His name keeps popping up here and there, but i don’t know who he really is.
Anyone hear of him?
He’s a medieval Islamic philosopher. Other Islamic philosophers of this era include Al-Farabi and Averroes. These philosophers were known for their insights into the thought of the ancient Greeks, and for their discussions of the relationship between philosophy and theology.
He was a scientist/philosopher/royal advisor from Central Asia, who wrote a book of medicine that became widely used in the Muslim world, and an encyclopedia of philosophy that became equally famous. He’s most famous, though, for his interpretation of the works of Aristotle, which was an attempt to put Aristotle’s philosophy in a Muslim framework, and probably influenced the Christian Scholastics, such as Thomas Aquinas, who interpreted Aristotle to support Christianity.
He’s really one of the greatest philosophers of the medieval Muslim world, and I’m suprised you didn’t find anything about him. (Avincenna, btw, was a Latinization of his actual name, Abu Ali Husain bin Abdulah ibn Sina)
Just to add that Ibn Sinna famous medecine book was widely used and considered as a most basic reference in Europe too once it has been translated from Arabic.
Thx
How do you guys know all this? lol
Yeah i checked the internet after i posted this. His book was called cannon of medicine.
The medical profession must have taken giving shots seriously in those days …
In response to the following humorous post:
I’m unsure because in french both words are spelled the same, but isn’t the name of the book the “CaNon of medicine” in english (with only one “n”, like in canon law, canons of beauty, etc…which refers to a set of rules, and not to an artillery piece, like the word “caNNon”)?
Just to add that I didn’t write my previous post because I’m anal concerning spelling (especially in english…) but because I suspected some people reading this name could come to some weird conclusions concerning the reasons why it was called this way (because it was a recognized set of rules, of course…)
If you’re intereested in another view of ibn Sina, there’s a novel called “The Physician” by Noah Gordon, which features him heavily. It’s pretty good and well researched, it concerns an English barber-surgeon (western European medicine was very primitive then) who hears about him and travels across Europe to find him and study with him. It’s well worth reading.
It’s been out of print for a few years though - try Bibliofind or Booksearch.
Yeah you may be right clair.
And thanks for the info sparrow. I’m ganna try to find that book.