{"title":"Al-Bīrūnī and Avicenna on the Existence of Void and the Plurality of Worlds","authors":"Paul Hullmeine","doi":"10.1163/18778372-04701002","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n The present paper is devoted to the famous letter exchange between al-Bīrūnī and Avicenna. Its main concern is to elaborate the philosophical content of two of the 18 questions, namely on the existence of void and the plurality of worlds. Since this has previously only been done in a superficial way, this paper aims to draw attention to al-Bīrūnī’s hitherto unknown philosophical doctrines. In the course of this investigation, it will be necessary to consider his arguments from the letters in view of the background of the ancient, Neoplatonic, and Arabic philosophical and theological discourse. Since this letter exchange is dated to the beginning of Avicenna’s career, his answers illuminate the development of his thought.","PeriodicalId":43744,"journal":{"name":"Oriens","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2019-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18778372-04701002","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Oriens","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18778372-04701002","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
The present paper is devoted to the famous letter exchange between al-Bīrūnī and Avicenna. Its main concern is to elaborate the philosophical content of two of the 18 questions, namely on the existence of void and the plurality of worlds. Since this has previously only been done in a superficial way, this paper aims to draw attention to al-Bīrūnī’s hitherto unknown philosophical doctrines. In the course of this investigation, it will be necessary to consider his arguments from the letters in view of the background of the ancient, Neoplatonic, and Arabic philosophical and theological discourse. Since this letter exchange is dated to the beginning of Avicenna’s career, his answers illuminate the development of his thought.
期刊介绍:
Oriens is dedicated to extending our knowledge of intellectual history and developments in the rationalist disciplines in Islamic civilization, with a special emphasis on philosophy, theology, and science. These disciplines had a profoundly rich and lasting life in Islamic civilization and often interacted in complex ways--from the period of their introduction to Islamic civilization in the translation movement that began in the eighth century, through the early and classical periods of development, to the post-classical age, when they shaped even such disciplines as legal theory and poetics. The journal''s range extends from the early and classical to the early modern periods (ca. 700-1900 CE) and it engages all regions and languages of Islamic civilization. In the tradition of Hellmut Ritter, who founded Oriens in 1948, the central focus of interest of the journal is on the medieval and early modern periods of the Near and Middle East. Within this framework, the opening up of the sources and the pursuit of philological and historical research based on original source material is the main concern of its editors and contributors. In addition to individual articles, Oriens welcomes proposals for thematic volumes within the series.