Rereading Flying Man Argument in Avicenna's answers to Sheikh Abu al-Qasim Kirmani's objections

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Research Institute of Hawzah and University, Qom, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Research Institute of Hawzah and University, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

Sheikh Abu al-Qasim Kirmani, one of Avicenna's contemporaries, who strongly disagreed with him and debated with him at least once in Ray, has criticized Avicenna's Flying Man Argument, which is one of Avicenna's most important innovations in psychology, and has had supporters and opponents among both Muslim and non-Muslim philosophers since his time. His criticisms reached Avicenna through Bahmanyar's letter, and he replied to them. The detailed report of those answers is given in al-Mubahathat, which is one of Avicenna's last works. and maybe his last philosophical work. This article rereads these criticisms and answers with a descriptive, analytical, and critical method and tries to tell new points about this important argument while reporting fully the version of this argument in al-Mubahathat. In the meantime, Avicenna's last version of Flying Man Argument, the position of this version among Avicenna's other works, and its relationship with the "Standard Flying Man Argument" will be clarified.

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Main Subjects


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