PPT Slide
Ancient & Medieval Philosophy -- David L. Rouse
Avicenna (ibn Senna, 980-1037)
- The single most important Islamic philosopher, he draws heavily upon neo-Platonic sources in his attempt to reconcile Plato, Aristotle, and revelation.
- Distinguishing between essence and existence, necessity and contingency, he argued that existence requires more than essence. There must be an agent/cause that give existence to essence.
- Since the chain of agent/causality cannot be infinite, there must be some one agent/cause that is self-sufficient, necessary in itself.