Ibn Sina (Research Paper Sample)

Ibn Sina Student Name ID Section Prepared For: Course Name And Code Due Date Ibn Sina Ibn Sina was a philosopher in the Islamic tradition. He is better known in Europe by the name of Avicenna. He was born in Khamaithen, central Asia, present day Uzbekistan in the year 980, and lived to the year 1037. He died in Hamadan, Persia in what is present day Iran. He was a Polymath, a group of ancient philosophers that believed man could acquire knowledge in all fields. The most prominent polymath is Leonardo da Vinci (Paavilainen, 2009). This paper will follow the life of Ibn Sina and detail his major contributions. Early life There is little known about his early life. The sole source of information was an autobiography that was written by his student. The lack of any other source implies that the information in this autobiography has to be taken at face value. Ibn Sina had an extraordinary level of intelligence and memory. He claimed to have learned all he could from his teachers by the age of 14 years. He also claimed to have memorized the entire Quran by the time he was ten years old. He was obsessed with the work of Aristotle from an early age, but he could not understand it. In fact, there are propositions that he read it more than forty times before he finally understood it with the aid of commentary from another scholar. By the time he was sixteen years, he turned his attention to medicine. By his own accounts, he was able to graduate as a fully-fledged physician by the time he was 18. He also claimed to have discovered new methods of treatment (Paavilainen, 2009). Adult life His first appointment in his adult life was as a physician of the local Emir, a term used to describe a high title from prince to general in the Islamic world. In 997, Ibn Sina aided the Emir to recover from a dangerous illness and was therefore rewarded with unlimited access to the loyal library if the Samanids (Paavilainen, 2009). However, the library was destroyed by fire and some of his enemies accused him of destroying it in order to hide the source of his vast knowledge forever. During this time, Ibn Sina also helped his father with his financial problems and still found time to write some of his earliest work. However, there are contradicting sources that suggest that the father of Ibn Sina was the governor of the local area (Paavilainen, 2009). When he was 22, his father died. At around this time, the Samanid dynasty ended. Though the young Ibn Sina was offered refuge by the new empire, he chose to leave and seek applications for his talents. He endured some hard time and illness before he finally found a post lecturing in Hyrcania. He lectured in the fields of logic and astronomy. His most renowned work, the canon of medicine, was commenced while he was living there (Khan, 2006). He then settled in Rai, a city that was located close to the location of modern day Tehran, but was compelled to move by issues of insecurity. Some of his shorter works were compiled during his time in Rai. From all these movements, it is evident that Ibn Sina lived at a time when there was great political instability. This instability affected the ability of Ibn Sina to live in one place and thus the many movements (Khan, 2006). For example, during his time in Hamadan, he was the personal physician of Sheikh Ahmed Fadhel. However, once he was unable to revive the condition of the sheikh, leading to his death, he was forced to escape to save his life, though he was later captured and imprisoned (Khan, 2006). Later, while serving another warlord, he became ill and returned to Hamadan. Sensing that the illness was becoming stronger, he abandoned his medication and resigned to his fate. He attempted to return all gains that he had made by unjust means, freed his slaves, and devoted the rest of his life to religion (Paavilainen, 2009). Contributions to philosophy Even though Latin is the language used for philosophical and other forms of scientific writing, Ibn Sina used Arabic because at the time of his writing, it was the defacto language as a direct influence of the Islamic cultures of the day (Paavilainen, 2009). His philosophical contributions include writings in the field of ethics, metaphysics and logic. He commented on the works of Aristotle, though he seemed to be critical of the works and seems to encourage lively debates on selected subjects. In medieval times, certain scholars had a big influence on the direction of later generation students (muslimphilosophy.com). For example, most prominent philosophers had their equivalent of contemporary paradigms that shared different ideas. Ibn Sina was the most prominent writer in the Islamic world. After his death, he emerged as the most influential philosopher in the Islamic world. There are often many instances of dissonance between theology and philosophy. However, Ibn Sina was a firm Islam believer and attempted to create resonance between Islamic theology and religion (Paavilainen, 2009). Contributions to the concept of the soul Ibn Sina was one of the first persons to propose that the soul existed as a separate entity. He proposed that a person had a soul, a separate entity from the body and whose existence was independent of the physical self. The contributions of the soul also had psychological bearings (Lagerlund, 2007). For example, his work, the falling man, which was written while he was in prison, suggests that people cannot doubt their consciousness. For example, he proposed that a floating man, suspended in the air where they would be separate from all other contacts and perception, would still have the ability to perceive his...