at the idea that Ibn Sīnā was attempting to "re-Aristotelianise" Muslim philosophy in its entirety, unlike his predecessors, who accepted the conflation of Platonic, Aristotelian, Neo- and Middle-Platonic works transmitted into the Muslim world.
The Life of Ibn Sina), ed. and trans. WE. Gohlman, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1974. (The only critical edition of Ibn Sina’s autobiography, supplemented with material from a biography by his student Abu ‘Ubayd al-Juzjani. A more recent translation of the Autobiography appears in D. Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophical Works, Leiden: Brill, 1988.)
Danishnama-i ‘Alai is called "the Book of Knowledge for [Prince] 'Ala ad-Daulah". One of Avicenna's important
work is the Daaneshnaame (literally: the book of knowledge) for Prince 'Ala ad-Daulah (the local Buyid ruler). The linguist aspects of the Dāneš-nāma and the originality of their Persian vocabulary are of great interest to Iranian philologists. Avicenna created new scientific vocabulary that had not existed before in the modern Persian language. The Dāneš-nāma covers such topics as logic, metaphysics, music theory and other sciences of his time.
Andar Danesh-e-Rag is called "On the science of the pulse". This book contains nine chapters on the science of the pulse and is condensed synonpsis.